The Beatles vs. Pink Floyd

 

Has Pink Floyd ever composed a song as many time signatures as "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" or a melody as compared to "Yesterday"  or as innovative as "Tomorrow Never Knows"? The Beatles were great pop/rock songwriters and many bands would take one aspect  in what the Beatles were doing and went with it. There are many examples of this for example Chicago basically got idea of their sound in listening to songs like "Got To Get You Into My Life" and "Good Morning Good Morning". Groups like Can, The Byrds, ELO and King Crimson formed after hearing  Beatles songs. Brian Wilson musically and lyrically went into a different direction after hearing Rubber Soul. As for Pink Floyd it's known fact that Syd Barrett spent the whole summer of 1966 listening to Revolver and took in many of the ideas on Revolver.

 

Now that doesn't make the Beatles better than any of those bands but you can make the argument the Beatles never really stayed with one particular style. I would say the Beatles were easily the greatest band in the rock genre in incorporating outside rock elements with strong cleverly written pop songs. It's a style that many bands have tried but most have struggled with and the Beatles seemed to have thrived with this. There are so many examples like "Strawberry Fields Forever", "A Day in the Life", "Eleanor Rigby", "Norwegian Wood", "I Am the Walrus" and the list goes on.

 

If you could pinpoint THE most innovative pop song ever written, "Tomorrow Never Knows"  would would on the short list, if not the winner. Not only is the sound/feel way ahead of its time, but the recording techniques completely revolutionized recording. The one-chord structure, using tape loops, putting John's voice through a Leslie speaker, the way the drums are recorded, these were all innovations created during the recording of this song. Love it or hate it, this invented modern rock.

I do not state  that Pink Floyd is objectively better band than Beatles (although it seems like I am). I merely state that influence does not equal quality. Their influence does not mean they are musically better. We have to look into other things (mainly compositions) to really compare these two bands. Although, in the end, it all comes down to personal preference, and my is that Pink Floyd is the better of these two. I was little too fast to say some things, I admit, but my vote would still stand (if I had right to vote )

Might wanna be clearer on this one. I don't see any mutual dislikes so far.

mister nobody wrote: The Beatles were certainly more influential band, if not the most influential band of the 20th century. But that doesn't mean they're better musically than Floyd. The question is who's better, not who's more influential, right? Sometimes student is better than his master, no?

That's not clear either. The only hint you get is "Discuss" ... which does not sound like a question.