The Beatles are the greatest band

.... for many reasons. But Queen are my favourite band. 

I think that's a perfectly reasonable statement.

I guess being as The Beatles don't exist as a group anymore, you could argue that "are" should be changed for "were". Although, no group has ever come close to matching their overall achievements since. However, Queen will always be my main love when it comes to music, just to be extra clear.

The Beatles were great. But also greatly overrated. There's been a lot of historical revisionism that's edited out the great influence that other artists had on The Beatles. It's striking how meeting Bob Dylan changed their style so dramatically, for instance. The Beatles did not exist in a void, and a lot of what they did was part of a bigger whole.

The Beatles were the first band to reach universal stardom and arguably the only band ever to become the personification of popular music, but that's not a strictly musical consideration. I'd say that culturally speaking, The Beatles were definitely the "greatest" band. Musically, I find the claim untenable.

Nope..

I like them both. Have all Beatles LPs and have all Queen LPs. I like the Stones as well.

All for different reasons.

Queen is and will always be my no.1 band. Mainly because of Freddie.

[QUOTE]

[b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b] The Beatles were the first band to reach universal stardom and arguably the only band ever to become the personification of popular music, but that's not a strictly musical consideration. I'd say that culturally speaking, The Beatles were definitely the "greatest" band. Musically, I find the claim untenable.[/QUOTE]

Agreed.

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]The Beatles were great. But also greatly overrated. There's been a lot of historical revisionism that's edited out the great influence that other artists had on The Beatles. It's striking how meeting Bob Dylan changed their style so dramatically, for instance. The Beatles did not exist in a void, and a lot of what they did was part of a bigger whole.[/QUOTE]
but it wasn't just Bob Dylan that influenced their transitionary period....factor in trips to India, the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and many many other "events" and you see why they were/are the greatest band ever....always managing to stay ahead of the field


[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]The Beatles were the first band to reach universal stardom and arguably the only band ever to become the personification of popular music, but that's not a strictly musical consideration. I'd say that culturally speaking, The Beatles were definitely the "greatest" band. Musically, I find the claim untenable.[/QUOTE] i disagree. look at the comparative technology and tools available at that time, equate Abbey, Rd, Revolver, The White Album and Sgt Pepper to anything that has come since....and they are muscially, astounding

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]

The Beatles were the first band to reach universal stardom and arguably the only band ever to become the personification of popular music, but that's not a strictly musical consideration. I'd say that culturally speaking, The Beatles were definitely the "greatest" band. Musically, I find the claim untenable.[/QUOTE]

Nobody's ever accused any of the Beatles of being near the top of their field on their respective instruments (except perhaps McCartney on bass). It's the collective, not the sum of the parts, that made them great.

They created music that will be cherished for centuries. And they were at the forefront of the growing studio technology - many advances were made purely because they had people working for them to make their dreams come to fruition.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Among the greats but not the greatest. Together just 10 years. Unable to work past differences in the end. Are they the top greatest band of all time if bickering killed it? That's just me. But if you want to go by meausure of chart positions, sales, public polls - maybe they are, don't know.

"Together just 10 years."

Yeah but listen to the difference between Please Please Me and Abbey Road, no band has ever evolved so much in such a short amount of time, then take into account the solo careers of each member (yes, including Ringo for a time), extraordinary...

Queen are better in every way.

To me there is no "greatest band macho attitude"...not for Queen, Beatles,Stones or Pink Floyd or whoever...when we look back there is so many great music...just pick what you like and enjoy it :)

[QUOTE] [b]stevelondon20 wrote:[/b]

Queen are better in every way. [/QUOTE]

such a vapid statement ^^.
i'd bet you can't even begin to see (any of) the many things wrong with that comment, can you?

Brian Wilson did a pretty good job at competing with The Beatles in the 60s.

Without Pet Sounds, I seriously doubt the world would have seen Sgt. Pepper.

Of course The Beatles did not live and work in a vacuum, they were children of their time and society. Of course there were musical influences, the Beatles themselves always named these influences. However, they were the greatest composers in the 20th century, they were pioneers in every respect: studio work, live concerts, video art. They never sounded liky Dylan, Carl Perkins, Ravi Shankar - to name only a few. They always sounded like The Beatles.

It is true that none of them were top in their instruments but Ringo and George have always been quoted as ground breaking by later artists. However, you can be a great guitar player and never write a good song but the Beatles did not only write great songs by the dozens, they also developed the art of studio reording, pioneered experimenting with sounds and advanced pop music into an art form. There is no way to overrate the group, they were the greatest group ever imo. In 100 years people will still know the Beatles.