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February 22, 2008 > Arts & Entertainment > The Beatles: Greatest band ever, unworthy of worship?

The Beatles: Greatest band ever, unworthy of worship?

By Stephen Whitfield | Thresher Editorial Staff

I am the biggest Beatles fan on the Rice campus.

If you know nothing else about me for the sake of this column, you should at least know that. As much as I enjoy the sweet harmonies of Daryl Hall and John Oates, they cannot hold a candle to John, Paul, George and Ringo. I have all of the band’s studio albums, the Anthology disks and the Past Masters series. I have the Let It Be movie — a film that has been out of circulation since the early days of VHS — on my computer. Heck, I even have Bob Spitz’s nine billion-page biography on the band (and indeed, I have gone through the whole thing). If anyone thinks he or she is a bigger Beatles fan than me, I dare that person to come forward.

Now, you may be asking, why would some college student profess himself a fan of a band that broke up 16 years before he was born? Well, music is music, and as far as music goes, the Beatles were simply the best. They were the best lyricists and the best instrumentalists in rock history, and they always had a knack for finding the perfect melody. They came up with music that was way ahead of its time — listen to Abbey Road or Rubber Soul or even Help! and you’ll hear stuff that still sounds fresh today — but, of course, you know that already.

I bet you all are also well aware the Beatles are still one of the most influential, biggest-selling recording artists in the world today, even though two of the Fab Four have been dead for some time now. I am sure you have seen that blasted Across the Universe movie or that Love thing from Cirque du Soleil. Or perhaps you saw the Beatles tribute on the Grammy Award telecast a few weeks back. Or maybe you bought a T-shirt with John Lennon’s mug plastered all over it at the mall. Or maybe you … well, you get the point.

Whatever the means, Beatle worship is as high as it’s ever been over the past decade or two. And as the die-hard Beatles fan that I am, I must admit that it has all gotten out of hand.

Now you might say that sounds a little hypocritical. How could the self-professed biggest Beatle fan at Rice hate hardcore Beatle worship? Well, let me explain. I understand how the baby boomer generation would still feel a deep emotional attachment to the Fab Four. I mean, they were the defining act of their youth, and to look at them with a longing sense of nostalgia is expected — that would be like me pining for some old Matchbox Twenty CD, although probably not on quite the same level. But what about our generation? How many of us were dying to see Across the Universe when it came out?

Music is timeless, that’s one of the beauties about it. But why can’t we enjoy it for what it is? Besides, if you weren’t of the generation from which the music came from, then there’s no use trying to connect to it on some otherworldly plane.

To me, the Beatles were great musicians, but nothing more. Lennon and McCartney were poets, but they certainly don’t speak for me or to me. Even though I like them more than any other band, I like them for most of the same reasons that I like the Police or Stevie Wonder or Maroon 5 or Justin Timberlake. It is just really, really good pop music. ‘Tis all, nothing more, nothing less.

So what am I really trying to say here? The recent surge in Beatle nostalgia is fine. If you haven’t already, go buy Abbey Road or Please Please Me or any of their other albums and enjoy them to your heart’s delight. But do not make the band out to be more than it is. After all, music is music, right? Why not just sit back and go along for the magical mystery tour?

Stephen Whitfield is a Sid Richardson College senior and editor in chief.

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