CouchCoach
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The old Mods v Rockers debate. I was a Rocker as most of my buds were because Paul was pretty and Jagger and Richard were death eating a cracker ugly. That's why we preferred The Animals to Dave Clark Five and the Kinks to Gerry and the Pacemakers. It was raw and ugly v pretty and styled.
The Beatles will always win the showdown with the gen pop because of the familiarity and the incredible song writing and production of Lennon/McCartney, the most covered song writing duo in history.
I lived through that time as a teenage boy and it was a marvelous time in music and the thing I appreciated the most about the Beatles was that their success opened the door for the invasion and it's never stopped coming. They were also the first ones to offer rebellion for us after Elvis' pelvis got old with that generation. So afraid of them was the establishment that I just combed my hair differently to look more like them and got sent home from school.
The other thing that gives the Beatles the edge, as far as contribution, was their willingness to take us where most of us had never been and for one of them to lead a charge that would end a war. John Lennon is the most influential musical artist since I've been alive and before he came out on social issues, no one had done that, they kept that to themselves. Even guys like Louis Armstrong and Sammy Davis Jr. kept what was burning inside them until Lennon showed them that's alright, you can take the heat.
I will never really be able to choose one over the other as both contributed so much to my life. I can still recall vividly the first time I listened to Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour and had no idea how that would change the way musicians looked at their music or the first time I heard "Satisfaction", "Get Off My Cloud", "Gimme Shelter" and "Street Fighting Man", anthems in my life, not just songs. "Satisfaction" will live with me for the rest of my days because that was one of the most magical nights of my life.
Ya know, being my age now, it is not unusual to envy the younger with most of their lives ahead of them and most of mine behind me. But, when I get into those songs and flashback to being there when they first came out and just letting that soak in and the greatest time of radio came into being because if you missed a day, you missed another event taking place, I wouldn't trade that for another 30 years.
The Beatles will always win the showdown with the gen pop because of the familiarity and the incredible song writing and production of Lennon/McCartney, the most covered song writing duo in history.
I lived through that time as a teenage boy and it was a marvelous time in music and the thing I appreciated the most about the Beatles was that their success opened the door for the invasion and it's never stopped coming. They were also the first ones to offer rebellion for us after Elvis' pelvis got old with that generation. So afraid of them was the establishment that I just combed my hair differently to look more like them and got sent home from school.
The other thing that gives the Beatles the edge, as far as contribution, was their willingness to take us where most of us had never been and for one of them to lead a charge that would end a war. John Lennon is the most influential musical artist since I've been alive and before he came out on social issues, no one had done that, they kept that to themselves. Even guys like Louis Armstrong and Sammy Davis Jr. kept what was burning inside them until Lennon showed them that's alright, you can take the heat.
I will never really be able to choose one over the other as both contributed so much to my life. I can still recall vividly the first time I listened to Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour and had no idea how that would change the way musicians looked at their music or the first time I heard "Satisfaction", "Get Off My Cloud", "Gimme Shelter" and "Street Fighting Man", anthems in my life, not just songs. "Satisfaction" will live with me for the rest of my days because that was one of the most magical nights of my life.
Ya know, being my age now, it is not unusual to envy the younger with most of their lives ahead of them and most of mine behind me. But, when I get into those songs and flashback to being there when they first came out and just letting that soak in and the greatest time of radio came into being because if you missed a day, you missed another event taking place, I wouldn't trade that for another 30 years.