Motown vs. The Beatles. Who Was More Influential?

[Big Dog]

Influential, how? 2 different genre's of music. Lucy, you got some splainin, to do.

[Ragtoplover59]

I have to make a "write in" choice too!
My vote goes to Dick Clark.
American Bandstand was Influential in getting me to love all music.

[Fury13]

These kinda people will say ANYthing in interviews. Fact is that Lennon & Sutcliffe were into Gene Vincent big time. Mac was into Little Richard and often sought to imitate him {refer to Dizzy Miss Lizzy {at suggestion and agreement between J and P} and Hippy Hippy Shake}. Perhaps Ringo was influenced by Elvis {of course, the rhythm section} and George? Heh, Wagner and Beethoven. Go figure.

I don't understand your connecting "Hippy Hippy Shake" to Little Richard... that was Chan Romero [[a Ritchie Valens disciple). But certainly, Lennon was very much influenced by Presley [[there's a famous quote from John... "nothing really affected me until Elvis"). He adopted the whole Presley look and style, as a lot of late '50s young English rockers did. Gene Vincent was a factor too, sure, but another big influence on John was Jerry Lee Lewis. John said in the late '60s that rock still hadn't improved on "Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On."

[ggores]

I don't understand your connecting "Hippy Hippy Shake" to Little Richard... that was Chan Romero "

Ok, a bit mixed up there, no big deal. You see, a tactic I use in keeping a conversation going is to simply utter something that may be right, or may be, ummm, not-so-right. In any case, the out-of-print Compleat Beatles flick does a good job of explaining their work in the late fifties. Yes? Perhaps I meant to reference to "Long Tall Sally" anyways.

By being wrong, and then corrected, I learn much. A free education you might say.

Elvis... hmmmm... yeah, he pretty much opened the whole thing up. Especially being white and all. But here's one for ya, and I might be correct:

You can hear Motown influence on Elvis, I would think during 64 to ... up to his demise actually. But I cannot think of ONE Motown tune that has any Elvis influence. No?

I think, in 1974, Lennon released "Rock~N~Roll". It is an interesting listen.
And by plagiarizing the line "here come old flat-top....", boy did that cost him! Well worth it, though, I would think.

And one thing I have learned absolutely - don't think so much.

[stasu1213]

Who???


The Fab Four, or the sound of Hitsville???


Who had the bigger impact on music and popular culture.

I know this post is very old. Someone had asked me a question. Had Motown picked up the Beatles instead of Veejay and Capitol, would the Beatles would had been successful. I would say no. They would had flopped. Brian Epstein had let Paul and John write their own songs. Each Beatle had a turn to sing lead vocal. They would had wanted to fly instead of taking bus tours with the Motortown Revue. Berry Gordy had the vises on most of the Motown acts. The Supremes, Motown's number one selling group, had Diana Ross as lead singer while Florence and Mary, who were just as good, in the back. John an Paul would had clashed with Gordy and Robinson. The Beatles were great because they were free to write what ever that wanted

[Zacha341]

Motown. Recall Motown is about multiple singers and groups so of course the influence would be larger and broader in it's influence IMO. From Motown you get the variety of male and female singers, and their specific sound, style and influence etc.

But the Beatles were influential too. They reflect a different genre too, but for certain R&B influenced some of the Beatles work.

[Lily]

Beatles, no question.

lily

[SMRJim]

One big flaw with this is that you're comparing a single band to an entire record label/record company [[however you want to word it). A more 'legitimate' comparison would be the Beatles and The [[fill in your Motown band here). Or Motown vs. the British invasion. If you need to compare a huge group of artists to one band, it seems to me that simply tells you about the incredible influence that one band had more than anything.

[Django]

John Lennon would have been 73 years old today, born October 9 1943 in Liverpool. Tragic he didnt live longer.

[Pam]

John Lennon would have been 73 years old today, born October 9 1940 in Liverpool. Tragic he didnt live longer.

I corrected your year. It's also Sean Lennon's b-day, born in 1975.

[stasu1213]

One big flaw with this is that you're comparing a single band to an entire record label/record company [[however you want to word it). A more 'legitimate' comparison would be the Beatles and The [[fill in your Motown band here). Or Motown vs. the British invasion. If you need to compare a huge group of artists to one band, it seems to me that simply tells you about the incredible influence that one band had more than anything.

You are correct. It should be Motown compared to the british invasion. I was just stating, from a question that was asked to me, that had the Beatles were signed by Motown would they had been as famous. I say no they would had been a failure. It is true that the Motown sound was the only power movement that rivaled the British Invasion. 1964 was a pivotal year for Motown. The same year the British invaded America. The Supremes, Four Tops, Mary Wells, and the Temptations started making big hits. It appears that it was planned that way. Maybe Berry Gordy had learned in 1963 from his affiliates in England that the Beatles were a phenomenon and were coming to the US next year. They would take America by storm. So, Gordy probably use a strategy that he had learned working for the car company; wait until the competition come out with their' product first and then you come out with yours to rival it

[stasu1213]

John Lennon would have been 73 years old today, born October 9 1943 in Liverpool. Tragic he didnt live longer.

Correction; Lennon was born in 1940 not 43

[stasu1213]

I don't understand your connecting "Hippy Hippy Shake" to Little Richard... that was Chan Romero [[a Ritchie Valens disciple). But certainly, Lennon was very much influenced by Presley [[there's a famous quote from John... "nothing really affected me until Elvis"). He adopted the whole Presley look and style, as a lot of late '50s young English rockers did. Gene Vincent was a factor too, sure, but another big influence on John was Jerry Lee Lewis. John said in the late '60s that rock still hadn't improved on "Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On."

True that Lennon was probably influenced by Elvis but the songs the Beatles had covered in the early 60s were mostly Motown and other R&B groups at the time. So who really was the big influence on John's musical life