is John Lennon over-rated?

adampeter

And is Ringo under-rated?

Fuengi

I think Ringo had a fabulous feel, his playing on the solo of Something was completely free of ego, and allowed George to be so expressive. 

gringopig

.

Paul_C

yes, or no.

EricTheWeary

I imagine so. 

gringopig

.

prowla

John Lennon did some great stuff and some poopy self-indulgent rubbish; I'm happy listening to the great stuff!

Ringo is a fine drummer; there's a saying that drummers turn their noses up at Ringo, until you ask them to play his stuff. I think he was absolutely perfect for The Beatles.

He even backed Billy Squier, so he gets bonus points for that!

And this one is really good, with Richard Marx, Rod Argent and Sheila E.

Hold Your Head Up.

fendergibson

Always leaned towards McCartney, but no, Lennon is not overrated. Feel free to post some song you’ve written to show me I’m wrong 

Philly_Q

I'm not really a fan, so I don't think there's much point me commenting on Lennon's "ratedness". 

I do think the Beatles, collectively, and I guess Lennon and McCartney in particular, made some pretty remarkable music which really does hold up today.  And I don't think any of them did anything subsequently which had anything like the same magic.

UnclePsychosis

At their best, every single one of the Beatles was an absolute genius.

At their worst, every single one of them wrote some absolutely turgid shite and collectively they didn't half come up with some jumped up nursery rhymes on occasion. 

For me, Lennon's solo efforts are better than Ringo but worse than the others. Can't stand Imagine, myself. 

revsorg

I just need to leave this here... Chuck Berry's face at 1:19...

Hattigol

What a silly post. 

gringopig

.

boogieman

Anyone who can write songs like In My Life and Strawberry Fields is alright by me. I don’t like much of his solo work though, I think he needed the catalyst of the band and George Martin to make him work at his highest level. 

Ringo was a great drummer, you just need to listen to Come Together to prove that. Rubbish singer though.   

Caffeine_Vampire

I love Ringo but I can’t get past, ‘you were in a car crash and you lost your hair’. 

I think Yoko insisted that line stay to destroy the band. 

Jimbro66

As one half of the Lennon & McCartney song writing team he was perfect. His rougher edge balanced McCartney's suger-sweet tendencies to the benefit of their music. That balance was absent when they went their separate ways, with Lennon being sometimes brilliant but often awful whereas the unchecked McCartney was free to produce dross like Mull of Kintyre. They never should have separated.

Ringo was perfect for the Beatles IMO regardless of whether he is over- or under-rated.

SidNewton

Jimbro66 said:

As one half of the Lennon & McCartney song writing team he was perfect. His rougher edge balanced McCartney's suger-sweet tendencies to the benefit of their music. That balance was absent when they went their separate ways, with Lennon being sometimes brilliant but often awful whereas the unchecked McCartney was free to produce dross like Mull of Kintyre. They never should have separated.

Ringo was perfect for the Beatles IMO regardless of whether he is over- or under-rated.

That pretty much sums it up for me. I prefer Lennons solo stuff to any of the others. I think he wrote more quality songs during his short solo career than McCartneys managed in the last 50 years.
That said, any of his collaborations with Yoko are utter dross. Plastic Ono Band, Imagine and Walls and Bridges are all fine albums, Mind Games not so good.

Caffeine_Vampire

SidNewton said:

Jimbro66 said:

As one half of the Lennon & McCartney song writing team he was perfect. His rougher edge balanced McCartney's suger-sweet tendencies to the benefit of their music. That balance was absent when they went their separate ways, with Lennon being sometimes brilliant but often awful whereas the unchecked McCartney was free to produce dross like Mull of Kintyre. They never should have separated.

Ringo was perfect for the Beatles IMO regardless of whether he is over- or under-rated.

That pretty much sums it up for me. I prefer Lennons solo stuff to any of the others. I think he wrote more quality songs during his short solo career than McCartneys managed in the last 50 years.
That said, any of his collaborations with Yoko are utter dross. Plastic Ono Band, Imagine and Walls and Bridges are all fine albums, Mind Games not so good.

Wasn’t Mind Games a May Pang/Lost Weekend record?

thecolourbox

It depends (as with many things) whether you rate occasional brilliance (with occasional awful moments) over "consistently quite good" as to whether you prefer Lennon or McCartney in my opinion.

I think Ringo gets a fairly good rap these days to be honest, I don't hear much snobbery in his direction anyway

SidNewton

Caffeine_Vampire said:

SidNewton said:

Jimbro66 said:

As one half of the Lennon & McCartney song writing team he was perfect. His rougher edge balanced McCartney's suger-sweet tendencies to the benefit of their music. That balance was absent when they went their separate ways, with Lennon being sometimes brilliant but often awful whereas the unchecked McCartney was free to produce dross like Mull of Kintyre. They never should have separated.

Ringo was perfect for the Beatles IMO regardless of whether he is over- or under-rated.

That pretty much sums it up for me. I prefer Lennons solo stuff to any of the others. I think he wrote more quality songs during his short solo career than McCartneys managed in the last 50 years.
That said, any of his collaborations with Yoko are utter dross. Plastic Ono Band, Imagine and Walls and Bridges are all fine albums, Mind Games not so good.

Wasn’t Mind Games a May Pang/Lost Weekend record?

I think so. Wall and Bridges was as well but for me there are more quality songs on that album. Some of the lyrics on Walls and Bridges are amongst his best in my opinion.

prowla

Jimbro66 said:

As one half of the Lennon & McCartney song writing team he was perfect. His rougher edge balanced McCartney's suger-sweet tendencies to the benefit of their music. That balance was absent when they went their separate ways, with Lennon being sometimes brilliant but often awful whereas the unchecked McCartney was free to produce dross like Mull of Kintyre. They never should have separated.

Ringo was perfect for the Beatles IMO regardless of whether he is over- or under-rated.

Well, a lot of the songs were written by one or the other, as opposed to collaborations, but they'd made an agreement to publish them as Lennon & McCartney.