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And The Best Band Ever Is...


Bigsby

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...The Beatles. Now, I know that in theory music is subjective, but as far as I'm concerned, in this case, it's fact. For me, although they're not my personal favourite band (Dire Straits now you ask), they are unquestionably the best band ever. When you look at not only their record sales, but the critical reception to their music, their evolution in such a short time and huge influence, not just musically but culturally, it's clear that nobody else even comes close.

However, when you put forward this argument, every now and then you will come up against someone who, for whatever reason, doesn't personally like The Beatles and therefore scoffs at the assertion that they are unquestionably the best band ever. It's easy for them to say that The Beatles are not the best band ever, but it's harder for them to come up with a sound argumenr against this and it's always great fun listening to them trying to come up with the reasons that, say, Pink Floyd were a better band than The Beatles.

So come on then aberdeen-music folk, if you think The Beatles are not the best band ever, who is, and why?

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Its the Stones, once they got a hang of making albums they were consistently awesome from 68-73, no Octopuses Garden here man. And they were way cooler, Macca might have once been a good songwriter, but he is a cheesy motherfucker to his very core, fuckin thumbs aloft div. And the Beatles were fuckin wusses, copped out of playing live, and couldn't even last 10 years, part-timers. If all their songs were in the same league as, say, Back in the USSR, then I wouldn't be ranting like this, but they were well patchy. Respect is due for their undoubted historical importance and some excellent writing, but their 'all round entertainer' schtick stopped them from excelling. Stones all the way.

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Yeah i pretty much agree 100% with this.

I've always just felt they were at the right place at the right time and got big because of that.

Pure luck in my opinion.

They slogged for years without any success. Kind of reminds me of Arnold Palmer saying It's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.

Was damn lucky of them to keep writing all those brilliant songs.

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Was hoping for a more eleaborate justification to be fair, plus some alternative contenders. :)

But all the justification for them being the best band in the world seems to be of the same quality. I hate this discussion, it never goes anywhere and it doesn't mean anything.

The Beatles are the most over-hyped band in history (just ahead of Led Zeppelin) and we're always expected to accept that they were geniuses just because everyone says so. Well tough. I like some of their early pop songs and the more rocking later stuff (Back in the USSR) but the rest of it is dull, hippy nonsense.

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I hate this discussion

You don't have to participate in it.

The Beatles are the most over-hyped band in history (just ahead of Led Zeppelin) and we're always expected to accept that they were geniuses just because everyone says so. Well tough. I like some of their early pop songs and the more rocking later stuff (Back in the USSR) but the rest of it is dull, hippy nonsense.

Have you heard all their albums? Anyhoo, I was hoping for some alternative contenders, as I said in my original post, it's so easy for people to say "I don't like The Beatles, they're pish" etc, but much harder to put forward an alternative contender as The Best Band Ever.

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Obviously the criteria with which you judge a band's worth is gonna differ from person to person. It's hard to argue with Bigsby that the Beatles had, and still have, an unbelievable amount of influence on music and culture and therefore could be considered the best ever regardless of what you think of their music. (Personally not a fan, although I like the odd tune)

Another possibility for the purposes of discussion would be The Funk Brothers. A truly great band in the most bandiest sense of the word. Disregarding the marketing/image/non musical aspects of the business, they did their job as a band better than anyone. They played on almost every single Motown track for years.

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Another possibility for the purposes of discussion would be The Funk Brothers. A truly great band in the most bandiest sense of the word. Disregarding the marketing/image/non musical aspects of the business, they did their job as a band better than anyone. They played on almost every single Motown track for years.

I like this argument. :up:

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Guest Gladstone

Wholeheartedly agree with Bigsby.

The Stones is a good argument actually because of their consistency, but I think the Beatles win for all the reasons Bigsby mentions in his first post.

They were only famous for about 10 years, but they were slogging it out before then. And although they were only releasing albums for about 10 years, they punted out I think 13 studio albums in that time, and in my opinion all of them are very good. They have 2 double albums worth of greatest hits in the red and blue albums which are brilliant start to finish. All that in 10 years is pretty good going.

I do also agree that Macca turned a bit pish on his own. Lennon was better, but nowhere near as good as the Beatles, but we're not arguing about their solo stuff - that's what makes a band a band. The two of them together, plus George Harrison of course, wrote a massive amount of brilliant pop songs. How'd you reckon Mick Jagger would get on in a solo career?

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I'm not keen on their earlier beat stuff, it just sounds a bit generic to me, but the stuff like Revolver, Rubber Soul, The White Album, Abbey Road, Magical Mystery Tour, Let It Be are just absolute masterpieces of albums, every one. From start to finish, absolutely brilliant pop songs without exception. Their only poor album IMO is Sgt Peppers, which is just drug-addled nonsense.

Anyway I can already see this thread hurtling towards pointlessness.

"The Beatles were great"

"No they weren't they were shit"

"No they weren't they were great"

"No they weren't they were shit"

Repeat ad nasuem. Thus I'm going to give my opinion and leave.

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How about there is no best band ever?

It's far too subjective.

quoted for truth

edit: also, for my opinion,

the beatles are NOT the best band in the world. hell, out of the bands from that particular period, i'd say i prefer the who to the beatles any day. just more my cup of tea - the bass playing, drumming, and singing were all easily technically/musically better than the beatles (okay, townshend isnt the best guitarist, but neither was john lennon, if we're going to be pedantic. harrison was fantastic though) and for me they wrote better songs. im not saying the who are the best band in the world by any means, just that personally i feel they're a much, much better band than the beatles.

out of interest, bigsby, what criteria does a band need to satisfy in order to gain such a title? just what you put in your original post -

When you look at not only their record sales, but the critical reception to their music, their evolution in such a short time and huge influence, not just musically but culturally, it's clear that nobody else even comes close.

because i could quite easily attribute the same things to bands such as Queen and The Jimi Hendrix Experience and call them the best bands in the world. You've got to be a bit more concise, otherwise this thread will just peter out and die in a plume of "my opinion is better than yours" flavoured smoke.

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Hummingbird of Death are the best band ever.

Reasons:

1-They're reet fast and fun.

2-Their name is Hummingbird of Death.

3-

1044129306_l.jpg

4-

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5-Mike the drummer/vocalist is a fucking dude from the chats we've had.

6-The have a song called "Hope You Like Infest". And I really like Infest and think if you don't like Infest you're an asshole.

7-They have a song called "Here, you throw this away" which is a punchline to a Mitch hedberg joke. Mitch hedberg is awesome.

8-They have a 5" that has 19 songs on one side and one song on the other.

9-They do a No Comment cover faster than No Comment played it. Which is pretty fucking fast.

10- YouTube - HUMMINGBIRD OF DEATH @ BURNT RAMEN

Hummingbird Of Death on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

If you don't agree, I don't give a fuck.

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A loose football anology to the argument I think Bigsby is trying to make, which people ignored straight off, would be that Manchester United are the 'best' football club in Britain. Taking into account all the things that most football clubs aspire to, such as trophies, stature, style of play, comercial might etc it is hard to argue that they are the Best in the land.

You might absolutely detest Man Utd and everything they stand for, but in all the ways in which football clubs can possibly be judged (ignoring personal feelings) its hard to see passed them as being the best. Aberdeen may be your favourite but in general terms, could never be considered the best. You could however make an argument for Liverpool being the best club ever using the same criteria and that is where genuine debate could emerge.

Bigsby even laid out criteria that a Universal Best Band ever were to be judged, and asked for alternatives (which could certainly be made, and then we'd have the basis of a good argument). But within a post the purpose was lost.

For those that don't like The Beatles I guess it must not sit too well saying "They were the best band" but try and suggest others.

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It would be interesting to see what the opinions would be had The Beatles kept going ad-nauseum a la The Rolling Stones who let's face it they made their last good album in the early 70's. Only people who REALLY like the Stones would argue otherwise. So what would the Beatles output had developed into? I'm betting pretty poor. Statistics are the only real judgement here as everything else is down to personal taste. So if they are the best band ever based on how many albums they've sold etc/enough folk say so, so be it.

I do like them on the basis of their huge amount of great songs but I've been long perplexed as to why they are quite SO revered as opposed to other bands. I guess their songs are generally more accessible than the Stones, who tended to tread more bluesy waters. And they were less Mum friendly than the cheeky chappy Fab Four. See also The Who, etc.

I truly believe that McCartney is largely a detestable human being. The 'fab Macca wacky thumbs aloft' image alone does it. Add in 'The Frog Chorus' and 'Mull of Kintyre' and you have grounds for at least some kind of public flogging. Although maybe being married to Heather Mills was punishment enough. The vast majority of musical projects he has been involved in have been travesties to music and I can only conclude that the combined might of John, George and Ringo was enough to rein him in before John got more interested in humping Yoko and participating in more arty ventures. Ringo just probably couldn't be arsed because he's a dude. And George was 'the quiet one'.

The best band ever will only ever be decided realistically by statistics not opinion. That's my opinion.

Personally I reckon Nick Cave is a bit of an unsung talent. He's been chucking out consistently high standard work for over 30 years now and only now seems to be getting some kind of acclaim by the more widespread media.

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