PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Songwriting NYT Says Taylor Swift Is Bigger Than The Beatles

As I wrote, I think that Rick Beato’s video on Taylor Swift and the Beatles made a lot of bogus arguments and had misinformation.

Charlie Fogle wrote that “The Beatles revolutionized and changed how music was recorded and performed where Taylor utilizes what exists… She didn't create anything new. She exists in what music is today, She's at the top, but the foundation was already in place. The Beatles prompted changes in recording, performance beyond just writing and singing songs laying the foundation for what the industry evolved into today.” He mentions that they were the first band to perform a concert at the Stadium level.”

I think Charlie makes some good points here, but I don’t agree with him that Swift didn’t create anything new. I’ll explain why I think that later.

But I do agree with both Rick and Charlie’s conclusion: The Beatles have made a deeper contribution to popular music than Taylor Swift. At least, so far. Her story hasn’t fully been written later.

I like The Beatles more than her because of the way it developed from teen songs to Rubber Soul, Revolver, White Album, Sergeant Pepper. They started out with “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Twist and Shout,” “I Saw Her Standing There” and eventually they were writing stuff like “In My Life” and “She’s Leaving Home.”

My problem with Swift is that her nature and her desire to be #1 locks her into creating teen songs. She’s certainly capable of creating songs that resonate with older people like “Lover” and “The Archer,” as well as the complete albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore.” Unfortunately with her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department” is IMHO a bit of a step backwards. I think it’s a great album, but she is back doing things like beefing with Kim Kardashian. But her songs are all diaries of what she’s feeling, so obviously she still is hurting from what Kanye and Kim did to her. Still, I also believe she has fans that are under 12, and she has to keep giving them things they can relate to. But she’s 34 and The Beatles were making “Sergeant Pepper” in their 20s.

I think she has the talent to develop into one of the greatest popular songwriters of all time. Many believe she is already that. But will she keep developing like The Beatles did? The jury is still out.

To get back to Charlie and The Beatles being the first to play a Stadium Show. That’s true, but the Shea concert was horrible. You couldn’t hear anything but girls screaming. It was historic, but it’s just a fame thing—they needed a big venue. They didn’t personally build the amps. For me, that’s of minimal importance to their greatness, which is in their incredible songwriting and musicianship, and their ambition to push themselves to higher levels.

Yes, The Beatles did a lot of new things with recording technology and the like, but to me, but to me, without the songs and the performances, it wouldn’t have mattered. The songs last even if they are played by a kid with a ukelele on a street corner.

The idea of the ERAS tour is that it will be the greatest theatrical spectacle event in history. People who go to it are meant to be overwhelmed and to think they’ve never seen anything like that in their life. What is state-of-the-art on Broadway, Vegas, Cirque du Soleil, magic acts? What kind of LED backgrounds are used in Marvel movies? So what if it costs millions? The ERAS tour is a creation between Taylor Swift and her team. At the heart of it is her fierce competitiveness, the need to be better than every other act on the planet. Every act goes backstage for quick changes, but Swift is quickly dropped down into a lower compartment where a team of people change her. It’s like the Indy 500. Famously, she dives into the stage and seems to swim across it. (She’s put on some cart type thing and pulled at great speeds).

The ERAS tour doesn’t play venues. I’m making this up, but I don’t think there are many in the world who can accommodate her coming there and building the set. If I ran a country I’d build one, just for her, because she has an economic impact like the Olympics.

This is the best, biggest, boldest Swift tour. Until the next one, of course, when she’ll top it. It’s also worth mentioning that no performer has ever done an over three and a half concert with 44 songs divided into ten acts representing separate albums. Plus, surprisde song and celebrity guest. These things are well thought out.

So no, I don’t agree that she’s never created anything new. She’s done dozens of new things like this. For example, how many people went back and re-recorded their albums? And did so, while regularly bringing out new albums, touring, directing her own videos, acting in movies, co-writing hit songs for other artists, interacting with fans, marketing, social media, etc?

The Beatles revolutionized the world of music they lived in. Their time. And she does that now, in the multimedia entertainment environment of today, which isn't just records. It’s different world, but she does innovate. The beat goes on.