Band that came closest to "The Next Beatles" for you?

Funny...I was thinking about this yesterday as I look at the entire combined media blitz and popularity of the Jonas Brothers. They could be it...and I'm rooting for them because them seem like good, clean guys. How refreshing.

Who are the Beatles?

But seriously, I can only think of one:
Wings

But some of the members were missing.

- zevo

ORIGINAL: space_cowboy

Andy - huh? Do people actually listen to them? No offense if you like them. I like some odd stuff - like Lothar and the Hand People. I saw a documentary on South Park that made me think the Jonas Brothers were a Disney creation to make young girls swoon.

I didn't say I listened to them...I am saying that the level of hype, success and media attention to these guys reminds me of the videos I have seen about Beatlemania(I wasn't born then, remember? ). I also like their clean-cut image, which appears to be sincere...this makes them a hit with parents. They are indeed a creation to make young girls swoon....just like the Beatles were, right?

BTW...anyone who can sell 10 Million albums on their last two releases means people actually listen to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Brothers_discography

I might be missing the point of your thread, but I don't think any band could approach the diverse music styles which The Beatle created. Nonetheless, one band that I came to really appreciate for their ever changing style from album to album was the Stone Temple Pilots. Of course, they may never have the expansive library as The Beatles, but of the more modern bands I think they made more interesting music than the bands of their time (including Nirvana and Pearl Jam). The Beatles they are not, but note worthy in my book.

Kind regards,


tecknot

Yeah, I'm kind of with technot here in that one of things I love so much about the Beatles is the ability to be diverse ridiculously successfully. That's always been the catch for many eclectic bands. They may cover a number of styles, but dependably subpar, and no ear for melody. John and Paul were a freaking songwriting machine wonder team, I swear. At 38 years old, they are still my favorite influence. I was weird at 16 trying to get my friends to listen to this "old" band. I'm still weird now trying to get my kids to listen to them - though it's not difficult at all, kids get the Beatles, instantly.

With all of that said, my personal choice would be Radiohead. Definitely have come the closest to the next Beatles in my world.

ORIGINAL: foxwolfen

Up till this point, i would have thought nobody other than myself would have heard of them.

Same here! The Grapes of Wrath have been my favorite band since the day I first heard "Misunderstanding" back in 1985 - I ran out and bought "September Bowl of Green" (their first album) the very next day. About a dozen of of us caravaned across the state of Michigan to see them play at a festival in Windsor, Ontario during their "These Days" tour back in 1990. We got there hours before the show and when we walked by the huge tent that they were playing in, we heard them doing their soundcheck, so we stood in the entry watching. When they finished, they invited us in and we hung out with them for a few hours drinking beer and just talking about their band, our band, etc. Those guys are really cool and very down-to-earth (aren't all Canadians?!). We were front/center stage the entire show and, when they came out for their second encore, they gave us a shout-out and finished with my favorite song ("Backward Town"). Best show ever.

A few years later, Kevin Kane left the band and the remaining guys went on to form Ginger. They played a show in Ann Arbor, so one of my buddies and I made the trip down to see them. We got there early, hoping to run into them again. As soon as we walked in the door, there was Tom, Chris, and Vincent hanging out drinking beer. As soon as they saw us, they all jumped up and were like "Hey! We were hoping our American buddies would show up!" More beer, more chatting with a bunch of great guys and phenomenal musicians, and a great show to follow.

Anyway, Shad, I don't know if you already know this, but Kevin Kane and Tom Hooper reunited back in 2000 with an excellent album entitled "Field Trip." Both of them have released excellent solo albums as well, particularly Kevin's "Neighborhood Watch" album. Tom Hooper's solo album "The Unexplored Cosmos" is very Beatle-esque.

ORIGINAL: foxwolfen

This is, however, by far my favorite.
All the things I wasn't

Another great GOW song and video (and album). Bringing this thread back OT, is that a Lennon album at 0:39?

ORIGINAL: space_cowboy

Back in the 70s and 80s, there were tons of bands that were promoted as "potentially the next Beatles". None of them made it for me.

However, there is one band that I have continued to listen to long after they broke up (or at least quit releasing anything I didn't already own). XTC. They never really caught on here in the US, other than Dear God - perhaps my least favorite song of theirs.

I have all of the studio albums from White Music through Wasp Star. The parallels are very similar to me. They evolved from a punk/new wave band that was also pretty catchy and melodic to something much more by the time English Settlement (Senses Working Overtime is such a great song)

Psonic Psunspot under the Dukes of Stratosphear was so psychedelic it was hard not to draw analogies to Lennon-style psych from the 60s. Skylarking and Oranges and Lemons were nearly perfect from the lead in groove on side one to the lead out groove on side 2. Nonsuch was another fabulous. Apple Venus (V1 and 2) were much more matured...

Incredible harmonies. Excellent production (Todd Rundgrenn was a wizard, a true star with Skylarking). Major departures from the norms of rock music. 1000 umbrellas kind of calls back memories of Elanor Rigby, with a string quartet only with vocals. Summer's Cauldron/Grass - I am not sure how you would even categorize that. The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead - a great rock song with a good story.

Anyway - an incredible band with a few of moments, but a way higher percentage on than almost any band I know of.

It was a shame that these guys never got the popularity they deserved in the US.

So that is my nomination for "Almost the next Beatles". If you are too young to have heard of the Beatles or not a fan, do you have someone who had as massive of an evolution with as high of a success rate? If you are old enough to have heard of the Beatles, who would you put near them?

Thanks

Warms my heart to see Andy and the boys mentioned in such high esteem. Wonderful stuff with all the qualities you mentioned.

English Settlement remains my favourite of theirs, that blend of quirky pop with the acoustic pastoral sound. It also reminds me of the blasting our band got for using all their gear in the rehearsal studio...

Nothing groundbreaking in my choice but for sheer quality songwriting I'm going to go for Del Amitri.

English Settlement remains my favourite of theirs

It would have to be a Desert Island Disk for me. Beautiful stuff.

I remember seeing them at a small pub-rock venue in Stoke Newington probably Mid 70s. I helped them pack up after the gig. I've still got the 12 inch single I bought just afterwards.

Andy is one of the very few real English song writers.

ORIGINAL: edentowers

English Settlement remains my favourite of theirs

It would have to be a Desert Island Disk for me. Beautiful stuff.

I remember seeing them at a small pub-rock venue in Stoke Newington probably Mid 70s. I helped them pack up after the gig. I've still got the 12 inch single I bought just afterwards.

Andy is one of the very few real English song writers.

Agreed, I think he carried on where Ray Davies left off.

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213
Nothing groundbreaking in my choice but for sheer quality songwriting I'm going to go for Del Amitri.

where are they from then Jamesy? or am I the last to know ... nothing ever changes huh? hehe

it depends when you say close.. obv. Noel said oasis was heavily influenced.

look at the bands / people about the time of the beatles.. who else comes to mind? stones / kinks are 2 things that come to my thoughts.

the turn around in music is far more these days. as for people doing something different, I'll go with radiohead , boards of canada and 4hero.. to name but 3 of many. I think thats part of it with the beatles (and the 5th one) , they tried to do something cutting edge.

people like Kate Bush etc.. her stuff was different , but in a good way.

too many angles with it, regarding writing / how they used equipment / how long they been going.

if Macca wasn't a beatle would he have sold so many albums now?

Cowboy, XTC may not have hit it big in the states, but they've been one of my all time favorite bands for 20 years, ranking up there with the Beatles and Elvis Costello. Right up until Andy started releasing batches of home demoes and such. Frankly, I can't figure out why they stopped recording, although once Dave left the band they simply weren't the same in spite of Andy's songwriting. I'm still trying to figure out how to do bgvs like those fellas. They out Beach-Boys the Beach Boys for harmonies

ORIGINAL: cryophonik

ORIGINAL: foxwolfen

Up till this point, i would have thought nobody other than myself would have heard of them.

Same here! The Grapes of Wrath have been my favorite band since the day I first heard "Misunderstanding" back in 1985 - I ran out and bought "September Bowl of Green" (their first album) the very next day. About a dozen of of us caravaned across the state of Michigan to see them play at a festival in Windsor, Ontario during their "These Days" tour back in 1990. We got there hours before the show and when we walked by the huge tent that they were playing in, we heard them doing their soundcheck, so we stood in the entry watching. When they finished, they invited us in and we hung out with them for a few hours drinking beer and just talking about their band, our band, etc. Those guys are really cool and very down-to-earth (aren't all Canadians?!). We were front/center stage the entire show and, when they came out for their second encore, they gave us a shout-out and finished with my favorite song ("Backward Town"). Best show ever.

A few years later, Kevin Kane left the band and the remaining guys went on to form Ginger. They played a show in Ann Arbor, so one of my buddies and I made the trip down to see them. We got there early, hoping to run into them again. As soon as we walked in the door, there was Tom, Chris, and Vincent hanging out drinking beer. As soon as they saw us, they all jumped up and were like "Hey! We were hoping our American buddies would show up!" More beer, more chatting with a bunch of great guys and phenomenal musicians, and a great show to follow.

Anyway, Shad, I don't know if you already know this, but Kevin Kane and Tom Hooper reunited back in 2000 with an excellent album entitled "Field Trip." Both of them have released excellent solo albums as well, particularly Kevin's "Neighborhood Watch" album. Tom Hooper's solo album "The Unexplored Cosmos" is very Beatle-esque.

ORIGINAL: foxwolfen

This is, however, by far my favorite.
All the things I wasn't

Another great GOW song and video (and album). Bringing this thread back OT, is that a Lennon album at 0:39?

I was actually wondering what happened to them. They seemed to be going really strong, then just fell off the face of the planet.

I had to laugh when I watched the vid and the collection of albums went by... it looked like my own.

Cheers
Shad

i don't think there will be another Beatles until there is another "Lenon/McCartney. Their songs were their strength along with charisma. If somebody already said this, oops, I didn't read the whole thing, I'm off to a meeting..

ORIGINAL: evadianepug

i don't think there will be another Beatles until there is another "Lennon/McCartney. Their songs were their strength along with charisma.

I agree completely and I'll go even one step beyond that: There will *never* be another Beatles, period, because the confluence of circumstances that created the Beatles will never happen again in history, or at least in the foreseeable future.

The Beatles were a creation of their time in social history, an intense and brilliant marketing campaign, plenty of payola and quid pro quo in getting air time in both England and the U.S., and tons of people wanting to cash in on the phenomenon.

The Beatles were a gigantic industry and they had a staggeringly huge audience to market their image/wares to----millions of baby boomers.

The fact that Lennon/McCartney turned out to be an incredible songwriting team and that George Martin was a brilliant arranger and musical guru to the Beatles is even more icing on the cake.

To me, the Beatles represent a perfect storm of talent and marketing that happened to occur at precisely the right moment in history. Nobody has, nor will, come close to this level of success on all the levels the Beatles did for a very long time, if ever.

To sum up my opinion, there's no point in asking who will be or who should have been the next Beatles. There's only one Beatles, and they lasted for only a few short years. Yet their influence on society will continue at least until the last of the baby boomers are dead and gone.

As far as the success of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team, they had an amazing string of sublime hit songs.

But we shouldn't forget that their musical contemporaries, Jagger/Richards, have written, and continue to write, hundreds of great hit songs. Nevertheless, the Stones, as much as I love them, and as huge as they are, have never been, nor will they ever be, the Beatles. It's more than just songwriting that made the Beatles what they were/are. The Beatles were a cultural phenomenon and that's a once in a lifetime, or longer, happening.

Best regards,
Bill

PS None of what I said above is meant to suggest that there aren't a lot of absolutely *great* bands out there now---obviously, there are. But none of them is going to come within light years of being considered "the next Beatles".

The Monkees. I mean - why would they have given them a TV show, if they *weren't*? Kinda proves my point.