You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March, 2007.
Sure, sometimes having so much new music on the Internets clogs up the tubes, but if you’re patient, there’s some great stuff to preview out there this week.
1. Stream the entire new Kings of Leon album, Because Of The Times, on their myspace page. It’s so different from their previous stuff, it’s kind of freaking me out a little. It’s a little less boogie, a little more stadium. But I like it. A lot. “Black Thumbnail” and “Ragoo” are definite highlights already, and “Fans” seems like it combines the best of their older, more southern stuff and this new bigger sound. I only listened to about a minute of each song (I’m one of those freaks that likes my albums to be new and exciting when I get them, but I couldn’t stop myself from a little preview), so this is in no way an actual review. I heard just enough to know that I definitely want the album as soon as humanly possible.
Update: The Man wasn’t kidding about it being a limited preview, most of the album tracks have already been taken down. “On Call” and “Fans” are still there so, if you can’t wait until the album is released tomorrow, at least you can still listen to those two tracks.
2. The mighty Black Wire, as I like to call them, still have no record deal (which is just pathetic - is there no justice in this world? If I had some money or, you know, knowledge of that stuff, I would start my own label just to sign Black Wire.) but they do have a new human drummer. They’ve got some demos up on their myspace, as well as a new single coming out. No word yet on how to get this single for my own grubby self but I’m not too proud to accept a handout if someone wants to send me one.
3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have made their upcoming single, “Weapon Of Choice”, available at (yup, you guessed it) theirspace for your listening pleasure. It sounds like the BRMC that we were used to pre-Howl.
4. Maximo Park … oh, I can’t even be stuffed to type the sentence another time. Maximospace, new songs, etc. Our Earthly Pleasures comes out on Monday - from the songs available for preview listening, it doesn’t sound like a huge departure from A Certain Trigger but that’s fine by me. “Girls Who Play Guitars” is very catchy and makes me want to do a little dance.
So have fun previewing that stuff. I hope the tubes don’t get too jammed for you.
Their music is a bit darker than you would expect from the four carefree boys in this happy Footloose-esque picture. Talk Taxis’ first single “Liverless” comes out in June, but you can already check it out on their myspace. It’s stressy, energetic, funky almost ska-ish combined with a seemingly agitated singer who’s voice sounds dangerously strained. I like it. The other three songs on theirspace are similarly tense, but all have that shake-your-booty quality. They, like Bloc Party before them, prove once again that angst and dancing indie teens are as compatible as Mario Van Peebles and crappy movies.
Talk Taxis - Publicity
I am on a Word Of The Day mailinglist (if anyone was wondering the word of the day was “cincture”), so I figured it would be fun to have word of the day songs. It feels familiar though, I might have - subconsciously of course - ripped this word theme thing off of some undoubtedly super innovative blogger so if you’ve seen this before or if this is your brainchild even, let me know and I’ll make sure to thank you every time we do this. Remember, imitation is the highest form of plagiarism.
The word of the day is Chicken!
Here is 100b’s top 5 featuring our feathered friends:
1.) The Bees - Chicken Payback
Before Justin ever brought sexy back the wonderful Bees brought chicken (pay)back. Well, it would have been clever if it made any sense.
2.) Louis Jordan - Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens
A special request from The Bean and the original chicken song. I like to think this is the tune that started it all.
3.) The Detroit Cobras - Shout Bama Lama (Otis Redding cover)
Q: “How many chickens have I stole?” A: “One last night and the night before. I’m gonna have to try to get 10, 11 more.” Now that’s a serious love for chicken.
4) Old Crow Medicine Show - Chicken Pie
I’m sure I’d like chicken pie. This might be the chickenest one of the bunch, they actually cluck in this song. Plus it sounds like a party in a real chicken coup.
5.) Brakes - Spring Chicken
Coocoocachaaah! An awesome song by one of my favorite bands. I hope The Spring Chicken dance looks a little something like this:
The Boy Least Likely To, like me, enjoys a good corny pop song. They also happen to be one of my favorite bands - just the thought of them makes me happy. And George Michael’s “Faith” is one my favorite cheesy 80s songs. To me, this cover is a match made in heaven.
I’ve been saving this for a new covers mix CD that I’m planning on making any day now, but it’s too good to keep to myself. Plus, The Boy Least Likely To are working on a new album right now, so it seemed like a good time for us to remind ourselves why we love them so very much.
The Boy Least Likely To - Faith
I’ve said it before, but nothing makes me happier than a good free song. Bean talked about how she comes across new music a few months ago and I’d like to share how I find all my precious free legal music:
1) The MySpace:
MySpace is the easiest and most obvious way to get your hands on some free tunes. I always feel a flutter in my belly when I see the download button light up under a song. Very often that thing doesn’t work though. I’d like to appeal to the MySpace fat cats and tell them to please stop playing with my feelings and fix that shit, you free music tease.
2) Band sites and mailinglists:
Some bands are more generous than others with their free music. Bands like Takka Takka are so generous that you start to worry if they’re making any money at all. The mailinglists are great resources too. Some bands give their mailinglist members exclusive downloads. Crash Convention, for instance, has a special section on their site for members with regularly posted new singles or exclusive versions of songs.
3) Other blogs:
Bean has already covered the best blogs to visit for some yummy new bands. There is a smorgasboard of blogs for any kind of music out there. The trick is to keep track of the ones that seem to match your music taste. So I’d like to add that Music For Robots, Keep Hope Inside and You Ain’t No Picasso are absolutely wonderful too.
4) Online music shops:
Itunes, Amazon and 7Digital all have free music downloads, you just have to look for them. Sometimes it’s as easy as typing in “free download” in a search box. For instance you can get Bright Eyes’ “When The President Talks To God” for free from Itunes. Insound is the best and my favorite one, they have a whole section dedicated to free mp3s. Respect.
5) The Bean:
Bean is a regular donator to the Provide Tam With Music fund. She has filled my greedy little hands with more new beautiful music than you can shake a stick at. So if you ever come across a Bean hold on for dear life, because she knows good music when she hears it and is always willing to share. God bless her.
6) Online music mags/sites:
I love online music magazines, because even though they may be free they often have quality reviews and even better offerings of music for nothing. 3hive is brilliant! I get choked up just thinking about it. They collect all the legal downloads from record companies, artist websites etc. and put them in one place. They call it sharing the sharing. So sweet.
Daytrotter is slowly becoming my new spiritual leader. They have regular live sessions with the most wonderful bands and you can listen to all these exclusive sessions for free. For some reason many of the bands feel compelled to play new or lesser known songs on Daytrotter, which is just heaven.
Then there’s The Downloader. I love Daytrotter, but I want to make babies with The Downloader. I’m not sure how or when or why I came to be on this guy “Matt The Downloader’s” mailinglist but it’s the best thing ever. The site claims to be the “complete guide to legal music downloads” and I’m inclined to believe it. He has a lot of of free mp3s from new bands and the best thing is he puts them in a top ten list in order of most downloaded track. If there’s something I love almost as much as free music, it’s lists … and shoes and bags, but that’s a whole other story.
7) Record companies:
Record companies, especially the smaller ones, are a great source too. Just look up your favorite artist’s label and visit their site, they’ll often have some songs to sample from. Absolutely Kosher Records even sends a free sample CD of their artists to anyone who joins their mailinglist. I’ve mentioned Filthy Little Angels a couple of times, but they have the best themed free music downloads ever. My favorite is still the Grease one. Their artists covered a song from the musical in their own unique way and we get to listen to it for free.
And that’s how I build up my library without spending a dime. But hey ever heard of that excellent broke-ass band that’s still playing twenty years later? Yeah me either. I may be greedy, but if you want your favorite bands to stick around they’re gonna need some cash. So if you come across a band that takes your fancy, support them any way you can and buy their stuff.
The 100b Crüe is going to see Bright Eyes play next weekend and I am beyond excited. His latest EP Four Winds is yet again exquisite. The way he’s not just able to pull, but drag the hearstrings up and down is amazing. Those of you who thought Digital Ash In A Digital Urn was a bit too ehm, synthy or poppy or something or … Ok I don’t actually know what you could have against Digital Ash other than that it sounds more experimental and different from anything he had done before, which to me makes it all the more phenomenal that he can excel at something that seems far removed from his previous work.
Anyway, I was saying that the six songs on Four Winds sound more country and familiar at first listen, but he wouldn’t be Conor Oberst if it wasn’t thrilling and new at the same time. The simplicity of the twangy guitars, harmonica, fiddle and other seemingly traditional instruments soon reveal a complicated layer of Bright Eyes-ness. I don’t know what else to call it. It has that unmistakable pessimistic beauty that we know and love so well, but totally reinvented. I can’t wait for the new album to come out if this is any indication of what it’s gonna sound like.
Listen to “Four Winds” from Saddle Creek.
I’ve been cleaning out all the mp3s I was supposed to check out before deciding whether I like a band enough to buy their album or whatever. In reality, I ended up with an 85-song playlist that was completely overwhelming. So while finally sorting through it, I came across Van She’s “Kelly”, which I had totally forgotten that I loved. Like fellow Australians Cut Copy, Van She take everything fun about the ’80s and turn it into modern dance-pop (with some Van Halen-esque guitars thrown in as well). “Kelly” is, as far as I’ve heard, their best by far - it’s like time travel back to my childhood in the form of a perfect pop song.
According to their website, Van She is working on some new stuff right now and you can hear a few songs over at myspace. Or you can download the whole Van She EP at emusic.
The Rakes’ second album, Ten New Messages is out today and already available at emusic (as is the first single from the album, “We Danced Together”). My copy is already downloaded, burned, imported to my pod, and playing on my stereo right now. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a massive Rakes fan - there is a lot of music that I really do love, but The Rakes inspire a geekiness in me that only comes out for a few other bands - and so far I’m not at all disappointed by Ten New Messages. So what are you wasting time reading this for when you could be getting it for yourself?
The BBC had yet another very successful Red Nose Day. Over £40,000,000 has been raised this year! Not too shabby, but it’s not over yet. Today the charity version of The Proclaimers’ hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” featuring Peter Kay and Matt Lucas as Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin is available in the shops. It has been available as a download which shot it to #3 in the charts already, but the CD single has the celebrity filled video on it, so pick up your own copy. You can still download the song here.
Today is, as everyone in and around the UK already knows, Red Nose Day. Yes, it’s a little corny but I love it just the same. Donate some money here, you know you want to. Enjoy the fun cheesiness on BBC1 tonight and if you’ve been watching Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, vote for Tricia because she’s lovely. (And laugh at Rupert Everett for being such a wuss he couldn’t stick The Apprentice out for two whole days.)
Here’s 2005’s Comic Relief single but be warned - if you listen to it once, you’ll have it stuck in your head for the rest of your life.
Tony Christie Feat. Peter Kay - (Is This The Way To) Amarillo
Alright, it has taken me so long to get this out that I have to do two months worth at once. Phew - here goes …
Truth be told, I have no idea what to say about Jamie T and his debut, Panic Prevention. Comparisons to The Streets will no doubt follow him for the rest of his career, understandably, but he can’t just be brushed off as a Mike Skinner mimic. I think comparisons to Nelly are equally justified, in Jamie T’s combination of pop melodies and a more rap-influenced singing style (most obviously in “Pacemaker” and “Sheila”). And he shares more than a little with bands like The Fratellis and Arctic Monkeys, especially lyrically - these are stories about the seedy underbelly of regular people. There are some truly tragic people in these songs, but a lot of them are are ordinary people who find themselves in desperate situations. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s a lot of different stuff going on in Jamie T’s music. Tam put it best when she said that this skinny white boy’s hybrid of pop, hip-hop, and indie should be “gimmicky”, but isn’t. He’s managed to make a genuinely unique album, one that’s completely of our time (Am I the only one who’s noticed that a lot of the best music of the last few years has been all about people like you or me and the reality of being like you or me - rather than sweeping songs about wonderful times with perfect friends and dreamy love? Not to mention the mixing of genres in recent years that has made music so much more interesting.), as well as a collection of songs perfect for getting some boogie on - I’d be shocked if some of these songs weren’t already staples in your favorite clubs.
January’s Single Of The Month was simple - there was no doubt it would be Bloc Party’s “The Prayer” from the first time I heard it. I’ve read that some people aren’t pleased that Bloc Party’s incredible percussion has taken a back seat to a more electronic sound on this single and the new album. I reckon that’s a valid point, but I’m a little more easy-going about that kind of stuff. It’s true that “The Prayer” has more synthesizer-y stuff going on than anything they’d previously released but it’s done well and keeps the same power that Bloc Party had before, which is pretty much all I ask for. Besides, nevermind the rest of the song - if you play “The Prayer” really loud and the stomps and chanty bits of the first 15 seconds don’t give you goosebumps, you were never going to like it anyway.
I had assumed that Bloc Party’s A Weekend In The City would be Album Of The Month for February, it’s more than worthy. But then I heard Pop Levi’s debut and loved it. And then I heard Patrick Wolf’s The Magic Position and it was all over. Sadly, I’d never gotten around to listening to any of Patrick Wolf’s other albums but I loved the title track from this one enough (after hearing it only once) that I bought the album immediately. I’ve seriously never heard anything like it. Like Jamie T, I love the mix of genres and musical influence, but this is on a whole other level: there’s bits of Nick Cave (Tam’s observation), Edwyn Collins, Motown, experimental electronica, classical, dance, indie, even hip-hop in this album. Some songs (”Magpie”, “Augustine”) are haunting, gut-wrenching, and too overwhelmingly beautiful and powerful to be described in words. Others (”The Magic Position”, “(Let’s Go) Get Lost”) are joyous, danceable celebrations. Every track is something new and Patrick Wolf proves that he’s not afraid of anything. I’d seriously lose all faith in the music world if The Magic Position isn’t at least nominated (if not the winner) of the Mercury Prize this year - even though it’s only March, I can’t imagine anything besting this album for originality, creativity, and quality.
Single Of The Month for February was trickier - it seems there was a little bit of a drought of single releases there. For pure pop enjoyment, I have to pick The Killers’ “Read My Mind”. Where The Killers usually rely on big, booming choruses, “Read My Mind” has a wonderful understated quality to it. It’s exactly what a great single should be and the video is incredibly charming. Go check it out if you need something to make you feel good about the world.
I can’t wait, cannot wait I say, for the new White Stripes album Icky Thump. For all of you who are as anxious for a new candy cane fix, check out this teeny tiny clip of Jack and a boney mime artist in the studio.
“Here now is a short film clip of The Stripes working on a thoroughly rough and ghastly early version of a track from the new album entitled “I’m Slowly Turning Into You”… (the actual music has been replaced with mid eighties sampling keyboard technology to prevent what industry analysts are now calling “song poaching”).”
Screaming Tea Party is the half Japanese, half Italian outfit based in London. Their continent crossing influences resonate in their music and gives them a fresh and unique sound. To be honest I have no idea what this happy threesome is singing about most of the time, but when it sounds this good who cares?
The four songs on their myspace has them moving between punk and sweet mellow pop. “Death Egg” is such a cute melodic song that it’s almost shocking to hear the robotic sounds of “Between Air And Air”. The last song sounds like they’ve been reared on The Jesus And Mary Chain while “Death Egg” is more Peter, Paul And Mary, the only common link are the Italian/Japanese accents … and their badassness.
Here are both songs from Stolen Recordings:
I don’t even know why, but I absolutely love Comic Relief and Red Nose Day. I’m sorry it’s probably not cool enough for a lot of people, but I especially love Celebrity Fame Academy and try to watch it every night. I just read a reader’s comment on a prestigious newspaper’s website saying that Comic Relief is disgusting because it just proves the excessiveness of the West. Geez, lighten up - it’s a charity and a lot of people have a lot of fun doing it. I have to wonder if comments like that are made by people who need to justify not donating any money themselves.
Anyway, this year’s Comic Relief single, as you no doubt already know, is Sugababes Vs. Girls Aloud, covering the classic “Walk This Way”. I have to admit I’ve never actually heard a Girls Aloud song, at least not that I know of, and even though I love Sugababes, I really thought this song was going to be a horrible disaster. In theory, it seems like a terrible idea - “Walk This Way” is a classic that I thought shouldn’t be messed with. But it’s turned out to be a pretty great pop single. It’s out today - you can get it here and give just a tiny bit of your money to charity. If you’re too cheap, watch the video and know that you could’ve done your bit to help for only £2.99.
Check out the new Kings Of Leon video for their first single “On Call” from their upcoming album Because Of The Times here. It’s different from their previous stuff, both the video and the song have a slightly darker feel, but still beautiful as always.
(edit by Bean: sadly, the youtube video Tam linked to “is no longer available due to a copyright claim by RCA Records”, which totally sucks because I hadn’t even watched it yet! We’ll re-link to it once it’s properly available somewhere.)
Update: I found another link to the video. I hope The Man doesn’t bring this one down too. Enjoy!
I was curious about where the Parental Advisory warning came from and who the people who thought it up were in the first place. Well here they are, don’t they look like a wholesome bunch? These are the women who want to shield their children from images and songs about sex and violence even though they all look like Alexis from Dynasty’s regular bitch slappin’ partners.
People are built to covet that which has been labeled as forbidden. There are examples of that going all the way back to the day that Eve was walking around Paradise basking in the light of eternal bliss and God’s everlasting approval and thought “yeah this is all great, but what I really want is a bellyful of that mangy looking forbidden fruit”. So if you want one surefire way to get kids to listen to certain songs that might not have even been a blip on their radars put them on a Big Bad List Of Naughty, which is exactly what Tipper Gore, better half of Al “Global Warming is bad” Gore, and her band of merry wives of politicians did. In 1985 they started The Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC) and put out a list of songs, known as the Fitlhy Fifteen that made them clutch their pearls and weep for the brutal attack on their delicate chidren’s angelic innocence and purity. They are also the ones who introduced the idea of a Parental Advisory: Explicit Content sticker, giving most Hip Hop and Heavy Metal artists something to strive for.
I don’t have anything against the Parental Advisory warning, because the artists don’t seem to mind, some even wear them as a badge of honor. I guess as long as parents still buy their younger children’s CDs they can decide whether they risk exposing their children to “the filth”. The thing that I can’t wrap my head around is the fact that these women actually believe that the sources of evil in their precious offspring’s life come from the music they listen to.
The PMRC are of the opinion that the increase in rape, drug use, teen suicide and pregnancy is due to the explicit nature of music. Ah, when in doubt turn to the usual suspects. We don’t need no stinkin’ scientific back up, by the powers of deduction we can clearly see that the culprit has to be music. It cannot be crappy parenting, bad education, an all consuming fear of Bin Laden and his minions, poverty, abuse, neglect, or any other of the numerous possible factors, it has to be music, cuz it’s right there in their rooms and all we have to do is throw it out and all is right in the world. If all the kids listened to the Carpenters there would be no crimes and we would live in harmony. Following their reasoning they’d all end up Boulimic but, oh well, at least they’re not pregnant and snorting speed with their raping biker boyfriends.
Here’s the list from 1985. Doesn’t it look like the ultimate great songs of the 80’s mix? I love the fact that they gave us the categories after the songs for our convenience:
1 Prince “Darling Nikki” Sex/Masturbation
2 Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls” Sex
3 Judas Priest “Eat Me Alive” Sex
4 Vanity “Strap on Robbie Baby” Sex
5 Mötley Crüe “Bastard” Violence
6 AC/DC “Let Me Put My Love into You” Sex
7 Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It” Violence
8 Madonna “Dress You Up” Sex
9 W.A.S.P. “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)” Sex/Language
10 Def Leppard “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” Drug and Alcohol Use
11 Mercyful Fate “Into the Coven” Occult
12 Black Sabbath “Trashed” Drug and Alcohol Use
13 Mary Jane Girls “In My House” Sex
14 Venom “Possessed” Occult
15 Cyndi Lauper “She Bop” Sex/Masturbation
I didn’t even know that “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was that violent, I just thought it was about rebellious teens. Neither had I ever thought about the fact that Madonna’s “Dress You Up” was about sex. Songs that used to be just pretty ditties with a catchy chorus, are now scanned and scrutinzed for the dirty parts, so thank you PMRC for unlocking the inner perv in kids everywhere.
One of the concerned mothers of PMRC claims that “Much has changed since Elvis’ seemingly innocent times. Subtleties, suggestions, and innuendo have given way to overt expressions and descriptions of often violent sexual acts, drug taking, and flirtations with the occult.” There is absolutely no truth in this claim, there have always been songs that were clearly about sex, or violence and even drugs. Johnny Cash alone covered most of the things on the PMRC’s taboo list and The Dominoes 1950’s hit “Sixty Minute Man” is all but subtle about sex:
There’ll be fifteen minutes of kissin’
Then you’ll holler “Please don’t stop” (Don’t stop!)
There’ll be fifteen minutes of teasin’
Fifteen minutes of squeezin’
And fifteen minutes of blowin’ my top…
Elvis himself sang on “Baby Let’s Play House”: I’d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man. It’s beautiful how innocent the delicate hint about jealousy driven murder in that good old song is, isn’t it?
Which makes me wonder if these women ever did listen to Rock ‘n Roll, the very term derived from an old slang term for sex. They probably had to divert their eyes when Elvis provocatively jiggled his pelvis and turn the channel when Little Richard sang about how Good Golly Miss Molly liked to ball. I shudder to think what the soundtrack of their lives must be like, Engelbert Humperdink is probably about as edgy as they can handle. Though he sang the song - made famous by Beavis and Butthead, called “Lesbian Seagull” and his last name is a bit racy, so we can scratch him off their soundtrack too. Poor Engelbert.
Everybody’s talking about Pop Levi and for good reason. I downloaded one of his songs ages ago, loved it, forgot to look for more information on him, then saw his debut album - The Return To Form Black Magick Party, apparently released a few weeks ago - all over the place in Amsterdam last week. So when aDawgg came home with it a few days ago, I was pretty excited. I finally had a chance to listen to it this morning and it is so much better than I had hoped it would be. Seriously, this album is literally knocking my socks off as I type this.
Pop Levi was born in London but lived, as far as I understand, in both Liverpool and Los Angeles. As well as releasing his own solo singles and EPs, he also played with Ladytron for a while. His music is odd, in the most gloriously magical way, being glam, bubblegum pop, electronic, and rock all at the same time. I was going to write something about Marc Bolan and both 1964 and Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles here, but Ninja Tune’s press release about the album put it way better than I could’ve: “Although the most obvious precursor of his sound might be Mark Bolan, listen carefully and you’ll hear touches of everyone from Jack White, Prince and Hendrix to Dylan, Lennon and Beefheart in there.” It’s true, the Marc Bolan influence is striking and immediate, but I can already tell that this is an album I’ll discover new things in every time I listen to it.
It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time and you need to have it, right now. I’m not saying you should check it out, you really do need it.
This might be the best Poptastic song I’ll ever pick AND it’s by a legendary artist. I almost feel bad that I’m putting him in between 2Unlimited and Cleopatra. Yes, Poptastic Day is supposed to be about all things cheesy, but this was a huge pop hit twice. I know this Jackie Wilson song from the Claymation video in the early eighties, but it had already been a hit in 1957. I was six and I thought the video was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. I had no idea who Jackie Wilson was, but I loved that little clay man belting out “She’s soooooooo fine”.
“Reet Petite” was used in a jeans add in 1986, which generated new interest in it. People who remembered the single from the first time around bought it out of nostalgia and the rest just couldn’t ignore something so fun and swinging. Combine the clever video with the mindblowing song and it’s easy to see why it was number one in the UK, Ireland and The Netherlands thirty years after the original release and two years after Jackie Wilson passed away. It’s pretty amazing that without touching it, it took over all those popular eighties groups in a heartbeat.
There are some crazy people out there who claim that they aren’t musically influenced by The Beatles. I’m here to set those people straight. I’ve been mulling this over all week and I honestly can’t think of anything that’s considered innovative in music that The Beatles didn’t do first. Covering generally unknown artists and bringing them to the attention of younger fans? They did that way back at the beginning of their career. Unexpected gigs in odd places? Let It Be, anyone? Trying out unusual instruments and experimenting with foreign sounds? They incorporated sitars and orchestral elements and pretty much anything else that they found interesting into their music, during a time when pop music was pretty formulaic. In fact, you could argue that The Beatles’ ability and willingness to mix sounds and take risks is the very reason that pop music (not chart music specifically) is so diverse now. You might think it’s a stretch, but even hip-hop might owe something to the Fab Four - they messed with recording techniques and looping and playing things backwards and layering sounds before most people even knew you could do those things.
I’m sure there are some people who really don’t listen to The Beatles, as crazy as that seems to me. And I can’t say that they were the first people ever to do some of these things - Buddy Holly experimented with recording equipment to get new effects before The Beatles even thought about getting together to make some music. But you better have some good arguments ready if you try to claim that they aren’t a musical influence, whether it’s come directly from their records or trickled down through pop music history.
The Beatles - Every Little Thing
