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Beatles

22
The Beatles

The Beatles

Jesus...  where do I start? I'm gonna' leave the whole historical background of the band behind- there's plenty of biographies & WIKI's on them if you need to learn about the Cavern & Germany days... (my personal favorite is Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, see "The 10,000 Hour Rule" where he uses the Beatles as an example). This entry is coming from a total fan's perspective. I remember being little & my older brother, who was ten-years older, had left me two CD's to inherit. One of them was Queen's Greatest Hits. The other was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I was six-years-old listening to Sgt. Pepper's. I have never gone on a trip like that before nor since. Fuck. I wish I could go back & experience it all over again, for the first time. Imagine being fifty-years removed from when this music was released, yet, each musical note hits every fiber of your body. The Beatles have stayed in my life & return to my life (meaning I re-visit their discography and start from the beginning and go to their very last album... very few have made an artistic impression or legacy in such a short span of time like The Beatles). I know their albums like the back of my hand. Their career could be seperated into five chapters..
Chapter 1: The Early Years (the Decca years, the Cavern gigs, Please, Please Me)
Chapter 2: Explosion (Meet the Beatles, Beatle-mania)
Chapter 3: Bob Dylan Introduces The Beatles to Pot (Rubber Soul, Revolver)
Chapter 4: A Dentist Introduces The Beatles to Acid (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Chapter 5: Return to Roots (White Album, Let It Be, Abbey Road)

I mean, shit, there's a reason Abbey Road was the highest selling vinyl album from last year. This music still holds up. Can the same be said for Frank Sinatra? The Fab Four are timeless. Jesus, I really wish I could capture just how much this band means to me but that's impossible with words.

So, instead, I'm just going to give a love letter to each of the four members & leave it from there.
RINGO Thank you for introducing me to drums. Thanks for showing me even a drummer deserves to sing at least one song per album/concert. Thanks for managing to lay low while surrounded by some of rock's biggest egos. Thanks for learning to play chess during the Sgt. Pepper's sessions, proving even the best drummer in the best band gets bored during recording and rehearsal. Also- Thank you for this hilarious quote about your time in India and baked beans: "The food was impossible for me because I’m allergic to so many different things. I took two suitcases with me, one of clothes and the other full of Heinz beans (there’s a plug for you)."
GEORGE Thanks for showing actions speak louder than words. Thanks for introducing the west to the east. Thanks for your peacefulness which I'm still inspired by.
PAUL Paul, thanks for tying your best to keep things together in the end even when the writing was on the wall. Thanks for writing "The Fool on the Hill."
JOHN John, thank you for putting this band together. You may think you guys are "just four guys from Liverpool" but you mean so much more to so many people. Thank you for reminding us to give peace a chance and to imagine what life would be like without our differences. Though you passed ten-years before I was born, your spirit lives on within me and & I LOVE YOU.

The Beatles are the best.
Period.

The Beatles

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