Thursday, December 30, 2010

British Pop Supremacy

A barrage of Facebook posts got me thinking about this topic.
If you were building a Mount Rushmore for 1960's British Rock/Pop,it is pretty clear to me that the four representatives would be the Beatles,the Rolling Stones,the Who and the Kinks,although the Hollies have a pretty good claim in extending the sculpture to five to me.
But which is the baddest of the bad?
I have always looked at the four like the cliques in high school.
The Beatles were the popular bunch,the Stones were the wannabe rebels that actually just established a different group,the Who were the true out crowd and the Kinks were the intelligent loners out on their own edge.
That isn't to say who is the best,just a way of putting them in a real life order that made sense to me.

All had great songs with my favorites for each listed beside their names.
The only requirement was to keep things in the sixties.
Please keep in mind that these are my top four favorites,not always their biggest hits and not in any order.

Beatles: Day in the Life,Nowhere Man,Run for your life,Revolution
Rolling Stones: Paint it Black,Mothers little helper,It's all over now,Get off my cloud
Who: Substitute,My Generation,Happy Jack,Pictures of Lily
Kinks:You really got me,Dedicated follower of fashion,Well respected Man and Waterloo Sunset.

I could have added more,but you get the point or at least I hope so.
The Beatles certainly were the "poppiest" of the bunch,the Stones might get the edge for having the purest rock sound,The Who was certainly the loudest and with the harder edge and the Kinks had the most contemplative lyrics and maybe the best arrangement work.
All had stars at the top of their games and all had their own unique place in the musical universe.
Who ranks number one? I am not telling,but you can....
Vote in the poll to your right....

Photo Credit-BritishFlag.org

1 comment:

Ryan H. said...

Obviously The Kinks are my favorite of the list, since it was my comment that inspired this post!

Anyway, my favorite:

The Kinks: Waterloo Sunset, A Well Respected Man, Big Sky, Death of a Clown

The Beatles: Drive My Car, A Day In The Life, Lovely Rita, Happiness Is A Warm Gun

The Who: Happy Jack, Boris The Spider, So Sad About Us, Silas Stingy

The Rolling Stones: She's a Rainbow, Mother's Little Helper, Paint It Black, It's All Over Now