I have little doubt old farts like me who grew up in the sixties and were exposed to the Beatles (and other "British Invasion" groups) as that whole thing was happening have a different perspective than later generations who heard all of it in later decades. Here's my little trip down memory lane (as opposed to Penny Lane):
I dimly recall first seeing the "Fab Four" on TV on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964 (I would have been around 9). I kind of liked the music, was baffled and annoyed by all the girls screaming. Think my parents just commented on their long hair and didn't say much. They decided the music was pretty good years later after hearing the more subdued pop songs like "Yesterday" and "Michelle" on the radio. Later, iIn my early teens, I largely dismissed the Beatles, thinking they did mostly "love songs" or were simply overexposed (had heard them too often), and became more interested in harder rock/psychedelic artists like Hendrix, Cream, Steppenwolf, Jethro Tull, Iron Butterfly, etc. Believe I remember playing a little air guitar to the Stones while playing "Get Yer Ya Yas Out" on headphones (Jumping' Jack Flash, etc). Eventually I bought the double white album ("The Beatles")-on cassette no less, as it was a cool new format, I had a tape deck and figured it wouldn't wear out as easily as vinyl. That brought me around, I began to appreciate them and later picked up Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. Much later in life, I exposed my young daughter (now an adult) to the Yellow Submarine animated movie, which she loved ("Hey Bulldog" was a favorite tune). We enjoyed watching A Hard Days Night together too, and it was fun seeing them anew through her eyes. Guess to some degree I've taken for it granted that everyone knows (maybe even agrees?) how good the Beatles were, how huge and influential in their relatively short time in the public eye. But I also realize that others who didn't hear much of them until 20 or 30 years ago probably had an entirely different take on the Beatles phenomenon.
I dimly recall first seeing the "Fab Four" on TV on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964 (I would have been around 9). I kind of liked the music, was baffled and annoyed by all the girls screaming. Think my parents just commented on their long hair and didn't say much. They decided the music was pretty good years later after hearing the more subdued pop songs like "Yesterday" and "Michelle" on the radio. Later, iIn my early teens, I largely dismissed the Beatles, thinking they did mostly "love songs" or were simply overexposed (had heard them too often), and became more interested in harder rock/psychedelic artists like Hendrix, Cream, Steppenwolf, Jethro Tull, Iron Butterfly, etc. Believe I remember playing a little air guitar to the Stones while playing "Get Yer Ya Yas Out" on headphones (Jumping' Jack Flash, etc). Eventually I bought the double white album ("The Beatles")-on cassette no less, as it was a cool new format, I had a tape deck and figured it wouldn't wear out as easily as vinyl. That brought me around, I began to appreciate them and later picked up Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. Much later in life, I exposed my young daughter (now an adult) to the Yellow Submarine animated movie, which she loved ("Hey Bulldog" was a favorite tune). We enjoyed watching A Hard Days Night together too, and it was fun seeing them anew through her eyes. Guess to some degree I've taken for it granted that everyone knows (maybe even agrees?) how good the Beatles were, how huge and influential in their relatively short time in the public eye. But I also realize that others who didn't hear much of them until 20 or 30 years ago probably had an entirely different take on the Beatles phenomenon.
Statistics: Posted by nostalghia — Tue Jan 07, 2025 6:03 pm