I know Who Is Not the Greatest Band of All Time
Feb 10, 2010 by Nick
I knew the minute I read Aaron’s story what I would be writing about this week. There are some things in life that have answers and there is no need to argue. The greatest receiver of all time is Jerry Rice. The greatest basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan. The greatest hockey player of all time is Wayne Gretzky. The greatest rock guitarist of all time is Jimi Hendrix. These are just facts of life. One more fact of life is that the Beatles are the greatest band of all time. Notice I did not say they were my favorite band of all time. There are several bands that I enjoy more than the Beatles but I cannot deny the impact this band has had on the world.
I appreciate that Aaron loves The Who and I will admit that I do as well but to call them the greatest band of all time borders on ridiculous, while they are a great rock band the impact that they have had on music and pop culture is a quite frankly a joke compared to The Beatles. People that grew up in the 1960’s remember two major things from that decade. They remember where they were the day John F. Kennedy was shot and they remember watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. 73 million people watched the Beatles on TV that night. That is right I said 73 million people. That is a staggering number of people to watch a variety show. The Beatles caused teenage boys to grow their hair out. They changed the way people dressed and they changed the way people listened to music. The world had never seen anything like them. How many times have you seen the footage of The Beatles arriving in America or them walking on the field of Shea Stadium to play their final concert?
Aaron thinks because the Beatles were not around for 30 years that they cannot be the greatest band of all time. I could not disagree more. They made albums for 9 years and the quality of nearly everything they made is above reproach. Let It Be, Abbey Road, Sgt. Peppers, Help, Revolver, Rubber Soul are not only great Beatles albums they are some of the greatest albums of all time and if the worst Aaron has to complain about is The White Album I would say The Beatles did a pretty good job of making quality music. I think it is unfair for Aaron to discredit this band for having the common sense to call it a day when they realized they were unable to make music together any longer. Would he respect the band more if they hung around and made some of the crap The Who made in the 1980’s?
Aaron loves to chant about albums sales when he defends how great KISS is. Well The Beatles have sold over 1 billion albums worldwide. Yes I said billions with a B. Guess what the #1 selling album of the past decade was. It was “1” by The Beatles. The album has sold over 11.5 million copies to date. A band that broke up 40 years ago just had the biggest selling album of the decade. They sold 11.5 million copies of an album in a time where albums do not sell at all. They did it without selling their music digitally. I wonder if Aaron realizes what a big deal it will be when they finally agree to sell their music digitally. I am guessing it will be a bigger deal than the day The Who started releasing their music digitally. I also wonder if the world will line up for The Who Rock Band like they did for The Beatles Rock Band. By the way that was a rhetorical question.
One last bit of information. I just checked out the Rolling Stone top 500 albums of all time and as you can imagine it had a couple of Beatles albums. If you look below you will see how some of their albums were ranked. I would say that looks like a pretty good body of work.
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Revolver
5. Rubber Soul
10. The White Album
14. Abbey Road
39. Please Please Me
59. Meet the Beatles
86. Let It Be
332. Help!
388. A Hard Day’s Night
420. With The Beatles
As I said at the beginning of this article some things in life are just a fact and in this case it is a fact that Aaron is wrong. It will not be the last time that happens on this site.
Later,
Nick
Posted in Nick's Rants
I have to respond to Nick’s response, to my article. This is subjective subject, and to that fact you are entitled to think the way you want. And on a certain level I agree with you about the Beatles being the best band of all time; and if you read my article you’ll see that struggle within me. But, its not like Michael Jordan or Jerry Rice, its like Sandy Kofax or Jim Brown. The reason why is because these are greatest in their bosy of work, but only did it for a short time. They left too soon if you will. Do you think they are the best of all time in their sports? Its just a thought I have about the Beatles that they fall into that realm of glory but not longevity…just sonething to chew on…
While both arguments certainly have merit, I would tend to side more with Aaron for one simple reason. The Beatles, while great, never were shown to have great chops live. Their performances, unfortunately, were generally drowned out by screaming fans. They did not tour or play live for a significant portion of their later career. Rock and roll is a live event, it is something that should be felt not just heard. The Who have shown for years their ability to get it done live. So for title of greatest rock band ever one would have to choose a band that was able to convey the message both on record and on stage.