Bob Marley Vs The Beatles

Bob Marley and the Beatles were both clearly some of the most popular musicians of the 20th century and both made numerous contributions to both music and society as a whole. To understand why Marley was more influential than the Beatles one has to first look at the early stages of their careers. Marley was born into the notorious slums of Kingston Jamaica infamous for he gangs and violence to a white father and a black mother. Marley experienced a great deal of prejudice and discrimination because of his mixed skin colour. Instead of using this to fuel his hatred of people different races than him he used it as fuel for him to write songs that aimed to end prejudice and discrimination based on race. The Beatles all lived sheltered lives in England in a time of beneficial social moments and economic prosperity. They all lived sheltered lives and that's one of the reasonably their early music was very similar to a boy band. Marley's song writing skills were clearly superior to the Beatles. Lennon and McCartney are often considered to be one of the greatest song writing duos of all time, but this is very misleading. Almost half of the songs on the Beatles first album "Please Pleas Me" were covers of songs that had already been extreme popular on the British music charts. One of the Beatles most recognizable songs "Twist and Shout" is a cover of a song by the Top Notes. Marley didn't make nearly as many covers as the Beatles did and he wrote all of his major hits. The Beatles also wrote a number of song with virtually no meaning that were written only to sell albums. Whiled the Beatles were writing songs like "I want to Hold your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" Marley was writing songs like "Judge Not" and "Could You Be Loved" Even early in his career Marley was still writing songs that would become anthems for oppressed peoples all over the world, while The Beatles were writing songs similar to those a boy band would sing today. Marley also used drugs as a way to write some the greatest songs of all time such as "Three Little Birds" and "No Woman No Cry" while The Beatles used drugs to write some of their worst songs. Almost any Beatles fan will tell you two of The Beatles worst songs are "I am the Walrus" and "Octopus Garden". Marley used his drug use to advance his music while The Beatles used it to hinder their music which eventually led to their decline. Marley's songs also became anthems of the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, the global peace movement and ending Apartheid in South Africa. Civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. quoted lines from Marley songs such as "Get Up Stand Up" to rally African Americans to stand up for their rights in a non-violent way. Leaders of the gay rights movement sang "Waiting In Vain" while they pressuring the Canadian government to allow same sex marriage. Marley's influence can even be seen as far away as South Africa, while protesting Mandela's arbitrary imprisonment the African people sang "Redemption Song". Could you imagine gay activist singing "Let it Be" while protesting the right to same e sex marriage? Marley used his music to advance society and help individuals fight for their rights in a peaceful manner while The Beatles wrote music to make money. Marley's influence can still be seen in thousand of youth and young adults all over the world. The first example of this can be seen in the thousands of youth who wear Bob Marley T-shirts with his image and a lion across the chest. It's true certain youth do just wear the shirts for fashion, but many of them wear the shits to help spread Marley's message of love and co-existence. I see very few young people wearing shirts with the image of The Beatles on them and the few who do just wear them to show they prefer 20th century music to today music. I also see numerous young people who wear their hair i dreadlocks paying homage to Marley. People of all ethnicities wear their hair in dreads to show their love of Marley. I see very few people wearing the hair in Beatle bobs. Marley is also one of the most requested subjects for tattoos, some people use Marley's full face to show their commitment and love of his music. While other have lines from his songs or quotes on their bodies. There are numerous freedom fighters in South America and Africa with tattoos of Marley quotes as they inspire people to fight the evils of Babylon and work to better humanity. Marley was also better than The Beatles because he helped developed reggae into a popular genre of music. Before Marley their were few reggae artist and virtually none of them were known outside Jamaica. Marley used his great song writing skills to bring reggae to the mainstream and expose people all around the world to it. Marley has also influenced nearly every future reggae musician from Matisyahu and Trevor Hall to Byron Lee. The Beatles didn't create rock and they weren't responsible for making it mainstream. The Beatles have gone on to influence many rock musicians, but they weren't the dominant influence as many modern rock artists such as Pearljam and Tom Petty were influence more by people like Buddy Holly and Freddie Mercury. Also if it weren't for Marley reggae likely wouldn't have left Jamaica, while if their were no Beatles groups like The Rolling Stones and The Police would still brought British rock to the mainstream. Marley also bought the religion of Rastafarianism to North America and Europe. Before Marley Rastafarian was a region with a small following and only truly practiced in Jamaica and Ethiopia. Marley brought the religion to America which appealed to many agnostics and African-Americans forever changing the political and religious make up of the world and showed his charisma. The closest thing The Beatles did to advance a religion was when John Lennon said The Beatles were bigger than Jesus. The Beatles never had the charisma to lead religious revolution and were one of the many different groups who contributed to a musical revolution while Bob Marley virtually did it all by himself.