Looking Through A Glass Onion

In honor of the release Rock Band: The Beatles, along with a rerelease of the entire catalogue of The Beatles, I have decided to write a short think-piece on what I feel made The Beatles the greatest band ever.

To begin, I would like to state that I do believe that the Beatles are the greatest band ever. However, what exactly made them the greatest band ever? Was it talent? Creativity? Songwriting? Their Looks? Their Movies?

A great deal of critics quite often throw the word around talent like grass at Ozzfest. Well, I'm not going to sit here and tell you talent doesn't exist. However, there's another word for talent, ability. You see it when you see Randy Moss out run an entire team, or when Shaquille O'Neal catch a basketball above everyone's head. You even see it when your Mother can put her hands in extremely hot water and not get burnt. Talent is 100% physical.

Does talent exist in music? Of Course! Long fingers, for piano, strong forearms for bass guitar, fast hand coordination for electric guitar, and superior breathing skill for vocals are all talents. But do think the reason The Rolling Stone named Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band the Greatest Album of All Time was George Harrison's fingers? That seems quite unlikely to me, not to mention that Harrison's fingers were actually quite normal size. It might me be a stronger argument to propose that The Beatles had more vocal talent than the other rock bands. This is actually true. Although the Beatles had some growled rockers such as Helter Skelter and Revolution 1, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison not only displayed great vocal range while showcasing the ability to sing as smoothly as the Pop and R&B artists of the time. Even the weakest vocalist in the band, Ringo Starr, certainly had the ability to be a lead singer.

However, when vocal ability was a large part of The Beatles' success, it seems unlikely it was the core of their magic. For instance, one of the most impressive vocal performances by The Beatles is John Lennon's "Yer Blues." While this was song was successful, it did not reach as many people as did "With A Little Help From My Friends," a very simple McCartney-penned tune sung by Starr. So therefore, it was skill and not talent that made The Beatles the greatest band ever...well actually it wasn't that either. The Beatles definitely had acquired a degree of skill that put them up with the best. George Harrison often would play guitar so much that his fingers would actually bleed. All members of the band were multi-instrumentalists and skilled in several instruments. That was definitely a part of the magic. Not the biggest part, though.

The second biggest part (without telling you the first, yet) is songwriting. The Beatles were arguably the best composers to ever write popular music. Their compositions are creative, progressive, beautiful, edgy, catchy, and contain anything else you might want in to see or in songwriting. I sit here and continuously try to "out-art" myself with adjectives, but I'll quit that while I'm ahead. However, there five letters missing from all these elements of genius The Beatles have. Those five letters are R-I-N-G-O. Yet, the truth is, Ringo is a big part of the magic.

Think of the drum beat at the beginning of "Ticket to Ride." It's short, simple, somewhat sloppy, and not even a part of the song's composition. BUT IT ROCKS! That loud slightly early hit of the snare has been borrowed by everyone from Green Day to Coldplay. Or how about Paul McCartney's "Helter Skelter" Vocal? Is it possible to hear that song without jumping up and down? It isn't for me. And how cool was it when John Lennon used feedback intentionally at the beginning of "I Feel Fine," or when George Harrison ripped out his sitar in "Norwegian Wood"?

The Beatles weren't trying to prove themselves as some sort of virtuosos. They found ways of portraying human emotion through music. Some of those emotions we can't even describe by words. There music is just a Steven Spielberg film or Leonardi Di Vinci painting. The Beatles knew how to send any emotion satisfyingly at any time. And that is why, I believe The Beatles are the greatest band of all time.