10 Artists Who Slated The Beatles

10. Ray Davies

While it’s easy to look at The Beatles as musical gods, their peers didn’t always view them with the same reverence. Sixties bands like The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks had absorbed many of the same influences and created their own unique sounds. So, rather than look up to John, Paul, George and Ringo, their gods were the Beatles’ own - Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and the like.

Although each new Beatles release was met with excitement, The Kinks’ Ray Davies was happy to buck the trend when asked to review 1966’s Revolver. In a track by track review for Disc and Music Echo, Ray Didn’t pull any punches. Taxman was “a bit limited,” And Your Bird Can Sing deemed “too predictable” and Eleanor Rigby “sounds like they're out to please music teachers in primary schools.” Yellow Submarine takes the biggest pasting, with Davies bluntly stating, “this is a load of rubbish, really.”

Given that Revolver routinely rides high in lists of the best albums ever, Rays remarks sound practically sacrilegious. The following issue saw George Harrison asked to respond to Ray’s review but if the magazine was hoping to stir up some inter-band drama, they were out of luck. Harrison couldn’t have been more reasonable.

“He’s entitled to his opinion, But I think if Ray Davies met us, he might change his tune. I’m sure he’s more like us, and thinks more alike, than he thinks. I think Ray Davies and The Beatles would have plenty in common.”