Are the Beatles or Led Zeppelin the greatest band ever?
Two different types of Rock and Roll like DJ Funktual said The Beatles were more Pop. Taxman and Lovely Rita Meter Maid are two of my favorite songs. And I own every album. The same with Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin is often put in the Heavy Metal category and I don't know why. They were blues based hard rock. Listen to Led Zeppilin III . It is almost all aucoustic and banjos with a bluegrass type of feel to it. But I guess if I had to choose I would say I would take my Beatles CDs to the bunker. In any event they are both great !
The Beatles are, BY FAR, the greatest band of all time. Light-years ahead of everybody else. If you disagree with that, you need to do some serious research about music and its history. In fact, they're not just the greatest band, they're the greatest music artists of the 20th century and one of the greatest in mankind history. You'll only get laughed at if you say there's a band greater than them... it's practically unanimous nowadays they're number 1.
Better start the discussion with number 2 greatest band, which to me, is pretty unquestionable too: it can only be The Rolling Stones, fellows. The only band that can afford to be called The Beatles' rivals.
Led Zeppelin would come in 3rd place.The Beatles are and always will be considered the greatest band in History and that is unlikely to change, let's be frank here.
And most music critics rank The Rolling Stones as the closest rivals for the title, not Led Zeppelin.
The third spot obviously goes to Led Zeppelin, who are the greatest band of the 70s and the greatest Hard Rock act ever.
1 - The Beatles
2 - The Rolling Stones
3 - Led ZeppelinThe Beatles get my vote! Led Zeppelin was always much moe dynamic in concert because the Beatles' audio was overwhemed by screaming fans. I've seen them twice in L.A., and I couldn't hear a thing! They were far better and innovative from the studio w/ George Martin producing. I think Jimmy Page is amazing and put Robert Plant in my top 10 rock vocalists; however the Beatles were more diverse in writing ORIGINAL material and had enormous influence on so many that followed. They really DID change rock &roll. Zeppelin's earliest work was full of plagiarism. Lennon/McCartney will go down in history among the most notable songwriters of all time!
Led who ? Most definitely the Beatles are the greatest band ever, in my modest opinion
Led Zeppelin is WAYYYYYY better than the Beatles.
Beatles = Justin Bieber of the 60's. Stupid, boring, simplistic pop songs
with dreadful lyrics and played by underskilled musicians. They made girls swoon. Very much like Bieber.
Led Zeppelin is about on par with Queen.
Then Pink Floyd.
Then Beatles far behind.
Genesis is the better band in terms of musicality though. The real Mozart of the past century.
So I'd go with
1. Genesis
2. Led Zeppelin or Queen
3. Led Zeppelin or Queen
4. Pink Floyd
5. Dire Straits
6. U2
7. Police
8. AC/DC
9. Rolling Stones
....
....
....
BeatlesHelter Skelter, Revolution, Yer Blues, A Day in the Life, the Abbey Road Medley, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Get Back, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Back in the USSR (a fun Chuck Berry/Beach boys inspired rocker), Blackbird (inspired by the civil rights movement and the Little Rock Nine), I Am the Walrus, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Oh Darling (especially Paul’s impassioned vocals during the bridge), Strawberry Fields Forever, Tomorrow Never Knows, etc. etc. etc., are simple, boring pop songs?
Quotes from members of the bands you believe are the greatest:
Brian May: “The Beatles were our bible. Absolutely at every stage in their career and their music development, they were models. And they still are to me, I must say. I love all those albums. To me, they are the greatest. They are the pinnacle of writing, performance and ethos of rock music. They broke down so many barriers, they changed the world many times. I will always love The Beatles without any reservation.”
Angus Young: “I think the '60s was a great time for music, especially for rock and roll. It was the era of The Beatles, of The Stones, and then later on The Who and Zeppelin. But at one point in the '70s, it just kind of became... mellow.” Or "Even a great band like the Beatles goes off on a detour and does a bit of cabaret for awhile. But you’ll find that the truly great ones always come back to playing real rock and roll, I thought [Abbey Road] got a bit glossed over at the time it was released. But those bluesy fills and huge riffs [in I Want You (She’s So Heavy)] showed they were still terrific rockers right to the end.”
Brian Johnson (when asked if he has ever met somebody famous that he was "in awe" of): “Yes, that has happened, and it was Paul McCartney. I didn't know what to say to him. I mean, for the first time I was absolutely tongue-tied. And then Ringo Starr walked in beside him. And it was Paul that spoke to me, 'cause he heard me talking to somebody. And he said, 'Hello, Geordie.' You know, because they call us Geordies, with the accent. And I went, 'Hello, Paul. Sir Paul. Your honor. Your majesty.' I didn't know what [to call him]. [Laughs] I just came across like I was breaking a friend's teeth in — I couldn't speak. So it was hard. And then we became friends, which is even harder to describe.”
Brian Johnson (when asked what his favorite song is): "Right off the top of me head, the thing that makes me smile every time I hear it is 'Get Back'. And if you listen to Ringo's drumming on there, it's sensational."
Roger Waters: “I learned from John Lennon and Paul McCartney and George Harrison that it was OK for us to write about our lives, and what we felt — and to express ourselves. […] That we could be free artists and that there was a value in that freedom. And there was.”
Nick Mason (on The Beatles and watching them record at Abbey Road studios): “They all seemed extremely nice, but they were in a strata so far beyond us that they were out of our league. The music sounded wonderful, and incredibly professional. We sat humbly and humbled, at the back of the control room while they worked on the mix, and after a suitable period of time had elapsed, we were ushered out again… They were God-like figures to us.”
John Illsley (on The Beatles): “The secret is to write good songs and I think that’s where they were the absolute masters at. They just kept coming up with great songs. You’ve got to really think about music now on a global scale and I think the Beatles put music on a global scale. They reached every corner of the earth, because they were communicating with people in a certain way that nobody else had before. Not easy.”
Sting: “I'm glad you mentioned the Beatles because the reason I'm a musician is because of the Beatles. We owe a lot to the Beatles, they really were an amazing influence on all of our lives.”
Stewart Copeland (speaking about how he felt when he met his drumming hero Ringo Starr): "I go all googly when I meet Ringo, Mr. Starkey. But sitting next to him at a dinner party, what do you say to a Beatle other than, 'so, Ringo, how do you like that Ludwig bass drum pedal?' And to my surprise 'well, actually, you know, I prefer the Rogers' and we get into a whole discussion.There's little old me talking to a Beatle, Ringo, no less, about bass drum pedals. How cool is that?"
Steve Hackett: “I couldn’t help but be greatly influenced by all of that – the fact that musicians had assimilated the Beatles approach and were coming up with their own versions. Genesis, for example, was a spin-off or a footnote to what the Beatles had done. I guess we were all splinters off the big tree.”
Bono: “We still look to [The Beatles] as models of what can be achieved when four people get into a room and start experimenting. It’s always worth reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be alive at a time when we grew up with the Beatles. They wrote the blueprint for really any rock ’n’ roll band”. (Not to mention all the Beatles covers U2 performed).
Peter Gabriel: “The Beatles were a huge influence as I was growing up, and continued to be as there was all that revolution around their success. [Their first album I ever bought] sounded far more radical and revolutionary than punk did in its day, you know. It was rough and raw, exciting. I was Beatles obsessed from then on.“
Freddie Mercury on John Lennon: “He just had that magic… to be honest, I would never like to put myself on a par with John Lennon at all, because he was the greatest, as far as I’m concerned.” “Even at a very early stage when they were The Beatles, I always preferred John Lennon’s things.”
The incredible number of artists who credit the Beatles as a major influence is unparalleled. They were extremely versatile and prolific. There is hardly a genre that they didn’t experiment with. Not to mention how funny, irreverent, unpredictable - and even warm and down to earth - they were.If you want to see what countless notable musicians in every decade and genre - from classic rock, heavy metal, and punk to hip-hop, rap, and more - as well as cultural figures across six decades say about the Beatles, visit the link in my bio. On my blog, I’ve curated quotes showing why so many consider the Beatles both their favorite and the greatest band of all time.
I would say that the Beatles contributed a lot more to music than Led Zeppelin did. The Beatles music grew as they and their fans did.
- khmohsinposted 13 years ago
0Beatles held twelve positions on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five positions, which has never been accomplished by any other band or artist to date.
Led Zeppelin were an album based band. They never released any singles here in Britain, and only a few in the US. As such, you cannot compare the two on singles sales. Here are quotes from some of the most notable musicians of all time about the Beatles. If anyone would like to what countless other musicians and cultural figures of the past 60 years across every decade and genre have to say about the Beatles and why so many of them cite them as not only their favorite and a huge influence, but also the most important and greatest band of all time, there's a link in my profile:
Brian May (Queen): The Beatles were our bible. Absolutely at every stage in their career and their music development, they were models. And they still are to me, I must say. I love all those albums. To me, they are the greatest. They are the pinnacle of writing, performance and ethos of rock music. They broke down so many barriers, they changed the world many times.
AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, when asked if he’s ever met somebody famous that he was in awe of: Yes… and it was Paul McCartney. I didn't know what to say to him. For the first time I was absolutely tongue-tied. I couldn't speak. And then we became friends, which is even harder to describe. [When asked to name his favorite song in the world] …the thing that makes me smile every time I hear it is "Get Back." And if you listen to Ringo's drumming on there, it's sensational.
Freddie Mercury (Queen): The only person I wish I had met was John Lennon… He was the greatest, as far as I was concerned. He's the one that I did idolize and I just thought he was a very beautiful human being and I'm sad to say that I didn't get to meet him. [He] was larger than life, and an absolute genius. Even at a very early stage when they were the Beatles, I always preferred John Lennon’s things. He just had that magic.
Joe Perry (Aerosmith): The Beatles did everything long before anyone else. They were experimenting long before Zeppelin, long before Hendrix. In 200 years, when you look up 'rock 'n' roll' in the dictionary, it'll have a picture of the Beatles next to it.
Alice Cooper: The Beatles, they are the standard. You measure everything by the Beatles. Every musician I know... I've talked to Ozzy and Steven Tyler. We all look at the Beatles and go 'That's how to write a song.' Now, we could twist it into an Alice Cooper song, we learned how to write listening to McCartney and Lennon... I’m still pretty sure they’re aliens. I don’t think they’re from this planet.
Chuck D (Public Enemy): My #1 favorite groups of all time: The Beatles in Rock & Roll, Run DMC in Hip Hop… The Beatles' whole career was part of the soundtrack of my life… [they] have written songs that you'd experience and [go], "Wow, that says it all," so Lennon/McCartney songs [were big influences as a lyricist].
Dr. Dre: Here with one of my heroes!! Paul McCartney is cool AF!! I’m chillin with one of the fucking Beatles!!
Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers): When the Beatles came on Ed Sullivan, on the left side of the couch was me; on the right side of the couch was my younger brother Marvin; and in between us was Jimi Hendrix. Ed Sullivan said, 'Ladies and gentleman, the Beatles!'... and after that there was a meeting with all the band, and my eldest brother Kelly took the floor and he said, 'These guys have changed everything. And it's legit.' It started to sink in that these guys had actually changed popular music. They had actually changed rock and roll. This was not hype. They were the genuine page-turner of music.
Sinead O’Connor: I have this theory that the Beatles were actually the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse, insofar as they changed the entire face of the planet.
Joey Ramone: In the days of the 'Silver Beatles,' Paul McCartney would go check into a hotel room, using the name PAUL RAMON. Dee Dee was a big Paul McCartney fan, so he changed his name to Dee Dee Ramone. We decided to call the band The Ramones.
Joe Strummer (The Clash): It’s as miraculous as the Beatles were – four guys lying around in Liverpool after the war. It almost seems like the hand of God had to have been in there and got them to meet each other.
Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), when asked who he considers a genius: It’s so obvious, but the Beatles. When I was growing up, the people who liked the Beatles, I didn’t like, so I didn’t pay attention to them. Around The Downward Spiral, I really started digging White Album-era Beatles, and it expanded outward from there. They were so far ahead of the game, it’s just not fair.
Mark Stoermer (The Killers): With "Helter Skelter" the Beatles rocked as hard as Led Zeppelin ever did, one year before [Zeppelin’s] first album came out.
Ali Campbell (UB40): Listen to this track and you can hear the whole next ten years of pop music — the whole glam rock thing, it all came from the fuzz guitar on the Beatles' "Revolution."
Guitar World on placing "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in their list of the 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: John Lennon's rarely heard lead guitar shines in this bluesy rocker from Abbey Road; the "heavy" part kicks in at the 4:37 mark, then builds and builds into something a twisted DJ would play as the pillars of the earth are tumbling down around him. Also, this song may have inadvertently started doom metal.
Noel Gallagher (Oasis): Ask any cutting-edge musicians in London, like the Chemical Brothers or Prodigy, if you trace all that music backwards, it all stops at "Tomorrow Never Knows." It was 1966 when Lennon wrote that song. He's probably still 20 years ahead of his time.
DJ Spooky: "Tomorrow Never Knows" is one of those songs that's in the DNA of so much going on these days that it's hard to know where to start. Flaming Lips? Check. Radiohead? Check. Sonic Youth? A Tribe Called Quest? Check. The song has one of those kind of cinematic breakdowns that artists like Danger Mouse and David Lynch could check out again and again.
Darryl McDaniels (Run-DMC): Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band — listening to that record is like watching all the episodes of the "Star Wars" journey. Close your eyes and listen — it's so visual. Innovation in the use of sounds, noise, music, instruments. And the storytelling and the lyrics is... phenomenal… The actual title track is really hip hop. DMC just sang the intro to it. And the beat is dope.
[On his biggest influence, besides family] John Lennon. Because he showed me he could use his rock and roll to make change and have an impact in this world.
[When asked if he could pick one person in the entire industry to do a song with] Looking to collab with Sir Paul! One of the Beatles with one of the Beatles of hip hop??? PMC and DMC! Legendary!!! Game changer!!!
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana): I've always loved the Beatles… For the first eleven years of my life I did nothing else but listen to the Beatles. Their influence on how I write the chords of my pieces, it’s undeniable… My favorite period is the Rubber Soul period… the guitar and simple melodies are my favorite.
Dave Grohl (Nirvana & Foo Fighters): If it weren’t for The Beatles, I would not be a musician. It’s as simple as that… I jumped at any opportunity to play with Paul, not only because he will forever be the reason I became a musician, but because he's really fucking fun to jam with… The Beatles really created the blueprint for the rock band. They were four members, and each of them were brilliant musicians and songwriters. As a kid, that’s just how I learned how to be a musician. I had a guitar and a Beatles songbook. And still, to this day, I think that’s all a kid needs to learn how to play music.
Composer Burt Bacharach: When people ask me which composers I think have had the greatest influence on the sound of today's music, four names automatically come to mind: John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Melissa Etheridge: They wrote every song. We're basically rewriting all their songs, is what we're doing. How can you be in music and not be a Beatles fan?
Tommy Lee (Motley Crue): The Beatles, man. I grew up on the stuff. Those guys were fuckin’ pioneers in so many ways. Their span was just all over the place musically. They’d do fun stuff, dark stuff, orchestral stuff. I can’t say enough about the Beatles. We covered "Helter Skelter" because covering a Beatles song is cool, and it also just fit with where we were at at the time.
Beastie Boys’ Mike D, when asked about possible legal backlash after sampling Beatles tracks in the Beastie Boys album Paul's Boutique: What's cooler than getting sued by the Beatles?
Steven Tyler (Aerosmith): As a kid, I used to go down to Greenwich Village all the time and fantasize I was going to bump into one of the Beatles or Stones. The Beatles taught us to fly, and John taught us to free-fall back to earth. When I heard the news [that he was murdered]... it ripped out a piece of me. I was physically angry for years after that fucker shot him. It felt good to have a cry because I was so fuckin’ pissed off… Jesus, what part of John or the Beatles did not get inside every one of us?
Scott Ian (Anthrax): I got to meet Paul McCartney one time. [It was] like being in the presence of a god… If you're not listening to the Beatles, you're not listening to music. If you don't educate yourself on the Beatles... whether you're a fan or a musician, there's nothing better.
Sting: The reason I'm a musician is because of the Beatles. They conquered the world with their own songs, and therefore gave permission to a younger generation, a decade younger, permission to try the same thing [and think] "Oh we’ll try that, I know those four chords — I could do that, probably." And we all tried. We owe a lot to the Beatles. They really were an amazing influence on all of our lives.
Snoop Dogg: I had never met [Paul McCartney] before but I’m a fuckin’ fan of the Beatles. They told me, “Sir Paul would like to meet you.” He gave me a hug and I’m like, fuck, Paul McCartney knows who the fuck Snoop Dogg is. This is Paul McCartney, he knows who I am. That’s the experience that I Iove… when the people that you respect, respect you.
Corey Taylor (metal band Slipknot): I’m a massive Beatles fan. I love the Beatles. I study them like the Zapruder film sometimes 'cause I feel like they were really kind of the progenitor for so many different vibes. [They] were so instrumental in really kind of planting the seeds for so many different genres. I push those people down by their fucking face when they talk shit. [Their catalog], it’s unmatched. Even bands like Zeppelin, who are massively fucking influential, you know? They don’t hold a candle to what the Beatles were able to do.
Art Garfunkel: There's no greater group than the Beatles. There's no funnier group than the Beatles. I've spent certain nights socializing with each of the four lads in my life, they're some of my greatest experiences. There's no doubt why they were so good. They're just so earthy and funny... and so damn musical. They are tuned human beings.
Bono (U2): We still look to [the Beatles] as models of what can be achieved when four people get into a room and start experimenting. It’s always worth reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be alive at a time when we grew up with the Beatles. They wrote the blueprint for really any rock ’n’ roll band. They raised the standards for everybody, because they are miracles, those songs.
Stevie Wonder: Every time one of their records came out, I wanted to have it. I dug the writing, the effects they got. I just said "Why can't l?" I wanted to do something else, go other places. The Beatles made me feel I could do some of the ideas that I had.
Bob Dylan: They were doing things nobody was doing… I knew they were pointing the direction of where music had to go. Lennon, to this day, it’s hard to find a better singer than Lennon was, or than McCartney was… I mean, I’m in awe of McCartney. He’s about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. He’s got the gift for melody. He’s got the rhythm. He can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody and he can sing a ballad as good as anybody. His melodies are just effortless. I’m in awe of him maybe just because he’s just so damn effortless.
Madonna: When I was told I had to introduce Paul McCartney, something strange happened… I actually got nervous. Now, it takes a lot to impress me, l've met a lot of incredible people. But talent like this comes along about once in a century.
Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses): The first song I learned how to play was the Beatles' “Birthday." Your first song always remains a musical touchstone and this one not only taught me finger dexterity, but also included the rudiments of the whole blues major scale, a scale that I would use and use again in my later career in Guns N' Roses.
When we played Live 8, and we hit the stage and there’s Paul McCartney. And he looks at me and he goes, "Hey, Duff." And so, you gotta hit your nut, you gotta be comfortable, but all I can think is like, Paul McCartney knows my name. How the hell did that happen?! I’ve really been able to, like, meet my heroes and it’s been a pleasure to find out that those guys who are still around, they’re around because they work hard and they’re good guys.
George Thorogood: After The Ed Sullivan Show, Feb. 9, 1964, at approximately 8:04pm, after that moment every album, every guitar, every set of drums that was ever sold… 10% should have gone right into their pocket. And I mean everybody, I'm not just talking about rock. Because the whole world got turned on all of a sudden. All of a sudden everybody was buying record players, guitars... and it hasn't stopped. If I ever get a chance to meet [Paul McCartney] I’m just going to say two words: Thank you.
Marianne Faithfull [on John Lennon]: His legacy? It's hard to put into words. I mean, it's nothing really: He just changed the face of popular music forever, didn't he?
Jim Carey: The Beatles r the greatest antidepressant ever created. Right now I’m listening to Rubber Soul and bathing in serotonin.
Filmmaker Spike Lee (on what he cared about as a kid): Sports... Motown, the Beatles.
Slash (Guns N' Roses): Pretty much all my contemporaries have a thing for the Beatles. Like, really hard-core Beatles fans. I was actually just listening to Abbey Road today - I was heavily influenced by that record. One of the reasons why the Beatles are the standard for songwriting is that, as experimental as they might have sounded, the notes that they chose just seem totally perfect... I think that a hundred, two hundred years from now they will still have that sort of influence… This was a band that changed the world completely.
Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers): The Beatles never cease to amaze me with their prolific genius.
Gene Simmons (KISS): We wanted to be the Beatles on steroids… We were completely inspired by them. There is no way I’d be doing what I do now if it wasn’t for the Beatles… The Beatles on Ed Sullivan was like a combination of religion and music and I don't know what else. The clocked stopped for me; everything stopped. It was probably one of the milestones in human history. Scientists call them singularities. They happen once in a while and have a quantum effect on life as we know it on the planet… It really changed the world. It was like in the movie '2001,' when the apes went up to the monolith and touched it - a quantum leap forward… The Beatles are above and beyond anything that anybody’s seen in music in over, oh, 200 years? Easily. Not since the Renaissance.
Lady Gaga: In 1968 I would have probably been like any other crazed Beatles fan... I don't know if anyone knows this about me but when I wrote The Fame I listened to Abbey Road obsessively. I had it on repeat for probably about six months. It's so incredibly brilliant — an innate sense of joy. They really had that down. Full of joy with a hat tip to the melancholy.
Without the Beatles I don't think women would be taking their cardigans off in hallways. They were responsible for the birth of the sexual revolution for women.
Stewart Copeland (The Police): You've got to give it up: the Beatles were heavier than any heavy metal band; they were happier cheerful pop music more than any other happy cheerful pop music; they had deep angst... they had it ALL. Every aspect. They did it 100,000%.
Muhammad Ali: People don't realize what they have till it's gone. Like President Kennedy - nobody like him. Like the Beatles, there will never be anything like them.
Roger Waters (Pink Floyd): I learned from John Lennon and Paul McCartney and George Harrison that it was OK for us to write about our lives, and what we felt — and to express ourselves. That we could be free artists and that there was a value in that freedom… They'd transcended all the nonsense [of Beatlemania] to making really smart, clever, beautiful, musical songs. I believe they freed a whole generation of English men and women to be given permission to write songs about real things — and have the courage to accept your feelings.
David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) on some of his favorite songs of all time: I was an absolute mad Beatles fan. "You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away" is, I think, John Lennon’s first moment of being influenced by Bob Dylan. It’s very much in the Bob Dylan vein. So it’s just one example of hundreds of things I could choose. Anything by The Beatles, really. Fantastic song... I really wish I had been in the Beatles; (They) taught me how to play guitar; I learnt everything. The bass parts, the lead, the rhythm, everything. They were fantastic.
Chuck Berry: Why are the Beatles good? Because they were geniuses. They're writers, and boy, two heads are better than one, but three heads? Genius.
Ray Davies (The Kinks): I remember how I was a 17-year-old student at art college and heard "Twist and Shout" on the record player, and how I was blown away by John Lennon's directness. How his voice cut through all the nonsense and sent a message to me that said, 'If I can do it then so can you, so get up off your backside and play some rock 'n' roll' — as if to throw down a musical gauntlet. Even though the Beatles were from Liverpool, they seemed to speak for the whole nation of young people.
Billy Idol: I just love, love, loved the Beatles. I was a super-mega fan and I still am. They are a beacon of light. When things are bad, you've always got the Beatles… [Their] irreverent humor spoke to a generation of youth sick of being ground up and used for workplace fodder by the rich and powerful. It motivated us to believe that our destiny was in our hands, if we so chose… [They] just got better and better, revealing the depth of their talent. I loved the music, the sound, the fashion and style, and the crazy element they brought to the scene. They cared about being songwriters and musicians; they were innovative, but also wild and crazy. The Beatles were the single most important band in my life.
Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers), appearing on VH1's countdown of greatest rock artists of all time: If the Beatles don't come in at #1, there's something absolutely wrong with this show and this entire network.
Ed O'Brien (Radiohead): You have to say about the Beatles: they still are the greatest band. Their music is absolutely extraordinary. What they had in abundance was a kind of magic — magic in the music, magic in the characters. There's something almost divine about them.
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth): Megadeth has a lot of melody which I think sets us apart from a lot of the other metal bands, and you gotta really know how to do that. And by having good influences, that is much more possible. Being a big Beatles fan… stuff like that helps you become, I think, a better songwriter. I love the combination of McCartney and Lennon, although it’s really easy to see the difference between John’s writing and Paul’s writing. I love them both.
Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day): I've always been a huge Beatles fan. It's just those melodies you know? They were sort of the blueprint for everything that a band goes through as far as evolving and songwriting... [and] I think that some of the Beatles' songs are way more punk rock than most punk songs written today.
The melodies [in American Idiot] are based on the tradition of Lennon and McCartney. That’s where we were trying to push our stuff and take our melodies and the whole idea of Green Day — pushing it to a level that we thought could be our Tommy moment, or our Sgt. Pepper’s.
When we got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Ringo was doing a sound check and we’re standing next to Paul McCartney’s bass amp and he was re-learning how to play the bassline to "With a Little Help From My Friends,"… I just sort of looked over at Mike [Dirnt] and I was like "I can’t even believe what is happening right now."
Steven Van Zandt (E Street Band): It transformed America. On February 8th [1964], there were no bands in America; on February 9th we had Ed Sullivan, and on February 10th, everybody had a band in their garage. It was literally overnight… [It] was the biggest bang of my life [and] the most important event in rock 'n' roll history - a phenomenon that hasn't been seen before or since… I believe a thousand years from now history will be divided into Before The Sixties B.T.S. - and After The Sixties - A.T.S. The reason being that the Sixties changed us fundamentally: the way we live, the way we interact, and the way we think. And the Beatles had everything to do with that. They were the Big Bang. And the ripples from that explosion will never stop.
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Paul McCartney Fights Back Tears For Barack Obama
by AnnCee 16 years ago
McCartney's tears for ObamaSir Paul McCartney fought back tears as he and Stevie Wonder sang Ebony And Ivory for U.S. president, Barack Obama - because he was so proud to be performing for the country's first black leader.The Beatles star was honoured at the White House earlier this month,...