The Beatles Don't Live Here

Let me get one thing straight, I don't dislike The Beatles. On the contrary, I find many of their songs to be quite enjoyable. What I do disagree with are all those people who seem to think that every band to use guitar, bass and drums since The Beatles are somehow not only influenced by The Beatles but somehow owe a debt to The Beatles. These people seem to think that if it weren't for The Beatles, rock would be dead. Despite the new wave of "mall punk" such as Good Charlotte and My Chemical Romance trying to give credence too this assertion, rock would not be dead without The Beatles.

So for my first diatribe, I will talk about the band who influenced most of (if not all) of my favorite bands. Coincidently, they are also one of my favorite bands. I am of course referring to the immortal Velvet Underground.

Whenever I argue about The Beatles influence on modern rock, its The Velvet Underground who I bring up as an example. Now yes the first Velvet Underground album was released after the first Beatles album. However Beatles fans tend to assert that Sg. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band influenced the Velvets. This just shows ignorance and a complete lack of historical context. The Velvet Underground and Nico was released in 1967 the same year as Sg Pepper's. In fact the VU album was released two months prior to Sg. Pepper's. This is deceiving as well when you consider that the Velvets recorded the album a whole year before it saw release.

So this puts Velvet Underground and Nico on par with Revolver. I am not going to question that Revolver was not a great album. It is one of the few Beatles album which I can stand to listen to, well most of it that is. So now lets compare the two albums. Firstly Revolver features the unforgivable Yellow Submarine. This is a song that was so retarded, it was given to Ringo to sing. Nowhere on the Velvets album do you find anything near as lame as Yellow Submarine. Some people argue that this shows the whimsical side of The Beatles. While the Velvet Underground may not necessarily have a whimsical side to them, they are not without a sense of humor. I offer I'm Waiting For The Man as an example of The Velvet's sense of humor. Lou Reed manages to convey the absurdity of of a junkie waiting to score with the self depreciating humor of a true satirist.

Ok Revolver does contain my favorite Beatles song the immortal Eleanor Rigby. This song is a great example of The Beatles ability to use non traditional rock instruments and incorporate them into a traditional rock arrangement. I will not argue at at times the Beatles were truly innovative, but there was always restraint on their part. While there is a sense of subversiveness in Eleanor Rigby, The Beatles have always restrained themselves so as not to be too controversial and offend the general record buying public.

Now the Velvet Underground on the other hand have never tried to hide their controversiality. Take for example the in your face Heroin. While The Beatles made fancy allusions to their illicit drug use (Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds), Lou Reed lays it right out in front:

cause when the smack begins to flow
Then I really don't care anymore
Ah, when the heroin is in my blood
And that blood is in my head
Then thank God that I'm as good as dead
Then thank your God that I'm not aware
And thank God that I just don't care
And I guess I just don't know
And I guess I just don't know

Now theres the question of lasting influnece. Now I'm sure there are plenty of cookie cutter pop bands who worship at the alter of John and Paul vocal harmonizing. This is not a completely bad thing. I mean thats a pretty good way to go if your primary focus is selling records. However musicians who actually want to make challenging and interesting music all cite The Velvet Underground as the biggest inspiration. The Velvet's legacy starts with their most immediate precessors, The MC5 and The Stooges. After these two band, the influence splits to the protopunk bands in New York such as Television, The Voidoids, New York Dolls and Suicide then across the Atlantic they influnced many of the great post-punk bands like Wire, Joy Division and Gang of Four. From these bands we get to the currant bands such as Interpol, The Strokes and Radio 4. The represents a pedigree much better than any of the generic pop music spawned by The Beatles.