Beatles beaten by Oasis in vote for greatest album

[tjwmason]

Beatles beaten by Oasis in vote for greatest album
By Hugh Davies
(Filed: 02/06/2006)

The debut album by the Mancunian band Oasis has been voted the "greatest album of all time" in a poll of 40,000 people.

Definitely Maybe, which cost only £85,000 to produce, put brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher on the road to super-stardom and has sold seven million copies worldwide since its release 12 years ago.

The album was heavily influenced by the Beatles and came to define the Britpop era of the mid-90s. Ironically, it edged into second place Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the psychedelic album by the Beatles, which regularly tops "best of" album polls.

Readers of the Book of British Hit Singles and the music magazine NME were given a year to compile a top 10 list, which was then converted into a top 100. The list is dominated by guitar-based acts.

cont'd

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/02/nalbum02.xml

I really don't have an opinion as I never listen to either of them - but thought that it might be of interest to my fellow Lizards.

:popcorn:

[peekaloo]

1. if ya can't join 'em, beat 'em?

:shrug:

[billyskank]

2. LoZoccolo stuffed the ballot box

I reckon. :)

[tjwmason]

3. I'm afraid that the whole thing goes utterly over my head.

But if it can provoke a squabble here in the Lounge it must be a good thing - that's my reasoning anyway.

[billyskank]

4. This will explain all

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5226986

[Mutley]

5. Mornin' tj!

:hi:

Up for starting trouble, are we? :D

[tjwmason]

6. Good morning Mutley.

Trouble? Me?

Surely you're thinking about somebody else. :D

[Mutley]

7. You forget

we're two peas in a pod, you and me. I know what you're thinking. }(

[tjwmason]

9. That must be very scary for you.

I try to avoid knowing what I'm thinking.

[Mutley]

10. You think that's frightening...

Try being in my head. :crazy: :P

[tigereye]

8. yeah, right

a lot of people don't even know who Oasis are now - that certainly wasn't true of the Beatles in their heyday.

[LoZoccolo]

11. Let us assume what you say is true for the sake of argument.

Just for the sake of an intellectual exercise.

Were that true, that would mean that Oasis won this title despite that, and that if more people knew about them, they would have defeated the Beatles by an even larger margin.

Score one for Oasis (hypothetically).

[tigereye]

14. um

I think it is safe to make the case that due to a much more limited type of media common in the 60s and the deeper overall media saturation at that time, more folks knew about the Beatles proportionally. I don't know statistically, though, since media is more pervasive now, and much more far-reaching as far as global stuff goes. There is probably some marketing "sage" out there who knows.

However, this creates several questions, LZ:

1. Will as many people remember Oasis in 40 years?

2. Will their music still be lauded, or even seen as visionary(note that the above indicates that Oasis were influenced by the Beatles, correct?) Selling units does not good music make and there are numerous examples to support this argument.

3. How many top 10 or 100 lists, done by critics, have they made, compared to the Beatles?

[LoZoccolo]

15. In answer to your question.

1. Yes.

2. Yes. Ever since the Anthology came out, people are seeing more and more the difference between the Beatles and George Martin. The cat is out of the bag at this point. And then there's the fact that on that same anthology, we see the Beatles paying tribute to Oasis, not the other way around:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2577265

And look at that. They mention the album which eventually trumped all of theirs.

3. That is my point exactly. Rock and roll does not belong to rock establishment traditionalists such as critics. It belongs to the fans. The rock establishment traditionalists had become so calcified that they continued putting out the same tired lines, and when people began to discover that, they had to send out an army of Beatlist propagandists to try to maintain the illusion of credibility.

[tigereye]

16. but if you compared how often Oasis songs

are played on the radio, elevator, muzak, online, etc. compared to the Beatles, plus the fact that the Beatles collectively have more money from their efforts than God himself ( figuratively), I still don't think it holds up.


I don't think you can know how history will evaluated Oasis comp. to the Beatles at this point. Sorry, we'll have to agree to disagree. But it's always fun to wise-guy spar with you, LZ. ;)

[Montauk6]

12. And even those among those who do know Oasis now...

what percentage can rattle off the names of the band members?

My problem with a lot of these polls is, so what?

I'm sure a lot of today's disposable groups can post stats that in their respective categories outdo the Beatles or Elvis or Sinatra or Stevie Wonder or whomever? For example, number of weeks at #1; does that automatically put that group or soloist in the same legends category as those he/she/they surpassed? Come on.

[LoZoccolo]

13. Liam Gallagher

Noel Gallagher
Gem Archer
Andy Bell
Zak Starkey A.K.A. Ringo Starr's son