There’s a perfectly good reason as to why The Beatles remain such an important band in the history of rock and pop music, and why so many acts still look up to them as being the benchmark for incredible songwriting. Where most acts will often boast one incredible songwriter within their ranks or two if they’re lucky, the Beatles arguably had three in John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
Their cultural dominance throughout the 1960s meant that most people of a certain age were either brought up on the music of the iconic Liverpudlian group or were first exposed to their music during a formative period of their lives. This meant that countless bands that followed them in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s were still massively influenced by their output, and there are even traces of their identity to be found in the music of acts that one might argue are stylistically distant from their own. Their reputation and significance were inescapable for so long after they’d disbanded, and still lingers on to this day.
You could even argue that acts within the world of hard rock and heavy metal, two genres that one may never directly associate with the Fab Four, were still indebted to the Beatles’ approaches to songwriting. The formula that they established for writing timeless pop songs can still be witnessed in this area, and while the Beatles never really showed this intense edge save for the exception of tracks like ‘Helter Skelter’, slivers of their inventive approach are undoubtedly present.
One act that was decidedly a far cry from the Beatles at first glance but, upon closer inspection, held far more in common than you might initially give them credit for was KISS. Sure, they were a metal act that ran on over-the-top showmanship, heavy guitars and bravado, but they were also arguably a pop act to a degree, and the influence of the Beatles is a significant reason for this. You can even boil their distinctive image of black and white face paint down to having been influenced by the Beatles due to how instantly recognisable they were at all points of their career, so when given a moment’s consideration, the importance of the Beatles to KISS becomes far more apparent.
Bassist and songwriter Gene Simmons has always been vocal about his love of the Beatles, and in a 2024 interview with Classic Rock, he outlined why the band had always been a mainstay of his own listening habits throughout his life. Speaking about Lennon and McCartney’s importance as songwriters, he claimed that the duo had “so many great songs, it’s incredible”, and cited their own individual offerings to the band as always being on par with one another. “For every ‘Eleanor Rigby’,” he began, extolling the virtues of McCartney’s songwriting,“ [for] every ‘Yesterday’, you had ‘Across The Universe’, which is haunting like no other song I’ve ever heard. Even a song that Lennon wasn’t fond of, And Your Bird Can Sing, nobody has ever sounded like that before or after.”
While he noted that Lennon and McCartney were often going toe to toe in their brilliance, their third and less prolific main songwriter, George Harrison, should not be ignored. “Let’s not forget George Harrison,” he proclaimed. “He was supposed to be less talented because he didn’t write ‘All You Need Is Love’ and all those other hits. But then he came up with ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. So it’s like: ‘Oh, that guy’s a genius too!’”
Harrison might have written comparatively few songs for the band when pitted against his bandmates, but it was rare that they were a disappointment to fans, and many would argue that the few times he was allowed into the spotlight showcased just how much of an asset he was to the group. Given that he readily had a sublime triple album of songs in All Things Must Pass ready for release shortly after the disbandment of the Beatles only goes to demonstrate the genius of Harrison and how understated he was as a member of the group, and ought to be recognised as of equal importance to the two more prolific Beatles.