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Author Topic: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history  (Read 2397 times)

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Offline Splashdown

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Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« on: March 09, 2009, 04:02:01 PM »
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Van Morrison: 'Beatles were peripheral'
Thursday, March 5 2009, 9:50am EST

By Mayer Nissim


Rex Features
Van Morrison has said that The Beatles's influence on the history of music is overstated.

According to The New Yorker, the Irish singer-songwriter made the comment when someone in the city described skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan as one of a number of "pre-Beatles rock and roll" artists.

He is quoted as saying: "That's a cliché. I don’t think 'pre-Beatles' means anything, because there was stuff before them.

"Over here, you have a different slant. You measure things in terms of the Beatles. We don't think music started there. Rolling Stone magazine does, because it's their mythology.

"The Beatles were peripheral. If you had more knowledge about music, it didn't really mean anything. To me, it was meaningless."


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Found this while browsing Free Republic.

What do you think? Good point or sour grapes?
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Offline Chris_

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2009, 04:26:28 PM »
While I agree wholeheartedly with his point, my next question is:

Who the hell is Van Morrison in the grand scheme of "music history" as well?
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Offline Sweet Dee

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2009, 04:37:08 PM »
I looooooove the Beatles!  He's trying to say their music was "meaningless", but maybe that was kinda the point.  They just wrote fun, goofy rock and roll music, with a few serious songs thrown in for good measure.  Not all music has to have a "meaning", it just has to find an audience that can appreciate it for what it is.  And the Beatles haven't had much of a problem in that department :) 
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Offline Eupher

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2009, 04:52:45 PM »
Morrison was interviewed by one of the CBS Sunday Morning "journalists" and the interview was aired yesterday.

He was depicted as a secretive, eclectic, weirdo who somehow has lasted all these years. I guess he was missing the limelight after all, so he comes out and states his "opinion" on various issues.

He was actually fairly popular back in the Seventies, but not nearly to the scale of the Beatles.

Like a lot of Irishmen, he's got his opinion about Brits.    :uhsure:       
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Offline SaintLouieWoman

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2009, 10:35:29 PM »
Quote from: BadCat on March 09, 2009, 04:04:28 PM
Sacrilege.

Agreed. Van Morrison was good, but it's almost "Van who?"
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Offline Toastedturningtidelegs

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2009, 06:15:03 AM »
Quote from: BadCat on March 09, 2009, 04:54:49 PM
Actually, Van is a very good, but very under-rated guitar player.

The "correct" guitar part for "Moondance" requires more fingers than most people have.
Along with one hell of a songwriter!
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Offline ReardenSteel

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2009, 07:39:39 PM »
I don't like the Beatles at all. Not even a little. And though I do really like Van Morrison, he's just off his rocker here.

I don't think it's possible to overstate how big the Beatles were in there time. (OK "bigger than Jesus" was a bit much) If what Morrison was talking about was historic musical influences he may be on to something. There the Beatles seem pretty small and fading. (not close to John lee Hooker, Blind Willie Johnson, Elvis, Bob Dylan etc)
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Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2009, 07:49:11 PM »
The Beatles were musically brilliant.  Their talents and innovative ideas brought silly pop music out of the shadow of the folk music movement, broke all kinds of ground in the process, and elevated rock/pop to an undeniable and unavoidable art form.

Anyone who lived during the era (I was 9 when The Beatles arrived) knows ol' Van is off his meds on this one.
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Offline Eupher

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2009, 08:07:27 AM »
Quote from: Lord Undies on March 10, 2009, 07:49:11 PM
The Beatles were musically brilliant.  Their talents and innovative ideas brought silly pop music out of the shadow of the folk music movement, broke all kinds of ground in the process, and elevated rock/pop to an undeniable and unavoidable art form.

Anyone who lived during the era (I was 9 when The Beatles arrived) knows ol' Van is off his meds on this one.

Agreed. Like 'em or love 'em, there's no denying their impact on the entire music industry - not just rock and pop. Use of double string quartets (Eleanor Rigby), piccolo trumpet (Penny Lane), and even the harmonies transcended the typical blues changes on which most of rock and pop had been based.
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Offline Wineslob

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Re: Van Morrison: Beatles were Peripheral to music history
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2009, 11:20:41 AM »
Quote from: Lord Undies on March 10, 2009, 07:49:11 PM
The Beatles were musically brilliant.  Their talents and innovative ideas brought silly pop music out of the shadow of the folk music movement, broke all kinds of ground in the process, and elevated rock/pop to an undeniable and unavoidable art form.

Anyone who lived during the era (I was 9 when The Beatles arrived) knows ol' Van is off his meds on this one.


+1 buddy.  :bow:

Big case of sour grapes as far as I'm concerned.
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