Quote:
Originally Posted by Anteater
Lmao. Let me lay a few things out for you for future reference-
1. The Beatles never did progressive rock of any sort. That's a genre all its own. Also, name me one artist before King Crimson who was fusing classical music structures with jazzy symphonic rock?
2. You can't just slap around a term like "avant" as if its something super special. The Beatles were interesting sure, but if I wanted to push it I could say The Shadows, Nick Drake and some early electronic like The Silver Apples and White Noise were doing far more interesting things in the mid-to-late 60's than the Beatles did in an entire decade of time.
3. Do The Beatles sound like a blues band to you or something? Jimmy Hendrix wasn't influenced by The Beatles in any way, shape or form. His jamming on UK TV back in '66 actually impressed Lennon and Co because of his particular style. If anything, he probably influenced THEM in some way.
And who gives a **** about who started using the mellotron first? Screw The Beatles: Lothar and the Hand People were using Moog synthesizers before ANYONE, yet I don't hear anyone nominating them for their influence on the, I dunno, dozens of bands that followed after 1965?
Just give me a break. You people can throw a BS argument like "More people listened to the Beatles than anyone else in that time period, so they're more influential." in my face all day long, but that still doesn't mean they top the absolutely killer stuff in terms of effect that bands would be putting out in the late 60's through the course of the 70's.
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Let me lay some hard core facts for you and not some revisionist history.
I don't care who did what first it's about influence. Since you want to go there let me bring some points about other bands you brought up.
The Beatles dabbled in a lot of things and that's why they are influential to many bands because they translated it with Pop music which by the way is a form of music like Jazz or Rock Music. They did not stick to one sound.
The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" backward collages, drone, looping, distorted voices through leslie speakers, mellotron with a upfront bass and drum what predates the Silver Apples and Nick Drake by two years. A good ten years before Kraftwerk got into high gear. I don't care if you think the Silver Apples were more interesting. That is based on opinion not fact. This is about influence. "Tomorrow Never Knows" or "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a lot more influential than some unknown band that came out two years after the fact.
I like King Crimson and being into jazz music I hear it. King Crimson formed in part after hearing Sgt Pepper which contains a couple of so-called fusions that were never heard in pop music namely unique fusion of classical Indian music with western string arrangement on "Within You Without You" or the Avant Orchestration and Psychedelia of "A Day in the Life".
Never said the Beatles were a blues band. The Beatles were not a derititive blues band. It must be a coincidence what six months after "Taxman" was released that your hear that distorted dominant 7 # 9 chord on "Purple Haze". Everone started using guitars through leslie speakers after the Beatles used it. I hear backward guitars and drums on "Are You Experienced" after the Beatles used it on Revolver. Then Hendrix would pair "Tomorrow Never Knows" with "Uranus Rock". Then Hendrix would play the title track of Sgt Pepper three day after it came out in nod to the Beatles adopting his style.
The Beatles were certainly a progressive band. They tied it with melody driven music. Like so what. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is oft cited as a critical moment in prog's evolution, The Beatles had already moved into progressive territory with Revolver's “Tomorrow Never Knows” and by incorporating Eastern influences into their music, though, of course, the pairing of McCartney's vocal with strings in “Yesterday” preceded those developments too. Obviously “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “A Day in the Life” exerted a profound influence on The Beatles' contemporaries and the next wave of progressive rock artists.
the Beatles already were recording Progressive Rock with songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever", "A Day in the Life" and "Within You Without You" all recorded before Procol Harum. The Beatles were to varied to be classed as one genre. Some that are Proto-Prog IMO the early Art-Rock of "Tomorrow Never Knows" , "Eleanor Rigby" and "Love You To" off Revolver.
Strawberry Fields Forever" is at least Proto-Prog. With its use of mellotron, Indian scales and two separate versions of one song into one. Strawberry Fields Forever" uses diminished chords that are common with jazz music. It changes time signatures often 4/4, 6/8, 3/4, 2/4. Hardly simple stuff..
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" for example include a Balkan rhythm and a polyrhythm in different sections. Were they influenced by jazz?
"A Day in the Life", "I am the Walrus", "Within You, Without You", Strawberry Fields"... They were able to draw from diverse sources, like Indian classical music "Within You" uses a raga-like form that contains major and minor thirds in different octaves, kind of a combination of mixolydian and Dorian modalities.
Mind you I never said the Beatles invented Progressive Rock. We are talking about influence. Well, that's answering "The Sex Pistols created Punk" when the thread is about Iggy Pop and the Stooges...
King Crimson lists the Beatles as a main influence
Linear Mode
