10 Beatles Tracks That Were Ahead Of Their Time
7. John Lennon: Revolution (1968)
There's multiple versions of Revolution, speaking to the excessive experimentation the group undertook during this period of their career. The versions that appeared on the White Album, Revolution 1 and Revolution 9, are both composites made up of dozens of takes. The former is a far slower, blues cut. The latter is a college of bizarre samples and outtakes with little resemblance to the original.
The most well known version was released on the b-side of Hey Jude. Like Helter Skelter, the track played with far heavier guitar tones. The biting distortion was the result of some production wizardry, which involved feeding the guitars into the mixing desk through a series of mic preamps. Although musicians had been playing with distortion and feedback for years, the Beatles were at the forefront of making the trend popular.
The overtly political lyrics were one of the first examples of John Lennon making his political feelings known. Rock and roll was morphing into hard rock, which in turn was becoming a tool for the anti-establishment. This was punk before the notion had even been dreamed of.