Eddie Murphy names the greatest band in the history of music: “The biggest group of all”
Don’t let a cumulative discography of three albums fool you; Eddie Murphy has recorded more music than most actors who try their hand at crooning could ever dream of. He only does it for shits and giggles, though, and he’s got no plans to ever let anyone hear most of it.
By his own admission, he’s spent time in the studio with everyone from Ernie Isley and BB King to Sly Stone and Paul McCartney, none of which has been made publicly available. In fact, he claimed that he “could put out an album in any genre except for heavy metal” based on the recordings he’s keeping locked in the vault, including country and jazz.
Not to sound too morbid, but they’ll probably end up being released when Murphy is dead, and he doesn’t have an issue with that. For the time being, he’s keeping it all to himself, which he maybe should have done with his bizarre detour into reggae with ‘Oh Jah Jah’ and ‘Red Light’, featuring Snoop Dogg.
Unless one of those secret songs is better than ‘Party All the Time’, that’s the track his musical side-line will always be remembered for. It’s still in heavy rotation 40 years after its debut, but it’s not a bad way to define the Shrek, Nutty Professor, and Beverly Hills Cop star’s legacy as a musician.
The Golden Globe-winning Saturday Night Live veteran has been obsessed with music for as long as he can remember, and he knows exactly who his favourites are. He called Elvis Presley, his idol since childhood, the “greatest entertainer who ever lived,” which is hardly an unpopular or out-there opinion.
Another friend, Michael Jackson, was dubbed the “most talented musician and artist that ever lived.” Again, there’s no shortage of people who’d agree, so he’s not exactly rocking the boat. What about the greatest band of all time? As you might have guessed, Murphy wasn’t interested in the obscure.
“The Beatles,” he emphatically declared to Billboard. “The very first song in my memory is ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret?’ For years, I thought John was singing that song, but then I realised it was George. I remember standing by a radio and just listening to that song. Growing up, I liked all the stuff that everyone else was listening to, like Motown, but the biggest group of all was The Beatles.”
In a truly shocking development that nobody could have possibly seen coming, somebody who was born in the early 1960s and fell in love with music at an early age believes The Beatles are the be-all and end-all for bands. To be fair, countless people born in every decade after that share the same opinion, which is why John, Paul, George, and Ringo will always be remembered as timeless icons and trailblazers.
As far as Murphy can see, the three most definitive acts in music history are Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and The Beatles. It’s not what you’d call revelatory, but it’s not like he’s wrong, either, since they’re right up there.
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