Most progressive band of Non-progressive bands - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Lucent wrote:

I don't care what most say, I don't see The Beatles as innovators.

Zep wins!

Led Zeppelin might be rock music worst plagiarists of blues music in rock. They were not great innovators. The Beatles had musical influences like everybody else. Even in their early music guitarists were amazed at their chord usage and that's what guitarists in 1964 noticed. Without that The Byrds, Dylan, Grateful Dead and Folk Rock might have not happened.

It was by Rubber Soul given the landscape of musical influences available to the Beatles, what’s the logical precedent for “Eleanor Rigby” or “I Am the Walrus” or “Golden Slumbers” or “Nowhere Man” or “Penny Lane” or “Across the Universe” or the entire Sgt. Pepper album? ? Each generation’s most popular musicians, from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin there’s a traceable progression to their musical development, a discernible link with what came before. What set the Beatles apart was that they seemed to conjure their greatest work out of the ether—or maybe out of the breath of a muse.

Consider the first verse of “For No One”: “Your day breaks, your mind aches / You find that all her words of kindness linger on / When she no longer needs you.” The subject matter couldn’t be more familiar—in essence, breaking up is hard to do. But the mood is Thomas Hardy. The compactness is William Carlos Williams. The rhythms and internal rhymes are Emily Dickinson, with hints of Dylan Thomas and Gerard Manley Hopkins. There’s nothing remotely like it in popular music. Now consider that the words were written by McCartney, who was 23 at the time, who set out to write a pop song, not a work of literature, and who, by his own admission, never put as much effort into his lyrics as Lennon did.

The Beatles used the studio as in relation as a studio for an instrument were using to create sort of Psychedelic wall of sound production. There is no logical precedent for "I Am the Walrus" or "Tomorrow Never Knows" in rock music in it's use as a studio as instrument. Musically there are more key changes and time changes in "Good Day Sunshine" than most albums have.

“Psychedelic effects are heard in the backward guitar parts on “I'm Only Sleeping which became an important technique in Rock Music. A special shout for the harmonized guitar parts on “And Your Bird Can Sing” a really great power pop type of song. The Beatles were not guitar shredders but that’s not what music is all about IMO. IMO the Beatles psychedelic experimentation in the studio, use of obscure non rock sources, were a huge influence on Pop music and basically all the early psych- prog bands were influenced by the Beatles. They were not the only ones of course but get over it they were a huge influence.

Edited by Chelsea - February 09 2009 at 12:02

I've never listened to a led zep song and heard very little queen... but assuming the former is van halen and the latter is duran duran...

The Who!

Quadrophenia! An any listen to Pete Townshend's solo work...

Lucent wrote:

I don't care what most say, I don't see The Beatles as innovators.

Zep wins!

You don't see The Beatles as innovators, but Led Zeppelin does.

Symphonic Prog Master

Poll Question: Wich is more progressive ?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
The Beatles	22	[36.07%]
The Doors	9	[14.75%]
Jefferson Airplane	2	[3.28%]
Queen	11	[18.03%]
The Who	8	[13.11%]
Led Zeppelin	9	[14.75%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted