Post #91620 by thejab on Mon, May 17, 2004 4:58 PM

I agree with Tiki Mick (and others) in that the Beatles are overrated.

As rock 'n roll legends both Elvis and the Beatles started out great but their later stuff is boring compared to many of their contemporaries.

Elvis' Sun records are incredible, original, and influential. But his RCA output was watered-down rockabilly for mainstream white audiences (though I admit some of the tunes are great songs - which Elvis didn't write). You could hardly hear the great guitarist Scotty Moore on the RCA stuff. After his army stint he didn't release many good records, and most were not rockers but were Hollywood show tunes from his movies. Though I do admit I like quite a few of his movies. He's really not a bad actor when he tries, and the movies are entertaining in their own way.

The Beatles also started out really rocking (though un-original as they did mostly covers of American R&B and rockabilly) and were very influential. But the bands they influenced were more pop oriented (like the Turtles, Byrds, Mamas and the Papas, etc.). I think the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and the Yardbirds influenced the more rockin' groups of the mid 60s (the 60s garage and punk groups), which in turn led to bands like the Stooges and then 70s punk rock. Without the Beatles there still would have been surf, soul, garage, and punk in the 60s.

Furthermore, I think the Beatles got way too self-indulgent and boring in their later albums, which led to a million pretentious 60s and 70s bands (like the Eagles to name just one). They took the fun out of rock 'n roll, until the Ramones brought it back.

I hate it when people say "rock n' roll was dead after Elvis went in the Army and Buddy died, until the Beatles brought it back". That is just untrue! There was so much good music during that period: doo wop, rockabilly, R&B, the start of Soul music, surf, Northwest rock, not to mention Exotica and other lounge music that reached it's peak in the late 50s and early 60s.

Top 40 radio was pretty bad for the most part during that period. One reason is because the bad press about rock 'n roll (Jerry Lee marrying his 13-year-old cousin and other stories) and the Payola scandal made radio DJs wary of playing what they wanted and taking chances, so they just played what was safe, which was chosen by record executives: Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Frankie Avalon, etc. But there was still so much good music out there between Elvis and the Beatles.