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Post by lonelysummer on Nov 19, 2022 7:43:46 GMT
Nobody seemed to bite when I posted this idea in the best and worst Beach Boys tracks, but I find it amusing to ponder: what if the Beatles had continued past 1970, and strugged in the same ways as the Beach Boys? Trying hard to get acceptance for their new music, but finding all the fans want to hear is I Want to Hold Your Hand, Can't Buy Me Love and I Feel Fine? Meanwhile, newer songs like Band on the Run, Dark Horse, Photograph, and #9 Dream go mostly unheard? John hides away in his bedroom, Paul pushes for more oldies in their concerts, Billy Preston is brought in as a full band member; George quits for a couple years in the 80's to tour and record on his own; and Ringo gets drunk and drowns in the Mersey River. Naw, I don't like that ending. John comes out of hiding in 1976 behind a campaign of "John is Back"; he gets hooked up with Dr. Landy and in 1980, a crazed gunman shoots Landy instead of Lennon. John tours relentlessly from 2000 on, singing all the great Beatles songs, while Paul tours as The Beatles with Pete Best and various younger musicians. Meanwhile, the Beach Boys broke up long ago, but each member has had a successful solo career, with such notable albums as "Brian Wilson/Rubber Rovell Group", "Jupiter and Saturn", and "Somewhere In Southern California".
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Post by jk on Nov 19, 2022 9:47:44 GMT
Wow, LS, you have a vivid imagination. Poor Ringo. To say nothing of The Rubber Rovell Group!
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 19, 2022 12:25:39 GMT
If I'm understanding you correctly, the problem with that idea is there's no real reason to imagine it. We know that they were still massively popular when they broke up, and we saw them be massively popular as solo artists (although to varying degrees especially as the years wore on).
It is a lot of fun making "Beatles" albums for years in which they all released albums, no doubt about that. "Trying hard to get acceptance for their new music" is hard to imagine when you consider the best of those (solo) songs were often already very successful; so putting them instead on an album from the most popular band of all time with all of those guys on them, it seems difficult to think that they'd be ignored or disliked by fans.
I do think, had they stayed together, they would have had more downs amongst the more typical ups. I don't think they would have been guaranteed #1 albums every time out. Various ongoing feuds between them would have lingered, and new ones would have formed. I think at least Paul and George would have kept making solo albums while being in the Beatles; John might have made more experimental ones with Yoko (as he had already been doing), too. Their pace would almost certainly have slowed down to an album every couple years. Seems unlikely they'd have toured behind them, but maybe. But I'm sure they'd have been among the most successful bands of the '70s if they'd kept at it. The 80s could have gotten dicey.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 19, 2022 12:40:06 GMT
There are too many variables and what-ifs in the scenario to address all of them logically, so I'll simply say this. Had The Beatles stayed together, unlike The Beach Boys and every other group in the history of rock & roll, I think they would've continued to have No. 1 singles and No. 1 albums for as long as they existed. They WERE that good.
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Post by lonelysummer on Nov 20, 2022 2:29:03 GMT
I think the Beatles as a group would have been top of the charts until up around 1976. They would have had hits after that, but I look at the solo careers of the guys, and they seemed to peak around 1973-74. There were weeks in 73 and 74 when all four were in the top 40 - one week near the end of 1974, Only You (Ringo), Dark Horse, Junior's Farm and Whatever Gets You Through the Night were all in the top 40. There were many other weeks in those years when three of the four were on the charts. Yeah, I do have a vivid imagination. With Billy Preston becoming a full member of the band in the 70's, their "Sail On Sailor" would have been one of his songs - "Will It Go Round in Circles". And their "Kokomo" would have been "Got My Mind Set On You".
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 20, 2022 11:52:12 GMT
And their "Kokomo" would have been "Got My Mind Set On You". I get what you're saying throughout that post (beyond just this quoted part), but the thing that makes the quoted part less realistic is that "Got My Mind Set On You" was a real comeback after a long absence. But with all four guys, there was plenty of material, including some big hits by Paul and John. So while I'm sure it still would've been a hit, it would have had a different impact coming from a band that had been making hits all along (even if at a slower pace, or lesser hits, than at their peak).
The Beach Boys hadn't had a #1 in 20 years when they released "Kokomo." For the Beatles, it would've been about three or four years, and they'd had several in the 80s alone.
Even allowing for a slip in popularity, the Beatles were just on an entirely different level of success than the Beach Boys, and I think that would have been the case had they stayed together. They would have inevitably had a dropoff, but their dropoff would've still been at a higher level of success.
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Post by kds on Nov 20, 2022 15:32:57 GMT
I read the Kokomo / Got My Mind Set on You comparison more as two songs that were massive late era hits, which each have a lot of detractors among the respective fanbases.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Nov 21, 2022 17:01:29 GMT
You'd have to think the Beatles would be at least as popular as the Rolling Stones, and they had charting songs into the mid 90s (even later in the UK). The Beatles name alone would have propelled some of those solo songs into hit category.
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Post by lonelysummer on Nov 22, 2022 6:22:35 GMT
Mostly I'm just doing this because I think it's funny. I guess another angle would be to look at all the hits the individual Beatles had apart from the group. If you combine all the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band hits, and the Paul/Wings hits, and all the solo George and Ringo hits, you've got yourself the green and yellow albums.
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