The Beatles Influence on Progressive Rock
 

One thing I always noticed basically every early Progressive Rock artist from Yes to King Crimson cite the Beatles as a influence.

A Day in the Life", "I am the Walrus", "Within You, Without You", "Strawberry Fields"... not really blues tunes, are they (Doh?). They were able to draw from diverse sources, like Indian classical music (Within You uses a raga-like form that contains both major and minor thirds in different octaves, kind of a combination of mixolydian and dorian modalities). Lennon used forms similar to Tibetan chants. They were versed in the same types of cadential cycles that had evolved from Dixieland and Tin Pan Alley, the pop music of the previous era (and also a primary underpinning for jazz). And they invented many new forms in between. IOW, while most other bands of that era were still working within simple I-IV-vi-V frameworks, the Beatles had assimilated musical forms, languages and rhythms from around the world. They built their own unique musical sounds, and wrote some of the most widely recorded music in history.

Also I think they were one of the first rock groups to experiment in mixed time signatgures I think "She Said Said She" at one point is in 8/5. Their psychedelic style of Indian Instrumentation, tape loops, and electronica on "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" sounds like nothing else recorded at the time. I consider "A Day in the Life" a true progressive rock song.

The Beatles influenced experimentationbut they can hardly be called a big influence. Jazz had already been frigging around with time signatures way before McCartney though he was the schizz.

Maybe indian stuff, but everything else was done before them I think.

Yeh but we are talking about Rock Music not jazz. The Beatles were merging such foreign influences like Classical Indian, Avant Styled tape loops, strange time signatures in the realm or rock and pop music.

I've always considered the Beatles a huge influence on prog, and they definitely had some proggy songs themselves.

Though you do have to consider the other experimental forces of the time... Sun Ra, Beefheart, Velvet Underground, Hendrix, Zappa etc... and even the 20th century classical music. Psychedelic music in general was the main stepping stone.

Jon Anderson of Yes has always said The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper/Magical Mystery Tour albums) have always been a big influence on their music, especially in the early days of Yes. They even recorded a Beatles cover (Every Little Thing) on their debut album back in 1969.

A Day in the Life is probably the closest you will come to prog in The Beatles' music.

I think "A Day in the Life" is progressive rock as is "Because", "I Want You She So Heavy" and the second medley on side two.

Or you could say their style of music bridges elements of Progressive Rock into more the mainsteam Pop Rock arena. Progressive Pop

Lyrically to an extent but musically it would have to be such a minor influence that it can't be quantified.

In terms of experimenting, I think the Beatles certainly had an element of it, but were behind groups like Captain Beefheart, VU and the Beach Boys. Those bands were doing much more interesting stuff.

The Beatles, however, were the greatest force for popularizing whatever they dabbled in.

I don't agree. The Beatles were experimenting with Classical Indian Music, sampling, looping, avant music and odd time signatures. I consider that more experimental than VU or the Beach Boys. Captain Beefhart was in 1967 so the Beatles influence was ahead of Beefhart. Well to many the Beatles already were ahead of the Beach Boys or VU.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys said that "Strawberry Fields Forever" was partially responsible for the shelving of his group's legendary unfinished album, SMiLE. Wilson first heard the song on his car radio whilst driving, and was so affected that he had to stop and listen to it all the way through. He then remarked to his passenger that The Beatles had already reached the sound The Beach Boys had wanted to achieve.[56] Paul Revere & The Raiders were among the most successful US groups during 1966 and 1967, having their own **** Clark-produced television show, Where the Action Is. Mark Lindsay (singer/saxophonist) heard the song on the radio, bought it, and then listened to it at home with his producer at the time, Terry Melcher. When the song ended Lindsay said, "Now what the **** are we gonna do?" later saying, "With that single, The Beatles raised the ante as to what a pop record should be".

I don't believe that, considering SMiLE's songs sound nothing like "Strawberry Fields Forever" (and are considerably more innovative, IMO). I googled that blurb and it seems to come from a comment on last.fm. The commentor claims it comes from the Wikipedia entry on Brian Wilson, but I didn't find this anecdote there.

In any case, there are plenty of competing anecdotes. McCartney has said that Pet Sounds made him re-think what a pop record could be and, after sitting in on SMiLE sessions, he remarked that SMiLE may have been the most ambitious pop record ever.

The Beatles may have experimented with Indian music and looping, but the way Brian Wilson assembled songs from recording fragments of this and fragments of that, and then stitching them together into a unified whole, I consider to be far more innovative and influential.

You forgot one thing in your statement it was Rubber Soul that was Brian Wilson Pet Sounds main inspiration.

It was upon hearing the 1965 Beatles album Rubber Soul that Wilson felt compelled to produce a work of uniform quality that would stand comparison. He said of the album, “I really wasn’t quite ready for the unity. It felt like it all belonged together. Rubber Soul was a collection of songs ... that somehow went together like no album ever made before, and I was very impressed.”

He added, “That’s it. I really am challenged to do a great album.”


They started trying things that no one had done in pop before - such as the sitar on Norwegian Wood. Then with Revolver nothing is held back - there are songs totally done with Indian instruments, songs with just strings and vocals, backwards vocals and solos are common throughout the album, the lyrics are highly eclectic, and they practically invented countless production methods that are still in use today.

There might not a more innovative song than "Tomorrow Never Knows" dude sampling, looping, droning with a repeated drum and bass lines are basically what you hear today in much of Modern Music today.

I didn't forget that. It's fairly well-established that the Beach Boys and Beatles consistently pushed each other to be better. McCartney said that Pet Sounds pushed the Beatles back into the studio for what ended up becoming Sgt. Pepper's, because Pet Sounds set a new standard. And certainly Brian Wilson was inspired to try and create better, by work of the Beatles.

I think the Beatles made great music. They're one of my favourite bands (even if I don't listen to them much anymore, since their music is so ubiquitous). I just don't think they were one of the most experimental bands of the time. Experimenting with looping, time signatures, etc, were not pioneered by them. To their credit, they were willing to pick up new techniques and try to change their sound and they did it incredibly well, but I don't think they revolutionized anything. I do think Brian Wilson's production techniques revolutionized how pop and rock music was made. Though, of course, he built upon Phil Spector.

The Beatles did not pioneer looping or time signatures and I never said they did pioneer them either. Using mixed time signatures though was rare in rock music in 1965. The Beatles in combination of using looping, sampling and repetitive drum and bass lines have given rise to the sounds we consider mainstream today and the majority of music we hear on the radio now is based around sampled and looped sounds in which the Beatles were the ones who put in rock music.

John Lennon, too, provoked the development of new recording techniques. It had been known for some years that recording the lead vocal twice and layering the resulting tracks, considerably thickened the sound of the singer’s voice. Lennon, who found recording sessions tedious, asked the engineers to find a solution to this time-consuming method.

This simple trick called Automatic Double Tracking or ADT is now produced using digital technology, and has become the standard on pop records of today.

The Beatles may not have pioneered all of these sounds, but they certainly experimented and made popular and unearthed these experimentations.

To this day Tomorrow Never Knows just sounds so far out. Roxy Music's guitarist Phil Manzanera (801) put out a fine version.