The Beach Boys

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41

To be fair, Bob Dylan at his best is a poet to be taken seriously. His Mr. Tambourine Man lyrics appear in the Norton Introduction to Poetry, and they are easily on par with most of the other work present. He may not be as intellectually sophisticated as a Robert Lowell or Sylvia Plath, but what he lacks in sophistication he makes up for with intensely affective imagery. For instance, the following:

Then take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Many popular lyrics have been described as poetic, but among real <i>poet</i>-musicians, I only know of Bob Dylan.

42

Beach Boys are pretty awesome, but Velvet Underground is still > Beach Boys.

And SG, srsly, Bob Dylan is awesome. I used to not like him at all, but he’s awesome. The argument can’t be won.

as for the Beatles, my two favorite albums by them were both done before Sgt. Pepper came out. I really like “Help!” and “Please Please Me”

I think what makes the Stones awesome is that they didn’t try to be The Beatles, but I’m biased.

43

Taxman most definately does rock.

44

You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, “How does it feel
To be such a freak?”
And you say, “Impossible”
As he hands you a bone

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
And then he kneels
He crosses himself
And then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice
He asks you how it feels
And he says, “Here is your throat back
Thanks for the loan”

45

Except for that you, JUST BEFORE I SAID THAT, asserted that bands only evolve in relation to bands around and preceding them. If it’s so truistic, don’t say things that imply otherwise, as if it isn’t the most important part of musical evolution.

Okay. I went ahead and listened to/reviewed every single one of these songs. Here’s how it went:

“A Hard Day’s Night”…“Can’t Buy Me Love”

Man, I already called these out as lame…I was asking you to show something to me that you thought might change my mind; it’s almost as if you’re trying your hardest to get me to disagree with you.

“I Should Have Known Better”

What kind of argument are you trying to make for music that rocks, anyways?

“If I Fell”

This is totally a ramalamadingdong song.

“I’m Happy Just to Dance with You”

Yeah, this one, too.

“And I Love Her”

I’m beginning to think you didn’t really take my query too seriously…

“Tell Me Why”

Oh man, I really didn’t see this coming…

“Any Time at All”

Hey, another love song with bad lyrics. The Beatles? No way!

“I’ll Cry Instead”

Oh snap!

“Things We Said Today”

Here’s one: “Man, I really HATE early music from The Beatles.”

“When I Get Home”

Get outta here!

“You Can’t Do That”

Hmm, I guess The Beatles did influence modern emo, moreso than I realized. On another note, I really hate emo.

“I’ll Be Back”

I hear the sound of my point being proven correct.

“No Reply”

Awwww…

“I’ll Follow the Sun”

Good god!

“Help!”

Yeah, no dice, pal.

“Ticket to Ride”

wtf THIS SONG!?

“Drive My Car”

This rocks? Really? I can’t even say that this one rocks for its time, man…

“You Won’t See Me”

Man, this song got in like, 14 seconds before I was like “ughhh.” Dude, try harder.

“Nowhere Man”

Come on, dude. I said good songs.

“Think for Yourself”

Ugh.

“Michelle”

Ramalamadingdong

“What Goes On”

Boooooring…

“Girl”

This is a pretty cool song…The lyrics are not so…retarded.

“I’m Looking Through You”

Paul McCartney, jesus godlord…

“In My Life”

…Really? You want me to like this song?

“Wait”

Not bad.

“If I Needed Someone”

This one’s okay.

“Taxman”

Nice. This is the first song I’ve heard in the whole lot that I think is damn good.

“I’m Only Sleeping”

AUGHHHHH

“Here, There and Everywhere”

Refer to my previous commentary.

“Yellow Submarine”

Just to let you know…this is EXACTLY the song I think of when I say things like “The Beatles write boring, retarded songs.”

“She Said She Said”

You know something funny? I honestly forgot that I was listening to music when this song was on.

“Good Day Sunshine”

rofl

“And Your Bird Can Sing”

Borrring…

“Yes It Is”

I don’t feel my opinion changing as I listen to more of these songs.

[u]“She Loves You”[/u]

Oh yeah, I forgot about this song. …I don’t like it.

In the end, I still stick to what I originally said: The Beatles, pre-Sgt. Pepper, are godawful. Their songs (with few exceptions) all sound the same (rather, they have about two or three templates), they all go at about the same tempo, and almost all of them talk about love from a painfully sophomoric perspective with painfully sophomoric lyrics. Innovative definitely does NOT equate to being good. The decision to start working outside of the realm of simply rock music is the best decision they ever made musically, as far as I’m concerned.

46

I totally disagree…but, I’m more arguing that Bob Dylan is not the pinnacle of the particular genre - and subgenre - he resides in. That’s a pretty easy argument to make.

47

All the Beatles songs I like were, for the most part, written by either Harrison or Lennon. I think that Harrison’s songs in particular were the least ‘pop music’ of anything the Beatles wrote, which is probably why I like his stuff better overall.

48

SG, I don’t know why you insist on proving you have no taste in music.

49

Oh, I agree totally. I just think people too often forget that not all of Dylan is like that. His failures tend to be overlooked, sometimes even liked because “Oh, it’s Dylan. The lyrics must be good. He is a good lyricist.”

Indeed it is. It’s probably some of the best rhyme, meter, and alliteration of the twentieth centure. The imagery is pretty good, as well.
I don’t dislike Bob Dylan’s poetry, I just don’t believe he really deserves the place of the poet-king of music.

There are a lot, they just don’t get recognized for it quite so often. Bruce Springsteen’s bellowing voice and kinda ridiculous pop culture image often leads people to ignore that he’s arguably a better poet (and a more consistantly good one) than Dylan. Read Thunder Road, Jungleland, and a few of his other songs to see. Even in his fifties-pop immitation period he says poetic, often surreal things. A whole bunch of goth lyricists are essentially poets who got a band behind them (Andrew Eldrich and Nick Cave stand out), which pretty much makes them poet musicians. Poet musician is pretty much the defining factour in modern indie folk, though they’re often a more embittered, surreal sort of poetry.

50

Personally, I think the Beatles’ 1 album is one of the best compilations of music ever released. This includes the first half of the CD, which came before Sergeant Pepper.

I admit that the Beatles have a nonchalance that makes them less immediately gripping than some other bands, but you just need to approach their music from a more laid-back perspective. Like Beethoven. There’s no immediate thrill, but there’s a lot going on to be appreciated.

I don’t think that nonchalance is a result of the era. The Rolling Stones were certainly not casual like that, let alone the Who. On the other hand, maybe the less intense demeanor helped the Beatles find popular acceptance in society that still resisted rock.

51

QFT

[quote=]
I admit that the Beatles have a nonchalance that makes them less immediately gripping than some other bands, but you just need to approach their music from a more laid-back perspective. Like Beethoven. There’s no immediate thrill, but there’s a lot going on to be appreciated.[/quote]
I don’t really think this applies to Beethoven. Immediate thrills galore in his music. Mmm, Variations in Cm.

52

Where the hell is Hades? >.>

53

The best Beatles song ever is, and this is not up for debate, Octopus’s Garden.

54

dude, he practically <b>invented</b> folk rock, and easily dominated the genre while even making fun of its scenesters. His transition from political to poetic songs is likewise immensely influential. Have you ever listened to music from the 1960s? I get goosebumps every time I hear “Like A Rolling Stone” and I don’t know a lot of Dylan beyond the singles and Bringing It All Back Home.

also Sil, if you like 1960s rock or things like the artistic endeavors of the Rolling Stones, you should check out “Take It from The Man!” by the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It’s good stuff.

55

Whether or not you’re joking, I almost do agree with that, if not only for being Ringo’s shining moment.

56

Hahah, you sadistic masochist.

57

Well, I’m sure Bob Dylan is just the JESUS of cool, Merlin. But, there’s one thing that most people don’t seem to realize: Bob Dylan is a SHITTY musician. Hell, his songs aren’t bad at all…he’s just…SO BAD at them. I think my brother put it best, when he said “Bob Dylan’s songs all suck until someone else plays them.” I’m inclined to agree on that one. And personally, it’d be hard for me as a musician and a composer to recognize someone as being the best in their genre if they’re so terrible at making their own music sound good.

Besides, if Bob Dylan never existed…The Wallflowers would have never existed.

58

The fact that an Avril Lavigne cover of Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door sounds better than his, or at least equal to it, pretty much proves this point.

59
  1. he was involved in a pretty serious motorcycle accident that harmed his vocal chords, resulting in his “distinctive tone” 2) I actually like the way he sings, just because your performance isn’t washed through a million-dollar production studio doesn’t mean you can’t be an appealing singer 3) you’re arguing purely on the basis of subjective opinion
60

As is everyone else in a discussion of musical preference. Except Hades.