Do the Beatles get too much credit..

Although I answered Yes, I do agree with that, and had the question been, "Do the Beatles get too little credit?", I also would have answered yes. The band gets too much credit from some (including some who have claimed that The Beatles deserve all the credit they can get), and not enough credit from others. It seems likely that on average it (the band) does fall more on the side of too little credit these days. The influence and effect that The Beatles had on music is incredible, especially considering its fairly short run. Hearing "A Day In The Life" alone has been very influential, including to Robert Fripp. And without The Beatles, there would have been no The Rutles.





Funnily enough, I listen to The Rutles and sing their songs more than The Beatles.

Valdez wrote: Every bit of credit The Beatles have ever gotten is well deserved.  Theres a reason the whole planet went mad over them. They certainly had the magic.

I really disagree because I have seen/heard very dubious claims about The Beatles, and I just don't trust the accuracy of people when it comes to what all people would give credit for (people make mistakes, don't know the full history). Not only have I heard that the Beatles invented raga rock, but that it invented raga. I also have heard The Beatles credited with inventing what is known as musique concrete even though they did not, but popularised it by taking that into their own music. Somewhere in this thread I think I listed some claims made by people that seem very suss to me. That the Beatles invented heavy metal music, a claim I have seen multiple times, well I don't know how true that is.

It would be incredible to me if not even one person ever gave undue credit to The Beatles (I framed this particularly in terms of innovation and origination, and not all the the planet goes mad for experimentation, innovation and origination). Actually, depending on what one means by the whole planet went mad for them, well if that means everyone loved them, that would not be true. My dad loathed The Beatles, but then I guess you could say he went mad about them in his own way by getting mad at them.

That and Lord Mountbatten are the two things I would remember him talking about the most that he absolutely hated (my dad was a British officer in India during partition). Later he was in corrections and setting up rehabilitation units, and he blamed The Beatles, I think, overmuch for drug abuse. I think he may have given The Beatles too much credit for leading people to drug abuse.

One thing we call all agree at least, The Beatles did invent rock and roll. ;) Okay maybe not. Hair metal? Perhaps. I came from the perspective that if one can find/ has heard even one claim from one person crediting The Beatles with something that there is insufficient evidence for, or is just plain wrong, then The Beatles have been given too much credit including on the claim that the Beatles are worthy of all credit that has been given to them. As said, I also think the Beatles does not get enough credit by some. Good, magic, that's subjective, but it makes sense to look to specific claims about The Beatles that are stated as fact, such as The Beatles invented such-and-such.

Edited by Logan - 2 hours 25 minutes ago at 10:23

^ When I made this poll I was thinking specifically about claims of origination and innovation. Not all credit is deserved. Some of the credit that The Beatles get, or has received, is BS, or unfounded; therefore, I don't think that The Beatles deserve all the credit that has been given to them. I am very happy to see credit given where it is due.

EDIT for a tangential note: Taylor Swift is another worldwide pop phenomenon whom I would doubt deserves all the credit and accolades that she has been given. How much credit the Beatles should be given for her music and success, I don't know, but of course The Beatles has had a profound effect on music/ has been very influential.

Edited by Logan - 46 minutes ago at 12:02