BTS played Wembley Stadium recently, and the press went wild wild wild wild comparing them to the Beatles. But let’s get a few things straight. I’m not a Beatles fan, mostly on account of my never listening to their music. That’s what defines ‘liking’ music to me - would I play their songs at home, for my own pleasure? In the case of the Beatles, no I wouldn’t. I’m very much a ‘songs’ person anyway, I prefer individual songs over artist worship. I may like one song by, say, Father John Misty (and I do), but I’ve checked out the rest of his stuff and none of the songs grabbed me in the same way. It’s the same with the Beatles, I’ve probably heard most of their songs over the years – it’s just not my thing.
The Beatles were serious musicians though, and changed the face of music forever – they have been hugely influential, their songs have been covered by thousands of artists, they are record-breaking songwriters, hold numerous sales records too, and have had many compositions written by them charted with other artists – did you know ‘Fame’ by David Bowie was co-written by John Lennon, for example? How about ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ by the Rolling Stones? Yup, a Lennon/McCartney song. And there are countless others. Between Lennon and McCartney, they have five of the top ten most covered songs of all time.
And they’ve been famous for almost sixty years. In the decade 2000 – 2009, they were the second best selling artists in the world after Eminem. They are still, almost fifty years after splitting: influential, big sellers, much covered, and oft-emulated. Anyone who likes music knows who the Beatles are. They are simply the most famous, most well-known, most covered, most copied and most successful band there ever was.
And then there was Bros. Who? Exactly. But if this was 1987, you’d know, because in 1987 they were a very famous teeny-pop band that sold out Wembley stadium, and 77 000 delirious teenage girls went absolutely wild. For a brief period. That’s who you should be comparing BTS to, not the Beatles, because filling Wembley stadium and selling millions of records for a couple of years has been done by many a teen heart-throb who has since faded into obscurity. It’s music that endures, not ticket sales and ‘fan worship’ and the Beatles music, love it or hate it, has lasted, is influential, and admired over a wide-ranging demographic, from cool kids to dusty geography teachers, and everyone in between. BTS are not, and will never ever be, that big, that widely liked, that popular, that influential. Never. They are Bros.
Incidentally – although the Beatles played Wembley Arena, a nearby indoor venue with a capacity then of about 10 000, they never played Wembley Stadium.
