The Beach Boys were greater than The Beatles.
This movie is proof to that point.
Paul McCartney is documented in the movie and in real life as stating that his favorite song of all time is GOD ONLY KNOWS.
GOD ONLY KNOWS is far superior than any Beatles song.
The Beatles are highly overrated its like generation after generation are just brainwashed into automatically assuming they were so great.
Discuss.
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you are sheep like everyone else who automatically assumes the Beatles were so great.
If the Beatles were still together and all alive today would they be able to tour like the beach boys are still rocking today?
None of the Beatles songs are even as great as society makes them out to be they were the One Direction of their time and just like One Direction if you really listen to their songs you wonder why they are even put on a pedestal?
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I dont know why you are claiming I'm a troll I'm just posting my BOLD honest opinion and I know many will disagree just due to popular mass trendy appeal.
I honestly admire and love the Beach Boys and would play the best of Beach Boys over any Beatles album any day. In fact I own the Best of Beach Boys CD's and been to many of their concerts. I don't own one Beatles album and never even think to play any of their songs on YouTube, like NEVER.
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Theres a specific scene in the movie where the Beach Boys are comparing theirselves to the Beatles and saying they can't let the Beatles pass them up.
Theres another scene in the movie where they say McCartney's favorite song of all time is God Only Knows.
These are 2 scenes from the damn movie!
So who's the troll now?
I see where you're coming from MrCharmingMan, both bands had the same level of acclaim, and periodically I would hear a great song by a band I'm not entirely into and think "I would so love to have heard the Beatles try something like this". "God Only Knows" is right up there with "Hey Jude". "Fire" is right up there with "A Day in the Life", which is also up there with "Surf's Up". In fact, I can play Sgt. Pepper and Revolver and hear the influences of Pet Sounds. The Beatles even went so far as to parody some of the things they heard in Pet Sounds, such as the dogs barking at the end of Caroline No. This brought about the animal noises in Good Morning Good Morning. The acoustic guitar and piano together in Let's Go Away for Awhile can be heard in A Day In the Life. The guitar riff at the beginning of "With a Little Help from my Friends" sounds almost identical to that of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" They even went back to the roots around the same time, with 20/20 and the White Album. I prefer the Beatles because not only do they feel and acknowledge influences from other musicians, they even do so with a wink and with tongue planted firmly in cheek (as Lennon once said).
So, they're basically equal, one's as equally good as the other, they just appeal to different people in different ways.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.
Thanks Brendan for your thoughts and breakdown very intelligent and insightful appreciate it brother!
shareCould the Beatles have toured continuously if they stayed together? I tried to picture it over the years. Still not sure.
As solo artists, I'd say John and George came the closest to consistency in their material. Even their clunker albums have some good moments. Just as an opinion, I'd say John only had one really clunker album (Some time in New York City) and George had only two really weak ones (Dark Horse and Extra Texture). They both suffered from being rushed and not very well arranged. The melodies themselves are very good.
Paul and Ringo were the ones with major issues on their solo output. Paul often has a habit of leaving strong material on the cutting room floor while the pap goes out - witness Pipes of Peace.
So the long and the short of it is that if they stayed together, or did their own thing as side projects and still put out a Beatles album from time to time, they'd really have some strong arguments and it could have gotten more difficult as the years went on.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.
Wilson himself loved The Beatles and was inspired to write his best work because of Rubber Soul. The reason he ditched his overrated piece of fluff, Smile, was because he realized it would never touch Sgt Pepper. The Beatles were the One Direction of their time. I can't believe the stupidity of that statement. Just absurd. The Monkees were the OD of their day as they were a manufactured band.
The Monkees and Beach Boys shared the same band. I bet you don't get that irony. The Beatles played their own instruments.
GOD ONLY KNOWS is far superior than any Beatles song. Please name me one Beatles song that is even close to that?
shareA Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields, Long & Winding Road. The Beatles did their own Smile - Side 2 Abbey Road. Way more cohesive and coherent and memorable
shareHey Jude and Penny Lane are two of my favorite Beatles songs. Paul Mcartney has said he does not read music. The Beatles music was very simplistic in nature. Almost all are written in the key of c and very repetitive. I like playing them on piano. McCartney has also said Wilson was probably the greatest musician he has ever met. The two bands competed and evolved to better music because of it.
Each has their own place. It's not a super bowl game. You can like both, one or the other.
I loved this movie. I wish a good Beatles movie could be made. One that had Paul's voice as this one had wilsons.
Mostly in the key of C? You know little of The Beatles. And the irony is, those two songs you mentioned aren't in the key of C.
shareHey Jude is in F major and penny lane is in B major.
Let it be, I wanna hold your hand, most of Sargent Pepper are all in C. 90% of their music is written for guitar. Guitar is only c dude.
Did you change your handle to try to appear smart? Or are you writing from the Wende correctional facility? Is your real name Mark Chapman?
Sit down at a piano and play some of their music. Pretty much 5 chord.
I want to hold your hand is G.
Sgt Pepper is G.
Help from my friends is E.
Lucy is A.
Fixing a hole is F.
Lovely Rita Bb.
Good Morning is A.
Sgt Pepper reprise is F.
Day in the life is G.
Within You Without you, Mr Kite & Getting Better are all in C.
When I'm 64 is C but only because the finished record was sped up
FTR Martha My Dear is Bb & Long Winding Rd is Eb. Revolution is B
You have no idea pal.
Guitar is only C? WTF?????
You're clearly one of these who gets his information from bad sources. Like guitar tabs, books that are in a key for beginners to learn.
shareThe big question is debatable, and ultimately not really answerable.
But just to hit one minor point:
If the Beatles were still together and all alive today would they be able to tour like the beach boys are still rocking today?
Obviously I disagree. I believe both were really good, and both took elements from one another. But The Beach Boys had one major flaw: only Brian Wilson did real music, most of the others didn't give much input (not with the quality of Wilson). This movie really emphasizes on that.
The Beatles, on the other hand, had Wilson-like level of creativity with Lennon and the hard-working consistency of McCarthy (who also dropped a lot of great songs and was the man who took the band through Sgt. Pepper's Lonely). And Harrison not only helped experimenting with oriental instruments, but also did drop some beautiful songs along the way like "Here comes the Sun", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something", etc...
Also, I'd like to point out that The Beach Boys' discography is way more inconsistence: between 1962-1965, the Beach Boys released 10 albums, where as The Beatles only 6 (and even 6 was already pushing it). The Beach Boys also continued releasing albums after 1970 with very little input (if any really) from Brian Wilson. In consequence, while both bands have great albums and songs, The Beach Boys have a huge ammount of forgettable songs and albums along the way, much more so than the Beatles.
The Beach Boys were greater than The Beatles.
They certainly could have been if B. Wilson had kept it together and kept producing Pet Sounds/Smile quality stuff throughout the late 60's and 70's. But as it is they just don't have as much "top shelf" stuff as The Beatles, despite having a much larger catalog in general.
shareMaybe, maybe not.
But the real question is: were the Beach Boys greater than Jesus?
The Beach Boys were greater than The Beatles.
I think they certainly had the potential to be greater than the Beatles (musically anyway), but unfortunately Mike Love's ignorance coupled with Brian Wilson's growing mental illness, really stalled what could have been. Good Vibrations is better than any single Beatles song, imo. Brian was more of a musical genius than any Beatle imo, as well. However, the Beatles have a better catalogue of albums in their latter half of existence than the Beach Boys. They were able to develop and blossom more than the BBs were allowed. Pet Sounds really rivals the Beatles' greatest work though.
shareThe Beach Boys could never have bettered The Beatles because it was all was coming from one mind. Yes, a very brilliant one for sure, but the lads from Liverpool had four minds - John, Paul, George and Martin - all bringing different influences into the fray always creating something new and influential. Brian insisted he create and control everything and it was only a matter of time before it bought him unhinged, particularly the speed in which pop music was virtually changing by the week. Way too much for one man to accomplish.
The big problem with SMILE was that very thing. He badly needed someone overseeing the project to bring some semblance and form to it because there was none. It was disorganized chaos. Wilson continued to escalate his drug intake and persist in recording snippets of music and somehow thinking he could seam it all together. It just couldn't be done by one man who's mind become more and more unfocused. He never knew, and still doesn't really know, how the whole thing should be sequenced. This is where an executive producer - a George Martin if you will - could have stood at a distance and vetoed certain ideas that were crap. It certainly had its share of brilliance and should have seen the light of day in a form other than SMILEY SMILE, but overall it doesn't deliver an appeal to a mass audience. That's the aim of the game when it's all said and done.
I think they made great songs, definitely and had the quality for that as they have shown over time but unfortunately, due to circumstances to effectively compare the two is very difficult.
But, if I were to compare what The Beatles did at the time of Pet Sounds then at that point, The Beach Boys were better.
What you don't realise is it wasn't The Beach Boys. It was Brian Wilson using a session band. The Beatles were soley self contained at this time only using session musos very sparingly to play a rare solo. They worked out their own arrangements as a band. Later on it was different but in 1966 it wasn't
shareOh I am aware of that but just mentioning the name instead of going into detail.
shareAs far as far-reaching influence goes, The Beatles were far more potent in 1966. Revolver is still being heard today in bands Arctic Monkeys, White Stripes, Black Keys etc. Where do you hear Pet Sounds now? Pet Sounds lasted as long as the 70's. It belongs in that time.
shareI know I'm late to the party here, finally got around to Love & Mercy, which was great. I won't go into The Beatles v Beach Boy topic because both are outstanding and a good case can be made for either depending on personal preference. However, saying the Beach Boys aren't influencing today's music is way off base. Off the top of my head: Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Panda Bear,Real Estate, Broken Social Scene, Wilco (especially early to mid period), Tame Impala, Grizzly Bear, the Flaming Lips and Fleet Foxes are all current/recent bands that have received critical acclaim and practically ooze Beach Boy influence. I'm sure I'm forgetting several others. No coincidence that those bands have made some of my favorite music of the last 10-15 years.
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