Fuck.
Totally changed my mind on this after actually listening to Abbey Road
It's Abbey Road.

Ignore all my arrogant showboating from before =)

My ammendment: Sgt Pepper = best singles; Abbey Road = Best Album; and there are a lot of really great songs scattered across other Albums.

I'm going to listen to Rubber Soul, White Album, and Revolver to make sure I didn't fuck up twice.

Pet Sounds

So, they kinda pretty much invented almost everything rock, pop and even some other genres have to offer and they are far from best band? Care to explain?

Lol, so you are the one who did the necrobumping? I thought I knew this thread from before :P

Not to mention that almost every major pop movement in the rock sphere is a bit of a statement saying: "OK, enough of this baffling convoluted bullshit and lets get back to this X thing the Beatles were doing with a modern spin." And most of the minor ones were this well.

The real question is which Beatle was the most influential?

Well, I had good reason! =)


Also, not a huge necrobump, it was about halfway down the front page.

Can't believe I'm the only one to vote for Revolver. Amazing album and wayyy ahead of its time. Ok fair you could say that about a few of them (Sgt Peppers is a very close 2nd for me) but Revolver in particular.

I'm going to listen to that one tonight along with the other albums I haven't done that with yet, before the sun comes up (I'm a night person since Covid, although I mostly was before). I know the songs, but until recently, the only album I ever really listened to top to bottom was Sgt Pepper. Then Abbey Road kind of blew that one away for me. I mean, I love certain songs on Sgt Pepper, but the Side A tracks are all decent to great, and then Side B Abbey Road Medley just crushes it. Tack A Day in the Life onto the end of Abbey Road, and it's a strong argument as the best album ever released.

Im going to be that guy and say none of them. I dislike The Beatles a whole lot.

OK, I listened to all the Beatles albums from Rubber Soul down to Abbey Road.

1 (tie) The White Album
1 (tie) Abbey Road
3. Sgt. Pepper
4. Rubber Soul
5. Revolver

I need to listen to Help, Hard Days Night, and Let it Be still. I think I'll pass on the earlier Beatlemania stuff.

To explain my ranking a bit:

Rubber Soul was a great album from top to bottom, but the songs still lacked some of the playfulness of the later albums.

While I appreciate the experimental nature of Revolver, I found it a little abrasive for my liking. I feel like they could have re-visited these songs and tightened them up a little, and maybe toned down on some of the randomness in them. Tomorrow Never Knows felt like it could have been one of their best songs ever, but was a bit gimmicky sounding, while songs like Back in the USSR and Revolution with similar energy sound much more pleasant.

Sgt Pepper reminds me A LOT of exactly what a tightened up Revolver would sound like, plus it feels like an adventure through some kind of cosmopolitan city and feels very interconnected. I think a lot of hip hop albums took inspiration from this, the story that this album tells. Some really big singles on there, but I feel like the White Album outclassed it, musically, with the sole exception of A Day in the Life. Although, I forgot how interesting this album was as a top to bottom experience.

The White Album is just epic in scale, it reminds me a lot of Rubber Soul, except heavily expanded and with a more playful, edgy, and mature sound to it. I think the song writing on this marks the peak of the Beatles. This one has a TON of my favourite Beatles songs on it, I didn't even realize.

Abbey Road is still at the peak, it is a tighter overall album than the White Album, and is more accessible, I am not really sure it feels all that different from the White Album, just a more crushed down version of it. It has a better ending.

Anyway, that's my initial impression. I'll have to listen to them while high next and get a more informed take.