Phony Beatlemania has Bitten the Dust

I don't like the Beatles. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I can't stand them, I'd rather cut my ears off etc etc. You get the drift.  There are many reasons why I don’t like them. I was brought up with listening to the Rolling Stones and so I always preferred them to the Beatles. The Stones’ rock n roll and rebel sound appealed to me more and  I liked the sense of danger, the bad bay attitude you got with the Stones compared to the sugary sweet bubble gum pop sound that the Beatles had in the beginning.

I’ve read many articles and interviews with people who state that the Beatles were the “pioneers of pop music” but for me, that title deserves to go to the Beach Boys. Their syrupy surfer lyrics were pure pop. It was a kind of sophisticated pop that the Beatles could only dream of. “They defined the sixties” is another phrase linked to the Beatles. But that same phase has also been linked to cult leader Charles Manson not exactly a positive point in the “the Beatles are the best band ever” fan club.

The Beatles, and in particular John Lennon, went through a hippy-trippy psychedelic phase all ‘give peace a chance’ and ‘Imagine’ and the like. But look at the bigger picture here; John Lennon sings ‘imagine no possessions I wonder if you can no need for greed or hunger....’ no possessions eh John? But yet you lived in the Dakota building in New York surrounded by expensive things. A bit of a hypocrite if you ask me.

Now a few people have called me, and I quote, “a fucking music snob” because I don’t like the Beatles they know who they are (p.s I don’t care). But surely I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the Beatles? And I’ve always wondered this, do they genuinely like the Beatles or do they like them because there seems to be some unwritten law that says you must like them? So if I am a music snob for not liking the Beatles, what does that make them? Some sort of music zombie following everyone else? I know what I’d prefer.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me album review

When you are the same age as modern blues crooner Tom Waits (sixty one in case you were wondering) and releasing your 17^th studio album, you can afford to take things easy and stick at what you are good at and what you know. He still sings like an old man with a 60-a-day smoking habit and a throat infection and I love him for it.

Waits’ latest album is like an introduction to his best bits. It is the sort of album you can hand to someone who may have never heard a Waits song before and be safe in the knowledge that they will soon become a converted fan. All Waits is on this album is the romantic, the misery and the feeling of what music should be. He’s good at playing the hurt and broken man despite having the love of a good woman.

the stand out track for me Sisatisfied. It takes its cue from the well-known Rolling Stones track, where Waits demands the same satisfaction. Now Mr Jagger! And Mr Richards! I will scratch where I been itching! he sings while the Stones guitarist plays along on his guitar. Having already appeared as a guest on previous Waits albums, Richards lends a hand on four songs on this album too.

Bad As Me is, as always with Tom Waits’ offerings, an album full of empathy, antagonism and sorrow – the sort of stuff that puts Waits in the same league as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Jeff Buckley.

The album’s 13 tracks does its job as entertaining Tom Waits fans but also does well at alerting a new generation that Waits’ music is out there to enjoy and there are few like him out there.

Buy it Tom Waits - Bad As Me