Not the best band ever.

Hell, they're not actually my favourite band of all time, but all things considered I STILL think they're the best, which at least to me is really saying something. No, they didn't invent everything (although a dizzying amount was at least influenced by them), and no, they weren't godlike virtuosos when it came to playing their instruments (although they were certainly talented), but they were one of the first bands to really take pop music seriously as a means of artistic expression and to try and push it just that little bit further, with their sometimes wild experimentation constantly moving in new and interesting directions. Even on their earliest albums, where this attitude hadn't fully developed, an often awe-inspiring mastery of the pop hook is on full display for all to see and this never went away even as the music became more complex. Recently it's seemingly become cool among some to hate them, which I think is sad: sometimes they're even ridiculously compared to modern-day boy bands. Well, the next time One Direction manages to write a song like "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" or "Tomorrow Never Knows", somebody please let me know. An absolutely legendary group, which I don't see changing any time soon.

Artists :)

For goodness sake, comparing The Beatles to Beiber is facile. Not only were they groundbreaking musically, culturally they completely changed the youth scene. Justin Bieber may or may not be considered a good artist,and his internet based rise is an interesting phenomenon, but to compare him in any way shape or form to The Beatles is like comparing an ant to a Galaxy. For example, there are even very senior military figures in the superpower that was the former Soviet Union who rightly or wrongly attribute The rise of The Beatles as the main contributing factor in that Empires demise. True or not, the fact it has been said is amazing. The Beatles were (and are) a force of nature. e.g. top selling album of the noughties worldwide is '1'.

I don't like their untouchable status, I believe there have been many better bands since but their album oriented part of their career was very good and hugely influential.

I haven't commented on my favourite band before so I'm doing it now. I think the "The Beatles weren't innovative"-discussion is saddening. Of course they were, just as much as The Velvet Underground and Captain Beefheart (insert other "experimental" artists). In different ways though, they cared much more about what the public found listenable. They slowly opened the doors for the humanity into experimental and different music rather than shocking the public with infinite dissonance and screaming like they were satanists. An innocent approach as four cute lads making simple pop music, yet more challenging than what the elder generation could bear at the time, evolved into one unit that over the years was creating an unstoppable stream of magical tunes and soundscapes. They sure did get help from others, a few people absent here and there and The Beatles would've forever been an underground act. Getting inspiration from others? Sure, they weren't locked up in some sort of completely isolated prison cell. And the rant goes on..

Your opinion is yours and mine is mine, but as I see it, there's only one answer.. The Beatles were musical gods! Bigger than Jesus? Infinitely bigger!

I don't quite get the no 1 of all time. I can see the plenty of great songs, but I think there are others who have broken more fresh ground.

One of the most important bands of all time, and unlike the vast majority of bands out there, they had a lot of different styles throughout their career, often within the same album, and they excelled at most of those styles. They laid down the foundation for so much of what came after. But most importantly, they were simply sublime, from the opening shouts on the first album, to the last note on Abbey Road.

They sound much better on remastered albums. (I've bought remastered Abbey Road last week, listened to it for 4 times in a row and it wasn't boring or annoying at all. Suddenly I realised, that I like Beatles.)

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