Absolute Radio: Discover real music

"Hippie music"?? What an extraordinary comment! Beatles songs can't be pigeon-holed into any single category, let alone one as glib as that. That's one reason why their music is still so popular more than 40 years later (another is the sheer quality of their songwriting, which is why so many artists have covered them) - they wrote over 200 songs, spanning heavy metal (Helter Skelter, I Want You), dreamy ballads (Yesterday, I Will), cock rock (Why Don't We Do It In The Road?), jazz (Lady Madonna, You Know My Name), blues (Yer Blues), power-pop (most of the early stuff), drug-influenced psychedelia (Tomorrow Never Knows, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds), C&W (Don't Pass Me By), folk (Norwegian Wood, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away) and soul (Got To Get You In To My Life). And that's only some of the categories and a very small range of examples! The Beatles revolutionised pop music - all bands of any note since have acknowledged their huge influence on them. Including this one - what a tribute to the Beatles that a funk/soul band should cover one of Macca's funkiest numbers! www.youtube.com

I don't like chicken or bell peppers either. You can't make me like them by reciting their nutritional values. The Beatles were great back in the 60s and 70s. Their music was relevant to the times. They aren't sophisticated or edgy enough for 2009.

CaliCoyote: Go girl!

Teasing aside, I did think that Chuck Berry's interpretation of 'Come Together' recorded a mere 13 years before the 'original' was pretty good - www.youtube.com

CaliCoyote - I would never dream of attempting to persuade anyone to like a group they dislike - apart from the futility of that, it would be a boring world indeed if we all had the same tastes! I was merely pointing out that the term "hippie music" was not an appropriate one for the Beatles. Although taste in music is an incredibly subjective and personal thing, I think we should at least try to use terminology as accurately as possible when discussing these matters. Cheers!

How could you forget this..... www.youtube.com

Stone Temple Pilots and Revolution?www.youtube.com

I remember a few years ago seeing a programme on TV with various bands singing Beatle songs. I remember thinking that Stereophonics singing I'm Only Sleeping was particularly good.

Although strictly speaking, this isn't a cover, it's pretty obvious what Beatles' song it's parodying! And it's brilliant! www.youtube.com The writer of the Rutles songs, Neil Innes, really knew how to write affectionate pastiches of Beatles songs; he wrote over 30 Rutles tunes, some of which I actually prefer to the Beatles' "originals"! And all the individual Beatles loved the Pre-Fab Four too - John and Yoko in particular; George Harrison even appeared in the Rutles film (as a reporter), though so heavily disguised that many people didn't recognise him! EMI cheekily demanded a share of the Rutles' royalties, which I think was taking corporate greed just a bit too far!

eleanor rigby by ray charles. takes a real good track and simply adds pure soul to it.