OPINION

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By Jack McGill

The Beatles are overrated. They are easily one of the greatest bands of all time and have one of the largest influences on music, but I cannot agree with them being THE greatest band of all time, which Peter Lee from music website Hooks and Harmony believes, along with many others. I am not saying I do not enjoy any of their songs, but the sun has not come for me. I find that rock bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones are better bands and have much more appeal to me than The Beatles.

The four members of The Beatles: John Lennon (top left), Paul McCartney (top right), George Harrison (bottom left), and Ringo Starr (bottom right). Image credit: Openclipart user j4p4n.

The Beatles comprised four members: John Lennon (vocals and rhythm guitarist), Paul McCartney (vocals and bass), George Harrison (lead guitar), and Ringo Starr (drums). The band was started by Lennon and McCartney in 1957, when the boys were teenagers, and was originally named The Quarrymen. In 1960, they would go through several name changes until they found their final name, The Beatles, which was partly inspired by the 1953 movie The Wild One. They would go onto release their first studio album, Please Please Me, in 1963, and the album would reach number one on the UK music charts and stay for 29 weeks. The band had almost immediate success in the UK, as well as in the US. When The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, it was a record-setting episode that brought in 73 million households on live television.

Throughout the band’s ten year lifespan, they created and released 12 studio albums, and after their breakup, many remasters and anthologies were eventually released. Some of their most popular albums include Abbey Road (1969), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (The White Album) (1968), and 1, a collection of their number one hits remastered, released in 2000, 20 years after the murder of Lennon. The band boasts one of the widely renowned discographies of all time, along with some of the most legendary songs of all time. Some of the best-known songs include: “Let It Be,” “Yesterday,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and many, many more. However, some of these “legendary” songs, like “Yellow Submarine,” are not that great. In my opinion, “Yellow Submarine” is a song meant for children, and nothing more, and the only appeal to me is the chorus. The band’s influence stems from them being one of the first real bands, not a single star with back up instrumentals, like their influences Elvis Presley or Chuck Berry. They were also the first band to do many things for the first time, like implementing an orchestra into a rock/pop song and experimenting with different sound effects in the studio. 

Strictly based on pure enjoyment while listening to their music, I think the blues rock band Led Zeppelin, which started their reign of the rock and roll world just as The Beatles were ending theirs, is better. I just enjoy their music more and would argue that their more solemn and softer songs, like “Going to California,” are more beautiful than The Beatles’ music with similar sound. Zeppelin’s more typical hard rock songs have yet to disappoint me. Similarly, I have found that I enjoy other English rock bands like Queen or Pink Floyd more that The Beatles’ catalogue.

I know that I am not the only person who shares this hot take. In the Collegiate community, Upper School college counselor Adam Ortiz also thinks that they are overrated. He said, “To me, they are more like the boy-band of their generation whose success and longevity has more to do with marketing and circumstances outside of their control than musical ability. You would think that to deserve all the praise they receive, The Beatles would have at least one of the best singers, drummers, or guitarists, but I don’t think they do.”

I agree strongly with Ortiz’s last point. For them to be called the greatest band ever, but not having any of the best musicians in their respected instruments, makes it hard for me to think that they’re the greatest. For example, Harrison and Lennon are overshadowed by many guitarists, like Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, or Jimmy Page. Starr is overshadowed by drumming legends like John Bonham or Keith Moon.

My father, Collegiate alum Henry McGill (’89) agrees that their status is overrated. He states, “While the Beatles were incredibly popular and sold more than everybody, I don’t think they were as influential as, say, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, or Led Zeppelin.”

And of course, people on the internet agree. Kaylie Ramirez, a writer from the Boston College student magazine The Heights, did an in-depth analysis of each member of the band and compared them to other members in other popular bands. She writes, “The Beatles’ individual musical talent is surpassed in almost every regard.” A since-deleted reddit account shared an opinion on the band being overrated. They said, “I bought Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and went into it expecting absolute brilliance… and the best pieces of music I’d ever heard in my life. I just couldn’t see what the whole fuss was about.” This is the same feeling I have experienced while listening to The Beatles. 

I cannot argue that The Beatles have one of, if not the largest, influence on music as a whole. Their experimentation for their time changed the music industry and shaped it for decades after. Their influence would get them to be standing atop almost every Top 100 list of all-time musical artists. Rolling Stone magazine, generally the best known music magazine, has them at number one on their list. But the key part to their success was the time period they started in. There were not that many mainstream artists or bands that were experimental in the rock and pop genre. There were not as many bands to compete with during their time, compared to bands to come in later decades. The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and The Grateful Dead were a few of the bands/artists that competed against the clear front runner of their time. There was much more room for experimentation in music when they started. It’s similar to how the “unholy trinity,”—Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath—were the innovators of heavy metal music and became so popular because of it. There was no such thing as metal music during their time, but these three bands paved the way for hard rock and metal music to become what it is today. 

The Beatles are a legendary band with one of the greatest impacts on the music industry. But over the passing of time, I believe that their music is just not that great compared to many other artists from their time, as well as artists and bands to come after. Of course, music is a subjective taste, and in my opinion, the Beatles songs just aren’t as good as everyone makes them out to be.

Featured image credit: Bob Freeman via Wikimedia Commons.