by Paul Rance

Created on: March 21, 2010

These things are always subjective, but people are wrong to say modern rock and pop music can't cut it. There's still good music being made, but still no group comes close to matching The Beatles.

Firstly, The Beatles made music which will surely last as long as the popular song itself. Secondly, like Elvis Presley, The Beatles made a cultural impact which transcended their music. Finally, they were great entertainers - and their comic turns in the movies 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Help!' shouldn't be underestimated. Even in a golden decade of creativity like the 1960s, which was often described as a second renaissance, The Beatles are remembered by most as the main creative force of that decade. Everything seemed to revolve around them, and bounce off them.

Individually, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were - apart from their music and a penchant for humour - four quite different individuals. John was complicated - acerbic, harsh on himself and often on others, but, overall, he had a great humanitarian streak, and with Paul formed arguably the greatest songwriting partnership in popular music history. Paul was the diplomatic Beatle, though is often, unfairly, portrayed as the destroyer of the group. Paul's love of animals and nature came through in songs such as 'Blackbird' and 'Mother Nature's Son'. George was underestimated - a deep thinker, and a quiet voice struggling to be heard. As a solo artist, his 'All Things Must Pass' album was maybe better than any solo album even John and Paul produced. Ringo was the most instantly likeable member of the group, and unfairly derided for his drumming skills by some critics. He was a good drummer, good singer, and no mean songwriter, viz. 'Octopus's Garden'. Also, his talent for comic acting was never fully utilised.

For anyone who says they didn't like The Beatles, I'd think they were just being perverse, and suggest they actually think about the songs The Beatles wrote and performed.

I would concede that the early material of The Beatles was nothing special, but from the mid-1960s onwards they took modern, popular music to a higher plane, with songs such as these: 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', 'Eleanor Rigby', 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'Yesterday', 'Here, There And Everywhere', 'She's Leaving Home', 'Something', 'The Fool On The Hill', 'Let It Be', 'The Long And Winding Road', 'Hey Jude', 'Penny Lane', 'Help!', 'Nowhere Man', 'Your Mother Should Know', ''While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'And I Love Her', 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)', 'In My Life', 'A Day In The Life', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'Here Comes The Sun', 'Across The Universe', 'I Am The Walrus'...The Beatles also made several of the greatest albums of all time, notably 'Rubber Soul', 'Revolver', 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', 'The White Album', and 'Abbey Road'. Egged on by the inventive genius of producer George Martin, The Beatles wrote and performed songs in so many genres - rock 'n' roll, heavy rock, soul, pop, folk, blues, rock, R&B, country, classical, psychedelic, surreal, avant-garde, Indian music, electronic music, and old style Music Hall. I rest my case!

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