Who Was Bigger in their Time…Elvis, the Beatles, or Taylor Swift?

[T200]

That's her secret sauce Tim...writing about relationships, both the good and the bad; hence, her ability to connect with her targeted fan base. Sort of a musical, "how to deal with everything life throws at a person" (especially girls and young women, dealing with the highs and lows of dating)

Paul McCartney admitted that his song "Who Cares" (from his latest album), was inspired by Swift...whom he admires and considers a great friend, and like Ringo (a self-proclaimed "Swiftie") applaud her because she is one of the few musicians who can cut a record all by herself (as can McCartney), because she writes her own music, then lay tracks as she plays guitar, keyboards, and does the vocals. Few people have ever been able to do that...although, she doesn't play percussion (McCartney can play the drums). McCartney said that "intimate connection she creates with her music" is the key to her overwhelming success and that it's genius

Interestingly, in an interview, she admitted that she hates singing some of her most famous songs 300,000 times, but will sing it again for the 300,001 because she understands her fans are not rich and that they are at a concert that cost them a lot of money, so they deserve to hear her main songs that she's sick of, but will never stop and disappoint a fan. I think all musicians face that same issue

I certainly don't deny her talents and gifts and the inspiration she gives to her millions and millions of fans.

I'm just not one of them. 

[y_so_blu]

Impossible to say, as I wasn't around for Elvis or the Beatles. And I couldn't have picked Swift out of a police lineup until she started dating Travis Kelce.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Impossible to say, as I wasn't around for Elvis or the Beatles. And I couldn't have picked Swift out of a police lineup until she started dating Travis Kelce.

In the political spectrum, the elitists are not happy at all with Taylor dating Kelce...why??? Because she's the biggest influencer in the world, with billions of fans. Not because of her average looks, or even her voice (which has a teenish sound to it), but because she writes and sings ballads that every girl from 8 to 80 can relate to. But back to why elitists are unhappy with her: There is a movement to emasculate men and "gender fluidity" is the "jelly of the month". Because she is so influential towards billions, they did not want her to grab onto a "machismo" guy, a brute, a man's-man, etc. They prefer her to be with an artsy type guy, not a gorilla

Anyway, she's also incredibly smart and knows exactly what she's doing - even as a teenager, writing songs in her bedroom. As an example, Seth Myers on The Howard Stern Show, discussed how brilliant she is. He worked at SNL for a dozen years and used to kind of make fun of the guests, because they were always confused about what they should do. But he came back a decade after leaving SNL and discovered how hard it was to follow script and get the gist of what's going on. He said the opening monologue was one of the most difficult things for most guests on the show. He used to sit with Lorne Michaels to come up with the opening monologue. But when 19 year old Taylor Swift hosted SNL, she had already written her own monologue and when she presented it to Michaels and Myers, they were blown away that someone (especially that young) could do something like that, and it was the best opening monologue they could have ever come up with. So they just let her do her own thing. Stern agreed that she is smart and savvy beyond her years

As far as who's biggest: they all were at their time and were hugely influential to music, style, etc. A nod probably goes to Taylor because of her influence across the Far East, South America, and virtually every corner of the world, not just the U.S. and Europe

Here's her opening monologue and a funny skit on the Fox NFL Sunday crew and football

[LennG]

Impossible to say, as I wasn't around for Elvis or the Beatles. And I couldn't have picked Swift out of a police lineup until she started dating Travis Kelce.

 Not that being old enough to remember some of these people is great, but the times we lived thru, first with Elvis and then the Beatles, to put it simply, there will never be anything like that ever again. Swift has her millions and millions of fans, but the craziness that surrounded, first Elvis, and then the maniacal fans towards the Beatles. There was nothing, and will ever be anything, to compare with that --- EVER.

That is not to say, as the thread asked, who was bigger in their time, but again, the Beatles are still big today, over 60 years later.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Not that being old enough to remember some of these people is great, but the times we lived thru, first with Elvis and then the Beatles, to put it simply, there will never be anything like that ever again. Swift has her millions and millions of fans, but the craziness that surrounded, first Elvis, and then the maniacal fans towards the Beatles. There was nothing, and will ever be anything, to compare with that --- EVER.

That is not to say, as the thread asked, who was bigger in their time, but again, the Beatles are still big today, over 60 years later.

Funny you bring that up Lenn. I just picked up my grandson and had a half hour ride in the car with him. He knows all of today's pop songs, but I have Sirius radio in my car and I paged through it and saw that "Rocky Raccoon" was playing. Nice thing about Sirius, you can hit replay, and it will start the song from the beginning, as often as you want to hear it. So I cranked it up and started it from the beginning. Anyway, he's a teen and knows nothing about the Beatles, and he loved the song. He told me that he thought most music today was "corporate music", etc., so it was a nice change for him. I told him it was kind of an obscure song by them, and explained how everyone went crazy when they came to America. He knew absolutely nothing about them or that time period. I have to have a chat with my daughter when she's back in town tomorrow and find out why she never taught her son about the Beatles, especially since he loves music. When she was growing up (and all my kids), they were subjected to tons of Beatles' songs played by me...and they could sing along with each song because they knew them so well because of their dad!