IT'S ALL A PASSING FAD

Those Beatles, man.....

I give them their due. When they were good, they were AWESOME. Brought popular music into the 20th century. Simultaneously incredibly popular AND pretty damn radical. Like Picasso, but with tunes.  You just can't underestimate their incrediblosity.  Definite recipients of the Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.

The thing is, tho, I can put all of their songs that I really like from the first album up to REVOLVER on one cd. The goodies from the rest of their albums (and non-album singles) I could probably squeeze onto 2, and only one of them would have the full 80 minutes filled up.

They were a great band, but they never released an album that I actually liked all the way through, start to finish. John got bogged down in Dylan’s shadow, and he never even came close to getting out. Plus his politics were pretty shallow and bandwagon-y. George was good, but only in fits and starts. Paul was one productive motherfucker, but what the hell was up with all of that dancehall/vaudevillian era shit? I understand it was probably the music of his childhood, but good god does it suck. “When I’m 64”? “She’s Leaving Home?” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”? Bah. And what about “Lovely Rita”? Totally awesome intro and outro, and they bookend one more freaking show tune…..

Dude needed more “Helter Skelter”.

Anyway, someone asked me for my thoughts earlier on the Beatles vs. Stones conundrum that’s plagued mankind for the past 50+ years, and that’s what you get for asking me foolish questions….

I remember a single I had when I was a little kid, “Got to Get You into My Life” b/w “Helter Skelter”, think it had something to do with the ROCK & ROLL MUSIC album that came out in the mid 70s. Good stuff. Almost as good as my K-Tel Looney Tunes album.  Kid in my 5th grade class had DUMB DITTIES, tho, and man did I want that album......