Stars on the Beatles: Musicians Share Reflections on the Fab Four
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That the Beatles mean so much to so many people who make music in so many genres goes without saying. What doesn't go without saying is what John, Paul, George and Ringo mean to these musicians, who share in their own words the important role the Fab Four have played in their songs and in their lives.
"The three of us [in Nirvana] grew up listening to the Beatles, then classic rock and punk. Somehow, it all came together." --Dave Grohl
"I don't think I could write with John Lennon. He's too genius ... All you [could] do is mess it up." --Miley Cyrus
"In Dublin we think the Beatles are Irish. There's a revenge against [the] class system that's a very Irish preoccupation... Here were the Fab Four spitting out a new vocabulary, that comes from that kind of revenge against the old idea of England that wasn't inclusive of the working class." --Bono
"I love the Beatles. What more can I say? I'm not gonna lie to you. I love 'em. They make me happy. And I think they were the best, and still are." --Liam Gallagher
I don't think anybody comes close to the Beatles, including Oasis." --Brian May of Queen
"I heard 'Rubber Soul' one night in my house here in LA, and I was so blown out that I said, 'I have to record an album as good or better than 'Rubber Soul.' If I ever do anything in my life, I'm going to make that good an album.'" --Brian Wilson
"You can't beat the Beatles. You join 'em." --Peggy Lee
"The first [record] I can remember buying was 'Meet the Beatles!' at a garage sale for five cents." --Billy Corgan
"The Beatles really synthesized what I wanted to do. The single biggest moment that I can remember being galvanized into wanting to be a musican for life was seeing the Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.'" --Billy Joel
"I bought [John Lennon's] 'Plastic Ono Band,' and I listened to it over and over for months. It's a monumental work of genius... The attitude and emotion of that album are harder than any punk rock I've ever heard." --Lenny Kravitz
"The Beatles were why we turned from a jug band into a rock 'n' roll band. What we saw them doing was impossibly attractive." --Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead
"To be in the same room as the four of them caused me to not sleep for, like, three days." --Jeff Lynne
"The Beatles defined their own sense of values and honor. They took stances without ever being politically correct. And they did it all with incredible humor... I honestly think that there are certain things in life that help people understand themselves. I think the Beatles are one of those things. They resonate the journey of true selfhood, really." --Sophie B. Hawkins
"I'm probably the biggest Beatles fan on the planet." --Robin Zander of Cheap Trick
"A lot of that Beatles influence comes from Steven [Tyler]'s collaboration with Mark Hudson, both of whom are absolute Beatle freaks... I guess the goal is to try and emulate probably some of the best music of the last 50 years, which has to be the Beatles." --Brad Whitford of Aerosmith
"We looked deep down inside the very core of our souls and there was a little Ringo sitting there. Sure, we like telling people it's John Lennon or George Harrison, but when you really look deep inside of Soundgarden, there's a little Ringo wanting to get out." -- Kim Thayil of Soundgarden
"[The Beatles were] the start of the reason why we're doing a band." --Vicki Peterson of the Bangles
"How could you not be influenced by the Beatles if you write songs?" --Sean Lennon
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