The quality of the Beatles' music was a secondary factor in their initial popularity. They were funny, cute (girls), loud (boys), and they hit an exploding demographic starved for something fresh. But their early albums were half covers. The amazing thing about them, as opposed to so many other pop-rock artists, is that they didn't coast on that. Their songwriting kept getting stronger, till their best work could stand with that of Berlin, Porter, and the great Tin Pan Alley songwriting teams (which is a much fairer comparison than Beethoven). Cute hooks? McCartney was the master, but hooks are essential to pop music of all ages. George Martin's skills as a producer didn't hurt, either. I still listen to them for the same reason I listen to renditions of Rogers & Hart (my parents' nostalgia fixation). However, one correction to Dekay: That's Clapton's guitar doing the weeping.
The Beatles
What the hell is the fascination with the beatles??? Please can anyone tell me why anybody likes them??? They were horrible musicians, their music was sugarcoated pop with cute hooks and they took themselves to be serious music writers with a message. Beethoven would probably would have laughed