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Would the Beatles still be the Beatles


Navy Vet.

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Would the Beatles still be "The Beatles"  if they were starting out today?  I have to admit, I like staying in my comfort zone when it comes to music. Meaning I mostly regard my generation of music as the best of all time. So if the groups of my youth were getting started today would they get started?

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You can't throw a rock and not hit somebody who does something with a guitar or keys or DJ equipment.  Lots do it for tips or for what they think is exposure, we call that gratis.  The space is full, way full, full of people willing to go out on Thursday night and play two hours for diners and take home 30 dollars in tips.  Getting decent gigs that will result in decent exposure that will result in moving even a few more records than a handful is becoming nearly impossible.  Costs are too high, return is too low.  Beatles existed in what would be a competition vacuum compared to today.  They grubbed around in underground rock clubs and humped it the old fashioned way, like everybody else did back then.  The more you worked the better your chances.  That just isn't true today.  If your uncle does taxes or some side legal work for one of the few distribution chains left you have a chance no matter how hard you suck.  Nearly every pop/rock/country "star" today is either related to the industry or had parents willing to take three mortgages, move to Nashville, and spend two years haranguing producers to get Taylor Swift signed to something.  Anything.  That's how it works now.  There is no flopping on your cousin's couch while you wait for the big break.  It's a weird business, a strange world, has been for a long time now.

Yes, I know, there are the exceptions, the "genius"es we get every six months or so, I get that.  They flash and usually vanish because the market is never interested in your last record or your next one.

rct

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I'm with my bud rct..

I think.. no,,  I believe this happened at a moment in time where all those pieces came together, and the magic was made.

SOMETHING would have happened, cuz the talent is at the bottom of it all would still be there, but I believe the impact wouldn't have been that profound.

 

 

 

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If they came out now like they did then? Probably not. They were unique for their time and the times were different, as RCT said. But, here's a question: What would the music scene be like now had The Beatles not come out when they did?

Live music is different now even from when I was playing on the road in the 80's and 90's. We can and do still get gigs now and we've had a busy summer. It's not like it was then where they have a band at the same venue for 4 or 5 nights a week or at least not around here. A lot of places around here are one nighters. The money is usually $50.00 to 100.00 per person, depending on where it is and what size the venue is.

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25 minutes ago, MichaelT said:

If they came out now like they did then? Probably not. They were unique for their time and the times were different, as RCT said. But, here's a question: What would the music scene be like now had The Beatles not come out when they did?

Live music is different now even from when I was playing on the road in the 80's and 90's. We can and do still get gigs now and we've had a busy summer. It's not like it was then where they have a band at the same venue for 4 or 5 nights a week or at least not around here. A lot of places around here are one nighters. The money is usually $50.00 to 100.00 per person, depending on where it is and what size the venue is.

If the Beatles came out now the current music scene would be different.  That much talent level would be a major influence on today's sound.  Back in the late sixties and through the seventies it was the wild- wild west when it came to playing live. There was an abundance of work available and it seems more live music clubs looking for bands.  Back then if you wanted a particular sound you just grabbed a different guitar. Today electronics have taken over and you can play an entire 4 set list with just one guitar. More talent back then and that's an opinion shared by many I talk with.

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51 minutes ago, Marky Forrest said:

I don't think so. People and "music" have changed so much over the years. The Beatles were in the right place, right time and it was magical.

I'm still surprised on how many kids I come across digging the Beatles. I don't there will ever be a Beatlemania, but I think there would be more of an impact that would think. 

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Very hard to say.  I don't think they would have the impact now that they had then.  One of the biggest things about them when they first appeared was that their hair was long and shaggy - who would care about that now?  

On other hand though there are a lot of kids and younger adults who like music from the sixties and seventies because it's just better than a bunch of sampled tracks mixed together with no real band at all.

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Are you talking about the music or the talent?

The Beatles now . . . no.

But I’m thinking the four talents growing up in today’s environment would be able to produce successful material, while pushing the bar, somewhat like those four lads from all those years ago. 

Let’s not forget, John and George remained successful till their ends - Paul is still successfully putting out new material, and Ringo is . . . still Ringo. 😎

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On 8/14/2019 at 1:08 PM, Navy Vet. said:

Would the Beatles still be "The Beatles"  if they were starting out today?  I have to admit, I like staying in my comfort zone when it comes to music. Meaning I mostly regard my generation of music as the best of all time. So if the groups of my youth were getting started today would they get started?

No, they were a function of their time. That time is gone.

It's like asking if Duke Ellington would be a hit maker today, or Al Jolson, or Bing Crosby, or Wolfgang Mozart, or Louis Armstrong, or Vanilla Fudge, or The Moody Blues, or The Platters, or Pyotr Tchaikovsky, or Elvis Presley, or Aretha Franklin, or Jackie Wilson, or ... ... ... ...

Just because it's good doesn't mean it will be popular today. Music tastes change and are part of the zeitgeist.

Nicki Minaj wouldn't have made it during Aretha Franklin's day, and Aretha wouldn't make it in Nicki's day.

True the Beatles had some very good songs and arrangements. But if they happened during the Bing Crosby days, it would have been considered noise.

The right music has to happen at the right time to be popular. Then once it becomes extremely popular, it will become a classic, and if it is good enough, it will last as long as JS Bach.

That's my opinion anyway

Insights and incites by Notes

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They were simply in the right place at the right time, within the ongoing evolution of music.

Add to that a degree of talent & personality that made them stand out a bit taller than others in a similar crowd of boy bands.

Then after their initial success, add the money, management, & studio facilities which allowed their creative minds to free-flow.

Venuti & Lang, Reinhardt & Grappelli, Goodman & Christian, Bill Monroe, and so many others were part of an extended blues-tinged foundation that borrowed from elements of American Blues - all of which eventually created the opportunity for British boys to discover & emulate the recordings of people like Freddie King, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Carl Perkins, Muddy Waters, etc, etc, etc.  The Beatles were not musically the best of the British bands in 1964, during a period where groups were essentially playing some very similar stuff based on the above - but they could certainly sing & harmonize, and they were "cute" to boot.

It was a combination that could only have occurred in that particular moment, in that particular era.

As Paul McCartney has said many times:  "We were just a band." 

 

 

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If the Beatles were starting out today with today being as is, then they wouldn't have a chance because of everything that happened as a result of what they were back then. They made it so desirable for people to jump into the music business and try to recreate what they had. Now if they tried today and had never existed (sounds twilight zoney) who knows, it would be a different place.

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