Top 5 Songs: Magical Mystery Tour

Happy Hump Day!


I know I'm a day early with the Top 5 feature, but fuck it, I can do what I want. And what I want is to pick my Top 5 songs from the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album.

Besides, I have "Flying" stuck in my head.

Yep. Straight from 1967, comes this gem of an album that was designed primarily as more of a soundtrack than a straight-out actual album. 

You see, Paul McCartney had an idea of making a film that revolved around the Beatles and their music. And so this project came to be, with no scripts and just a bunch of randomness filled with funny, quirky adventures.

It was officially released on television for the BBC just in time for Christmas, but the critics absolutely hated it! And this was during the height of Beatlemania.

I guess the unscripted approach was too experimental and too hip for the times.
But out of that seeming flop(which it isn't too me) came this pretty damn good album.

Here's the song list:

1.	"Magical Mystery Tour"	McCartney	2:48
2.	"The Fool on the Hill"	McCartney	3:00
3.	"Flying" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney/George Harrison/Richard Starkey)	(Instrumental)	2:16
4.	"Blue Jay Way" (Harrison)	Harrison	3:50
5.	"Your Mother Should Know"	McCartney	2:33
6.	"I Am the Walrus"	Lennon	4:35

Side two: 1967 singles
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Hello, Goodbye"	McCartney	3:24
2.	"Strawberry Fields Forever"	Lennon	4:05
3.	"Penny Lane"	McCartney	3:00
4.	"Baby, You're a Rich Man"	Lennon	3:07
5.	"All You Need Is Love"

Yeah, that's what I have to choose from. And no, it's not going to be easy:(
And yes, they're will be a tie(s)......

5.  Baby, You're a Rich Man/ Your Mother Should Know

Baby, you're a rich man

I really dig the beginning to this one, with the horn/flute thingy and all. Hey, I don't know what the hell the proper instrument name is, but it sounds just like what snake charmers play to you know, charm the snakes into popping up out the basket and shaking their groove thing to the funky beat.

It's a very clever and tongue-in-cheek song, that seems to be making fun off/talking shit to and about celebrities and famous people. You know, acting like their shit doesn't stink because they have lots of money and fame now. And you can also possibly point out that the Beatles are kinda' making fun of themselves as well, since they're also included in the rich and famous celebrity club. Either way, it's still a damn fine song that deserved to be included in my list.

And it shares it's spot with this song, You're Mother Should Know:

They look pretty pimp in those white suits don't they?

See that's one of the things I like about the Beatles; even they're jokey, non-serious songs that seem like throwaway stuff sounds so good. It's probably because even when they're goofing off, they're still professional about it. 

But seriously, how pimp are those suits?

And what tune/song are they dancing to that only your mother seems to know? They never explain that one. Hmm;)

4. Fool On The Hill

This one's a classic for sure. Who hasn't felt like the Fool on the Hill at one time or another? And not just if you were drunk or high.

Here's McCartney in his own words explaining how the song came about:

" 'Fool on the Hill' was mine and I think I was writing about someone like Maharishi(Maharishi Mahesh Yogi). His detractors called him a fool. Because of his giggle he wasn't taken too seriously ... I was sitting at the piano at my father's house in Liverpool hitting a D 6th chord, and I made up 'Fool on the Hill."

So there you go.

3. Penny Lane/ All You Need Is Love

Penny Lane

How iconic is this song? It's so British, yet also so very much like the song stylings of Lennon and McCartney. It's a silly pop song that sounds like a crazy adventure all centered around the inhabitants of this one particular street. Very few bands/singers could pull something that might appear on the outside as a mundane song off so well.

Of course I had to have another tie, and that's where the next song comes in: All you need is love.

All You Need Is Love

Yeah I know. How come this isn't #1? Well the video alone should damn well be. Just how awesome is that video by the way? All those people just sitting around, enjoying themselves  and joining in to sing when it was their time. Just awesome.... Spiritual even.

Again, this was not only at the height of Beatlemania, bout also Flower Power and the love/peace movement.
To me, it's not just an anti-war song, but also a pro-peace and love song directed at everybody to quit hating each other over petty shit and just love and except one another. With songs like that you can never go wrong.

Another quick note of interest in case you didn't already know.....
this song was viewed live via satellite in an era and time when that sort of technology was crude and brand spanking new. Think about that one for a second. Oh the Beatles; always the innovators;)

And yes, I'll freely admit, there are times when watching this that I get a bit choked up. Not just because of the power and message of the song, but also because I quickly realize that both John and George are no longer around:(

2. Strawberry Fields Forever

Oh you know this song had to be included on the list!

This song in particular, for me, let the world know that this album and the band, were different from the previous ones in a bold and new way. Named after a now famous cemetery in Liverpool, England, SFF  proudly showcased the Beatles dabbling with drugs like LSD and Marijuana, you know, if you didn't already get that from the trippy songs. 

There's at least two versions of this song I really like; this one, and the stripped down acoustic version that you'll hear on the Beatles Anthology album and the Beatles Love album.

I highly recommend listening to both, especially the stripped down version because Lennon's vocals are so much clearer and so of the times. 

What else is there more to say, then this is a true classic.

1. Hello, Goodbye

Yeah this was hard one, but for know I stick by my choice. As much as I love Strawberry Fields and how it truly heralded the psychedelic phase of the Beatles, Hello, Goodbye for me is just the shit. I love the beginning, middle, and end. I love the guitar effects and sounds that weren't being used like that or at all before that song came out.

And just look at that video, with the Fab Four wearing those crazy, trippy, psychedelic military-inspired outfits. Those outfits are iconic, and not just because it was the 60's; but also because the Beatles made that shit work.

And seriously, how can you not like that song? It's so poppy and catchy. Not to mention making a hit song out of an argumentative statement....."I say yes, you say no, I say stop, and you say go, go ,go" C'mon!

No doubt to me why I picked this song as my number one, and you know it wasn't easy.
And that's not to say the others are bad, because they're not. Like I said earlier, I've had the instrumental song "Flying" in my head for a day or two now, and that's a pretty damn decent song.

If you haven't had  a chance to see the original album cover up close and personal, you gotta' try it. It has loads of wacky pictures from the movie, and some weird stuff as well.

Case in point, are some supposed "Paul Is Dead" proof pics, and one other disturbingly accurate one.
There's one photo where John's standing @ a desk with a bunch of anonymous stuff. Well there's one travel advertisement on the desk that goes "The best way to go, is with MDC."

Sounds innocent enough, until you pay close attention to the initials MDC. Get why?
Because they're also the same initials belonging to the very man who shot and killed John Lennon almost 20 years later.....Mark David Chapman=MDC.

Yeah, freaky huh? Especially with now that that eerie phrase "The best way to go" can be seen into a totally new light. It's ironic, don't you think?


So, as always, feel free to give your top 5 picks from this album. Remember, there's no right or wrong answer, just what your preferences are.

Have a good one people:)

My favorite albums: Plastic Ono Band

What's cracking people?

Guess who's birthday it was yesterday?

Yeah this guy's!

I forgot to mention it here yesterday, but I did on FaceBook, along with all of the other various tributes to him on that site.

You know for me personally, it's hard to pick out a favorite album of Lennon's, if only because to be honest, I'm not that big a fan of his solo albums. Yes I know, blasphemy for sure, but it's true. There'll be some songs I like here and there, but as for liking his entire albums as a whole, yeah, not so much.

But that doesn't there mean there isn't one major solo album of his that I don't enjoy all the way through. I do, and that's the subject for this week's edition of My favorite albums.

Plastic Ono Band came out in 1970, but was brewing in John Lennon's mind since 1968. He had really gotten involved with his future wife Yoko Ono, both physically/romantically and professionally, and started pumping out little solo works while still officially with the Beatles.

By the time the Beatles split up for good in april of 1970, Lennon threw himself completely into making his first real solo album. Regarded as one of the best, if not best solo album Lennon ever made until his last one, Double Fantasy, Plastic Ono Band is the total summation of all the therapy, all the stress both Beatles-related and personal, all thrown in there for the world to see.

The original album has 11 tracks on it, while the 2000 reissue has two more added on it. These added tracks are "Power to the people", and "Do the Oz." Out of the two, I love "Power to the people" more. It's just a great protest anthem, that you might find yourself wanting to shout "down with the man" and joining those 99% er's real quick!

Just looking at the sheer amount of hits this album produced, should leave no doubt in anybody's mind just how highly regarded this album is.

The first track is the classic "Mother."

This song was written just right after Lennon immersed himself in a type of therapy called Primal Therapy.
This type of therapy causes the subject to undergo regressive states going back to their childhood to deal with traumas that person went through during that period. Screaming is a big part of it, and it's the sort of primal screaming that John does on this track as a way of reliving the pain of when his mother was killed. Deep, deep stuff, but still a beautiful song. I especially love the beginning part, where you hear the chimes of Big Ben, the famous English clock.

"Hold On" is next, and I really love this song as well!

It's basically John talking to himself, his wife Yoko, and the the world, to just calm down and try not to get too stressed about things, especially things we can't control. It's a nice little short ditty, but so, so honest, and so John Lennon.

"I found out" is supposed to be a song written during his days with the Beatles, since it really has that type of sound to it. Listening to it and the lyrics, John talks about his disillusionment with religion, false gods and teachers, and just basically the entire institution of it. Typical Lennon talking shit about religion, but it sounds good, and has a very raw, gritty sound to it as well.

From the bitter to the sweet, "Love" is just what it says it is; a song about love. It's amazing to see the different myriads of emotions and thoughts that flow throughout this entire album, as they all run in stark contrast to one another.

"Love" is simply John Lennon at his most loving and introspective. To me it's one of the most beautiful songs he's ever written, and considering he also wrote "Imagine", that's saying something. Love the piano parts he plays throughout the song, as it seems to just help hammer down his message.

"Working Class Hero" is another classic, vintage Lennon song. Hell the title was so popular, it was later used as the title to a tribute album. Basically the song's about Lennon's thoughts on the different social classes that exist, and just how much shit on he feels is done to the working class. These reflections as come from his own personal experiences of course, as he witnessed first hand the division between the different social classes, the rich and the poor.

Hey, personally, I think this song's just as relevant if not more so than it was back then since not much has changed since then.

Then there's a song called "Isolation". Yeah it shouldn't take too many guesses to figure out what Mr.Lennon was feeling on that particular day:)

Actually it's a sweet song about all of the stress and bullshit John and Yoko had to deal with during that particular period. Between Protest marches and concerts, Yoko being blamed for the Beatles breaking up, and numerous other sources of aggravation, John simply had to let it out, and so he does in this song. Really, really well done here.

Up next is a track called "Remember." It's alright, but it does tend to sound like Isolation and I found out. It's John talking about his disillusionment with how things were at the time, especially cultural and societal cliches. I hear that, as that definitely seems to be a problem in today's "all about me" technological-oriented era.

I like the track "Well, well, well" also. It's a nice little track that rocks.

While it may sound like typical Lennon complaining about stuff, I prefer to look at it as a sort of "Day in the life" in the life of John and Yoko during the post-Beatles, Vietnam period.

I like the lyrics "I took my loved one out to dinner
So we could get a bite to eat
And though we both had been much thinner
She looked so beautiful I could eat her
Well, well, well, oh well
Well, well, well, oh well 

[Repeats]
I took my loved one to a big field
So we could watch the English sky
We both were nervous feeling guilty
And neither one of us knew just why
Well, well, well, oh well
Well, well, well, oh well

We sat and talked of revolution
Just like two liberals in the sun
We talked of women's liberation
And how the hell we could get things done
Well, well, well, oh well
Well, well, well, oh well 

[Repeats]
I took my loved one to a big field
So we could catch the English sky
We both were nervous feeling guilty
And neither one of us knew just why
Well, well, well, oh well
Well, well, well, oh well"

Nice huh?
If the other tracks were introspective, then you really have to include "Look at me" in there as well. It's Introspective as fuck, with John pleading to someone, maybe Yoko, maybe the audience, "Here I am, look at me. Who am I? Who am I supposed to be?"

And really, who hasn't asked or thought that themselves at one time or another?

The infamous/famous song "God" is next.
If Lennon didn't manage piss off enough people when he compared the popularity of the Beatles at the time with Jesus Christ, then I'm sure he was swinging for the fences on this one! Especially when he says "God is a concept with which we measure our pain." While I don't agree with that opinion, I do kind of see the point he's getting at.

Also in the song, Lennon famously proclaims he doesn't believe in Buddha, Kennedy, Hitler, or even the Beatles....He just believes in Himself and Yoko. Sure some might listen to it and think Lennon's being childish; it kind of does sound like something a kid would say, "Nothing else exists but my reality" sort of thing. But in another light, it's Lennon saying "all the ideological trappings, political and societal/cultural trappings don't mean shit to me, because I have Yoko and my music, and that's enough for me." And you know what? He's probably right.


Right after that is a little snippet of a song called "My mummy's dead" Yeah, and I'm supposed to be Mr.Morbid and all, but I don't think I'd ever write a song with that particular title, true or not.

But it's in this song that John seems to continue the message from "Mother" about his Mom being dead, of course. It doesn't last too long, 49 seconds and all, but yeah that's pretty much what it's all about.

And that's that.

I wonder what Ringo thought about "God" since that line about not believing in the Beatles had to be kind of awkward. You know, since Ringo played drums on the whole album and all.

Hmm. I guess he took it well enough:)

Not to mention Billy Preston, at one time considered the unofficial 5th Beatles back in 1969, played piano on God. I wonder, since Preston comes from a gospel music background, what he himself thought about the song. I guess it didn't bother him too much since he still played on the track.

Maybe there was Hell up in Harlem that night after all........;)

Seriously though folks, ignoring all the accolades and praise this album gets, I highly suggest giving this album a try. After all, this just leads into Lennon's next album, the famous "Imagine."

Not bad for my 250th post huh?

"She's leaving home"

Hey folks.

Today's post will not be filled with the usual fun and wacky humor you usually find here. Check back here Monday for that.

Today I actually wanted to devoted this post to one very special lady that I'm going to miss like crazy. Heather, this is for you.

Through the course of human musical history, there have been hundreds upon hundreds of songs written about a special person leaving the lives of the song's writers. It's hard to pick out which one suits the sad occasion, as any really good heart-felt song will do.

I thought about John Denver's "I'm leaving on a jet plane" but she's not. She's simply moving away to another  town by car.

Then there's another good song choice, Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye". Now that is an appropriate one, but lacks the sentimentality that does what we had justice. No, only one song will do that. And it's from our mutually favorite group: The Beatles.

From one of  my favorite albums of theirs(The White Album is my favorite), is of my favorite tracks off their album: Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, She's leaving home.

"Wednesday morning at five o'clock 
As the day begins 
Silently closing her bedroom door 
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more 

She goes downstairs to the kitchen 
Clutching her handkerchief 
Quietly turning the backdoor key 
Stepping outside, she is free 

She...(we gave her most of our lives) 
Is leaving (sacrified most of our lives) 
Home (we gave her everything money could buy) 
She's leaving home, after living alone, for so many years (bye bye) 

Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown 
Picks up the letter that's lying there 
Standing alone at the top of the stairs 
She breaks down and cries to her husband 
"Daddy, our baby's gone. 
"Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly? 
How could she do this to me?" 

She...(we never thought of ourselves) 
Is leaving (never a thought for ourselves) 
Home (we struggled hard all our lives to get by) 
She's leaving home, after living alone, for so many years 

Friday morning, at nine o'clock 
She is far away 
Waiting to keep the appointment she made 
Meeting a man from the Motortrade 

She (what did we do that was wrong) 
Is Having (we didn't know it was wrong) 
Fun (fun is the one thing that money can't buy) 

Something inside, that was always denied, for so many years... 
She's leaving home...bye, bye."

Yes I know, the song's about a daughter leaving her family to go out on her own, but it's still a beautiful song.

I love you, and will  miss you like crazy Pook.

Reviewing a Dark Horse

A couple of weeks ago I watched the documentary on George Harrison's life, George Harrison: Living in the material world, by famous director Martin Scorsese, and damn what a really nice one it is!

Here's the link to the trailer in case you guys haven't already seen it:

I readily admit that my favorite member of the Beatles is Paul Mccartney. I love and enjoy his music, both his contributions to the Beatles, his Wings', and solo stuff. After that I guess is John, then George, then poor Ringo's last. Sorry Ringo.

That being said, after watching this well put together documentary on Harrison's life, made me appreciate him even more that I'd thought possible.

Watching the over 2 hour movie, Scorsese beautifully illustrates the type of life Harrison lived, and what he encountered as a rockstar and celebrity. He does that through various interviews with friends and family members and film footage of concerts and events he was part of. These interviews and film footage make you feel as though you're there right alongside Harrison, going through these things right along with him, as if you're really there.

You learn how spiritual he became, starting in 1966, when he first became aware of Indian music and Hindusim. He threw himself into that so heavily, that he even convinced the rest of the Beatles to join him on a trip to India to meditate and better themselves mentally after feeling burned out enough to stop touring altogether. There they met with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who taught them all about Transcendental Meditation, and the like. Of course, in the end, certain things happened that caused the whole trip to be seen as a disaster.

This didn't dissuade George from his spiritual path, but only served to strengthen his resolve. Over the years he would continue his spiritual and musical growth outside the Beatles after they officially broke up in 1970, and that became evident with the continuous flow of material he put out one after another. This occurred because while in the Beatles he only contributed a small amount of songs for their albums, while John and Paul wrote the majority of the hits. Over time he stockpiled many classic songs, such as "All things must pass", "I dig love", "Awaiting you all, and "Wah Wah."

Then there's his historic first of it's kind, concert for Bangladesh in 1970.

This was all due to George Harrison's good friend and mentor Ravi Shankar, coming to him to tell him about the plight in Bangladesh at the time. Harrison and record produce Phil Spector(yeah that crazy guy)set it up, and he along with a bunch of other friends and musicians performed 2 two-hour concerts live to be recorded on film. This film contains footage from the concert, and what a performance it was! Even ever faithful Ringo was here, although John and Paul were not.

The concert raised millions, and was regarded as the standard with which future celebrity benefits were modeled after.

Other things touched on in the documentary that stood out to me was his relationship with friend and fellow Musician Eric Clapton. These two shared a life-long friendship, and even shared girlfriends!

You see Harrison used to be married to Patti Boyd, who became over time romantically interested in Eric Clapton. Soon things came to a head, and Eric was upfront with his friend, and told him how much he had fallen in live his friends' wife. Clapton claims Harrison told him to "take her", and so Clapton did just that. The interviews with Boyd and Clapton on this topic are very interesting to watch. I knew Clapton had fallen in love with Boyd, because as the world knows, that's where his famous hit song "Layla" comes from, but to hear the progression of how that all came about, and Harrison's nonchalant attitude about the whole thing kind of had me going "huh?"

Of course their friendship survived all that, and they continued on as friends until Harrison's death.

That's another topic that is very interesting to hear about. Harrison became diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. Following that was an attack on his and his wife's lives by a deranged man who felt he was "on a mission from God" to kill him. Both Harrison and his wife Olivia survived the attack, but Olivia felt the brutal attack seemed to cause a remission of the cancer.

He ultimately succumbed to a brain tumor, and passed away in 2001.

What struck me was how Olivia was explaining that Harrison was preparing himself for death. He was preparing his spirit throughout his life to leave his body on his own terms. Very fascinating. Would that we could all do that.

And of course there's little bits in-between all that, like how he personally financed Monty Python's first movie, "The Life and Times of Brian, by putting up his own house as collateral. So yeah, you can blame/thank Harrison for that depending on how you feel about them.

And of course there's a little group called The Travelling Wilburys......

If you haven't ever checked this movie out, or have have heard about it, but been on the fence about it, I strongly urge you to see it, beg, borrow, or steal it. It's just that damn good!

Scorsese demonstrates here why he's so good when it comes to movies and documentaries, that you'll find yourself instantly becoming both a fan of his, and Harrison's. So go check it, and you won't regret that you did.

"Love, love me do"

Welcome one and all, or should I say the 3-4 people that I know of that read this blog, to the 75th edition of my...well blog.

I figured today I'd talk about my favorite rock n' roll band ever: The Beatles. Why the Beatles? Why not the Beatles.
I'm not going to attempt to persuade you one way or the other to like them, but I'm going to briefly discuss why I love them.

There's been I'm sure, countless upon countless articles written about the Beatles, each one probably better at discussing how great they were according to their technical writing skills, musical influences, and other things of that nature, and they probably did it with fancier terms and $10 words/phrases. I'm not going to do that. I'm simply going to tell you what they mean to me and how there music makes me feel, how it touches my very soul.

The Beatles are my favorite rock band ever because of so many things they did, and did well. They were truly the sum of the whole, rather than the sum of their parts. Meaning, while each member went off and had their own successful solo careers, made hit albums and tons of money, I feel on their own that they didn't make the type of  impact they did when they were together as the Beatles. Some may scoff at that, but I think history's already shown that to be true. I'm not trying to say they weren't  influential or didn't have anything worth talking about in their solo albums. Just that on their own, they didn't make the same impact they achieved as a group.

To put it in the proper perspective, or my perspective, in the 6 years they were together as a successful recording group(not counting their years together in the club circuit) they literally influenced millions. They list of bands, past and present that were influenced by the Beatles is very, very long.
For example, Heather and I used to be friends with this couple that were into heavy, goth, and industrial metal. They were huge fans of Type 0-Negative, and in turn, made Heather a huge fan of theirs to this very day. Well, one night, this guy(from the said couple) got really drunk. This wasn't too unusual because he was always getting drunk and usually would turn into an angry drunk. Well on this night, while we're all sitting outside on a cold winter or fall night beside a roaring fire, Type 0-Negative or some other industrial band was playing in the background. I don't know how, but the Beatles were suddenly brought up during our discussion on something or other. This guy, for some strange reason, goes into a drunken tirade on the Beatles were "fags", and they were a stupid boy band that no one listened to anymore. Now, I usually don't speak up during drunken tirades, but because this idiot had the audacity to call my beloved band "fags" really pissed me off! I then started to pick on his musical choices, saying that the industrial music he was listening to was nothing more than noise, and that it wasn't even music; just a bunch of screaming and shouting without any depth or meaning. He got further pissed off by that comment, and then tried to ask me if I was a musician,and what did I know about music or even making music.I replied that while I wasn't a musician and didn't play musical instruments, that I'll still knew enough about music to judge that what he was listening to wasn't music at all. True, I shouldn't have said all of that, even if I believe that to be true, but he was way of base in dismissing the Beatles as simply a gay boy band. Suffice to say, the friendship ended after that night. He did call and apologize the next day, explaining that he "really did like the Beatles too", he was just being a drunken idiot, or something to that effect. So yes, I've ended friendships over the Beatles. It sounds silly I'm sure, but I just felt he was way off base. I was too heated about it all, and didn't make the points I'd later want to make after I had time to think about the whole thing. Isn't that funny how that sometimes happens? You get so flustered during the heat of the moment, that you only realize what you want/should say, but only after you've had time to think about it for awhile.

Anyway, when Heather and I both got home then  the things I'd wished I'd said came to mind. I wanted and wished I had pointed out the fact that the very bands he liked, including Type 0-Negative, were very influenced by the Beatles. I wish the lead singer of Type 0-Negative, Peter Steele(RIP) had been there and set the idiot straight. His band's covered a few of the Beatles' songs. I guess that makes him a fag too.
For that matter, artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, Alice Copper, Sting, Peter Collins, and countless others were also influence by the Beatles. Does that mean Ozzy's a fag too for liking the Beatles? I guess so then huh?

Back to the main thing I was talking about, the Beatles were undoubtedly very influential.  Look at Sgt.Pepper, Yellow Submarine,The Magical Mystery Tour and all of there other concept albums they made. Look at how they're still cited as valuable works of art that are still relevant today. If you don't believe me, head on down to Las Vegas where the The Beatles' Cirque du soleil Love show is still running after 5 years. I'm surprised there aren't any amusement park rides with Beatles' themes around.

I guess the main thing I want to express, is how their music truly and honestly touches my very soul; Music does that to me you know. It probably does the same to you when you listen to your favorite artist on the radio or on your iTunes. We can't explain it in words, the feeling that we get when a song does something to our soul, or insides. To paraphrase a quote from Paul Heyman, It's akin to experiencing a spiritual orgasm.
That's what the Beatles' music does to me, as well as other favorite rock bands of mine. Whenever I hear "Because", or "Help!", "Lucy in the sky with diamonds",or "The Sun King", it gets my imagination going, and fills my soul with joy. Good music does that to you.

Now I'm going to give my two cents about the long-standing debate about who's the better band: The Beatles or the Rolling Stones.
This is a debate that's raged on for years, and will still continue on until either both bands are forgotten or the world ends.

In my opinion, and this is just my opinion, it breaks down like this for me:
Sure the 'Stones outlasted the Beatles in terms of still operating today as a band. I don't know how fate or history or things would have worked out if the Beatles would have been allowed to continue on to today; excluding John Lennon's assasination and George's death from cancer, what would it be like if the Beatles were still around?
I don't know, but I think even they would've fallen victim to becoming living parodies of themselves, much like the Rolling Stones have become. You don't believe me? Look at the 'Stones now. When was the last time they put out not just a hit album, but an influential one at that has survived the test of time? For me, that's probably their 1981 album Tattoo You. Other than that, what else have they really contributed to the rock and roll landscape lately?Sure they're almost as famous for the drugs they took as they the music they made, especially Keith Richards(how is that man still alive?). But what else?
I'm not trying to say that didn't influence anybody, because they did, but would the 'Stones still be viewed as successful as a band if they only lasted 6 years vs. what, 40,50?

I'm not going to say that in 6 years' time that the 'Stones didn't have a huge catalog of hit albums and singles by then, but I don't think they'd be as famous and revered as they are now if they'd only being around for 6 years. But the Beatles are, and they still continue to be. What does that tell you?  Also here's this little factoid to chew on: you know who had the most hits between the two? The Beatles. Don't believe me? Look it up, and you'll see I'm right.

I don't want you guys to think I'm hating on the 'Stones or anything; for me they come in 3rd as my favorite rock band ever. They have a bunch of songs I love like: "Playing with fire", "Moonlight Mile", "Monkey Man", "Can't you hear me knocking", and my all-time favorite song of theirs; "Give me shelter". Damn do I love that song! That's one of those songs for me, that I could literally listen to over and over again everyday and not get sick of hearing it. And trust me, with the limited selection of classic rock hits on my two rock radio stations, that's pretty much what happens.

So to wrap to things up; the Beatles are my favorite rock group, IMHO the 'Stones wouldn't have been nearly as successful and famous as they are now if they only had been together for 6 years, and listening to good, soul-moving music is like achieving a spiritual orgasm. Yeah, I think that just about hits all the point I wanted to make.

In future blogs, I think I'll list my top 10 favorite rock groups. I could easily talk about the top 5 right off the top of my head.

Here they are in case you were wondering:

1. The Beatles
2. Led Zepplin
3. The Rolling Stones
4. The Doors
5. Pink Floyd

Just please don't try to get me to nail down the other choices; It's too painful, and there's way too many groups to choice from. But they do include the following:

• Cream
• The Allman Brothers
• The Who
• Aerosmith
• Jimi Hendrix Experience

and many, many more in the running.

Okay that's it, until next time.......