Just so everyone knows I had Yer Blues, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey) *I hate typing that title out ;), and a few other on the list but they'll have to wait for part 2. :)
Its great to see a young fella like yourself appreciate "Old Foggies music" :). Now you can understand why 350,000 people lined the streets in 1964, in my city, to see them, and that was the tour that Ringo was sick and a stand in drummer played!!. Interesting you featured Tomorrow Never Comes. The lead guitar, and other sounds, in that song are played backwards, as Im sure you are aware. This was a neat trick that George Martin enjoyed in that period. Your own Lee Hazelwood also used that effect in some of his songs, like Sand. I always loved the trippy sound of the backwards played music. Real 60s, Psychedelia.
I want you (she's so heavy) is insane, it's insane that its a 60's song. If there's a song that shows how they influenced metal, is definitely this one.
I love this song so much. I think it is perhaps one of their coolest and hottest songs. They go from verse to a cool instrumental solo to a climax. It encompasses so much in one song.
I'm glad you included I Want You (She's So Heavy). The repetition of the verses and then that super intense ending makes it one of the heaviest and darkest love songs in rock history imo. And the way they just keep building and building the end riff just to cut it off is brilliant!
Fun fact: Dave Mustaine has suggested many times he was very inspired in his approach for riff construction by the Beatles. Especially the moving bass lines.
"Sounds like the end of the world" is the perfect descriptor for 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'. It literally feels like a cascade of noise and doom, properly heavy. There's nothing that tops that track. Happy birthday!!
I feel like that ending progression of I Want You (She's So Heavy) gets overlooked a lot, so I'm glad you included it here. I remember me and a friend listening to that song once and he said the same thing about it sounding "like a huge wave just building and building". I always thought it had a kind of doom metal quality to it, sounds like something Sabbath would have written.
This reminds me of the first time I heard the white album in LA. The radio station played it from start to finish without commercial break. At the end there was silence. Then the DJ said, "What was that?". It was radical at the time and people weren't sure what to make of it. It is hard to imagine now since we've all memorized every detail and are completely familiar with it.
Completely agree with this list. But here’s some other Beatles songs that have legitimate Heavy riffs: Yer Blues, Everybody’s Got Something To Hide…, Birthday, Sgt. Pepper’s(Reprise), Taxman, Oh! Darling, The Ballad Of John And Yoko, I’ve Got A Feeling, One After 909, I Me Mine.(I may have missed some). Why Don’t We Do It In The Road has 0 guitar parts, but the way Paul just belts, screams, and screeches the lyrics, along with the dirty bass. Oh yeah, Think For Yourself with that fuzz bass!! Some earlier Beatles songs that have a heavy setting for the time: She’s A Woman(from their LIVE 66 gigs, that guitar!), Day Tripper(again from their LIVE 66 gigs, the main riffs hits pretty hard!), Oh! My Soul(LIVE BBC 63, they got some wild playing, crunchy guitars for that time, less people know about it), and finally their LO-FI recording from Harmburg late 62 of Long Tall Sally is very Punk, the chunky fast 3 chord guitars were lit.
I like how the Beatles never pigeon-holed themselves into a single sound, so that even the distorted Helter Skelter and fuzzed out Revolution feature different guitar sounds. Heavy bands these days have to reproduced their sound in every song.
☝️I have often used this example when people complain about their favorite band changing styles, getting away from their "roots", etc. The Beatles never made two albums that sounded alike, so why should we expect other artists to repeatedly put out the same product over and over?
I always think of "Why don't we do it in the road," as heavy, also the vocals on "Don't Let Me Down," and "Birthday," at and after the bridge. I like that you didn't do the most obvious songs for this!
I highly encourage you to check out Beatallica if you've not done so already - Beatles songs done in a Metallica style, with a vocalist who does a dead-on Papa Het. The first two EPs that came out before they got on a label (A Garage Dayz Night and Beatallica (the Grey EP) are immense if you can find them.
Lennon's bass part in Helter Skelter is considered one of the great influences on Punk Rock. He liked Helter Skelter, but thought it needed something extra, so he convinced the other Beatles to take a bunch of drugs and create the most chaotic song they could.
@@seancarroll3823 The drug thing is not true. They rarely ever took drugs in the studio when recording, even John said as much (and one of the times he was high in the studio was an accident). To record Helter Skelter, they played the song for hours on end without stopping. That’s why Ringo screams at the end.
I'm on a Beatles kick again. Revolver and let it be on repeat. Also! My dad set up his surround system for both up and downstairs the house while playing Back in the USSR. SO LOUD.
the song “good morning good morning”, though having a lighthearted feel, has some heavy moments. the drums in the verse are super cool with that cymbal hit out of nowhere. same goes for the chorus of “I me mine”
Great video. I like your list but I'd suggest "And Your Bird Can Sing." That harmonized dual lead is something Iron Maiden would be proud to call their own.
I think The Beatles' innovation in playing harmonized leads like on 'And Your Bird Can Sing', and riffs (e.g., 'Back In The USSR') was a significant influence on Thin Lizzy).
Couple of things that I realized from this really fun video.... First off I'm 65 and so I was around for all of this coming out and how truly revolutionary a lot of this music was. ..so... Eleanor Rigby sounded like a version done by Ozzy. With your interpretations it's easier for me to see why many modern artists give the Beatles props for being influential to them. George Harrison may have been the "quiet Beatle", but it sounds like he let his guitar do the talking for him a lot of times... This was a lot of fun thanks
I didn't realize how heavy The Beatles were until I heard Type O Negative's cover of Day Tripper/If I Needed Someone/She's So Heavy. They perfectly captured how intense The Beatles were by turning their songs into Gothic Doom Metal.
A lot of Type Os hooks in their original songs sound like Beatles melodies too. Pretty sure Peter said his 3 favorite bands were the Beatles, black sabbath, and the cure
Nice take on The Beatles Mike. Agree with all of them. Those four guys were musical geniuses for sure. Always thought the opening riff to 'Hey Bulldog' would have worked well as a Led Zep track - has that vibe.
*I don't really consider these "heavy", but they can scratch the same itch that Metal does. That's the best way I can explain it. Missing: Taxman Paperback Writer It's All Too Much Why Don't We Do It In The Road Sgt Peppers Reprise (How, how, how did this not make it??) Good Morning Good Morning (might be all the baritone sax, especially in the breakdown sections, plus the solo cooks) Savoy Truffle Old Brown Shoe I notice I'm picking a lot of George's stuff.
Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except For Me and My Monkey) is right up there with Helter Skelter as one of the heaviest of their songs. The chorus lead riff is basically proto-speed metal. Those two songs were the reason I went from a Beatles phase into exploring heavy metal as a kid.
I was listening to Plastic ono band and suddenly became convinced that Lennon would have loved Behemoth and Gojira and Opeth and Mastodon and Tool etc if I he lived to see them
@@kilroywashere1828 This. The strength of The Beatles was their vocals, and their harmonizations of vocals. Everything else is rather mundane, except for some ideas put forth and used by their producer.
Eleanor Rigby - Only The Beatles can make a song consisting of a string ensemble sound completely heavy, dark, and yet ethereal at the same time. That song just hits me like a tidal wave no matter how many thousands of times I've heard it. Pure genius.
On the topic of "I Want You (She’s So Heavy)", Mike Portnoy has said that inspired Dream Theater's end to "Pull Me Under": "We had all this tension, and it just kept building and building, and we had no idea where to take it, you know? So we decided to just pull the plug on it, like The Beatles did with 'She's So Heavy'."
The cover of Tomorrow Never Knows by Trouble is proof that those songs can get pretty heavy. Day Tripper/If I needed someone/I Want you/Back in the USSR/Magical Mistery Tour/Dear Prudence all of them covered by Type O Negative, I want you by Coroner, I'm only sleeping by Bathory or the entire "Butchering The Beatles" tribute album with Tim Ripper Owens, Lemmy, etc are also good examples not just to how heavy The Beatles are but how they influenciated almost everyone and every famous God of Rock/Metal in history.
I’ve always personally thought that I want you (she’s so heavy) is the heaviest Beatles song, it sounds like a final boss theme where the main character loses and the villain wins
On Tomorrow Never Knows I'm pretty sure the root stays the same when you change to Bb, so it's a static C on the bottom with the movement above being C triad to Bb triad. When you play it like this you get a really strong tension and release within a context of pretty static harmony. Great pick!
2 songs that come to mind are “ One After 909 “ it starts off crazy .. and the solos on that song are so great and sound kind of Metalish wit the quick fingers .. the other song that I think of is “ I’m Only Sleeping “ another guitar 🎸 solo … it’s a trip and it sounds so dark … 😂
My fav is Back in the USSR with Slayer level Distortion it sounds Fantastic to my ears . Oh and of course Helter Skelter the most Metal song ... Rigby sounded awesome with extra distortion gonna play around with this song myself ...
Good Morning Good Morning always sounded super heavy and energetic to me, especially with that thumpy bass and what sounds like a baritone sax in the horn section.
John asked for Sounds Incorporated to be hired for the brass, and there are even a few more people credited as providing saxophone and trombone on top. The underlying track is comparatively thin if you listen to it without all of them.
I'd add in the early cover Money (That's What I Want) which has a really dirty riff, and the nuts cowbell heavy Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey
Great picks There was a great Australia metal band called Wretched Child that used to do a killer metal version of Eleanor Rigby back in the late 80s/early 90s
I'm not a Beatles fan, though I do appreciate their contribution to the history of rock. That being said, I would absolutely listen to their songs done in a more modern heavy style. Very cool video, Mike. Thanks for opening my eyes and ears. I hope your birthday is awesome.
Modern style? Listen to, say, Helter Skelter, or Yer Blues, and tell me they're not in the "modern style." I think you're thinking of the I Want To Hold Your Hand era -- but they were at the cutting edge of everything that is around today in their later years. Would Everybody's Got Something To Hide sound better or even different if it was recorded today? While My Guitar Gently Weeps? Or even the folksier stuff like Here Comes The Sun?
@@Matthew-ve7uv Agreed. In fact, I'd go further. These songs are far more modern than metal, which I find over-simplistic and without the nuance The Beatles always had at the ready. Hitting everything at 100% all the time is not heavy. It's just boring.
Great video! I was nervous that you were going to miss She's so Heavy You pointed out so many great parts. I never thought anyone paid attention to that part in Back in the USSR except me. Tomorrow Never Knows, Helter Skelter...all so awesome.
You explained and demonstrated the "heavy" Beatles songs quite well. Especially good job on the "Happiness" solo! I'm 68 so I grew up on The Beatles. Met John once briefly. So I know!
The Eleanor Rigby point you made reminds me of the strings in a song by the Platters, called Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. I always thought the strings during the last verse sounded so much like a metal riff.
That section after the guitar solo of Leave My Kitten Alone off Anthology has always been my favorite heavy beatles moment, and from their early period (1964) too!
Clearly "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was influential. The debate is, on what sub-genre? Some argue doom metal, others say just metal, and then there are those who hear grunge. More than one thing can be true!
Happy birthday and great list! "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey" would have been a great inclusion. Lore suggests and Paul and John were competing to see who could write the "heavier" tune on the White Album with that and "Helter Skelter." Also, repetition legitimizes.
As a 62 year old Beatle fanatic and fellow musician, I am impressed with your astute level of skill, tone and presentation. Wonderful video! New subscriber here.
If you play that Hey Bulldog riff at x0.5 speed slower it sounds like a legit Sabbath riff. Also your Tomorrow Never Knows version reminds of the Los Lobos cover of that song. PS: Happy Birthday by the way, thanks for all those interesting videos, Mike.
The riff that shows up in the middle of “The Word” from Rubber Soul (In the beginning, I misunderstood, but now I got it, the word is good!) always surprises me with how heavy and chunky it is.
The craziest part of I want you to me is the fact paul used those black nylon tape wound strings, doing smooth slides and blowing bendings throught the last third of the song. Simply amazing.
The Beatles were a phenomenon, no one comes close to them. Their writing/creating abilities, genres and live performances, are far from normal. No one comes close to them. There's the Beatles, and then there's music.
My brother, Jerry and I, would explain it a bit differently...like when people would try to compare the Beatles and the Stones....Different music..different talents...and contributions..Not in the same boat....simply put... Stones were for your feet.... The Beatles were for your Head...no doubt. Sorry for the longevity, I caught a second wind.. Hope you can agree...or not..Those Boys... Damn...they were good. Only thing I can think of is... It will never be done again... Opinion only.
You could definitely do a part 2 for this video! The Revolver album is my fave and so many of the songs are heavy too! I Want to Tell You and I'm Only Sleeping are my faves of all time!
Yet another testament to the fact that you could spend months rediscovering the Beatles, over 50 years after their last record. By just casually listening, you'll never discover the whole magic of it, no matter if you're into music theory or only mindfully digging into it, probably even some of their "bold" early beat songs have some surprising twists in it. After all, it's creativity and finesse, not technique and distortion that blows your mind.
My votes for the Vol.2: - I Saw Her Standing There - Drive My Car (maybe the heaviest Beatles riff until 1965) - Paperback Writer - Taxman - I Am The Walrus - Birthday - final 10 seconds of Piggies 🙂 - Why Don't We Do It In The Road - Oh! Darling - The End (until one and a half minute) And one of the heaviest moments in Beatles history (beside Helter Skelter and Revolution) is Sgt. Pepper's Reprise.
@@TheArtofGuitar Yess! Indeed! Mike one thing I'd appreciate is maybe more videos about Dokken and Lynch Mob or even an artist series on George Lynch! He's so under-appreciated and doesn't get half the recognition he deserves. Amazing player
That’s the only track on “The Beatles” that’s all four in the same studio at the same time on the album, cut live in (if I remember correctly) Studio A at Abbey Road!
Great video. The End is my number one. But I would like to point out that some of the live stuff from 1962 in Hamburg was really hard. Check out Little Queenie, it has a couple of heavy sections.
Definitely agree with Helter Skelter, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Revolution and Hey Bulldog, those are some of my favourite Beatles songs and definitely some damn fun riffs to play but some others I’d include are Day Tripper’s main riff (which still seems pretty heavy for 1965), the fuzzed-out bass part of Think For Yourself, the descending riff/chord progression in While My Guitar Gently Weeps and the solos in Taxman and Good Morning Good Morning (both played by McCartney), also happy birthday man
Happy Belated Birthday! If you really want to hear a great version of "Helter Skelter," try out Pat Benetar's cover. In addition to her singing, there's some awesome drumming. I still remember hearing it live in 1980 at my first concert.
I read somewhere that John Lennon said that Ticket To Ride was the first heavy metal record. It’s pretty tame compared to what would eventually come later. But listen to the part where the tempo speeds up at end of song.
A belated Happy Birthday. That was excellent. A very refreshing perspective in some cases. I think you could apply that perspective to a lot of other Beatles' songs - 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'I Feel Fine', 'Day Tripper', 'Get Back', 'She Loves You', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', 'Please Please Me', and the one John Lennon always claimed was early Heavy Metal, 'Ticket To Ride'. 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Drive My Car', 'Yer Blues', 'Glass Onion', 'The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill', 'For You Blue', 'I'm So Tired', 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road', 'Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey', 'Sexy Sadie', 'Savoy Truffle', 'Taxman', 'She Said She Said', 'Money (a cover, but still very heavy)', 'Think For Yourself', 'It's All Too Much', 'Polythene Pam'.
Awesome! It's 1970 again, and I'm thirteen, sitting my room rockin' out all the Beatles songs until one of my parents comes in and tells me to turn it down!
Happy birthday Mike! I hope you have a great day and thank you for all you do for us especially me in keeping me motivated to keep picking up my guitar.
"I Want You" is practically verging on being a Sabbath song, I love it. Big Beatles fan, and I agree there's so many great, heavy rock and roll moments throughout their catalog that people over look because its not as distorted.
I dont know if your a fan, but I think a vid like this but with Radiohead moments being heavy would be a blast. As there is a fair few in their catalogue, some obvious, some not. My Iron Lung, Creep, The National Anthem, bridge section of Paranoid Android, Polyethylene part 2, 2+2+5
if it counts the for the benefit of mr. kite remix on love is so fucking heavy with the way they mixed in she's so heavy and helter skelter into the outro
The first time I became aware of Helter Skelter was on a Siouxsie and The Banshees LP - v.late 70s I think. I had no idea it was a Beatles song - and I remained ignorant of that fact for probably 20 odd years until my musical tastes broadened a touch 😂
I loved this video so much! I always thought The Beatles did so many experimentations that could be called heavy, it was amazing to see them all played out like that! "Happiness is Warm Gun" is such a trip, you'd never guess it was written in 1968 x)
I like "Why Don't We Do it in the Roads". It's got the most intense rock singing The Beatles have ever done. The guitar is kind of weirdly laid back on that one, but if you cover it and crank the other instruments up to the level of the singing, you'd find a whole different song!
I had started a playlist a few months ago and our opinions overlapped a little bit but I also had I Am The Walrus because the vocal distortion really adds something, Blue Jay Way but not because it’s heavy but because it’s more of a scary eerie song but I felt it also could fit as a sort of “soft heavy” song, their short cover of (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care that is on a deluxe version of the white album because it’s just a quick loud song, and Twist And Shout because the vocals are screachy sounding. I’d also like to add that obviously Helter Skelter is a terrific song but I just love the backing vocals because it sounds nothing like The Beatles but the backing vocals just have the signature Beatle sound. I almost felt like Paul just couldn’t help himself and had to add it in
I'm glad you mentioned Happiness is a Warm Gun and She's So Heavy. I would add Yer Blues, Ticket to Ride, Day Tripper, Taxman, Dr. Robert, I've Got a Feeling, Everybody's Got Something to Hide.., It's All Too Much, and I Am the Walrus (for being so subversive and crazy).
Eleanor Rigby is totally a heavy song, and I have heard covers done in various styles, including different jazz styles, but it also suits heavy metal/hard rock
You mentioned the drums in "Tomorrow never knows". Theres this song called "bolsa de mareo" by Los Tres that uses the same beat for the chorus, really good song.
This is so great! Glass Onion has some heavy moments, I Me Mine, Dig a Pony is such a sick riff, but my all-time favorite is Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey. It's fast too!
Has anyone mentioned Taxman yet? 😅 Also here are a few honorable mentions from the Beatles Club days: "I'm Talking About You" and "Ain't Nothin' Shakin'" (when I heard these, they reminded more of punk but I'll just leave this comment here)
Great analysis, brilliant playing - thanks (and happy birthday!). Btw, the Aussie band 'Zoot' (Rick Springfield on guitar) had a hit with a heavy version of 'Eleanor Rigby' back in 1970 - worth a look at the old vid if you get a chance
Not only were the instruments heavy, but the vocals on a lot of things got downright dirty at times. Twist and shout as an example, was a thick heavy buildup and release of a lot of emotional tension for the time. To me that's what heavy music represents. Release of tension, emotionally. Happy birthday!
I'm not the biggest Beatles fan because I tend to like thrash metal, but there are a lot of Beatles songs that I really like. I also recognize that they have massive talent and did a lot of different sounding music. It's rare for a pop rock band to be creative like that, especially when they are so popular. I'm sure their executives hated them for it and wanted them to do safe bubbly pop music that printed money.
Happy Birthday, Mike!..and thanks for Beatles content. I could subsist on the Beatles & Metallica catalogue for a long time, so maybe that’s why I enjoy this channel so much. Have a great Birthday, Dude. you’ve been killing it on YT
That’s nuts! I have also felt like that riff in “She’s So Heavy” sounds like the end of the world! Especially because the song ends abruptly; still makes me uneasy when I listen to it.
Thanks for this great quality content! I am a Beatles fan and I hate when people only relate to the Beatlemania, overlooking all this huge inventions and how they played with music, initiating genres that came in the next decades (70s 80s). Thanks again ans keep on do it!
When you did "Happiness is a Warm Gun," from how you talked about it and played it as having that "trudging" feel, I could definitely hear it as like a precursor to sludge metal or black metal.
Just so everyone knows I had Yer Blues, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey) *I hate typing that title out ;), and a few other on the list but they'll have to wait for part 2. :)
Its great to see a young fella like yourself appreciate "Old Foggies music" :). Now you can understand why 350,000 people lined the streets in 1964, in my city, to see them, and that was the tour that Ringo was sick and a stand in drummer played!!. Interesting you featured Tomorrow Never Comes. The lead guitar, and other sounds, in that song are played backwards, as Im sure you are aware. This was a neat trick that George Martin enjoyed in that period. Your own Lee Hazelwood also used that effect in some of his songs, like Sand. I always loved the trippy sound of the backwards played music. Real 60s, Psychedelia.
@@kramrollin69 You're from Adelaide?
@@TimmyTickle Only if you know what a Chicken Schnitty is.......😉
@@kramrollin69 I know that crumbed goodness… 😉
Cool video, I would suggest songs like Sgt Peppers (Reprise), Taxman, The End
I want you (she's so heavy) is insane, it's insane that its a 60's song.
If there's a song that shows how they influenced metal, is definitely this one.
Totally agree. I've always thought this song sounds like black sabbath.
de Santos pro mundo!
I love this song so much. I think it is perhaps one of their coolest and hottest songs. They go from verse to a cool instrumental solo to a climax. It encompasses so much in one song.
I'm glad you included I Want You (She's So Heavy). The repetition of the verses and then that super intense ending makes it one of the heaviest and darkest love songs in rock history imo. And the way they just keep building and building the end riff just to cut it off is brilliant!
On type O negatives world coming down album they do a Beatles medley and they end it with that repeating riff and she is indeed quite heavy.
Plus heavy is in the title
Coroner, thrash band from Switzerland covered this one. Check it out!
Damn, that ending is like proto-Black Sabbath almost.
Obviously that song would make the list
Fun fact: Dave Mustaine has suggested many times he was very inspired in his approach for riff construction by the Beatles. Especially the moving bass lines.
Ok but Megadeth has almost zero moving bass lines. And the Beatles-inspired riffs aren’t necessarily heavy (bridge solo riff)
And Yoko inspired his vocal tone
That's not true he said he only learned about chords through beatles
Ya but does Corey T. agree?
That’s weird, I thought Mustaine wrote all the Beatles songs
The Paperback Writer riff kicking in immediately after the multiple harmony vocal. Pure metal.
Ticket to Ride hits me the same way.
"Sounds like the end of the world" is the perfect descriptor for 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'. It literally feels like a cascade of noise and doom, properly heavy. There's nothing that tops that track.
Happy birthday!!
I feel like that ending progression of I Want You (She's So Heavy) gets overlooked a lot, so I'm glad you included it here. I remember me and a friend listening to that song once and he said the same thing about it sounding "like a huge wave just building and building". I always thought it had a kind of doom metal quality to it, sounds like something Sabbath would have written.
Most people don't know that Black Sabbath (and especially Ozzie) were big Beatles fans.
@@seancarroll3823 yeah, Ozzy wanted to be the 5th Beatle lol.
Coroner covered that one in 1991, quite a surprising move for a tech-thrash band.
One of the earliest uses of a Moog in rock! George's.
This reminds me of the first time I heard the white album in LA. The radio station played it from start to finish without commercial break. At the end there was silence. Then the DJ said, "What was that?". It was radical at the time and people weren't sure what to make of it. It is hard to imagine now since we've all memorized every detail and are completely familiar with it.
Completely agree with this list. But here’s some other Beatles songs that have legitimate Heavy riffs: Yer Blues, Everybody’s Got Something To Hide…, Birthday, Sgt. Pepper’s(Reprise), Taxman, Oh! Darling, The Ballad Of John And Yoko, I’ve Got A Feeling, One After 909, I Me Mine.(I may have missed some). Why Don’t We Do It In The Road has 0 guitar parts, but the way Paul just belts, screams, and screeches the lyrics, along with the dirty bass. Oh yeah, Think For Yourself with that fuzz bass!!
Some earlier Beatles songs that have a heavy setting for the time: She’s A Woman(from their LIVE 66 gigs, that guitar!), Day Tripper(again from their LIVE 66 gigs, the main riffs hits pretty hard!), Oh! My Soul(LIVE BBC 63, they got some wild playing, crunchy guitars for that time, less people know about it), and finally their LO-FI recording from Harmburg late 62 of Long Tall Sally is very Punk, the chunky fast 3 chord guitars were lit.
I like how the Beatles never pigeon-holed themselves into a single sound, so that even the distorted Helter Skelter and fuzzed out Revolution feature different guitar sounds. Heavy bands these days have to reproduced their sound in every song.
☝️I have often used this example when people complain about their favorite band changing styles, getting away from their "roots", etc. The Beatles never made two albums that sounded alike, so why should we expect other artists to repeatedly put out the same product over and over?
I always think of "Why don't we do it in the road," as heavy, also the vocals on "Don't Let Me Down," and "Birthday," at and after the bridge. I like that you didn't do the most obvious songs for this!
Two of my favorite heavy moments are Sgt. Pepper reprise and It’s All Too Much.
For me Day Tripper is very heavy. Nice riff, chugging verse and amazing chorus. Perfect metal
you should check out Type O Negative's cover of that song
And "borrowed" by Nazareth for 'Hair of the Dog.'
Hendrix did a great cover of that one too.
@@Murdo2112 Thanks for that. That was great!
I highly encourage you to check out Beatallica if you've not done so already - Beatles songs done in a Metallica style, with a vocalist who does a dead-on Papa Het. The first two EPs that came out before they got on a label (A Garage Dayz Night and Beatallica (the Grey EP) are immense if you can find them.
I've always loved how in Helter Skelter John is playing a Fender Bass VI and his sluggish playing that adds to the intensity
Lennon's bass part in Helter Skelter is considered one of the great influences on Punk Rock. He liked Helter Skelter, but thought it needed something extra, so he convinced the other Beatles to take a bunch of drugs and create the most chaotic song they could.
The way he played the bass like a guitarist reminds me of Lemmy Kilmister's style.
@@seancarroll3823 The drug thing is not true. They rarely ever took drugs in the studio when recording, even John said as much (and one of the times he was high in the studio was an accident). To record Helter Skelter, they played the song for hours on end without stopping. That’s why Ringo screams at the end.
@@seancarroll3823 the chaotic song was pauls idea
@@thomaspappalardo7589 Yes. They only smoked.
I'm on a Beatles kick again. Revolver and let it be on repeat.
Also! My dad set up his surround system for both up and downstairs the house while playing Back in the USSR. SO LOUD.
the song “good morning good morning”, though having a lighthearted feel, has some heavy moments. the drums in the verse are super cool with that cymbal hit out of nowhere. same goes for the chorus of “I me mine”
Great video. I like your list but I'd suggest "And Your Bird Can Sing." That harmonized dual lead is something Iron Maiden would be proud to call their own.
I think The Beatles' innovation in playing harmonized leads like on 'And Your Bird Can Sing', and riffs (e.g., 'Back In The USSR') was a significant influence on Thin Lizzy).
Outstanding riff. I believe it was also influential on Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
I love your vids dude. I thought Taxman was a rather heavy song and the angular, manic Paul (?) solo there is very much ahead of its time...
I super LOVE that I Want You (She's So Heavy) got a mention here
Can never get enough of the Beatles. I've seen people do "grunge" versions of their songs, and I'm happy to hear your heavy metal versions.
“I want you” is by far their supreme song. Cheers! Solid vid!
Couple of things that I realized from this really fun video.... First off I'm 65 and so I was around for all of this coming out and how truly revolutionary a lot of this music was. ..so... Eleanor Rigby sounded like a version done by Ozzy. With your interpretations it's easier for me to see why many modern artists give the Beatles props for being influential to them. George Harrison may have been the "quiet Beatle", but it sounds like he let his guitar do the talking for him a lot of times... This was a lot of fun thanks
George and Eric Clapton were good friends. I wonder how much they influenced each other.
I didn't realize how heavy The Beatles were until I heard Type O Negative's cover of Day Tripper/If I Needed Someone/She's So Heavy. They perfectly captured how intense The Beatles were by turning their songs into Gothic Doom Metal.
Love that cover! Indeed it shows how close the genres are actually! Good music is just good music!
A lot of Type Os hooks in their original songs sound like Beatles melodies too. Pretty sure Peter said his 3 favorite bands were the Beatles, black sabbath, and the cure
I want you (she’s so heavy) is one of the best heavy rock songs ever written
Nice take on The Beatles Mike. Agree with all of them. Those four guys were musical geniuses for sure. Always thought the opening riff to 'Hey Bulldog' would have worked well as a Led Zep track - has that vibe.
The lead guitar by George on his SG is intense!!!
*I don't really consider these "heavy", but they can scratch the same itch that Metal does. That's the best way I can explain it.
Missing:
Taxman
Paperback Writer
It's All Too Much
Why Don't We Do It In The Road
Sgt Peppers Reprise (How, how, how did this not make it??)
Good Morning Good Morning (might be all the baritone sax, especially in the breakdown sections, plus the solo cooks)
Savoy Truffle
Old Brown Shoe
I notice I'm picking a lot of George's stuff.
Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except For Me and My Monkey) is right up there with Helter Skelter as one of the heaviest of their songs. The chorus lead riff is basically proto-speed metal. Those two songs were the reason I went from a Beatles phase into exploring heavy metal as a kid.
Great call. Especially for a younger man.
I always thought that was then inventing house music. "Woo yeah!"
I always thought the intro to Paperback Writer was heavy, with the double-kick, the high-neck bass entry, and the guitar riff.
Everytime I listen to Helter Skelter I'm sad The Beatles didnt do some Hard Rock albums
They didn't have the talent to do it..they barely were able to play their pop boy band songs
@@kilroywashere1828 - did your parents have any children that lived?
I was listening to Plastic ono band and suddenly became convinced that Lennon would have loved Behemoth and Gojira and Opeth and Mastodon and Tool etc if I he lived to see them
@@kilroywashere1828 This. The strength of The Beatles was their vocals, and their harmonizations of vocals. Everything else is rather mundane, except for some ideas put forth and used by their producer.
@@kilroywashere1828 what a terrible take.
Eleanor Rigby - Only The Beatles can make a song consisting of a string ensemble sound completely heavy, dark, and yet ethereal at the same time. That song just hits me like a tidal wave no matter how many thousands of times I've heard it. Pure genius.
Thank George Martin.
On the topic of "I Want You (She’s So Heavy)", Mike Portnoy has said that inspired Dream Theater's end to "Pull Me Under":
"We had all this tension, and it just kept building and building, and we had no idea where to take it, you know? So we decided to just pull the plug on it, like The Beatles did with 'She's So Heavy'."
The cover of Tomorrow Never Knows by Trouble is proof that those songs can get pretty heavy. Day Tripper/If I needed someone/I Want you/Back in the USSR/Magical Mistery Tour/Dear Prudence all of them covered by Type O Negative, I want you by Coroner, I'm only sleeping by Bathory or the entire "Butchering The Beatles" tribute album with Tim Ripper Owens, Lemmy, etc are also good examples not just to how heavy The Beatles are but how they influenciated almost everyone and every famous God of Rock/Metal in history.
There's also Eleanor Rigby done by a tech thrash band Realm
the rhythm guitar in she's a woman is awesome ,one of my favourite John parts ,such a cool heavy stomping rhythm.
I’ve always personally thought that I want you (she’s so heavy) is the heaviest Beatles song, it sounds like a final boss theme where the main character loses and the villain wins
"I Am The Walrus" and "Yet Blues" definitely deserves mentions, fun list though.
"She's so heavy" sounds like proto Grunge to my ears! Soundgarden, Alice in Chains etc. Happy Birthday!
On Tomorrow Never Knows I'm pretty sure the root stays the same when you change to Bb, so it's a static C on the bottom with the movement above being C triad to Bb triad. When you play it like this you get a really strong tension and release within a context of pretty static harmony. Great pick!
2 songs that come to mind are “ One After 909 “ it starts off crazy .. and the solos on that song are so great and sound kind of Metalish wit the quick fingers .. the other song that I think of is “ I’m Only Sleeping “ another guitar 🎸 solo … it’s a trip and it sounds so dark … 😂
My fav is Back in the USSR with Slayer level Distortion it sounds Fantastic to my ears . Oh and of course Helter Skelter the most Metal song ... Rigby sounded awesome with extra distortion gonna play around with this song myself ...
Good Morning Good Morning always sounded super heavy and energetic to me, especially with that thumpy bass and what sounds like a baritone sax in the horn section.
John asked for Sounds Incorporated to be hired for the brass, and there are even a few more people credited as providing saxophone and trombone on top. The underlying track is comparatively thin if you listen to it without all of them.
I'd add in the early cover Money (That's What I Want) which has a really dirty riff, and the nuts cowbell heavy Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey
Really enjoyed this Mike - great video. She Said She Said riff and drum part always felt really heavy to me - one of my favorite Beatles tracks.
Great picks
There was a great Australia metal band called Wretched Child that used to do a killer metal version of Eleanor Rigby back in the late 80s/early 90s
I'm not a Beatles fan, though I do appreciate their contribution to the history of rock. That being said, I would absolutely listen to their songs done in a more modern heavy style. Very cool video, Mike. Thanks for opening my eyes and ears.
I hope your birthday is awesome.
Beatallica, it exists, give them a chance
I completely relate to everything you said. Heavy covers of the Beatles songs give them such a refreshing take and in my opinion sound so much better.
Modern style? Listen to, say, Helter Skelter, or Yer Blues, and tell me they're not in the "modern style." I think you're thinking of the I Want To Hold Your Hand era -- but they were at the cutting edge of everything that is around today in their later years. Would Everybody's Got Something To Hide sound better or even different if it was recorded today? While My Guitar Gently Weeps? Or even the folksier stuff like Here Comes The Sun?
@@Matthew-ve7uv Agreed. In fact, I'd go further. These songs are far more modern than metal, which I find over-simplistic and without the nuance The Beatles always had at the ready. Hitting everything at 100% all the time is not heavy. It's just boring.
🤘🏻🔥Love The Beatles, funny coincidence, I spent all of yesterday listening to them while I decorated 😊
Great video! I was nervous that you were going to miss She's so Heavy You pointed out so many great parts. I never thought anyone paid attention to that part in Back in the USSR except me. Tomorrow Never Knows, Helter Skelter...all so awesome.
Yes!! I'm so glad that you included 'Hey, Bulldog' - that thudding, rumbling, rolling heaviness is sooooo good.
You explained and demonstrated the "heavy" Beatles songs quite well. Especially good job on the "Happiness" solo! I'm 68 so I grew up on The Beatles. Met John once briefly. So I know!
The Eleanor Rigby point you made reminds me of the strings in a song by the Platters, called Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. I always thought the strings during the last verse sounded so much like a metal riff.
That section after the guitar solo of Leave My Kitten Alone off Anthology has always been my favorite heavy beatles moment, and from their early period (1964) too!
You should have included the buildup in Birthday for sure- super heavy-but other than that we’re definitely on the same page
The string chaos in A Day in the Life, that's one of the heaviest things ever recorded. Feels like your head is exploding.
I love the concept of heaviness as an approach, rather than it being a specific sound. Happy birthday, man!
Deep Purple‘s version of Help showed me complete new and heavy aspects of this classic.
Clearly "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was influential. The debate is, on what sub-genre? Some argue doom metal, others say just metal, and then there are those who hear grunge. More than one thing can be true!
Happy birthday and great list! "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey" would have been a great inclusion. Lore suggests and Paul and John were competing to see who could write the "heavier" tune on the White Album with that and "Helter Skelter."
Also, repetition legitimizes.
As a 62 year old Beatle fanatic and fellow musician, I am impressed with your astute level of skill, tone and presentation. Wonderful video! New subscriber here.
If you play that Hey Bulldog riff at x0.5 speed slower it sounds like a legit Sabbath riff.
Also your Tomorrow Never Knows version reminds of the Los Lobos cover of that song.
PS: Happy Birthday by the way, thanks for all those interesting videos, Mike.
It does
The riff that shows up in the middle of “The Word” from Rubber Soul (In the beginning, I misunderstood, but now I got it, the word is good!) always surprises me with how heavy and chunky it is.
Rubber Soul is still my fav Beatles album.
@@TheArtofGuitar It’s up there for me as well. I think they perfected the wheel on Abbey Road, but they invented it with Rubber Soul.
The craziest part of I want you to me is the fact paul used those black nylon tape wound strings, doing smooth slides and blowing bendings throught the last third of the song. Simply amazing.
The Beatles were a phenomenon, no one comes close to them. Their writing/creating abilities, genres and live performances, are far from normal. No one comes close to them. There's the Beatles, and then there's music.
My brother, Jerry and I, would explain it a bit differently...like when people would try to compare the Beatles and the Stones....Different music..different talents...and contributions..Not in the same boat....simply put...
Stones were for your feet.... The Beatles were for your Head...no doubt.
Sorry for the longevity, I caught a second wind.. Hope you can agree...or not..Those Boys... Damn...they were good. Only thing I can think of is... It will never be done again... Opinion only.
The Word from Rubber Soul is also pretty heavy especially in the chorus!
You could definitely do a part 2 for this video! The Revolver album is my fave and so many of the songs are heavy too! I Want to Tell You and I'm Only Sleeping are my faves of all time!
Yet another testament to the fact that you could spend months rediscovering the Beatles, over 50 years after their last record. By just casually listening, you'll never discover the whole magic of it, no matter if you're into music theory or only mindfully digging into it, probably even some of their "bold" early beat songs have some surprising twists in it. After all, it's creativity and finesse, not technique and distortion that blows your mind.
My votes for the Vol.2:
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Drive My Car (maybe the heaviest Beatles riff until 1965)
- Paperback Writer
- Taxman
- I Am The Walrus
- Birthday
- final 10 seconds of Piggies 🙂
- Why Don't We Do It In The Road
- Oh! Darling
- The End (until one and a half minute)
And one of the heaviest moments in Beatles history (beside Helter Skelter and Revolution) is Sgt. Pepper's Reprise.
One song I'd add to the list is Yer Blues from The White Album
Love that song. Intense.
@@TheArtofGuitar Yess! Indeed! Mike one thing I'd appreciate is maybe more videos about Dokken and Lynch Mob or even an artist series on George Lynch! He's so under-appreciated and doesn't get half the recognition he deserves. Amazing player
That song reminds me a lot of Black Sabbath in that it's essentially just a heavy interpretation of the blues.
That’s the only track on “The Beatles” that’s all four in the same studio at the same time on the album, cut live in (if I remember correctly) Studio A at Abbey Road!
Great video. The End is my number one. But I would like to point out that some of the live stuff from 1962 in Hamburg was really hard. Check out Little Queenie, it has a couple of heavy sections.
Look up Thrice’s version of Eleanor Rigby, it’s just as you described. They do it brilliantly. One of my favorite covers of any song.
Definitely agree with Helter Skelter, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Revolution and Hey Bulldog, those are some of my favourite Beatles songs and definitely some damn fun riffs to play but some others I’d include are Day Tripper’s main riff (which still seems pretty heavy for 1965), the fuzzed-out bass part of Think For Yourself, the descending riff/chord progression in While My Guitar Gently Weeps and the solos in Taxman and Good Morning Good Morning (both played by McCartney), also happy birthday man
One of my unconventional heavy moments in a Beatles song is the sax arrangement in Savoy Truffle. Also, McCartneys solo on Good Morning, Good Morning.
Happy Belated Birthday! If you really want to hear a great version of "Helter Skelter," try out Pat Benetar's cover. In addition to her singing, there's some awesome drumming. I still remember hearing it live in 1980 at my first concert.
I read somewhere that John Lennon said that Ticket To Ride was the first heavy metal record. It’s pretty tame compared to what would eventually come later. But listen to the part where the tempo speeds up at end of song.
A belated Happy Birthday.
That was excellent. A very refreshing perspective in some cases.
I think you could apply that perspective to a lot of other Beatles' songs - 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'I Feel Fine', 'Day Tripper', 'Get Back', 'She Loves You', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', 'Please Please Me', and the one John Lennon always claimed was early Heavy Metal, 'Ticket To Ride'. 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Drive My Car', 'Yer Blues', 'Glass Onion', 'The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill', 'For You Blue', 'I'm So Tired', 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road', 'Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey', 'Sexy Sadie', 'Savoy Truffle', 'Taxman', 'She Said She Said', 'Money (a cover, but still very heavy)', 'Think For Yourself', 'It's All Too Much', 'Polythene Pam'.
Awesome! It's 1970 again, and I'm thirteen, sitting my room rockin' out all the Beatles songs until one of my parents comes in and tells me to turn it down!
I've heard Happiness is a Warm Gun described as proto-grunge and I agree. It's the atmosphere that is heavy, kind of Soundgarden-ish.
Happy birthday Mike! I hope you have a great day and thank you for all you do for us especially me in keeping me motivated to keep picking up my guitar.
happy birthday Mike! great videos and the sometimes heaviness of the Beatles is always something that's interesting to me
"I Want You" is practically verging on being a Sabbath song, I love it.
Big Beatles fan, and I agree there's so many great, heavy rock and roll moments throughout their catalog that people over look because its not as distorted.
I dont know if your a fan, but I think a vid like this but with Radiohead moments being heavy would be a blast. As there is a fair few in their catalogue, some obvious, some not. My Iron Lung, Creep, The National Anthem, bridge section of Paranoid Android, Polyethylene part 2, 2+2+5
if it counts the for the benefit of mr. kite remix on love is so fucking heavy with the way they mixed in she's so heavy and helter skelter into the outro
The first time I became aware of Helter Skelter was on a Siouxsie and The Banshees LP - v.late 70s I think. I had no idea it was a Beatles song - and I remained ignorant of that fact for probably 20 odd years until my musical tastes broadened a touch 😂
I loved this video so much! I always thought The Beatles did so many experimentations that could be called heavy, it was amazing to see them all played out like that! "Happiness is Warm Gun" is such a trip, you'd never guess it was written in 1968 x)
Happy birthday! Keep up the good work for many years to come
I like "Why Don't We Do it in the Roads". It's got the most intense rock singing The Beatles have ever done. The guitar is kind of weirdly laid back on that one, but if you cover it and crank the other instruments up to the level of the singing, you'd find a whole different song!
I had started a playlist a few months ago and our opinions overlapped a little bit but I also had I Am The Walrus because the vocal distortion really adds something, Blue Jay Way but not because it’s heavy but because it’s more of a scary eerie song but I felt it also could fit as a sort of “soft heavy” song, their short cover of (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care that is on a deluxe version of the white album because it’s just a quick loud song, and Twist And Shout because the vocals are screachy sounding.
I’d also like to add that obviously Helter Skelter is a terrific song but I just love the backing vocals because it sounds nothing like The Beatles but the backing vocals just have the signature Beatle sound. I almost felt like Paul just couldn’t help himself and had to add it in
I'm glad you mentioned Happiness is a Warm Gun and She's So Heavy. I would add Yer Blues, Ticket to Ride, Day Tripper, Taxman, Dr. Robert, I've Got a Feeling, Everybody's Got Something to Hide.., It's All Too Much, and I Am the Walrus (for being so subversive and crazy).
Eleanor Rigby is totally a heavy song, and I have heard covers done in various styles, including different jazz styles, but it also suits heavy metal/hard rock
You mentioned the drums in "Tomorrow never knows". Theres this song called "bolsa de mareo" by Los Tres that uses the same beat for the chorus, really good song.
This is so great! Glass Onion has some heavy moments, I Me Mine, Dig a Pony is such a sick riff, but my all-time favorite is Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey. It's fast too!
Has anyone mentioned Taxman yet? 😅 Also here are a few honorable mentions from the Beatles Club days: "I'm Talking About You" and "Ain't Nothin' Shakin'" (when I heard these, they reminded more of punk but I'll just leave this comment here)
Taxman solo is 🔥
Great analysis, brilliant playing - thanks (and happy birthday!). Btw, the Aussie band 'Zoot' (Rick Springfield on guitar) had a hit with a heavy version of 'Eleanor Rigby' back in 1970 - worth a look at the old vid if you get a chance
Definitely "The End" is one of the heaviest songs. I love it!
Not only were the instruments heavy, but the vocals on a lot of things got downright dirty at times. Twist and shout as an example, was a thick heavy buildup and release of a lot of emotional tension for the time. To me that's what heavy music represents. Release of tension, emotionally. Happy birthday!
I'm not the biggest Beatles fan because I tend to like thrash metal, but there are a lot of Beatles songs that I really like. I also recognize that they have massive talent and did a lot of different sounding music. It's rare for a pop rock band to be creative like that, especially when they are so popular. I'm sure their executives hated them for it and wanted them to do safe bubbly pop music that printed money.
Happy Birthday, Mike!..and thanks for Beatles content. I could subsist on the Beatles & Metallica catalogue for a long time, so maybe that’s why I enjoy this channel so much. Have a great Birthday, Dude. you’ve been killing it on YT
That’s nuts! I have also felt like that riff in “She’s So Heavy” sounds like the end of the world! Especially because the song ends abruptly; still makes me uneasy when I listen to it.
Thanks for this great quality content! I am a Beatles fan and I hate when people only relate to the Beatlemania, overlooking all this huge inventions and how they played with music, initiating genres that came in the next decades (70s 80s). Thanks again ans keep on do it!
When you did "Happiness is a Warm Gun," from how you talked about it and played it as having that "trudging" feel, I could definitely hear it as like a precursor to sludge metal or black metal.
Great! Thanks for including Hey Bulldog! The solo is HEAVY...