The Beatles And Your Life???

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jcrocket
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Sat Apr 25, 2015 6:34 pm

Like many, I first saw the Beatles in Feb. of ’64 on the Ed Sullivan show. I was only 7 at the time, but my 13-year-old sister was already in the throes of Beatlemania, so I was pretty much immersed in it from the start. A few weeks later a local theater carried a closed-circuit live feed of a Beatles-Beach Boys-Lesley Gore from Washington DC, and I just remember not being able to hear any of the music due to the screaming girls in the theater as well as at the actual concert. I figured if my sister thought they were cool (and my parents’ generation didn’t), they must be pretty cool. I was quite surprised a few years later when my uncle - an old-school professional horn player and band leader - told me how great and ahead of their time they were.

Of course, as the years have passed, my appreciation for how great their music was has continued to grow. I don’t know how many times in recent years I’ve listened to a Beatles song that I’ve heard hundreds of times, but will notice some aspect or little passage that I’ve missed previously, and it’s almost like hearing a new song.

With pretty much every other band that I would list among my favorites - the Stones, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull are the first that come to mind - there was a part of their work that I really liked, and others that didn’t appeal to me as much. Not so with the Beatles - there’s nothing in their catalog that I don’t consider great. To touch as many bases, musically speaking, as they did, and maintain that level of quality, is quite remarkable.

To me, they’ll always be the standard by which all other bands and songwriters are measured.

Jeff


cosmicmechanic
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Mon May 04, 2015 12:12 am

I guess we all agree that the 1960's decade did not really end at midnight on December 31st 1969.
It would be fun to argue about when the 60's actually did end ... maybe 1973 ?
It also depends on where you lived: since it took a lot longer back then for cultural memes to spread.
For example, there was a delay before full-blown hippie culture echoed from Haight-Ashbury to other parts of the world.

In the early 70's, I was a teenager on the tail-end of the Beatles adventure.
It was only years later that I understood that they had been a "band" of mortal humans, rather than some superior entity.
So even as they embarked on personal projects, the Beatles were then still the most ENORMOUS reference in music, philosophy, fashion ...

It seemed obvious at the time that so many bands were writing songs with an implicit wink and nod to the young masters, still at their prime: the members of the Beatles.

Hindsight leaves me perplexed about how back then anybody strumming a guitar was suddenly perceived as being especially important ...
Stand that person on an apple crate, and this became a message from the heavens.

Why is this ? Because of THE BEATLES !
Oh, yes: I shoud mention BOB DYLAN ... the Beatles had company.

The media were asking them about the meaning of life ... surely they knew the answer !
We could project our own problems or solutions on each of the boys, according to their personalities.

The Beatles became our modern philosophers, and that could in turn open the door to other philosophies, if that was our bent.
I instinctively took on both John and George as a conduit for my teenage angst: John for rebellion and intellectual curiosity. George for the inner seeking.
Paul did channel wisdom through his songs, too. Of course, Ringo was absolutely necessary to lighten up this friggin' head trip !

I feel that the "Beatles vs Rolling Stones" debate is meaningless. The Stones were great, I loved them too.
It's just that they were not so very introspective in their songs, and felt they had to pose as outlaws.
If I had hooked more onto the Stones, my teen rebellion might have been much less peaceful. So thank you, boys from Liverpool.

Did you notice I only mentioned "songs", and not "music" in this long-winded post ?
So I could go on and on. There are so many layers to the Beatles' legacy ... 'nuff said ! (for now) :)

Oh, by the way: "teenage angst" doesn't end at 20 ! :blink:

Pierre


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