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It Started With The Beatles….
Listening to different groups and you realise what a debt a lot of bands owe to the Beatles. Was listening to Marillion and the song Three Minute Boy is a Beatles style song and sometimes when they play it live they match it with Hey Jude. Just wondered if anyone else has heard other groups that do a homage to the Beatles in their songs. I’m expecting there to be a lot so let’s see what everyone can come up with
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20 Replies
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During shows CSN(Y) will play Blackbird and Neil Young plays part of Norwegian Wood sometimes during Cinnamon Girl.
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It would be easier to make a list of groups NOT influenced or paying homage to the Beatles in some way, because it’s almost impossible to make rock/pop music that doesn’t incorporate something that they invented or popularized. Prog rock is probably the planet farthest from the Beatles Sun, so when even groups like Marillion (btw nice to know another fan!) do that, and many of them cite the Beatles as influences, it’s pretty amazing! Off the top of my head, though, I’m not coming up with any songs that are directly meant to be a Beatles homage without being an actual cover. Other than MLT, of course!
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Another Marillion fan is always nice to meet
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Hello Sara,
a beautiful idea. I spontaneously think of the song “Sowing the Seeds of Love” by Tears for Fears. In an interview Roland Orzabal mentioned that the whole album should be a departure from the 80s sound of the band and at the same time a homage to the Beatles. The singing of the title song reminds a little bit of “I am the walrus” and the horn section again a little bit of „Penny Lane“. Maybe too much has been interpreted into this song, but it is a nice and interesting song in any case.
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Hi Sara, nice topic.
I never truly appreciated the Beatles with the justice they deserved until I discovered MLT and joined the MLT Club, learned so much.
Just off the top of my head, the Beatles Got To Get You Into My Life, with the brass section, it started a whole genre with the likes of Chicago, Little River Band….etc Then there is Helter Skelter, arguably the first heavy metal song, that triggered a whole hard rock heavy metal genre like Led Zeppelin to AC/DC to many others. Beatles later works like Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Penny Lane, Here Comes The Sun and many others…lead the way for Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Supertramp and pretty much every great rock band that came after the Beatles.
The Beatles influence on music is profound. They are one of the great pillars of music in the caliber of Bach and Beethoven. Music changed forever after the Beatles. Their influence on music is as profound as Bach and Beethoven. You could say they are the pillar of modern music.
Howard Goodall’s awesome Beatles documentary is a must see for a true appreciation of the Beatles and why they are so great. He illustrates how the Beatles is one of the great pillars of music of the 20th Century just like Bach and Beethoven were in their respective centuries.
While the Beatles influenced MLT too musically, I think the biggest influence and inspiration Mona and Lisa took from the Beatles is their artistic philosophy of never repeating themselves creatively, and always pushing the innovative creative bubble. The Beatles music progressed immensely in their middle and late period starting with Rubber Soul, and MLT are doing exactly that too, focusing in the studio and creating innovative cutting edge new music, like their latest WHY? album. In the studio with Mona, Lisa, and Papa Rudi, I see parallels to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Martin writing music, singing, arranging, mixing tracks, experimenting with instrumentation and sounds….creating amazing music. Immensely impressed and proud of MLTs unwavering artistic philosophy.
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Thanks Jung. That was a terrific documentary about one of my favourite topics. George Martin is only mentioned briefly, but some have referred to him as the fifth Beatle. Even if that is an exaggeration, he was definitely in the thick of the creative process, and was frequently called on to provide technical and technological solutions. And he was the producer, after all. A lot of what they were recording on, was only four track machines that had to be patched together for overdubs, or accompanying sound effects. Martin did have a classical musical background. So, in light of the musical analysis in this documentary, my question would be, was George Martin fully aware of the many musical nuances, chords and chord changes, etc. described here? I would suggest that in many respects, yes, he was, and simply encouraged the creative process to unfold in front of his eyes and ears? These guys may have been maturing musically at the speed of sound, but they were still only in their mid twenties. Martin was always very discrete, and unassuming, in describing his part of the creative process. But the results are there for all to see and hear.
All the classical influencers mentioned in the documentary are single individuals. The Beatles, however, are the results of a mysterious synergy that played out between and among a small group of people. Lots of other “groups” of artists can work collaboratively. But this one was unique and special. Some have broken down the group into four constituent parts. John Lennon, the intellectual one. Paul McCartney, the emotional one. George Harrison, the spiritual one. Ringo Starr, the practical, down to earth one. There seems to be something to that idea.
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Hi Len, thanks for watching the video and providing your feedback on it. I think the video really highlights the incredible song writing genius of the group, and looks under the hood of their music, getting down into the structure, theory, and mechanics of their music and how really innovative it is, even though most of the brilliant song writing would have most likely been intuitive as John, Paul, George, and Ringo did not have any music theory training nor knew how to read or write sheet music. The video really articulates how amazing the Beatles music is and the mark the Beatles made in music, and really makes you appreciate the song writing talent of the FAB4 or as you point out the FAB5. It seems George Martin from his classical music knowledge and training saw the natural intuitive musical genius of the group in John, Paul, George and Ringo, and channeled it, providing his input to the band. I saw in some interview where John had an idea of how he wanted the song to sound, and George understood the music theory that John was talking about and showed John how to structure the notes. George knew how to take what John or Paul wanted to do musically, and express it properly in notation. This was important when they involved other musicians in some of their very complex music like A Day In The Life. As you point out, the band had an incredible synergy, and their talents together was greater than the sum of their parts. Together they achieved much more than what they could individually I think.
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This is amazing . I knew I would find out stuff about bands on here but the information this group has posted on here is fantastic and makes you appreciate the music even more
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Here’s a fairly obvious Beatles homage:
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Yes David; Lies is clearly derivative of the Beatles. The lead vocal even sounds a lot like John Lennon. But even if only a one hit wonder, it’s a great little rock and roll song. For me, a longtime favourite.
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The Mamas and Papas did a couple, or at least one song, I believe of The Beatles , and the lead singer from Glass Tiger(Alan Frew ) did a cover of ” You’ve Got Hide Your Love Away” on either one of his solo CD projects or it’s on one of the GT Milestone Compilation CDs … For now, that’s all who come to mind for this topic, and a great topic Sara 🤘
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The Knickerbockers. Where do you always get music like this David? 😀 Yes, the song is pretty close to the Beatles. I think the Hollies often sounded a bit like the Beatles as well. Probably it was really hard in those days not to be influenced by the Beatles.
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And when I first heard “Waterloo Sunset” by the Kinks, I could have sworn Paul McCartney had a hand in it. Maybe it’s the sound of the voice at the beginning of the song, or the guitar sound, the duet singing as accompaniment …
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Great stuff
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I don’t think there’s a musician or group alive that hasn’t had some influence from the Beatles. What I find impressive is the recurring appearance in today’s modern music world. And it started a long time back.
Individually, I think George did more as an individual to guide or assist other up and coming acts than the others did. From Badfinger to his own second super group the Traveling Wilburries he was a force. His friendship and collaboration with Eric Clapton bears that out.
We’re fortunate to have all that legacy and influence still today
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Wow . This group here has amazed me with the post I have seen on here. Just great to see things that inspires everyone to check out music that might pass you by
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Hi Sara and everybody. I’m not musically literate enough to talk chord progressions or time signatures and what not, but I know that Todd Rundgren did a Beatles homage album, Deface The Music. Apparently he’s now on a Beatles tribute tour with Christopher Cross and others. So I guess that counts! 😉
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That sounds like literacy to me David! You don’t need to be an expert on modes, pentatonic scales, triplets or anything else to contribute to a conversation here. You just made a very worthy contribution!
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Thanks Daryl. True I don’t know much about triplets, but I think twins are pretty cool. 😉
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That they are!😆
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