Monday 2 January 2012

10 Preconceptions About The Beatles




When I started Beatles Songwriting Academy I had a few goals and a whole load of preconceptions. I thought it would be cool to revisit them once I'd finished all 211 songs and see if they held up. But I'm two years in and still only a quarter of the way through so I've decided to look at them now.

Here were my assumptions I carried when I began

1) The Arctic Monkeys are better songwriters than the Beatles

2) Judging the Beatles for trite lyrics is merely a result of unfairly comparing song lyrics to printed poetry

3) George Harrison could have been as good a songwriter as Lennon and McCartney (and was later) but wasn't given a fair chance

4) John Lennon gave up songwriting to be a house husband and was just coming into his prime when he was killed

5) None of the Beatles were very good players. Especially Ringo

6) Sergeant Pepper may be a classic album but I don't really like it, and the individual songs aren't that great

7) The Beatles are overrated

8) The Beatles are the greatest band in history

9) The Beatles were a great live band

10) I want to be Woody Guthrie when I grow up

What do you think gentle readers? Do you agree with these convictions? Two years on do I?

Find out the answers here (1-4) and here (5-10)

4 comments:

  1. 1) Haha, funny.
    2) Agreed.
    3) GH wouldn't have been a songwriter without J&P. Even an untrained monkey (with no interest in drumming) would have become a songwriter after 7 years of closely working with J&P.
    4) His last album was not one of his most memorable.
    5) I agree with the first sentence.
    6) It's not in my top 3.
    7) In some areas maybe.
    8) One of the greatest bands in history.
    9) Pre 1962 or post 1968?
    10) You still can! Live your dreams!

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  2. Thanks for your votes Rob! I must state for the record that the answers (then and now) are still only my opinion - let's see (answers on wed and fri...)

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  3. Arctic Monkeys are my favourite band!
    Anyway this blog is amazing

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