The Beatles.

[Brian]

In a previous poll conducted 2 years ago, George and John tied with 8 votes, Paul had 7, and Ringo had 4. But there were no banana, don't know, dislike, or Fifth Beatle options, so let's try again!



By the way, to make this more fun, try explaining your vote a little. 

[kishnevi]

I don't have a real preference among them.  Do have a slight dislike for John, get bored by Paul,  but I like George and Ringo equally--but the level of interest in the individual members is not enough to say one gets my attention more than the others.  Do not, in fact, have a single Beatles album, although that may get remedied eventually.

[Brian]

I came late to the Beatles myself, Jeffrey, though not as late as you will be. My parents were so thoroughly burned out by the Beatles as kids that they never bought a single CD, so my introduction to their actual recordings, rather than to covers or to them as a cultural concept, came at age 16. I was dating a girl for the first time and she made me a mix tape, and I hated a lot of the songs on it to be honest. But then there came a song so amazing I turned to her (we were in her car) and said "who is this?!?!" It was "Across the Universe." And somehow I didn't hear another Beatles song until college.

The songs associated with Ringo (Yellow Submarine, Octopus's Garden) are the ones we did singalongs for as kids, but I don't have a big sentimental attachment to them. I'm not at all big on John - he was a jerk and I feel like because I don't do drugs I don't get as much from his songs as I should be getting. Plus, John's more an abstract poet type, and poetry is a huge blind spot of mine. "Across the Universe" is my favourite of his because of nostalgia, maybe, because it's so personal.

That leaves Paul and George. They'd be co-favourites, maybe, both great songwriting geniuses. George made his few contributions really count: "Here Comes the Sun," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Something." But for every George classic I can name two by Paul, and they're more adventurous than his reputation suggests.

Blackbird, Here There and Everywhere, Eleanor Rigby, Michelle, and yes, because it took me so long to hear and I'm not burned out and sick of it like most middle-aged folks are, even Yesterday... many of my top Beatles tunes are actually Paul all by his lonesome.

Paul it is.

[Bogey]

Ringo.  Out of the four, he grabs me as the coolest and the one I would want to sit down and have a drink with..  Plus his drumming skills are very underrated, IMO....he did not overdue it, kept the beat, and played what was needed instead of needing to be heard.  Listen to cuts like Good Day Sunshine, etc.  And, he seems to have fun being a Beatle.  What an idea!

Here are 13 other reasons to jump on the Ringo band wagon:

http://web2.airmail.net/gshultz/bryant.html

[kishnevi]

Ringo.  Out of the four, he grabs me as the coolest and the one I would want to sit down and have a drink with..  Plus his drumming skills are very underrated, IMO....he did not overdue it, kept the beat, and played what was needed instead of needing to be heard.  Listen to cuts like Good Day Sunshine, etc.  And, he seems to have fun being a Beatle.  What an idea!

Here are 13 other reasons to jump on the Ringo band wagon:

http://web2.airmail.net/gshultz/bryant.html

Yes, he did give the impression that he didn't take the idea of being A Great Cultural Icon all that seriously.  It's rather as if I like Ringo for the personality and George for the musicianship

[Bogey]

Yes, he did give the impression that he didn't take the idea of being A Great Cultural Icon all that seriously.  It's rather as if I like Ringo for the personality and George for the musicianship

Fair comment, Jeffrey.

[Mirror Image]

I don't really understand why this poll is here since The Beatles obviously aren't classical musicians.

[Brian]

I don't really understand why this poll is here since The Beatles obviously aren't classical musicians.

1. This is the Polling Station.
2. Precedent; precedent.
3. Arguably some of their greatest songwriting does ascend to Schubertian levels.

[Brian]

Plus his drumming skills are very underrated, IMO....he did not overdue it, kept the beat, and played what was needed instead of needing to be heard.

Thanks for pointing this out, Bill! It's funny: in jazz, I DO prefer drummers who demand to be heard, like Art Blakey or Joe Morello, to drummers who blend into the band, but when listening to the Beatles, I have never figured out what the "problem" with Ringo's drumming is. It's never flashy, but that's almost an asset: the band could never use flashy drumming as a gimmick to cover up for inferior songs, like so many rock bands have done in the decades since.

[Mirror Image]

1. This is the Polling Station.
2. Precedent; precedent.
3. Arguably some of their greatest songwriting does ascend to Schubertian levels.

But this is the polling station that's found in the classical section of the forum. The second reason you gave doesn't even remotely make any sense, especially considering you created that poll as well. As for the third, I'm not so sure about that, but, then again, I don't listen to The Beatles. I prefer progressive rock if I'm going to listen to rock music.

[dyn]

I suppose it's fairly appropriate to talk about the Beatles in a classical music forum because the increasing erudition and complexity of their music is what led rock music to "replace" classical on a large scale as the genre of music people engage with intellectually, leading to classical music's current situation of socio-cultural irrelevance. They represent, i suppose, the only time "serious" "art" music actually had a mass audience. No other pop icon has really dared to do what they did, (well, the "late capitalist" post-Reagan&Thatcher economic climate precludes it, anyway) although others did similar things and became nearly as popular (for a couple of decades).

That said, i don't like the Beatles's music at all. >.>

[The new erato]

The Beatles were marvels, are still great and had a far more important influence on todays music, in most genres, than most "serious" composers can ever dream to achieve. I would have voted if the poll had had the possibility for four selections.

[DavidW]

Paul

[Brian]

They are overexposed & overhyped to be realistic. Yes, they certainly were easy to get, direct, simple, catchy & popular (especially with the young folks) - influencial within their little & limited sphere of musical activity; but virtually irrelevant within meatier musical legacies/traditions.

I think you believe this because you prefer the much simpler earlier work like "I Want to Hold Your Hand." When I listen to a song like "Tell Me What You See," yeah, I hear some painfully simple musical ideas yoked to even simpler lyrics, and that's not the best thing. But that's closer to where they started than where they ended up.

The Beatles brought so much of classical music's complexity and flexibility to pop. These are the guys who helped introduced odd and/or contrasting rhythms ("Yesterday"), stereo effects, Stockhausen-type collages, and a lot of other things to the pop music world. They used aleatoric technique in "A Day in the Life." "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" practically invented metal. Anyway...

[snyprrr]

Here, this is VERRRY funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S14XaF6bW7A

[Marc]

Well, the poll is now part of The Dinner, where it belongs.
It's classical pop music IMHO, nothing more and nothing less.

FWIW: I love The Beatles since my childhood, and I picked Ringo (again) as my fave, because he was the glue for the band in their last, say, three years.

Paul McCartney was/is very fond of Stockhausen btw. His girlfriend was actress Jane Asher, and I think it was the Asher family who introduced him into the world of 'Higher Art' (whatever that may be) half-way the 60s, after he moved to London. McCartney went a lot to the theatre and to art expositions, and listened to (modern) classical music.

His favourite Stockhausen work was "Gesang der Jünglinge". McCartney introduced Lennon to Stockhausen's music and John also became interested in his music and was inspired by it ("Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Revolution 9").
They band and Brian Epstein desperately wanted Stockhausen on the famous Sgt. Pepper sleeve and sent multiple requests for Stockhausen's approval.



It was not easy to reach Stockhausen though, because he was on very busy international touring schedules those years. As the story goes, his permission arrived just in time.

As a bonus: Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge (with a kinda creepy clip):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap_A6TgVhdU

[vandermolen]

Saw them twice in concert in London (made my mother take me  ) all you heard was screaming. I attended the premieres of 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Yellow Submarine' in London, where Ringo refused to sign my autograph book. Never forgave him. 

Love The White Album and Abbey Road.

Saw The Monkees live too (all you heard was screaming). 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Saw them twice in concert in London (made my mother take me  ) all you heard was screaming.

My mother said the same thing about the Elvis concert she went to.

[Sergeant Rock]

John

This is what I posted in the Beatles' poll started by MN Dave (Beorn) two weeks ago (John won that one):


Lennon, for "In My Life"...but these ain't bad either:

I Am the Walrus
Strawberry Fields Forever
If I Fell
Revolution
Norwegian Wood
A Hard Day's Night
Come Together
Dear Prudence
Help!
Nowhere Man
Please Please Me
All You Need Is Love (not true, but hey, it's the thought that counts    )


Sarge

[North Star]

All You Need Is Love (not true, but hey, it's the thought that counts    )


Sarge

I guess one could say the same of I Am The Walrus.