I always get that feeling among the slightly more cool-obsessed, dare I say middle classed parts of Beatle fandom, that they only want to acknowledge The Beatles post-Revolver? With a suggestion that the Beatlemania stuff was of a lesser standard because its all I love you/you love me lightness.

I think that's a ridiculous position, and much as I love I Am The Walrus, I think in its own way, She Loves you is as great a piece of music as it.  In fact I think there's a case to be put that the early period Beatles was infinitely more revolutionary than the later stuff. I Wanna Hold Your Hand sent a shockwave around the world in a way that leaves even Sgt Pepper trailing.  Even the look, which often gets dismissed as tailored and bland, was geniunely shocking in its time. It may be only hair slightly above the earlobes to me and you, but it was the end of civilization as we know it to others.

So is their a snobbery towards the earlier stuff, or am I just imagining it?

Quoted from Out Of Me Head

I always get that feeling among the slightly more cool-obsessed, dare I say middle classed parts of Beatle fandom, that they only want to acknowledge The Beatles post-Revolver? With a suggestion that the Beatlemania stuff was of a lesser standard because its all I love you/you love me lightness.

I think that's a ridiculous position, and much as I love I Am The Walrus, I think in its own way, She Loves you is as great a piece of music as it.  In fact I think there's a case to be put that the early period Beatles was infinitely more revolutionary than the later stuff. I Wanna Hold Your Hand sent a shockwave around the world in a way that leaves even Sgt Pepper trailing.  Even the look, which often gets dismissed as tailored and bland, was geniunely shocking in its time. It may be only hair slightly above the earlobes to me and you, but it was the end of civilization as we know it to others.

So is their a snobbery towards the earlier stuff, or am I just imagining it?

There is definetly that notion but I wouldnay say that it's confined to middle class. It depends on many factors including age and era as to how you discover The Beatles. It's clear The Beatles rebelled against their own image as defined by their first horde of fans. If that fascinates the avant garde, the druggy, the introspective then it's their own shout surely? It can be like a relationship that grows in understanding over years where you can break through the 'adolescence' of cool.

Just to add, after having A Hard Days Night & The Red Double Album 62-66 in my youth, I loved the freshness of the Blue Album when I heard it. I think I was about 15 when I first heard the White Album and I remember thinking it was cooler to dig and know these 'rarer' tracks...of course with age, I have grown out of it but I suppose it still manifests itself at times. The other thing is, as a live band/performing ensemble, they were certainly at their peak at the beginning. As you would be with 8-12hours a day groovin out hundreds of tunes together. On these forums I'd say it's pretty evenly balanced. Everyone has got their personal reasons for loving The Beatles. Snobbery is not cool! lol

I still lean towards later 64 onwards but I still dig their earlier stuff. A Hard Days Night is my fave earlier album...Things like live at the bbc recordings tho, all kind of sound the same in tone to me, which does not instantly draw me in...plus I missed it all first time around. My main love of Beatles now is in learning & performing the tunes regardless of which era. The other minutia detail & facts/mis-facts I like to read around here. heheh  

Another PS. When it comes to getting people dancing, it's always the early tunes that get them on their feet.

Quoted from An Apple Beatle

Another PS. When it comes to getting people dancing, it's always the early tunes that get them on their feet.

Aw, so neat!

I love the early Beatles too, for the mood. They were just so much fun. They had fun, and they communicated it to us. They couldn't believe what was happening, and had the good sense to take it with a sense of humor.

I enjoy many of their later songs, but I don't have a particular bias towards one era or another. There were worthwhile songs in all. I think it's a natural tendency to try to persuade others to your point of view, but there doesn't need to be "one size fits all". Thank goodness!

I love their earlier stuff so much.  I really like their later stuff also, but the type of music and the energy they put into with the earlier stuff is just my deal.

I love their early stuff.... but if all we had was the early stuff, the Beatles would have fallen by the wayside.  Their evolution is what sets them apart from everyone else.

Quoted from Mr. Mustard

I love their early stuff.... but if all we had was the early stuff, the Beatles would have fallen by the wayside.  Their evolution is what sets them apart from everyone else.

That's true, but it also works the other way. If we only had the later work, they'd just be thought of as a great psychedelic band.

I love the early stuff.  Like you all said, they WERE having fun doing that music.  And it was totally different than anything around at the time.  The later stuff, I like too, but they were "growing", getting more mature with the nature of their music.  
All in all, I love the early stuff because it was all so innocent and fun.

Quoted from Out Of Me Head

That's true, but it also works the other way. If we only had the later work, they'd just be thought of as a great psychedelic band.

It would have been impossible to have only the later work, without the early work which it evolved from.  A human couldn't be born at age 50, for example.

I don't think too much emphasis can be put on 1966-1970.  Only because what came out during that time frame was so groundbreaking, innovative and generally brilliant.  But with that said it's impossible to disregard the early works from the group, because it is just a brilliant.

I love the "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Here Comes the Sun", "Get Back", etc., etc..  But I'm just as happy to hear Lennon belt out "Please Please Me" or "Twist and Shout", just as with "Love Me Do" or "All My Loving" (Best opening line to a song ever).  Hell "She Loves You" still can give me the chills.

Like most fans, I don't have a preference, I just enjoy the music.

I think part of it is that the later stuff is more susceptible to the intellectual meat grinder of Critical Method, too: it's easier to write ponderous commentaries about "A Day In The Life" than it is "Twist and Shout." But that tells you more about the assumptions of critics than it does the relative merits of the two songs.  

Quoted from Geoff

I think part of it is that the later stuff is more susceptible to the intellectual meat grinder of Critical Method, too: it's easier to write ponderous commentaries about "A Day In The Life" than it is "Twist and Shout." But that tells you more about the assumptions of critics than it does the relative merits of the two songs.  

Those critics were (and probably still are) irrepressible - they were writing phrases like "Aolean cadences" about songs in '63 or '64. And don't forget about musicologists like this http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-notes_on.shtml

people like A. Pollack can write fancy and complicated sounding stuff about any song, I think!

I always do my best to see the beatles as a whole, that's made easier given that i was born long after they ended.. however i tend to see their music like this.

The beatles early stuff during the whole mania period was really for the fans.. and for rock and roll it was their contribution and has such great energy.. i'm sure they really had a blast doing it.

As they progressed into their later period i feel they were making music much more for themselves and it freed them as artists much more and let them grow.

as for what is better or greater i think their early stuff stands as a major step for popular music and the mania and stir in the culture is what people remember and associate with them more than their music at the time (not us fans though )

As time progressed their craft was improving and with some key events (No Longer Touring, Brian's Death) they became much more focused on their albums also, in their later period i think the principle songwriters found it much more satisfying given more freedom and without the pressure that came with being a touring band.. it's not necessarily more important period just different.

so as far as an emphasis on their later period goes, i think it's simply due to the fact that the albums really were the bands statement at that point, and rather than seeing the Beatles everywhere it was the album in which people got to see how they were, what they were up to, what they thought etc.. it's publicity versus much more progressive introspection and more lavish production.. I like both

I don't see what being middle class has to do with it. I've been quite working class my entire life and I like the later stuff. I think Beatles fans tend to emphasize the 66-70 period because the media and public is hell-bent on portraying them as the (perceived lightweight) happy-go-lucky moptops they were in their early days. The Beatles were so much more than that.

The early stuff is great though. I love the Please Please Me album. A lot of that stuff is a lot more layered and complex than you would think. That's a sign of great songwriting- writing something complicated and making it sound simple.