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35 years ago today


Just Jack

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December 8th 1980 to October 2, 1981 what a short gap that really was. Reagan got shot in between too. At the time it seemed so long but in truth two influences in my life left in close proximity to each other. First Lennon, who as Howard pointed out was probably the most famous of the Beatles. I think some would dispute that with Paul or Ringo but no doubt John was more famous than George. To think some sicko shot him to impress Tatum O'Neil. What a loser.

 

 

Anyone care to share their favorite Lennon song?

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Pope JP2 also...wasn't he?

 

 

December 8th 1980 to October 2, 1981 what a short gap that really was. Reagan got shot in between too. At the time it seemed so long but in truth two influences in my life left in close proximity to each other. First Lennon, who as Howard pointed out was probably the most famous of the Beatles. I think some would dispute that with Paul or Ringo but no doubt John was more famous than George. To think some sicko shot him to impress Tatum O'Neil. What a loser.

 

 

Anyone care to share their favorite Lennon song?

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The fact that so many books still name the Beatles "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all times are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics are still blinded by commercial success: the Beatles sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that the Beatles did anything worth of being saved.

For most of their career the Beatles were four mediocre musicians who sang melodic three-minute tunes at a time when rock music was trying to push itself beyond that format (a format originally confined by the technical limitations of 78 rpm record). They were the quintessence of "mainstream", assimilating the innovations proposed by rock music, within the format of the melodic song.

They were influential, yes, but on the customs - in the strictest sense of the word. Their influence, for better or for worse, on the great phenomena of the 60s doesn't amount to much. Unlike Bob Dylan, they didn't stir social revolts; unlike the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead they didn't foster the hippie movement; unlike Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix they didn't further the myth of LSD; unlike Jagger and Zappa they had no impact on the sexual revolution. Indeed the Beatles were icons of the customs that embodied the opposite: the desire to contain all that was happening. In their songs there is no Vietnam, there is no politics, there are no kids rioting in the streets, there is no sexual promiscuity, there are no drugs, there is no violence. In the world of the Beatles the social order of the 40s and the 50s still reigns. At best they were influential on the secret dreams of young girls, and on the haircuts of young nerdy boys.

The Beatles had the historical function to serve as champions of the reaction. Their smiles and their choruses hid the revolution: they concealed the restlessness of an underground movement ready to explode, for a bourgeoisie who wanted to hear nothing about it.

They had nothing to say and that's why they didn't say it.

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The fact that so many books still name the Beatles "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long BLAH BLAH BLAH

 

You're so incredibly wrong throughout this diatribe there's no one place to start. Suffice it to say your 'opinion' is yours alone.

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You're so incredibly wrong throughout this diatribe there's no one place to start. Suffice it to say your 'opinion' is yours alone.

 

 

LOL he specifically said the Beatles didn't talk about LSD enough but Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.....DUH! And free sex? Why Don't We Do It In the Road and Give Piece a Chance.

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Wow someone really hates the Beatles. I'm a Stones over Beatles kind of guy, but I love the Beatles as well. I think maybe this guy is basing an entire argument on I Want To Hold Your Hand. The Beatles became very representative of the 60's on their later work. To say they represented the ideas of the 40's and 50's is absurb. I don't think Back in the USSR went over to well with people in that age group.

Edited by DriveFor1Outta5
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The fact that so many books still name the Beatles "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. ......

We really don't look kindly on plagiarism here.

 

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New England (before the ** of course, but doesn't matter) was playing... That's why!

 

 


That's what got my attention, that it wasn't about some co-worker he was smitten with yet to afraid to approach.

 

 

Also isn't he deep in the Bible Belt? Didn't they smash Beatles albums down there or something... Lennon songs too...

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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