The Beatles

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Should statements like this really be coming from the Vatican?

Vatican: Beatles music better than today’s songs

Many people have a distaste for the Catholic Church because they are under the perception that the church is in the business of instructing people how to think. (For instance, my archdiocese sent a political lobbyist to our parish to tell us specifically how we were supposed to vote in the election.)

Now for the Vatican media to give an opinion on something as subjective as taste in music… Granted this is not coming as a pontifical statement, but the fact that it is coming from the official Vatican media source gives it a certain weight of authority. Does anybody else find this silly?
 
Sinner1 said:
Should statements like this really be coming from the Vatican?

Vatican: Beatles music better than today’s songs

Many people have a distaste for the Catholic Church because they are under the perception that the church is in the business of instructing people how to think. (For instance, my archdiocese sent a political lobbyist to our parish to tell us specifically how we were supposed to vote in the election.)

Now for the Vatican media to give an opinion on something as subjective as taste in music… Granted this is not coming as a pontifical statement, but the fact that it is coming from the official Vatican media source gives it a certain weight of authority. Does anybody else find this silly?
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I think it is utterly ridiculous!! Especially how (and I’m a musician, and sometimes play with a friend who is a professional musician) I do not care for the Beatles music, lame and utterly BORING in my opinon. No emotion whatsoever, not my cup of tea.

That’s my two cents.
 
In all honesty John Lennon did make a big mistake. The Vatican was gracious enough to forgive him for that. I honestly think the Beatles music is much better and less derrogartory than a lot of music out there today. I don’t get the idea of listening to hip-hop artist talking about there illegal drug addictions, sexual desires and all the cussing. The Beatles’ music may not be everyone’s ideal music but I agree it is a lot better than most of the trash out there today
 
tobinatorstark said:
In all honesty John Lennon did make a big mistake. The Vatican was gracious enough to forgive him for that. I honestly think the Beatles music is much better and less derrogartory than a lot of music out there today. I don’t get the idea of listening to hip-hop artist talking about there illegal drug addictions, sexual desires and all the cussing. The Beatles’ music may not be everyone’s ideal music but I agree it is a lot better than most of the trash out there today
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I don’t care for hip hop. death metal, hardcore, etc. neither. Music is meaningful and therefore should have good lyrics.

A lot of the progressive and power metal groups I listen to have such good lyrics. Very uplifting, beautiful and powerful.
 
tobinatorstark said:
I don’t get the idea of listening to hip-hop artist talking about there illegal drug addictions, sexual desires and all the cussing. The Beatles’ music may not be everyone’s ideal music but I agree it is a lot better than most of the trash out there today
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yeah the beatles didnt have ANY drug or sex references in their songs…
 
tobinatorstark said:
In all honesty John Lennon did make a big mistake. The Vatican was gracious enough to forgive him for that. I honestly think the Beatles music is much better and less derrogartory than a lot of music out there today. I don’t get the idea of listening to hip-hop artist talking about there illegal drug addictions, sexual desires and all the cussing. The Beatles’ music may not be everyone’s ideal music but I agree it is a lot better than most of the trash out there today
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Well, regardless of how you feel about the Beatles, you’ll have to agree that taste in music, art, and literature, is largely subjective. While the statement may reflect the opinion of an individual from the Vatican media, it gives the false sense that the Church is making a statement on what music is better.
 
Sinner1 said:
Well, regardless of how you feel about the Beatles, you’ll have to agree that taste in music, art, and literature, is largely subjective. While the statement may reflect the opinion of an individual from the Vatican media, it gives the false sense that the Church is making a statement on what music is better.
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Unless I’m misunderstanding those certain at the vatican, I think you have a point.
 
Sinner1 said:
Should statements like this really be coming from the Vatican?

Vatican: Beatles music better than today’s songs

Many people have a distaste for the Catholic Church because they are under the perception that the church is in the business of instructing people how to think. (For instance, my archdiocese sent a political lobbyist to our parish to tell us specifically how we were supposed to vote in the election.)

Now for the Vatican media to give an opinion on something as subjective as taste in music… Granted this is not coming as a pontifical statement, but the fact that it is coming from the official Vatican media source gives it a certain weight of authority. Does anybody else find this silly?
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The Beatles were instumental in my conversion to the Catholic Church. This is something I’m happy to be vocal about.😛
 
I found the statement unnecessary…and also particularly untrue. Sure, Lennon made this particular statement as a boastful young man (and who hasn’t figured *that *out after 42 years?), but he later went on to believe he was Jesus, to sing that “God is a concept by which we can measure our pain,” and to idealize that “there’s no heaven.” Was all that the product of Lennon being a boastful young man, too?

It didn’t take the Vatican for me to figure out that Jesus might just be a tad bigger than The Beatles.
 
I think The Beatles are quite meh, but I do recognize their awesomeness as musicians. Music has evolved tremendously since the age of The Beatles.
 
First, the Vatican didn’t forgive the Beatles or John Lennon for anything. A statement was made about a young man being exposed to great success and his reaction to it, that’s it.

It’s sad though. As the radiacal atheist Hippies really caught the media’s attention in 1968, the Beatles began to write songs about LSD (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) and other songs that hinted at drug use.

After the break up, Mr. Lennon veered into atheist territory with Imagine and the “sex with anyone” idea in Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?

Difficult to believe when just a few years ago, it was I Want To Hold Your Hand. It was personally disappointing, and confusing for me at the time. As the 1970s began, there were already other hints of the gradual poisoning of the culture to come. Only now are Catholics beginning to realize how bad it is right now.

Peace,
Ed
 
I find it funny that an article by some nameless journalist working in Vatican City is being spun as “Pope finally forgives John Lennon” or some such rot. The only thing that’s giving this a false sense of being an official statement is the spin of the AP, who are always happy to confuse people if it makes the headlines sound more exciting. Remember the “new 7 deadly sins” last year that turned out to be much ado about nothing? :rolleyes:

As for this article having the weight of Vatican opinion, I think we should keep in mind that L’Osservatore Romano probably publishes its share of filler pieces, just like any paper. 😃 It is the opinion of someone who writes for the Vatican’s paper…not of Pope Benedict, a bishop, or even a cardinal. (Of course it could very well have been written by a cardinal, but that is nowhere stated in any of the English language articles I have read about it.) That journalist (or cardinal, or random priest) is just as free to have an opinion about it as anyone else. I’m not sure how one would extrapolate “all good Catholics must love the Beatles” from this article.
 
ChristinaM said:
I find it funny that an article by some nameless journalist working in Vatican City is being spun as “Pope finally forgives John Lennon” or some such rot. The only thing that’s giving this a false sense of being an official statement is the spin of the AP, who are always happy to confuse people if it makes the headlines sound more exciting. Remember the “new 7 deadly sins” last year that turned out to be much ado about nothing? :rolleyes:

As for this article having the weight of Vatican opinion, I think we should keep in mind that L’Osservatore Romano probably publishes its share of filler pieces, just like any paper. 😃 It is the opinion of someone who writes for the Vatican’s paper…not of Pope Benedict, a bishop, or even a cardinal. (Of course it could very well have been written by a cardinal, but that is nowhere stated in any of the English language articles I have read about it.) That journalist (or cardinal, or random priest) is just as free to have an opinion about it as anyone else. I’m not sure how one would extrapolate “all good Catholics must love the Beatles” from this article.
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Ditto: couldn’t have said it better, so I won’t try. I’ll continue to loathe the Beatles as much as ever.
 
I’m going to be really unpopular for saying this, but does no the Church hold that there is on true, one good, and one beautiful? God is all these things. Therefore, how can music be subjective if there is one beautifu? I think one can dig through a piece of music and find elements of the good and the true and perhaps these things are more or less present in certain music. I really do not know how to account for different taste preferences other than the world is fallen, and our understanding of these concepts can be skewed. This ideology of music taste seems to stem from the privitization of morality (moral relativism). I just of this too . . . one can use music with different intentions. An angry man can find heavy metal cathartic or a sad person may want to listen to music for the purpose of being able to cry, and in these ways, perhaps, these songs are good for the individual intention. Hope that all made sense
 
Hello…the Vatican didn’t say anything about the Beatles. The Vatican’s newspaper (it’s editor I assume) did.

M
 
There is a very valid point involved. If you look over all at the music of the Beatles (not the John Lennon solo stuff) it is much healthier that the likes of **** like Akon, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, TI or “fiddy” cent.

The culture of death has taken over much of the music world just as it has the political world.

I’d much rather my kids listen to “I wanna hold your hand” than “Buy you a drink”
 
This is exactly right. Fiddy Cent appeared in the movie Get Rich or Die Trying. The Culture of Death is really in love with death and dysfunctionalism.

Peace,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
As the radiacal atheist Hippies really caught the media’s attention in 1968, the Beatles began to write songs about LSD (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) and other songs that hinted at drug use.
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I don’t entirely disagree with your post, but Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds in NOT about LSD. That is a myth.

“You know, I went to Haight-Ashbury, expecting it to be this brilliant place, and it was just full of horrible, spotty, dropout kids on drugs. It certainly showed me what was really happening in the drug culture. It wasn’t what was I thought of all these groovy people having spiritual awakenings and being artistic. It was like the Bowery, it was like alcoholism, it was like any addiction. So, at that point, I stopped taking it, actually, the dreaded Lysergic. I had some in a little bottle, it was liquid, and I put it under a microscope, and I looked at it, and it looked like rope, just like old rope, and I thought I’m not going to put that in my brain any more.” -George Harrison (from the Anthology Series) 👍
 
As someone who was there, it was taken to be about LSD even if the Beatles denied it. And John was using it also.

Peace,
Ed
 
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