Do you think the Beatles are the greatest rock band/rock artist of all time?

Question

If so, why? How do they compare with other acclaimed musical acts across history - Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Stravinsky, Coltrane, Ellington, etc.? Is it fair to make such comparisons?
If not, why? Who is the greatest rock band/artist ever? What criteria makes them as such?

A good answerer should explain themselves well and defend their position well against potential criticism. I will not pick the best answer based who most agrees with me. Please be honest, thoughtful, and considerate. Thanks in advance to all you amateur music critics for the input.

Answer 1

The Beatles are, in my opinion, the greatest rock band ever because they changed the entire concept of the rock band. While some earlier rock artists did tap into a generalized youth mind either unconsciously (Buddy Holley) or by careful design (Elvis, Chuck Berry), for no one before The Beatles was the socialogical impact of the rock artist nearly as important or as appealing an aspect of the phenomenon itself. Before the Beatles, a fan might very well like Elvis, buy all of his records, and genuinely consider Elvis a signifier of his or her own personality; after Beatles, a fan was a member of a Generation, with its own values, its own icons, its own language, its own dress code, its own attitudes and morals, most of which were in direct contrast to those of the generation before it.

The Beatles changed what a rock band does. Before the Beatles, a rock band was a group of rock musicians, easily interchangeable with any similarly-skilled rock musicians, who played songs generally written by someone else; the ideas and personalities of the individuals within the band made no difference whatsoever to the appeal of the music; the songs were primarily in service of the product (records), and anything which interfered with the production & marketing of that product was not tolerated by the band's managers, record labels or the other members of the band. The Beatles were a self-contained unit; the songs were largely written by Lennon & McCartney, the arrangements were entirely their own (with considerable input from George Martin), and each member of the group had a near-equal say in what the group did and how they did it. While an earlier rock artist's "image" or "presentation" were of considerable importance, one could just as easily operate without the other, if not more so (Fabian probably would've been just as appealing as a TV star as he was as a singer; Elvis could've been spared quite a bit of grief if he'd never been filmed from the waist down; very few parents upon seeing Little Richard would ever want their children to see him again; NOBODY wanted to look like Bill Hailey; etc.). The Beatles would not have worked without the distinct personalities of the four members, operating as the four parts of a complete unit; unlike The Rolling Stones, who have been rotating personnel for nearly 40 years, the Beatles wouldn't have been The Beatles with, say, Pete Best on drums rather than Ringo. Each Beatle personality played an integral part in the whole, and the other three parts are each made stronger by the reflection of the fourth. Those personalities and ideas related directly to the music even more so than, say, Bob Dylan (you either liked Dylan's songs or you didn't; with the Beatles, you either preferred John's songs to Paul's or vice versa, but either way, you were a Beatles fan). Their fans felt they KNEW the Beatles, and so their songs were more like a conversation with a friend than a product to be purchased; they bypassed art and commerce and place and time and spoke directly to the fans. Their attitudes and opinions informed those of an entire generation which was, for the first time, aware of itself AS a generation rather than as a bunch of people who were roughly the same age. More learned scholarly drivel gets written about the social upheaval of the 60's than about any other decade before or since, but without the Beatles at the forefront, the changes wouldn't have been nearly as rapid or widespread. Pop Culture, while it did exist, did not impact the larger culture at all before the Beatles; after the Beatles, the two are inseperable.

No other rock artist before or since has made so rapid and drastic a change in their musical identities, style, subject matter, or capabilities as the Beatles. For most artists (that is, those artists who aren't AC/DC or Motorhead), change is a natural occurrance, and it's easy to point to an album or song that clearly a transition-point from one type of music or career-phase to another; the Beatles changed so quickly, it's impossible to find an album that WASN'T transitional. Can you imagine the most popular band in the world today releasing two albums as different as "Help!" and "Revolver" a mere year apart, with as strong an album as "Rubber Soul" halfway between? (by the way, TRY and name a bad Beatles album; while there may be a song or two on a particular album that you don't personally like, there's one of your favorites somewhere else on the same album, and that song you didn't like is probably somebody else's favorite!).

Before the Beatles, while a very lucky rock artist might make a lot of money very quickly, there was no such thing as a life's vocation playing rock music; the Beatles themselves didn't give their careers more than "five years, tops" before they'd have to give it all up & go get a real job. Even Elvis, who had been the biggest pre-Beatle star, largely gave up on music to concentrate on his film career, because movies were likelier to last. The Beatles held out the possibility of rock music as an escape from and a triumph over one's circumstances; particularly in England, the Beatles showed an entire generation that their lives were not necessarily proscribed from birth to death by the limits of the class into which they were born. This same sense of possibility is seen today in America, where Hip-Hop is a viable alternative to gangs & drugs in the inner city.

Before the Beatles, and to a certain extent during the Beatles, rock music was largely considered ephemeral and disposable; the idea that someone might be interested ten years down the road, let alone fifty, was so ludicrous as to be unthinkable (this attitude is why there are no original master tapes for the vast majority of 60's recordings; they were disposable, so the record companies threw them away). The Beatles were the first artists whose music never stopped selling, and who had as big of hits twenty years or more after their breakup as they did in original release.

The Beatles, by their own curiosity, broad interests, and personal tastes, changed the way music can sound, how it is recorded, and how it is marketed to the public. Before "Sgt. Pepper's", nobody (but Phil Spector) had even imagined the recording studio itself as a medium for the actual creation of new sound rather than as a place to record sound as it already existed; after "Pepper", it's impossible to think of it any other way. Without the Beatles' reluctance to fly to America to appear on the Ed Sullivan show yet again in late 1966 and early 1967, they wouldn't have created "promotional film" versions of "Paperback Writer", "Rain", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" which led directly to the advent of MTV.

In its simplest form, my argument is this: in every medium of art, in any society, in any culture, it is easy in hindsight to see a pivotal event . Everything which comes before this pivotal event is immediately recognized as "before", and everything afterward is so indelibly influenced that it can only be described as "after".

For rock music, The Beatles are that pivotal event.

Answer 2

Wow almost nobody knows history here. The Beatles started and completed everything. They changed rock music. What would rock be from 1970-present without them.They have inspired so many young artists. I'm not saying they are the greatest band because they are personally my favorite but because they are the best. No bands has come close to what they had. They have sold over a billion records. They also held the top four positons in the top 5 singles. How amazing do you have to be to do that.

Answer 3

I think the Beatles are the greatest rock band/rock artists of all time. They revolutionized music. Every band you can think of plays only one genre of music. The Beatles played pop, rock, ballads, blues, and many more. They were the first band to really have a special bond connecting their members. When they really became better musicians, they wrote their own songs. They had their own style. They had their own music. They even had their own hairdo!!! Beethoven and all the other great composers were fantastic. But, did they play their own music in concerts? Did they sell all their compositions when they were alive? No! They hired orchestras and bands and singers to perform their music. And, most of the classical composers didn't sell anything until they were dead! The Beatles wrote their own compositions and performed it on their own and they sold music while they were ALIVE! Also, most of the great classical composers had a musical backround; education in music. Did the Beatles? No. John played the guitar like a banjo. His mother played banjo amateurly. Paul's father was an amateur musician, but he played a little piano. Paul taught himself guitar. The same is with the other members really. The guitarists would go around town picking up different chords for guitar. They had to teach THEMSELVES. When they got started, they were pretty much living in poverty. Yes, they had jobs, but they had to play 24/7; living on pills and alchohol. The Beatles brought themselves to greatness. Their music was so DIFFERENT then everyone elses. They played psychadellic rock in the most amazing sense. They dressed differently and they acted differently. They weren't clean guys. They were off and on drugs all the time. They were DIFFERENT. They were the revolutionists without violence. They changed the world's music-FOREVER.

Answer 4

I love The Beatles dearly but i don't think their the best rock band of all time. I mean don't get me wrong they are up there in the 5's but i don't think their the best rock band of all time. I mean a lot of my friends listen to rock and they think they suck! I think Jimi Hendrix made more of an impact on the world. I don't know the Beatles are really good, I think their either tied for the best rock band or their the 2nd best rock band of all time. I think their name will be carried out a lot longer than the rock bands these days i mean they have been carried out for over 40 years now and Paul and Ringo are still alive. So thier music is probably is going to last forever, but then again so is Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Led Zepplin. So i wouldn't consider them them the best but they are pretty darn close to the best. hope this helps.

Answer 5

I'm one of those people who don't have a single favorite or put a label on a SINGLE artist/band as being " the best" but I will say that they are among the best of the best. I was a child in the 1960s and Beatles records were a staple in our household and I vividly remember when their hits were hot off the press and all over the radio. Their music has lost none of its freshness or vitality over time. It will certainly be around long after all those living today are no more.

Answer 6

I guess I don't really consider the Beatles a "rock" band. When I think of rock, I think of Aerosmith, Led Zeplin, etc. I do think the Beatles are the greatest band of all time though. I think they are influential to all genres of music just as Beethoven, and so on. I think 100 years from now people will still consider the Beatles great, and that will never change.

Answer 7

For rock, the beatles started it all. All the ideas of modern rock came from what the beatles did back then. The beatles basically inspiried many ROCK artists.

Answer 8

Don't get me wrong I think they are a great band but not the best, because not everybody likes the music, there are other bands out there, but theywere thebest back in that time period

Answer 9

No, but they are one of the all time greats.

Answer 10

No, but I think the group Pink Floyd might be.