The Beatles were inspired by John Cage!

[Quijote]

Well, well, who would have thought?! The Beatles were influenced by avant-garde composers John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Lucio Berio (among some others). Check out the link to this recent article in The Guardian (no paywall):

‘The King Lear in I Am the Walrus? That came from John Cage’: Paul McCartney on the Beatles’ debt to great avant-garde composers

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-am-the-walrus

And here are YouTube links to some of the pieces mentioned:

Luciano Berio

John Cage

Pierre Henry

[Peter]

Never been a fan of the Beatles - I'm afraid I'm with Glenn Gould on that one!

[Chris]

I think the avante-garde influence lead to some of their worst music, too - Revolution 9 being the ultimate example.

[Quijote]

Never been a fan of the Beatles - I'm afraid I'm with Glenn Gould on that one!

Fair enough. I'll be waiting for Michael to come charging in on this one!

[Quijote]

I think the avante-garde influence lead to some of their worst music, too - Revolution 9 being the ultimate example.

I listened to Revolution 9 after reading your post, Chris. It's totally Cageian, isn't it?

[Quijote]

This is along similar lines by John Cage, far superior to his Radio Music and The Beatles' Revolution 9.

Fontana Mix

[Chris]

I listened to Revolution 9 after reading your post, Chris. It's totally Cageian, isn't it?

More Onoian, I'd say...

[PDG]

Never been a fan of the Beatles - I'm afraid I'm with Glenn Gould on that one!

Whereas Leonard Bernstein adored their music. Gould's opinion seems to me to have been pure snobbery.

[PDG]

This is along similar lines by John Cage, far superior to his Radio Music and The Beatles' Revolution 9.

Fontana Mix

Careful, Philip!
I don't think you can say any piece of music or art is better or worse than another piece, when the circumstances behind the creation of each is so obviously different. Revolution 9 was a brave move, but is essentially an experiment, and I think it would be a shame to use it as a yardstick for their overall output.

[PDG]

I think the avante-garde influence lead to some of their worst music, too - Revolution 9 being the ultimate example.

There is very little avante-garde Beatles music. And they never claimed that Revolution 9 should be regarded as 'music', anyway.

[PDG]

The idea of the King Lear overlay on the fade-out of I Am The Walrus was John's, when he heard a live BBC Radio 2 broadcast of the play coming from the corner of the engineer's booth, and casually asked producer George Martin if they could use it on their track. I Am The Walrus owes far more to Lewis Carroll than to John Cage.

[PDG]

More Onoian, I'd say...

Yes, Yoko was a huge influence on John, and not just musically. She was truly avant-garde and was a big fan of Cage. The Beatles' song, Because (from Abbey Road), apparently came about after she played Beethoven's Moonlight adagio backwards for John.

[PDG]

Fair enough. I'll be waiting for Michael to come charging in on this one!

Does Michael still post on this forum?

I hope he's well, along with everyone else. It's been a while (my apologies)...

[Quijote]

Mr PDG!! Nice to see you back !!!

[Quijote]

Careful, Philip!
I don't think you can say any piece of music or art is better or worse than another piece [...].

Maybe I'll post my Finals composition piece.