The Beatles aren’t a controversial topic amongst hard rock music fans, right? That never goes wrong when we bring that up. Nobody thinks the Beatles were overrated. Nobody is going to bring up that John Lennon was a wife beater. That’s definitely not all going to happen in the comments section, I’m sure of it. Anyway, apparently the Beatles were a massive influence on Black Sabbath bassist Geezer butler.
In a recent interview with Michigan rock station WRKR (that was transcribed by Blabbermouth) Butler explained how the Beatles were a major influence on him:
“They were a massive influence, because there was nobody else like them at the time. And up until then, it was, like, my brothers were into like Elvis [Presley] and Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly, that kind of thing. And there was no real English [rock bands]. All the English rock and rollers were trying to sound American and copy of an American [band], and they never succeeded. And then when THE BEATLES came along, they had a completely original sound. And they were all literally from Liverpool, which is 90 miles from where we were born. And it just like gave us some hope that British musicians could actually become successful. And as soon as THE BEATLES were successful, then you had THE ROLLING STONES and THE KINKS and THE WHO, HERMAN’S HERMITS, a whole explosion of British pop music.”
That makes sense. No mater how overrated you think The Beatles are, they caused such a monumental shift in music that it’s hard to find a band that can’t claim a direct or indirect Beatles influence. Even The Clash who sang “No Elvis, Beatles, and The Rolling Stones” can’t pretend The Beatles didn’t affect them. The Beatles obviously touched everyone.