Beatles v Bob

You’d need to be media-averse to have missed today’s launch of the re-masters of The Beatles’ albums. Newspapers, mags, tv and radio, in this part of the world at least, are overflowing with Fab Four hype.

It’s all gone over my head, though: the Beatles were – and are – over-rated.

I loved the first two albums and the early singles: massively refreshing, the Fabs swept away half a decade of appalling pop pap.

Yes, the Beatles were the biggest pop musicians ever, far more popular than everyone else. And yes, their influence was far wider than the pop charts.

But they were less interesting than the Stones; and they weren’t even my fave mid-1960s Scouser popsters – take a bow, Gerry… The Searchers… The Big Three… and several more Merseybeat bands.

To compare the Beatles’ legacy, as many halfwit journalists have done in the current frenzy, to that of Dylan is plain stupid – it’s like comparing Dylan with Madonna or Abba. The Beatles were show biz entertainers. Dylan is the 20thC’s dominant musician.

I haven’t played a Beatles record for over 20 years; there’s little chance of that changing, re-masters or not.


Gerry Smith