Why not everyone likes The Beatles and their music

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In August 1963, The Beatles released their fourth single, "She Loves You / I'll Get You". With the beginning of the national and worldwide boom of popularity of the group, most historians associate this event. Very quickly it all went beyond the musical and cultural movement and moved into the social and political sphere - this phenomenon was later called Beatlemania.
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In the 60s of the last century, no one doubted the absolute leadership of The Beatles. Many could argue about the second or third place, but on the first there was always this four. Such was the reality of all fans of rock music: great hopes were pinned on every new album of the Beatles, and the musicians never let down their loyal listeners.

Everyone should listen to the music that he likes, and not the one that is popular and like the rest. “However, please make sure you listen to The Beatles before making such statements,” exclaims Brenda Gracia.

Robert LaMoia says that everyone has a different musical taste, and you can love everything you want, as you don’t like, either. “However, you absolutely cannot deny the fact that this group stood at the very foundations of popular music and exerted the most direct influence on culture,” says Robert.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine published a ranking of the 500 greatest songs of all time. That list included 23 songs by The Beatles. Before them, it could not be done to anyone. At the same time, John Lennon became the only musician whose name appeared twice in the top ten (as part of a group and as a solo artist). “I agree that we should not love something, just because the majority love it, but here is a slightly different case: The Beatles are everywhere,” says Brenda.

Their work influenced literature, for example, Haruki Murakami named one of his works in honor of the song of the group “ Norwegian Wood ” (“Norwegian Forest”), and the song “Hey Jude” is the most mentioned in the books.

The Beatles were pioneers in many areas: their album “Sgt. Pepper's ”was the first album, on the cover of which lyrics were posted. Despite the fact that the first music video launched on MTV was the clip of the British band The Buggles for the song “Video Killed The Radio Star”, many believe that the members of The Beatles became the ones who popularized this format of music presentation.

If you like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Oasis, then you should know that The Beatles have influenced their work. Also significant are the appearance of team members in the episodes of the popular cartoon series "The Simpsons" and "Super Grosses." They also even called asteroids in their honor.

If you search the Internet, you can find a huge number of other examples of the influence of the Beatles on pop culture. The Beatles have something special, for example, this group brings people together.

“Last May, I flew 8 hours to get to Paul McCartney’s concert in Seoul,” Brenda says. - I practically do not speak Korean and went to the concert alone, because I did not know anyone there. The owners of the hotel where I stayed were middle-aged couples. They did not speak English and therefore hired two young English-speaking people to serve customers. The owners were nice people, but did not communicate with their guests because of the language barrier.

Once I told the guys from the staff about the concert, and suddenly the owner of the hotel, having spoken something in Korean, smiled from ear to ear and sang: “Yesterday, she sang the passage“ na na na "From the song" Hey Jude ". Then for the first time in 7 days I heard this woman talk to one of the guests. Then the guys told me that she loves The Beatles, as their music reminds her of her youth.

After that, the three of us - I, my dear woman and the hotel administrator - watched the video from the concert on my phone all evening. It was very unusual: I did not speak her language, and she did not speak mine, but we had a wonderful time together. ”

At a time when The Beatles began to record their songs with George Martin (George Martin), the task of every musician was to create hits. When writing songs, they adhered to certain formulas that Martin was well known. He repeatedly predicted which songs would be big hits.

Rolling Stone magazine wrote several times that the growth in popularity of the “magnificent four” was not accidental. It’s hard to disagree. A group of enterprising musicians met a producer who disciplined them, but did not stifle the spirit of adventurism. “Thanks to them, I became a fan of groups, not songs,” says David Durham. - Since the release of “Sgt. Peppers ", I started buying albums, not singles." The Beatles albums were not bought for hits, but because they are The Beatles.

Durham notes: “I know rock fans who, in my opinion, have quite a good musical taste and at the same time say they don’t like The Beatles. In my opinion, this is just posturing. Those who argue that The Beatles are simply an overvalued rant group are people who consider themselves fans of musical groups only as long as the performers do not succeed. As soon as this happens, the “fans” change their preferences.

So when rock fans tell me they don’t like The Beatles, I don’t take them seriously. They love the Beatles, they just don’t know about it, because a bit of the “great four” can be heard in the songs of any modern rock artist.

Turn me to any rock song of our day, and I will find in it anything that is in any way related to The Beatles. Sometimes it will be sharply evident, and sometimes it will not. It happens that the similarity is subtle, but it is. Being a fan of rock music and saying that you dislike The Beatles is the same as saying that you dislike a G major chord. The Beatles have definitely left their mark on the music you love. ”

PS More materials on the topic of music and audio - in our " World Hi-Fi ".