I hear it all the time, and quite frankly, I’m bored. “Oh, The Beatles were overrated.” “Boo, the Beatles don’t deserve the praise they get.” Yeah, OK, you’re very cool.
The truth is, any views that remotely echo the sentiment that The Beatles are overrated are inherently wrong. You have to keep in mind, I’m a music journalist. My entire career relies on the idea that artistic opinion exists, and an open dialogue about agreements and disagreements within art will always require a platform. As such, I’m pretty happy to debate anything… but not this. Not The Beatles.
The people who try to argue that The Beatles are overrated tend to be people who have only listened to their music. As a result, they hear what is relatively pleasant music, and then become confused about why the world went so crazy over those sounds and not others. I can appreciate that opinion, as in the modern world, if you have listened to a lot of the music which is available to you and are only just giving The Beatles the time of day, then they probably will start to sound like just another decent band. Of course, those who are in the know know that The Beatles didn’t just make this kind of music. They were pioneers in its fucking creation.
All of the music that you listen to today, all of the different styles and sounds, stems somewhat from The Beatles. They didn’t just make music that people liked, they gave direction on how people should dress, market themselves, and use their albums as whole pieces of art rather than just a collection of songs.
The Beatles set the blueprint for what a mainstream artist looks like in the first half of their career, and then they spent the second half of their career breaking down that image and becoming icons of counterculture. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the latter occurred, but releasing Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was certainly a definitive moment for them.
While you might not view this record as being quintessentially counterculture in the modern age, after we’ve had the likes of punk and metal music climb the ranks, at the time, it was a monumental release. It just went full throttle into the idea of a concept album and took a band who were renowned for upbeat pop-infused love songs and gave them a more experimental and thought-provoking edge.
There are plenty of songs that showcase this new direction, but one of the most influential has to be the classic ‘A Day In The Life’. Many people consider this the greatest song ever written, and I have to admit, I’m one of them. But rather than hear me reel off reasons why it’s such a showcase of genius, I’ll let another songwriter do it.
“It’s one of the greatest songs ever written. It’s one of the most adventurous songs ever written and recorded.” Graham Nash didn’t mince his words when talking about The Beatles’ brilliance. While he might have been the man who brought the world classics such as ‘Better Days’, ‘Our House’ and ‘Military Madness’, even he had to bow down to the innovative geniuses that were The Beatles.
Adding, “I don’t think there’ll ever be another Beatles; I think that the universe put those four kids in the right place at the right time and gave them the right talent to be able to move the hearts, minds and spirits of billions of people, and continue to this day.”
While we can recognise ‘A Day In The Life’ as a great song, we should also focus on the “adventurous” side that Nash touched upon. This wasn’t just a song that saw the band put together a good melody, loving lyrics and great musical talent. It spoke of war, suicide and problems around the country. Equally, the tempo change during the track, along with the drawn-out string sections and circus-like outro, all made it more of an experimental number for The Beatles.
This was a glint in the eye of counterculture. No longer did you have to write simple pop music in a bid to write hits; you could experiment, stand outside the boundary of normality and continue producing something excellent. A lot of what we now consider counterculture may well have not happened had it not been for this willingness to experiment. Are The Beatles overrated? Not in this lifetime.
