Radio Sweethearts

There’s not a lot of opinion out there that can truly set me off. I like when people disagree with me – as long as they’re intelligent about it.

There are a few exceptions, and, honestly they’re fairly ridiculous. I’m going to take a few minutes here and talk about one of them: The Beatles.

I hate to be a curmudgeon, but do people really think that they’re better than anything that’s come out since? Still?

Robin Hilton posted a poll to the All Songs Considered blog asking that question.

More accurately, the poll asked whether – if the Beatles’ records were released today (and all else being the same) – they’d sound better, worse, or on a par with records being released today.

Because your voting may skew the vote, I’ll tell you what I see right now: 87% of people feel that the Beatles would be better than anything released today, 4% feel that they’d not be as good, and about 8% feel that the Beatles would be merely on a par with anything new.

What this says to me is not that the Beatles were exceptionally good, but that they were exceptionally popular. Exceptionally common. Exceptionally accessible.

It’s the same phenomenon that you’ll find in your local alternative newsweekly paper’s annual best-of-the-city list. Find the most recent example. Flip to “Best Coffee.” Odds are, you’re seeing Starbucks on that list, if not at the top.

If something is everywhere, and it’s at least tolerable, people will confuse that idle popularity for quality.

It’s not an unjustified confusion: though 95% of the time I prefer Eclectic, Otherlands, Java Cabana, Republic, and Bluff City Coffee; there are certain drinks that Starbucks does really well, and there aren’t any independent shops near my work.

Same goes for the Beatles. I think they might be the single most overhyped band in history. Which is not to say I don’t like them – I love the Beatles. I’d be lying if I said they weren’t one of my favorite bands ever, but I bet that you and I have vastly different lists of favorite songs and albums by the group.

That said, I think that in terms of quality, Wilco is as good as the Beatles, while Yo La Tengo, the Velvet Underground, Reigning Sound, and others are better bands.

Are you going to make something of it? ‘Cause I don’t want any trouble, unless by ‘trouble’ you mean ‘reasonable discourse regarding the nature of individual taste.’

Just because everyone loves the Beatles, that doesn’t mean that they’re better than everyone else.