The Beatles were extraordinarily fortunate. That's not a dig at them, I'll explain.
Lennon and McCartney had very different voices; Lennon's was a bit harsh and edgy, whereas McCartney was more choir boy-like. These two voices blended amazingly well together.
ALL of the four were hugely talented (yes, even Ringo, regardless of what that bitter cunt Pete Best has to say about it). Lennon and McCartney were, by anyone's standards, a pair of outstandingly skillful lyricists, George Harrison was and remains highly underrated as a musician, and Ringo was a far, far better drummer than people give him credit for.
Talent aside, the Beatles biggest fortune was that they came along when they did. Their formative years (the late 1950s) were also the time when people in general were beginning to twig that not all was right with the world. Behind them was the great trial and triumph of the second World War, ahead of them was the Cold War, Viet Nam and the hydrogen bomb. Popular music was getting edgier, and the Beatles were there - right place, right time. Sure, their earlier stuff wasn't much different from Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly, but it was the foundation that gave them the financial freedom to be experimental, which lead to (in my humble Beatles-loving opinion) the creation of some the flat out best music ever produced.
It makes me sad that there are millions of people today who don't care that Eleanor Rigby keeps her face in a jar by the door, or that Rose and Valerie were screaming from the gallery.
Boru
Lennon and McCartney had very different voices; Lennon's was a bit harsh and edgy, whereas McCartney was more choir boy-like. These two voices blended amazingly well together.
ALL of the four were hugely talented (yes, even Ringo, regardless of what that bitter cunt Pete Best has to say about it). Lennon and McCartney were, by anyone's standards, a pair of outstandingly skillful lyricists, George Harrison was and remains highly underrated as a musician, and Ringo was a far, far better drummer than people give him credit for.
Talent aside, the Beatles biggest fortune was that they came along when they did. Their formative years (the late 1950s) were also the time when people in general were beginning to twig that not all was right with the world. Behind them was the great trial and triumph of the second World War, ahead of them was the Cold War, Viet Nam and the hydrogen bomb. Popular music was getting edgier, and the Beatles were there - right place, right time. Sure, their earlier stuff wasn't much different from Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly, but it was the foundation that gave them the financial freedom to be experimental, which lead to (in my humble Beatles-loving opinion) the creation of some the flat out best music ever produced.
It makes me sad that there are millions of people today who don't care that Eleanor Rigby keeps her face in a jar by the door, or that Rose and Valerie were screaming from the gallery.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
