• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

My dad doesn't like Paul McCartney :(

26689646.jpg


I couldn't find any "We love the funk-brothers" pictures...

Which is why Al Slutsky was inspired to write the book "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," and then to produce the movie. Shame on us!
 
I was talking over with my aunt about how the early 60s resonated with so many for so many reasons.. We were talking about JFK, Sean Connery, the Beatles, Dylan, the sexual revolution, civil rights (blacks, native Americans, women, gays), Vietnam, Ali, Elvis, Ed Sullivan. The Beatles came up at a time when so many other people and issues were making an imprint on the social psyche. I think that this had a lot to do with the impact they had then and still have today. They were firmly ingrained in a time when the medium was soft for the mold. As far as some jazz players minimalizing their influence, I've heard jazz covers of a lot of Lennon/McCartney compositions as well as covers by a whole lot of other genres. I can understand not liking them but I don't understand the denial of the huge influence that they exerted and continue to exert on music today.
 
There's always a hater in threads such as this who cites "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as their Case Closed evidence of the band's irrelevance to music & music history. When I read that I don't know if I'm being trolled, or if they are really so, well, um, let's be kind and say "uninformed", that they believe what they say.
 
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" was so different sounding, when it came out, it made me wonder what those special sounds were. That is when I discovered bass. Structurally, and chord wise, I think it is brilliant to this day. Years after it's release and the Beatles, a then rather cynical and jaded, John Lennon heard it on the radio, while being filmed, and commentated that it was a good tune.
 
Last edited:
There's always a hater in threads such as this who cites "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as their Case Closed evidence of the band's irrelevance to music & music history. When I read that I don't know if I'm being trolled, or if they are really so, well, um, let's be kind and say "uninformed", that they believe what they say.

I guess it doesn't take much to impress some people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OldDog52
"I don't like Paul McCartney" is such a broad vague statement.

I suspect he's a bit of a horse's ass as a person, but I could be wrong.

But to dismiss his 50 years of creative artistic work that has sometimes resonated with the masses is just silly. I mean, come on, open your eyes. What does "I don't like him" even mean without further explanation? Do you mean you don't like or appreciate ANYTHING he's done? How sad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: squidtastic
It's not that I don't like the Beatles, it's just that there's a whole world of music out there that I find waaay more satisfying. I have absolutely nothing against them and own a couple albums, but I wouldn't exactly rush out to replace them if they were lost. Funny enough and in truth, if there were one thing I could say I definitely didn't like about them, it would be Paul's hokey vaudevillian songwriting and vocals. I respect them for their career and influence, I just don't care about them and they have never really made any impact on me musically. Kind of just background music.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stealth Fighter
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" was so different sounding, when it came out, it made me wonder what those special sounds were. That is when I discovered bass. Structurally, and chord wise, I think it is brilliant to this day. Years after it's release and the Beatles, a then rather cynical and jaded, John Lennon heard it on the radio, while being filmed, and commentated that it was a good tune.

When the mentioned song was first released, I was in 5th grade and knew NOTHING about guitars. (Didn't start playing bass until 1969). Anyway, what I remember most was being very intrigued by Lennon's guitar part. He had the guitar's tone control rolled way down (maybe even at 0) and he just attacks that guitar. Plays it like he's pissed off! It just sounded so unusual and made me wonder what kind of instrument was being played because it just didn't sound like a guitar as I knew it at the time.

By the way, I'm a total Beatlemaniac. Like a lot of writers I'm always amazed at how they were able to get a song out of things that most of us wouldn't even consider, like with "Nowhere Man." John said one day he was trying to write a song that was meaningful and good and gave up after a few hours because nothing was coming to him. He said he layed on the couch and thought "aw, you're going nowhere man." (!!!!!!!!!) He said 45 minutes later he had the whole thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OldDog52
He's a jazz guy (pro dummer) and he doesn't like him or the Beatles at all. Always discredits their efforts as derivative of Motown, says they had ghost writers, and session guys playing their parts, and so on.

Meanwhile I'm rocking out on "Rain", thinking you just have to think the rhythm section in this is brilliant and he doesn't care :(

Is it a jazz guy thing not to care about the Beatles? I mean, jazz is inundated with a amazing musicians. I can see why he wouldn't care too much for pop music, but he seems to like most other things.

Your dad sounds like a ja.....zz musician

I really hate THAT kind of jazz players. It's why i tend to look down on jazz... known too many of those guys


And i dont even really like the beatles.
 
It's not that I don't like the Beatles, it's just that there's a whole world of music out there that I find waaay more satisfying. I have absolutely nothing against them and own a couple albums, but I wouldn't exactly rush out to replace them if they were lost. Funny enough and in truth, if there were one thing I could say I definitely didn't like about them, it would be Paul's hokey vaudevillian songwriting and vocals. I respect them for their career and influence, I just don't care about them and they have never really made any impact on me musically. Kind of just background music.

Well at least you took the time to explain yourself. I can respect that. In fact I kind of agree about some of McCartney's lyrics. :)

But the older I get, the more I respect The Beatles, and McCartney. It's not that I think everything McCartney has done is magic. But on the other hand, most of us would like to take credit for the worst of his compositions.

And the BEST of his work is, well, musical magic. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: petrus61
Have you researched your heroes influences? You just might be surprised the affect the Beatles had on them.

Yes, sometimes to obnoxious detail. The Beatles would probably credit some of them as influences, just as some would credit the Beatles. As I said, I respect their influence, I just don't find their music as pleasing. They certainly deserve credit, but they aren't any more prolific than many other artists before and after that get not even half the credit they do. It's not something I really like to get into because I know that the Beatles are near and dear to many peoples hearts, but that doesn't reflect my opinion of them. For the record, I much prefer George Harrison and Lennon's solo work to pretty much anything they ever did as a group. Any lineage in my personal sphere of influences remains unbroken and largely uninhabited by the Beatles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stealth Fighter
Yes, sometimes to obnoxious detail. The Beatles would probably credit some of them as influences, just as some would credit the Beatles. As I said, I respect their influence, I just don't find their music as pleasing. They certainly deserve credit, but they aren't any more prolific than many other artists before and after that get not even half the credit they do. It's not something I really like to get into because I know that the Beatles are near and dear to many peoples hearts, but that doesn't reflect my opinion of them. For the record, I much prefer George Harrison and Lennon's solo work to pretty much anything they ever did as a group.

So you are influenced by the Beatles.

Any lineage in my personal sphere of influences remains unbroken and largely uninhabited by the Beatles.

Highly unlikely, in 2014.
 
So you are influenced by the Beatles.



Highly unlikely, in 2014.

Or we could get into a philosophical debate about the minutiae of influence and how the beginning of mankind as we know it can eventually be traced back to the Beatles. Your argument, if I read it correctly, basically states that if it weren't for the Beatles, the artists I draw influence from wouldn't have come to be, right? I think it's very easy for someone to sit there and say "I can trace the moment I decided to pick up a bass to X" while overlooking the larger forces at play that would make them the player they would eventually become. I'm trying to parse your point from the quotes you used and get beyond the sarcasm, so maybe you can help me out a bit if I missed anything.
 
Or we could get into a philosophical debate about the minutiae of influence and how the beginning of mankind as we know it can eventually be traced back to the Beatles.

Say, what?

Your argument, if I read it correctly, basically states that if it weren't for the Beatles, the artists I draw influence from wouldn't have come to be, right?

Nope.

I think it's very easy for someone to sit there and say "I can trace the moment I decided to pick up a bass to X" while overlooking the larger forces at play that would make them the player they would eventually become. I'm trying to parse your point from the quotes you used and get beyond the sarcasm, so maybe you can help me out a bit if I missed anything.

Simply put: It HIGHLY likely that all of your influences, that came AFTER the Beatles, were indeed influenced by them - either first generation, of subsequent generations - and therefore have left a bit of Beatles-DNA on you. It's inescapable.

Try as you might to deny it, if you are playing Western Music, you have either directly or indirectly been influenced - bad or good - by the Beatles.

Sorry, dude. They've apparently crept under your skin.
 
Say, what?



Nope.



Simply put: It HIGHLY likely that all of your influences, that came AFTER the Beatles, were indeed influenced by them - either first generation, of subsequent generations - and therefore have left a bit of Beatles-DNA on you. It's inescapable.

Try as you might to deny it, if you are playing Western Music, you have either directly or indirectly been influenced - bad or good - by the Beatles.

Sorry, dude. They've apparently crept under your skin.

Well you might want to go ask Miles Davis and Willie Dixon if they traced their influences correctly, because the last time I checked they both played native western forms that pre dated your precious Beatles by many a twinkle in the eye.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stealth Fighter
Well you might want to go ask Miles Davis and Willie Dixon if they traced their influences correctly, because the last time I checked they both played native western forms that pre dated your precious Beatles by many a twinkle in the eye.

You need to reread my post.

By the way, they aren't my "precious Beatles". Twinkle, twinkle.