Bands Better than the Beatles?

[uwe]

Ray Davies is a great songwriter, but there is something peculiar (yet lovable) quaintly English about The Kinks as a band whereas the Liverpudlians became international very quickly both in their music and their mindset. The Beatles transcended borders from their first single - ok, their second, Love me Do didn't do much - onwards. Perhaps being thrown as teens into the Hamburg counter-culture had somemthing to do with it. Or coming from an English harbor town with vast cultural influences from everywhere in the world. The Kinks had neither a prolonged non-England stay in their formative years nor did they come from a harbor town.

And there is another thing: The Beatles blossomed from the songwriter partnership/contest/reciprocal inspiration of Lennon-McCartney, The Kinks were - as his brother Dave will ungladly testify to this day - mainly Ray's do. That said, no one has written as beautiful a song about a chance meeting with your former lover (in his case: Chrissie Hynde) as Ray did here ...

[4stringer77]

Great vid, can't believe I hadn't heard the song before. It definitely resonates with my current situation. Here's a couple tunes from bands better than the Beatles that have a less sentimental vibe.

[westen44]

As has already been noted, I think his list is ludicrous.  He might as well have included Herman's Hermits on there.  I can think of some bands I might personally prefer over the Beatles, but if all factors are taken into consideration on what constitutes the greatest band which has ever existed, I think I'd have to put the Beatles whether I really felt like it or not.  I think it would all depend on whether a person is being objective or subjective.  A thousand years from now on whatever it is they might have as a game show on the equivalent to TV, I can see no answer but "the Beatles" if the question is what was the greatest band of the 20th century?

[nofi]

lynyrd skynyrd...really? they were ok in the early days when they were more of a hard rock band. but they have become a modern go to when someone wants to reference  anything redneck. i saw them open for the who in 73 or 74. from my seat all i could hear was guitars, millions of them it seemed like.

again, the list is crap. ignore it and it might go away.

[4stringer77]

I like Skynyrd. I also like the Beatles. Saying one band is better than another is an altogether absurd notion. That's like saying Van Gogh is better than Michelangelo. Art is not a competition. I suppose someone could argue a bands superiority based on record sales but popularity does not equal quality.