After reading that I still really strongly disagree that the Beatles are at all overrated. You can't critisize a band for being simple and not extremly instrumentally complex when that is the kind of music they are making. That's like critisizing a classical musician for not being able to play jazz improv. Hey Bach, that's nice counterpoint but I bet you can't swing on the sax. Gimme a break, no one can do EVERYTHING, and sometimes simple is better. In terms of when they came out and the image and their success, that's just the business aspect of the Music Industry. You can't hold it against them that they were business savy and had a great sociological perspective of what would be accepted. Once they were established, they pushed all the boundaries and did more for rock and roll than anyone in history. For example:
They were the first to use tape echo
They were the first to put an orchestral part in a pop song
They were the first to bring eastern musical ideas into western pop music
They were the first to put vocals and guitar through a leslie speaker
They were the first to bring Motown into the mainstream pop culture
People can say all they want about them being a political movement and the time happening to be ripe for that sort of band. When all is said and done, if a Beatles song comes on the radio, I don't flip the channel because I know I will enjoy listening to it a ton. And that's impressive considering their 70 or so songs in regular rotation.
Definatly not denying any of that stuff, I just think there boring as all hell..
