No Links Dump today because a combination of work and a nasty cold kept me off the Internet most of yesterday. Here’s the moral equivalent, though: a poll question brought to you by the letters “U” and “K” and the song “Gimme Sympathy” by Metric:
The song is unclear on exactly what criteria you should be using to judge whether you’d rather be the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, so feel free to invent whatever criteria you like. Feel free to explain them in the comments, as well.
And I suppose there’s no way I can stop you from complaining that Elvis/ Michael Jackson/ James Brown/ Led Zepplin/ Black Sabbath/ The Byrds/ whatever isn’t one of the choices, so go ahead and do that if you’re so inclined.
If you’re talking about the 1960’s only, which I remember as a very young youth, a more complete poll would be:
– The Beatles
– Led Zeppelin
– The Rolling Stones
– The Who
– The Kinks
– The Dave Clark Five
– Yes
– Herman’s Hermits
– Gerry and the Pacemakers
I don’t include The Jimi Hendrix Experience because they were only 2/3’s English, Jimi was American of course. I probably left some out.
Aw, seriously?
You’re gonna make mistakes, you know.
The Beatles are pleased to announce that they will be working with the Rolling Stones to provide the strong musical accompaniment needed to soundtrack these times of economic hardship.
@Steven #1: I wasn’t born until 1967 so I wasn’t there in real time, but I have some definite quibbles with your list. Led Zeppelin and the Who, fine. The next four entries on your list are definitely a step down; I don’t know any songs by the Dave Clark Five, and while I do know some of Yes’s work I can’t think of any songs of theirs offhand that date from the 1960s. I wouldn’t know without Googling who Gerry and the Pacemakers are/were.
Prominently missing from your list: Pink Floyd, who were recording albums by 1967 (but again, all of their songs that I know date from 1970 or later). There was at least one other band that has been brought to my attention, but their name escapes me at the moment (Freddie and the X, where Freddie is the lead singer and I don’t remember what X is).
Hi Eric,
Led Zep and Yes first recorded in 1969, just making the list of “60’s” I suppose. Pink Floyd, that I forgot until you brought it up, so thanks, did in fact first record in 1967. Technically, all three hit it big in the early ’70s. Black Sabbath also hit it big right at the beginning of the 70’s, so perhaps none of them should be on the list. Freddie? I don’t remember a Freddie except perhaps Freddie Mercury of Queen, who formed in 1971. The DC5 were huge in the early 60’s, G&tPM were a bit of a fail, but they had a hit or two. Herman’s Hermits were big, The Kinks under-appreciated. I suppose Deep Purple (“Hush”, “Smoke on the Water”) who first recorded in 1968 should be included as well. Elton John too, I guess. He first recorded in 1969.
Let’s see, who didn’t break up, is still alive, and had sex with every girl on both sides of the Atlantic?
I would rather be GUESS Who . . . the band from Winnipeg, who I got to hear for my first rock concert ever — before they were a Famous Band. They, or whomever are left of the band, are coming to our town this summer . . . .
There’s a terrible lack of Procol Harum in the above comments.
Moody Blues should probably be in the conversation too; they had a #10 US hit with “Go Now” in 1964, followed by “Nights in White Satin” (released 1967, hit #2 in 1972) and “Tuesday Afternoon” (#24 — not sure when, though).
I think Will gets the question — except the other half of it looks like: “Who is widely regarded as the best and most influential rock band of all time, and who is coasting by on work they did 40 years ago?” 🙂 So: better to have the longevity, or the quality?
@Eric: Freddie and the Dreamers? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_and_the_Dreamers
Don’t forget the Hollies
I see The Beatles won so far, but thought maybe Stones would get nod for “bad boy” image (kind of like me sometimes.) An interesting irony: Jimi Hendrix was often listed as part of the British Invasion in some rock histories, because he got famous there, his clothes sometimes, some sounds here and there, and his Brit drummer and bassist. But he was not just really an American (Seattle) but sounded like it most of the time with the blues influence etc.
@Matt: Yes, that’s who I was thinking of.
@cisko: “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin” were both from the album Days of Future Passed, so they were presumably both written in the same year. I don’t know when “Tuesday Afternoon” peaked on the charts.
Better to have the psychedelics.
I think I would have liked to be Tich from Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. They were the group (still called Dave Dee and the Bostons, I think — the name change came when they went after novelty hits) that played our School Dance (the English equivalent of Prom) the year after the Moody Blues.
To me, this question is about 1965 +/-, so to me it concerns the difference between “Help!” and “Can’t Get No Satisfaction”. A difference that explains why I was a Beatles fan at the start (in middle school) and became a Stones fan when I got older. But it might also matter whether you would like to be (amazingly) still alive and performing as essentially the same group 45 years later.
BTW, If you actually cared who the DC 5 were, it is VERY unlikely that you were a Stones fan. Similarly, if you were a fan of Pink Floyd in the 60s, you were disappointed by the “pop” music they produced after Syd left (circa Ummagumma, 1969) and his influence declined (through Meddle, 1971). [Coincidentally, those would be the songs you’ve heard on the radio, from Dark Side on.] If you haven’t heard “Interstellar Overdrive” or “Small Furry Animals”, you are talking about the 70s, not the 60s.
This song always gets stuck in my head. On the “songs sung in the shower” charts, this is solidly at #1.
By the way – I’ve been following for a while, but this may be my first comment. Thanks for helping me keep up on other areas of physics.
-a plasma physics grad student