Let's talk the Beatles' most rocking tunes.

She said she said

 

"Boys"

 

“Oh! Darling”
“Dig A Pony”

 

I’m adding this. To me, John’s voice was an instrument in itself. I’ve always wanted to cover this in an early 90s Temple of the Dog vibe, even before I knew that Eddie Vedder has played it live for years.

 

Drive My Car, Got to Get You Into My Life, The Word, Help, I've Got a Feeling, Day Tripper, Ticket to Ride, Eight Days a Week, Hard Day's Night

 

100% agree with all the above and not an original Beatles song but for "rockin' out" - starting at (well, near) the beginning:

 

I've got it. Dizzy Ms. Lizzie. The boys showed their R&R roots on that one, for sure.

 

Another vote for "I Saw Her Standing There" - great rocking tune today, and especially in the context of 1963!

 

I generally like the later Beatles music more than the earlier Beatles music, with "Paperback Writer" being the separator between the two eras. However, for "rocking tunes" I prefer the earlier stuff. Helter Skelter sounded terrible to me.

 

Day Tripper, another great guitar riff. Drive My Car, too.

 

I think you're confusing the issue. The Beatles most certainly were rockers (as evidenced by the examples posted here). Contrast that with the puff piece music that was generic of the day. Girl groups, Doo-wop singers, lounge acts, and the like were the stuff of mainstream in the 50s and 60s. Along came Elvis and then the Beatles who (pardon the analogy) got people "all shook up."

The Beatles didn't eschew sex, drugs and politics in their songs, in fact, they were part of the vanguard, from Norwegian Wood to Back In The USSR. To categorize the Beatles as a "soft" act is to do them a major disservice.

 

Yeah, after they stopped touring, they went from a road seasoned group who would stop long enough to record another album and head back out to guys sitting around playing with equipment in studios. Ringo said he basically just turned into a session drummer who got called in to do percussion on tracks. Like the guitar on Revolution. I wish they’d have just cranked an amp instead of damn near destroying channels on the board by driving them so hard. It was said that if the studio manager had been there, they’d have been kicked out, Beatles or not.

 

I remember the day it was released (maybe early '64 here), the girl who was looking after a bunch of 5 yr olds said to us "don't do anything stupid for half an hour, I gotta go to the music shop". Off she went to get this record, the b-side to I Wanna Hold Your Hand I think.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane, cos I sure don't remember anything else from '63/'64

 

I remember thr first time I heard She's a Woman. I was watching Help for the first time and it was playing in the background. Bought the album and it wasn't on there. Took years to find that song (pre internet, little allowance to buy CDs). That's the one for me.