My whole life from the womb to to Twenty-Two people have been telling me about this British pop-rock-psychedelic group "The Beatles". And recently I heard that Kanye West made a recent claim in regards to the legendary group and I quote:
"America has, and probably always will, dominate music across the globe but it's always been the British who pull out that very special band. We have had amazing bands like Nirvana and Guns N' Roses but it's the British who have had the cream with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones setting the standard. I love Coldplay, and I honestly think they are on the same level as The Beatles." -Kanye West
"In 30 years, when Coldplay are old men, people will look back and say, 'These guys were more talented than The Beatles.' I have worked with Chris Martin and the man is a genius - as a performer and a songwriter he is on the same level as John Lennon. I am not saying this sort of s**t lightly, it's really how talented the guy is. And Coldplay can go down as the best ever - even bigger than The Beatles." -Kanye West
Now you may disagree with Mr. West or agree, but as far as I was concerned I had no experience in which to base my opinion, so I set out to look into this for myself, and make the call on whether Kanye has a legitimate argument or if these are just patent falsehoods.
Call me a late bloomer, or call me the anti-Christ but before today I never really took the Beatles seriously. I was always aware of the Beatles, but I always kind of passed them up as irrelevant, and the majority of people who listened to them as just followers to an idea that they should be listening to the Beatles, because they are "The Beatles". Now before you pass judgment I am music savvy, and most of my favorite musicians and albums are from the 1960's and 1970's. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin - I,II,III,IV The Who- Tommy, Jimi Hendrix- Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, are among my favorites. But the Beatles have always escaped my musical grasp, until one faithful day I had a good "convo" with Matty Bee AKA ToastRobot (http://toastrobot.blogspot.com/). Matt is I guess the first Beatlevangelist I have really had a chance to talk to. He kinda of filled me in on some ideas on how the Beatles influenced him personally in his music taste and how they influenced the American Culture in general, which lead me to ponder... but I'll get to that in a second.
Matty Bee vowed to get me the essentials collection of Beatles music, now mind you this is not the "Beatles 1" essentials this is the raw Beatles, the true essentials for the more cultured Beatlemaniacs. After months and months of me hounding Toast Robot he finally delivered today on half of his promise, and I can safely say that so far it has been worth the wait. Scanning through the song list I recognized maybe 5-6 songs by name, however just putting the collection on shuffle it seems like each song is so unique, whether its an interesting time signature, with haunting harmonized vocals, or its a more upbeat simple love song, I'm finding the music overall enjoyable and intriguing. I'm not really expecting to fully understand the Beatles in one afternoon but today is the beginning of an adventure. I'm gonna keep listening and learning and will revisit the Kanye quotes regarding Coldplay. But for now I feel Fine.
Wow. I'm glad you are finally coming around to The Beatles. Welcome. =) I honestly can't think of one Cold Play song. Kanye has no grounds for that comment. I can't wait to read your review of Cold Play. I will be waiting. =)
ReplyDeletesorry it took so long. part 2 on its way. the best is yet to come. congratulations on landing safely in the blogosphere!
ReplyDeleteWow, Kanye never ceases to amaze me. ColdPlay, really? IMO, everything I've heard from ColdPlay sounds almost exactly the same as the other songs they have. The only one that's ever stood out to me was Clocks (there you go, Elizabeth).
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles, on the other hand, were able to do "hard rock", at least as it was considered back then, and they could do the ballad, or they could do the pop song. Not only did they have diversity and variety, the technical aspect of their music is what changed the landscape of music. They were doing stuff no one else was. They were breaking the "rules" of music and playing chords that shouldn't be together in the same progression. And they made it work. I don't think Kanye has done anything like that; and, while I would take ColdPlay over Kanye any day, I don't think they've come close to that, either.
Just my opinion. Haha long winded, sorry.
Thanks for the input Derek,So far I am agreeing with you, but I have honestly never really heard any Cold play besides maybe one or two I heard on the Radio, so to be fair to Kanye and cold Play, and The Beatles I will listen to said artists and see whats really going on here.
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