Picture the scene, you’re with some friends listening to music, maybe at a house party or before a night out and someone puts on a song by The Beatles. We’ve all been in this situation, shock horror people like The Beatles. However, in the past ive made the mistake of mentioning that I don’t really like The Beatles.
The reactions to this could usually be compared to the reaction that would follow if I had randomly shot someone right there in front of everyone. “You don’t like The Beatles??? But you’re a musician” I’ve heard these type of comments countless times, a lot of people can’t seem to get their head around anyone, especially someone involved with music, not actually being that fond of The Beatles.
Most people you ask will name The Beatles as the greatest band of all time, The Rolling Stone has them at number one, same with ledgernote, musicgrotto and you would be hard pressed to find a list of greatest artists of all time that doesn’t have them at the very top.
But why? Music has surprisingly moved on and progressed substantially throughout the years but we are still clinging onto a band from the 60s. A lot of people will point to their success when I inevitably have to defend my apathy towards The Beatles, but since when does anyone care about how much an artist has sold when talking about the actual music. It’s a sign of success, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are guaranteed to be the best artist ever just because they are the best-selling.
A lot of The Beatles music holds up very well which is an incredible testament to their skill as musicians, considering its 60 odd years old, but to say their music is objectively still the best music ever created is silly. Musicians and artists are creating things now that The Beatles would never have been able to create back then, and that’s a good thing! How depressing would it be to look back at music and say we still haven’t got anything as good as what we had 60 years ago.
Surprisingly, I don’t actually have anything against The Beatles (other than their personal lives but that is a whole other conversation), music is subjective at the end of the day. If someone loves The Beatles and thinks they are the best that’s perfectly fine, it’s just weird how it has almost become a requirement to prop them up. You are not allowed to dislike them if you care at all about your credibility. I just don’t understand why it has become an odd sort of taboo to say these things. You must like The Beatles, or you don’t understand music, it’s strange.
The Beatles were incredible for their time, a lot of their music holds up well today and they inspired and changed the music industry forever. But we have moved on, music has moved on, it’s time to let The Beatles go and celebrate the art that they have helped to inspire since their illustrious careers.
