We love them, yeah, yeah, yeah......, oh yeah?

Raymond · We love them, yeah, yeah, yeah......, oh yeah?

Today kicks off the 'International Beatles Week'.

"No!" I hear you cry, "Oh yes!" I reply.

Would somebody please explain to me what all the fuss over the Beatles is all about please?
I mean, what is it exactly that makes the Fab Four so fab?

Average songs, lower than average singing voices (no really, I sing better than Paul and John put together!) and you couldn't exactly describe any of them as 'pretty boys'.

And while we're on the subject, would somebody please explain the appeal of Elvis as well?
Again, average songs, average voice and even though he was a pretty boy in his younger days it didn't take very long for one too many cheeseburgers to put that to rest.

I know I wasn't around in the time of Beatles and Elvis snuffed it just as I came along so this isn't a generational thing.

Other stars of that time I think are brilliant, like Sandie Shaw and Mama Cass - pure gold!

But I really don't 'get' the hooha about The Beatles and Elvis.

Convince me please.

evergreen

they brought in new music which brought about changes in the society of the day.. that's what created the ear of Elvis and the era of The Beatles

When there is a first then it cant' helped but be seem as something to be remembered and often celebrated

david hobbs

I was a boom baby born just after the war. The country had come through really tough times and was re-building people had work and money for the first time and the younger generation where going somewhere and the opportunities were there to be taken.

You had crooners and big bands and it was dull dull dull and all American and then someone opened the blinds and let the sun in.

The Beatles literally exploded onto the scene and at first as with all things they shocked the olds but they really rocked the young people.

The atmosphere of excitement and change and going forward was tangible in the sixties and the Beatles lead the way.

They changed everything and suddenly people began to believe that ordinary people could change the world.

If you think that I am over the top here that is because you had to be there to appreciate it.

I used to go every Friday night to the Leyton Swimming Baths along with hundreds of other kids to hear the bands and chase the girls.
they used to have new bands and we would see people who later became famous.
The Beatles first record was released the previous weekend and that Friday we went along to the baths as usual.

We hadn't taken account that the Beatles were booked in to perform as we hand until that time never heard of them.

We arrived to find a queue so huge that for the first time ever we could not get anywhere near the place and missed them. Such was the impact of one single record.

They were of their time and light years ahead of anything else around.

I am pleased that I was born when I was.

But you had to be there.

I hope that a new Beatles appear soon becuse this generation of health and safety babys need some help and something to look forward to and I see nothing for them.

Raymond

Maybe it is a generational thing and maybe you're right - you HAD to be there.

Like I say, the Beatles were way before my time and when I listen to their music now I think "Why do people think this is so good?" their music wouldn't even get into the charts these days.

Ok, so maybe I've softened up a bit on The Beatles since Hobbs' post - but that still leaves Elvis.

Surely things weren't so bad after the war that his dredge was seen as a glimmer of hope?
'Blue Suede Shoes?" oh please!

Bravo

What type of music do you like Raymond? And also could you explain why it is good?

Beatles and Elvis are good. I am only 38 so they were well before my time, but bloody hell good music is good music.

Example: Pink Floyd and their famous guitar stuff. The actual music was simple and relatively easy to play. But by crikey it worked!

wackyjacky

I'm with Raymond on 'The Beatles'. I don't really like them that much...if at all. I definitely wouldn't go out to buy their album. I do like Elvis though

Raymond

Bravo, we're the same age! How about that?

I suppose it just comes down to personal taste really. My Dad likes Pink Floyd and to be perfectlt honest with you I'd rather push hot needles into my ears than listen to a single note of that stuff.

Same goes for any rock music, any rap music and definately any country and western!!

I suppose it comes as no surprise to anybody but the type of music I listen to is Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Kylie Minogue and Madonna.
I'm not sure why I like them - I just do
I suppose 'my people' have always had a bit of a soft spot for brassy birds.

But it is about different tastes, and that's fine - that's how it should be.

But I don't see any 'International Shirley Bassey Week' coming up any time soon.

Bravo

I like pretty much all those you say Raymond. I do like a lot of different styles of music. Very few I don't like, probably punk being the only one I can think of right now, and I would contend that punk isn't so much a form of music as a form of rebellion in the shouted form.

Pink Floyd yes, you have to be in the right mood really. It's good music to listen to while doing something else, sort of let it flow over you. I don't mean drugs either as is commonly said with Floyd. I mean something like clearing the old memory drawer, or tidying up etc. great having it flow over you.

billy nomates

i think dave summed it up...........after the carnage of ww2 and the prevailing rigid society of the times then elvis and the beatles were a breath of fresh air-with attitude..........listen to heartbreak hotel (it's the only elvis song i like) .it must have been mindblowing at the time!!!!!

the guitar is incredible...........

around this time songs like 'rumble' by link wray were banned for being sexual!!!!!! it was an instrumental ffs!!!!!!

the beatles learned their trade and eventually became excellent songwriters taking ideas from other musical genres.ie the cadence at the end of eleanor rigby...........

i agree that a lot of it has not stood the test of time and the singing was pretty weak...........

my all time fav is jimi hendrix.followed by bowie.

other favs-smiths,sisters of mercy,siouxsie,david sylvian,joy division

i hate (c)rap and country too..........

perhaps its an age thing but current bands like florence and the machine,kasabian,killers just have nothing imho

billy nomates

ps............

http://www.myspace.com/markmasonmusic

yes if u didnt know-it's my alter ego.........

new songs soon+ lots of gigs...........

david hobbs

Not bad.

How's the club singing coming along?

Raymond

You need to make it a bit more 'Kylie' to grab my interest Billy. Get yourself some spangly gold hot pants and we'll talk.

billy nomates

i wear them all the time!

Raymond

DING DONG!!!!

david hobbs

Jimmy Hendrix for me, and the Rolling Stones.

They represented the rebelliousness that young people had in those days.

Now they just want a credit rating.

This age was also represented by the New Age Travellers who were wiped out by the authorities.

Well you just cant have overt displays of freedom on full show can you.

When I look at some of todays bands I see people acting and that is all.

Perhaps I am looking from the wrong angle but I just see people who really are in love with themselves.

Perhaps rappers have the right idea.

I can't stand rap but at least they have something to say.

Raymond

david hobbs

Quote......
Rappers are the worst kind of entertainers. They go on about how angry they are and how dreadful their lives are and how hard done by they feel in society - and then they go home in their expensive cars to their 16 roomed mansions and spend the day next to their private swimming pools. ...........

Bob Dylan

Pete Seager

Box Car Willie

All country and western singers and on and on have done the same thing.

They are singing the lives of others but in the first person.

That is why they make lots and lots of money, they relate to people.

Shirley Bassey "I who Have Nothing".

She's having a laugh.

Raymond

david hobbs

Oh so i did.

Perhaps you need to expand your knowledge of music.

For instance have you ever heard Of Sparky and the Magic Piano?

And what about the all time favourite song of mine entitled.

I am peeping through the knot hole in grannies wooden leg.

Have you heard of them Eh eh.

Well don't enter into another discussion until you have!!!!

david hobbs

Oh , and what about

"Old Mother Knick Knack Queen of All the Faries, She's Got Wooden Tit's and She Don't Care". Imortalised by my uncle Ben.

Don't know it eh.

Pointless trying to hold a conversation with you.

Raymond

No I've never heard of any of those songs, but there again, unlike yourself, I wasn't around to witness Queen Victoria's coronation.

david hobbs

And what a day it was.

Actually I was a bit peed off when the Lute went out of favour.

Waffle King

The Beatles are goodish, Yellow Submarie and Hey Jude, and i like the famous photo, but the Stones are much much much much better, as are the Floyd, ahhhhh Pink Floyd, good times

Raymond

You haven't heard 'Hey Jude' until you've seen Dame Shirley sing it live.

Raymond

Bravo

Why watch a second rate singer sing one of the best songs ever written?

Raymond

How very dare you!?!?!

Second rate singer?

You are incurable.

david hobbs

Raymond

It's hard to tell with you Hobbs.

I normally go by looking at which side a man parts his hair.

Like I said, it's hard to tell with you.

Raymond

evergreen

oh she is an amazing come on Bravo where is your taste ????

Big Grin

Bravo

evergreen

LOL

stir stir stir

Raymond

Bravo

Last concert I went to was Simple Minds, that should tell you how long ago that was.

Raymond you/we are far too old for all that mallarky (sp). Can't you just buy some slippers and start smoking a pipe?

Raymond

NO!!!!!!

I love going to concerts. I was meant to go to see Madonna back in June but I was still a bit ill after my surgery so I had to pull out.

Bravo

Madonna definitely would be a class show. I hope she does a tour when you are more able to see her.

laura

Dame Shirley... God bless her ....you just can't beat a bit of spangle!!

not my kind of thing at all ..... but you can't knock her ...she puts on a show!!!

Raymond

I tell you what Laura, I've seen Dame Shirley 8 times now up and down the country.

On several of those occasions I've taken with me people who aren't her fans and every single one of them left as a fan.

I suppose it's true of many performers but you really haven't seen Shirley Bassey until you see her live, the way the audience reacts to her is pure magic.
Actually the same can be said about Liza Minnelli as well. I saw her at The Royal Albert Hall once and she really knows how to hold an audience.

Bravo - I hope so too. I was so gutted (no pun intended) when I couldn't go. I last saw Madonna in the early 90's on her 'Blonde Ambition' tour and was blown away. Another one whose live show is much much better than a recorded track.

matt

The beatles are one of my all time fav's along with the stones, pink floyd, deep purple, ac/dc, Bowie, new model army etc....

Never did like elvis.