Round of 8: (1) Radiohead - OK Computer vs. (24) The Beatles - Abbey Road Bracket • Page 2

Gut is going OK Computer but I'm gonna listen to Abbey Road again now before I vote. Two bands that I've never been able to get to that next-level love with, although In Rainbows comes close and I definitely listened to Radiohead more in high school.

 

Maxwell's Silver Hammer stinks. Ok Computer it is

 

right, it’s definitely something that’s shifted in the last 15 years or so, but it isn’t particularly close anymore. also it’s not like a pavement situation where a bside is now their most streamed, this song has always been huge hah

 

True, but it wasn't one of their (many) number 1 hits and has never been the first Beatles song to pop up on "greatest songs of all time" lists. It's not even on the most recent Rolling Stone 500 list, which was itself kind of an interesting study in how signature songs for some artists can shift over time.

 

ok computer is better, especially as a beginning to end listen.

 

I wonder what John would have thought of "Paranoid Android"

 

I wonder if Paul has listened to In Rainbows lol

 

i wonder if Ringo likes Creep

 

Maxwell’s is fun and immaculately produced. People are weird

 

i’ve always kinda liked it lol. it’s nowhere near as bad as ob la di or when i’m 64

 

I like all 3 :(

maxwells is the worst song on abbey road, but it’s not bad. Def made me laugh in the doc to see how much effort it got as the band was crumbling.

 

It's also amusing to me because they resented doing so much sonic work on a song that is kinda fluffy lyrically...like the same can't be said of "Piggies" or "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"

 

Abbey, never really cared for Radiohead lol

 

They’re both masterpieces, but I like OK Computer more.

 

OKC

 

Yeah I don't care what wikipedia says, "Here Comes the Sun" is not 'inarguably' the biggest Beatles song.

 

ok! it is but that's alright!

 

It might be. But it's not inarguable. (There's multiple people arguing about it in this very thread!)

 

It is by far the biggest one on Spotify, almost double the spins of the second biggest. That probably makes it their biggest song in 2022 at least, if not historically.

 

Again, Spotify stats for lots of artists end up being extremely skewed by the way Spotify curates playlists and the way people use Spotify playlists for passive listening. “Here Comes the Sun,” by virtue of having the word “sun” in the title, ends up on a lot of super popular playlists (“Good Vibes,” “Have a Great Day!”) which means it gets a lot of plays that are indicative of neither its popularity nor the overall popularity of the band. That alone makes it arguable whether it is actually their biggest song in 2022. It’s inarguably NOT their biggest song historically, though. Stats on a modern streaming platform that’s been around for a decade don’t outweigh a whole 60-year timeline for the biggest band in popular music history.

 

It’s a top Beatles track but I would caution that Spotify top songs don’t always reveal a “terrestrial” popularity so much as an algorithmic frequency. The most popular songs are the ones put in people’s faces the most.

A glance at google trends doesn’t seem to indicate a search frequency different from other key Beatles tracks

Queen is the streaming era’s classic rock success story, ~40M monthlies to Beatles’ 26M, but on planet earth Queen isn’t 65% more popular than The Beatles are. Radio is still the largest audience for oldies. Not to say Queen isnt wildly more popular than they were 20 years ago.

I have no opinion about what is the most popular because that’s capitalism brain, but just to say grabbing isolated data points isn’t going to necessarily yield an accurate read

 

I think it’s enduring popularity has to do with its suitability in a variety of environments. It’s light and airy easy listening

 

ok computer moves into the final four

 

Does it make it arguable though? To me you’re really just explaining why it is their biggest song in 2022. Being put on playlists that a lot of people listen to is how songs get big in 2022 (plus TikTok and occasionally radio).