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What made the Beatles great
What made the Beatles great? Why do their music endure? What’s your opinion?
In a BBC article they highlight a few points that I will quote here to start things off.
The Beatles were masters at harmonising. The Beatles’ gift was for harmony, and their vision was above all of harmony. And harmony, voices blending together in song, is still our strongest symbol of a good place yet to come.
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Harmony as symbolic form always lies ahead, as the realised-here herald of a better world where all opposites will sing together as one. That’s why even Bach and Handel ended their greatest works with a chorale – to cheer us on to a world we might get to by hearing a chorus that sounds like it’s already got there.
Everyone liked them then, and everyone likes them now. My own children fight with me about the Rolling Stones and are baffled by the Spinal Tappishness of Led Zeppelin (why do they scream in American voices?). But the Beatles are for them as uncontroversial as the moon. Just there, shining on.
The Beatles were not provocateurs, though often mystics, and their great subject was childhood gone by, and what to make of the austere, rationed, but in many ways ordered and secure English world that they had grown up in, and that was now passing before their eyes, in part because of the doors they had opened.
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The Beatles’ music endures above all because we sense in it the power of the collaboration of opposites. John had reach. He instinctively understood that what separates an artist from an entertainer is that an artist seeks to astonish, even shock, his audience. Paul had grasp, above all of the materials of music, and knew intuitively that astonishing art that fails to entertain is mere avant-gardism.
We see the difference when they were wrenched apart: Paul still had a hundred wonderful melodies and only sporadic artistic ambition, while John still had lots of artistic ambition but only a sporadic handful of melodies. But in those seven years when John’s reach met Paul’s grasp, we all climbed Everest. (Not an arbitrary choice by the way: Everest was to be the title of their last album, and the place they had meant to go before they ended up going outside to Abbey Road instead.)
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Art makes us alive and aware and sometimes afraid but it rarely makes us glad. Fifty years on, the Beatles live because they still give us that most amazing of feelings: the apprehension of a happiness that we can hold, like a hand.
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13 Replies
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Jung,
Great post. So many things made them great, with everything you mentioned. But they came at a time that the world needed something great and new and they offered that right off the get go. The world at that time was just coming off JFK and was just going thru the motions so to speak and the Beatles gave us something good to listen to and enjoy. My god their music will last forever in my opinion. Such great harmony, song writing, guitar riffs, and the songs hit it right at the right time in the world. Although I am a huge fan of the Rolling Stones, but the Beatles are the ones that made it all work and opened the door and as Keith Richard said one time, we kicked the door down…LOL..So Mona and Lisa are making sure that the music lasts moving forward. How about their version of We can work it out at the end of their live stream? How cool was that? So thank you Mona and Lisa for keeping this great music alive !
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Great songs and harmonies. SHORT songs lasting only a few minutes each. 4 guys that gelled very well together musically. Also their humorous natures.
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When they first started it was their energy and sense of fun that drew us to them. Then they began to stretch the boundaries of what pop music could be and influenced so many people!
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Thanks to everyone’s input so far. On top of all that was mentioned by others, I would add the Beatles were also incredibly diverse in both their creative output and performance. From early 60’s Merseyside sound to late 50s Elvis style to late 60s heavy metal to Psychedelic to near classical to folk to blues and everything in between they could do it all and did. So compared to most 60s artists who were attracting their audience within their particular range of style/genre, the Beatles had a metaphorical fishnet that captured everything in the ocean.  And as others mentioned they had incredible charisma and brilliant wit which made them adorable to their fans. Brilliant harmonies, rich musical diversity, inspired song writers, charisma/wit and charm…sounds a lot like MLT too.
Here is an interview with John and Paul with their full charm and wit on display, and interesting how the social/political issues in the 60s are much the same as today.
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I don’t have any fresh insights here, but I think there are three main ways in which the Beatles both distinguished themselves from their competition at the time and planted the seeds for evergreen appeal.
1) Paul and John had a unique songwriting chemistry. I like the “grasp” and “reach” characterization in the article. Paul was really good at writing songs that are enjoyable to sing along with, and John was really good at writing songs that are interesting to listen to. Combining their talents they were able to produce songs that could do both, so how could they fail to deliver a great musical experience?
2) They were constantly innovating. They were inspired by the styles of different artists, they experimented with new instruments and new recording techniques, and they creatively challenged each other. So no matter what types of music you are into, odds are that there are at least a few Beatles songs that you would like.
3) They were complete naturals in front of the camera. They were four unique individuals, but they shared good looks, sharp wits, and a playful banter. When they performed on TV they genuinely appeared to enjoy the experience: their smiles were not staged. In my view this is part of good salesmanship for the product.
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Hi David. I think you itemized it nicely in your 3 points. On your 2nd point, yes indeed it’s like no matter what your musical taste, there is going to be something Beatles that is going to appeal to you. That is one big thing that sets the Beatles apart from all others, their massive universal appeal. And on the first point regarding John and Paul’s unique songwriting chemistry, I think they complemented each other artistically like two inert elements when put together have a chemical reaction that is much greater than the sum of their individual parts. Simon and Garfunkle where like that too I think. When they went their own way, I don’t think they ever achieved the musical heights individually as they achieved together.
This also reminds me of a favourite quote of mine:
One person can have a profound affect on another. Two people can work miracles. They can change the world. – Andrew Schneider
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I Sent Mona and Lisa a Ask Mona and Lisa question a while back and it was about how well they are together , meaning they playing, singing, and song writing, and Lisa answered back to me with the obvious that they are twins, and that is a huge part but she also said they know each other so well and can play off each other. So Paul and John are not twins, but they had the same concept of knowing each other and what each other likes etc….The Beatles are the best hands down in pop music, rock music , ballads, fun songs, message songs etc….and Mona and Lisa have the same chemistry , and to me that is so awesome.
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Bill, yes I think MLT have a lot of similarities to the Beatles and share the same artistic vision in the way they approach music and make music. That’s what make them so great.
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For awhile I have been wrestling with the questions of 1) Why did the Beatles happen, i.e., why were they so wildly popular and 2) Why at that particular time? To answer these questions I have read several books about them and have studied the structure of their music. To date I basically have nothing.
I have a few observations about the times, though.  I actually did start to write it, but the first point was easily 500 words……so I decided not to bore you all with it. So, briefly they came with a new sound repackaging US R & B and giving it back as a cover band. They discovered they could write their own songs and were very good at it. They had Brian Epstein to dress them up and put away the ‘teddy boy’ image. They had George Martin who taught them about musical instruments and music in general.  They came at a time (1964) when popular music was having a ‘dry period’. They came with a sound that was so unique and happy that we had to listen to it. The US was in the doldrums then and we needed something to improve the mood in the US. Also, they had very unique harmonies. The Paul and John vocal parts on the early songs were so complex and still pleasing to the ear. Their chordal patterns were also different from traditional music and it still worked. They were innovators but the innovation was based on what others did before. But, they were also informal students of music. They studied Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Smokey, and several other R & B musicians as well as skiffle bands in the UK. They learned from others even when they were world famous (the Byrds, Beach Boys, and Donovan mainly).
Anyway……that is about all I have but books could be and have been written about it. I think the most simple answer is that it was not based on one or even a couple of factors that made them so popular. Mike
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Hi Mike, thanks for the insight. If you wrote 500+ on this subject, it wouldn’t be boring at all as you always bring an interesting and insightful perspective. It sounds like there was a “perfect storm” of timing and people around them, the internal chemistry, and their incomparable talents that just all came together that made the magic happen. In the history of music, I think the Beatles will take their place alongside Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven as one of the all time greats. Their music will be forever. I posted an article here a few months ago that even now in 2020, in terms of music sales, they are right at the top.
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For those who haven’t seen this popular video on youtube, here is the Beatles humour and wit on full display. Amazing how any negative comments directed at them don’t phase them at all and their clever responses stops them in their track.
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