The Beatles

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The Beatles
Beatles.jpg
The Beatles' classic lineup, left to right:
Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon
Background information
Origin Liverpool, England
Years active 1960 – 1970
Label(s) Parlophone (1963-1967)
Apple (1968-1970)
Website www.thebeatles.com
Former Members
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Ringo Starr

The Beatles were an English rock band, often regarded as the most influential of all time. Like many artists, Weezer cites The Beatles as a primary influence.

Overview

The Beatles began as a band named the Quarrymen in 1956. After line-up changes and renaming to the Beatles, they would release their first number 1 hit "Please Please Me", which was followed by a long string of hit albums and singles. After coming to the United States in 1964, they became so popular that they would be followed by screaming fans everywhere they went. This became known as 'Beatlemania'. After growing tired of the constant screaming, and among other things, they would decide to quit touring to focus on studio work. This led to some of their most creative and experimental works which have influenced many musicians to come. They would break up in 1970, and remain the best-selling music act of all time.

Connection with Weezer


Rivers Cuomo head.png
The Beatles suck.


- Rivers Cuomo, sarcastically, during an
AOL-sponsored chat with fans in July 2001

In early 1993, Rivers Cuomo and Patrick Wilson would record several covers of several Beatles songs, such as "Lady Madonna", "She's Leaving Home", "A Day in the Life", and "Because". Cuomo recorded a cover of the Beatles song "If I Fell" on 8-track tape during April 1993; this recording was made available for purchase on the demo storefront of riverscuomo.com on November 11, 2020. Weezer would then cover the song live on April 29, 1993, for the first and only time. The full live performance was taped by Karl Koch and the performance was made available to fans on weezer.com around Christmas 2002. On June 7, 1993, at Club Lingerie, Hollywood, Weezer performed "Baby, You're a Rich Man" as an "mutated cover" mixed with the Doobie Brothers song "China Grove".

The opening line "I can't help my feelings, I'll go out of my mind" from "Hash Pipe" is a direct quote from the Beatles' 1964 song "You Can't Do That".

In a 2002 interview with Elevator.ca, Brian Bell compared his song "Rust Colored Sun" to a "George Harrison song on a Beatles record". In a 2005 interview with Artistdirect, Wilson said that he believes John Lennon was better than Paul McCartney. In a 2008 fan interview, Scott Shriner told a fan that McCartney, along with Chris Squire and Sting, changed the way he saw playing the bass with a guitar pick. In a 2009 interview with MusicRadar, Cuomo stated that Lennon is his favorite singer of all time, and that "the Beatles have such great melodies".[1]

In an early 2009 interview with A.V. Club, Cuomo mentions the impact of the Beach Boys and the Beatles on his songwriting:
I had been coming from a background of listening to heavy metal, and my way out of metal was through the Pixies, Jane's Addiction, and Sonic Youth. A lot of those lyrics were intentionally abstract and artsy. They didn't necessarily make a lot of sense. They aren't pop lyrics. Then I heard lyrics like in "Don't Worry Baby," where Brian Wilson—in very simple terms, like what a 16-year old would write — is writing about a girl, or bragging about his car to his friends. It sounded so refreshing to me. I think you can hear that feeling of innocence and youthfulness in the lyrics I wrote at that time, like on "Buddy Holly" or "Holiday" or "Surf Wax America." That is very much influenced by The Beatles and the Beach Boys.

An early draft of "Eulogy for a Rock Band" entitled "Beatle That We Loved the Most" was released in 2020 as part of the Weezma: Daniel, Ryen & Rivers digital compilation, suggesting that the song may be about one of the Beatles, most likely McCartney.

On July 2, 2020, former Weezer member Jason Cropper spoke out about the Beatles' influence on the early days of the band during a virtual concert while performing a cover of "In My Life":


Jasonhead.png
Rivers used to play this too when we were kids. He would whip this out and just stun us in the kitchen adjacent to The Garage, and I remember Pat looking over at me and just smiling and being like "do you see what I see?", "Do you hear what I hear?" and I was too young to know any better.


- Jason Cropper, July 2020[2]


See also

References

  1. Bosso, Joe (October 16, 2009). Beatles or The Stones? with Rivers Cuomo. MusicRadar. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  2. Jason Cropper concert: 07/02/2020. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCKgIs8JVvX/ Link to video, quote is around the 23:30 mark