Hello

I love the Beatles! My favorite is Ringo Starr. I love his eyes! Which one is your favorite? What about song?

I like John he reminds me of my dad. My fav songs are ...
oh that's really hard I like all of them except a select few.

I have liked them all at different times. I play bass but do not play much Beatles. I have been listening to them since the 1960's. They are great on an iPod. I also have followed all their solo careers a little bit starting with Ringo, then Paul, then George, then John. I never tire of their music

Ditto

Hello BeatleManiacs. I agree with PierreAnoid one can never get tired of listening to The Beatles no matter how many times you hear their music it is always like the very first time. The Beatles music like just about everything else that came out in the 60s has stood the test of time and stills sounds as good today as when it first came out. I have a question to everyone here. Do you think the smiles on the faces of The Beatles PLEASE PLEASE ME Album is forced and phony looking or is it just me? I have always thought their smiles didn't seem genuine but rather forced upon them like someone posing for a High School Year Book or Wedding Photo. It definitely looks like George is trying very hard to smile, Ringo is thinking he would rather be somewhere else, Paul looks like he just heard a funny joke and John kind of looks like he's guilty of having just done something and thinks it is hilarious.

beatles1964

Hello,

I got back into the Beatles when I bought a turntable and began collecting vinyl after quitting 20 years ago. I play guitar, and love Lennon's "You've got to Hide Your Love Away" on acoustic, and Harrison's "Something" on electric. I wish I could play more of their music, but I'm working on it.

I got very interested in the Beatles when the Anthology came out 12 years ago. I started pulling out my dad's old records and soon knew more than my parents about the Beatles. Later that year, I wrote my 11th grade thesis on the influence of the Beatles over today's (okay, 90's) pop-culture.

My favorite tends to change based on what is going on in my life, but I will always have a soft spot for George as he was the first one's work I clearly remember hearing, I loved I Got My Mind Set on You as a kid.

As for favorite song, that changes too, but I love to play Dear Prudence and When I'm Sixty-Four on the piano.

The world is just a little town.
Everybody try to put us down,
i-I-i-so-LA-TION.

--Lennon.

For years after Lennon was murdered I couldn't listen to Beatles without crying: the spirit of The Beatles and their music was so opposite that, and more than merely the "soundtrack" for many of us who grew up with them. So for years after I was unable to listen to them.

When I finally began being able again, it all sounded different, as there was that intervening period of no evolution in relation to it.

A brother-in-law died violently -- but I was more devastated when John was murdered.

I remember watching The Beatles Anthology Mini-Series when it was on tv and video taped it every night it was on. I know there was a lot of stuff they didn't get around to putting in the Mini-Series at the time because it would've made it that much longer than it actually was at the time it was being aired. I might have to get the complete, full set of The Beatles Anthology on DVD sometime. I can also remember Ed Sullivan doing his now famous, Ladies and Gentlemen, THE BEATLES, Live on his weekly tv show. My family like millions of other people at the time were glued in front of their tv sets watching The Beatles perform. They were on his show three consecutive weeks in February of '64 and was also on a fourth time as well. In fact I have the DVD with all four of The Beatles appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. At the time The Beatles arrived in New York City that February day way back in '64 I was 5 years old going on 6.

beatles1964

I have loved the Beatles since they first came to America when I was about 10 years old. I used to listen to them on AM radio in Los Angeles. In 5th grade we formed a Beatles Fan Club, which was pretty traitorous since The Beach Boys were local boys. I actually won tickets from KFWB ("Channel 98") to see The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl when I was 11 and my dad and mom, bless their hearts, put me on a bus, told the bus driver to look out for me, and away I went! Different times, for sure.

I can hear just about any song of theirs and immediately remember all the words and sing along. Favorites are Things We Said Today, Yesterday, All You Need is Love, Norwegian Wood, Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, Eleanor Rigby.... gads. Many many more.

I also saw Paul McCartney and Wings when they came to The Forum in .... 1975? 1976? Those tickets weren't free, though.

The order I liked them was Paul John George Ringo.

My 15 year old likes quite a bit of their music in addition to all the stuff of her generation.

edited for syntax

When The Beatles first came to America their songs knocked The Beach Boys, Elvis and a lot of other American Groups and Singers off of the charts which made them all jealous of what seemed to them an overnight success for The Beatles. I wish I had my own personal Time Machine or device where I could go back in time and experience things like Beatlemania first hand without changing or interfering anything that happened which would of course drastically change the course of History.

beatles1964

#11 --

They didn't only knock them off the charts. They knocked numerous old standbys off the record shelves altogether. The records of many such weren't available again until the 1980s.

At the time I was unable to finish collections of such as Richie Valens, Big Bopper, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry.

#9 --

I don't understand NOT having the complete "Anthology". I taped the TV mini- of it; then got the VHS set of the complete. Then got the DVD complete. (Hint: disk 5 has the Shea Stadium concert!)

Marketing today is different: CDs, etc., are immediately on sale, then later go up to "intended" price.

In the old days . . . well, in the old days, the days weren't at all old.

Neither were the nights.

In fact, everything was always new.

And everything is still always new.

Even though there's nothing new under the sun.

Don't ask me how that happens.

What I meant by that was I understand there was supposed to several hours that we didn't even see on the tv mini-series version of The Beatles Anthology. And that I'm going to have buy it on DVD.

beatles1964

#14 --

The last disk in the DVD set has footage not shown on TV -- some of it the three performing (not publicly) some things. And there may be other bits dispersed throughout.

In today's edition of USA Today there is an article in Section D under Lifeline on 50 years of HOT 100 and it says the top five with the most No.1 Hits are

1. The Beatles (no real surprise here of course) with 20
2. Mariah Carey 18
3. Michael Jackson 13
and Madonna is tied with The Supremes with 12 each

beatles1964

Number 3 should be Elvis Presley with 17. It is deeply depressing that Mariah Carey is number 2 on the all-time list - I can't think of a more tasteless singer.

Well, you can blame USA Today for not doing their Home work on this article becuase I still have the newspaper in front of me and it doesn't even list Elvis.
I was only listing the Top 5 that was named by USA Today.

beatles1964

Is that "USA Today" article based upon a recent "Billboard" listing? If so, it was based solely on total sales, not on quality. Or even popularity, for that matter: the business has so changed it's almost unrecognizable; for one, The Beatles managed to establish rock n' roll as the standard; for another, that being teh fact, it became relatively easy to get hits because that's "all there was" for music. It had become acceptable.

As well, later generations have bought up just about anything in hopes of getting in on the "next Beatles".

One thing hasn't changed: when the new, the fresh, the original pass from the scene (and even before then), the industry steps in and manufactures "idols". It happened when Holly, Valens, and Big Bopper got killed, at which time Elvis was in the army, and Chuck Berry was in jail. To fill the gap, the industry created "teen idols" -- Fabian and numerous others.

It began, during the '60s, "big time," with The Monkees: later generations who know nothing of The Beatles consider them really funny. What they don't know is that The Monkees "goofy" "humor" was a copy of The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night". And their humor more generally, which was genuine, not manufactured.

As well, since The Beatles, it mostly been promotion: anything can be made a "star" with sufficient promotion. (Madonna is untalented crap -- but thanks to the substitution of freakiness for talent, post-Beatles, the door was open for her. And then the children fell for the Gad-awful "Kiss".)

(The Roling Stones image has been manufactured from the outset: they were actually middle class, not "street poor"/working class. But as The Beatles had the image of "clean-cut," the way seen to compete was to be their simplistic opposite: "the bad boys of rock n' roll. That doesn't mean I don't like some of their stuff.)

As for Elvis: he died the moment RCA bought his contract and made him stand still for the microphone. Very little after the "Sun Sessions" is of much value.

What made the '60s was The Beatles, and Dylan -- it was exciting to see the cross-pollination (not only between those two), see them influence each other as it happened. If one gets accurate release-date discographies of such as The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Who (the latter came later in the US), and listens to them in order of release, one can see The Kinks being influenced by The Beatles, and then The Beatles influenced by The Kinks. Etc.

The Beach Boys were about the best thing happening until The Beatles. The problem for them, ultimately, was that they were regional: who got into surfing in the midwest? And though their "car tunes" were good, they got that concept from Chuck Berry. Ultimately -- circa "Sgt. Pepper" -- they became irrelevant.

(For some reason this post was truncated.)

Correction: "Shea Stadium" is on disk 3 of the DVD edition.

Fact: The Beatles came into the US at #1 -- and only got BIGGER from there until the day they broke up. By Summer, 1968, it seemed "Hey Jude" was #1 for 6 months!

And then "The Beatles" (aka "White Album") was released that Winter. In Boston, WBCN-FM played the entire LP, straight through, without advertisements, every night during the week, two weeks running. And the rest of the time played everything on that constantly.

The Beatles were unique in another way: every track of every LP was played on AM radio. Every one of them. As result, some of their LPs were #1 on both the LP and singles charts -- and at the same time.

And some LP tracks not released in the US as singles -- "Michelle" an example -- were #1 on the singles charts. So the "20 #1s" is radically misleading.

It was so exciting I'd be willing to go through it again for the first time!

The line about Presley and SUN is an over-used cliche - virtually all of the major Presley singles were recorded after he joined RCA. I'm not disputing that he released a lot of crap doing the 60s but there is still a lot of good stuff among it. It is strange how Presley get blasted for releasing the mediocre material but the Beatles are forgiven - every Beatles album has some atrocious songs on it.

All band images were manufactured - it could be argued that the Beatles were the first boy band in the way that their image/personalities were sold.

The Beach Boys influence extended well beyond the West Coast - the Beatles listened avidly to them, looking for inspiration; Sgt Peppers is their answer to Pet Sounds. After 40 years it is Pet Sounds that sounds better. The tragedy for the Beach Boys was the mental disintegration of Brian Wilson which effectively halted their artistic period (although there were still the occasional highs to come).

I don't know anyone that thinks that Monkees weren't based on the Beatles. It is true that the humour can be seen as forced but musically their songs still hold up - the result of hiring decent songwriters and producers. Of course, the irony is that in the 70s Michael Nesmith would release a sequence of albums that are superior to the solo material from the Beatles.

#19 the USA Today article does say that Billboard's HOT 100 chart was the combination of sales and airplay information that has become the de facto historical record for hit singles.

I loved watching The Monkees every saturday afternoon and totally agree with you about their "goofy" humor. In fact I still own my LP's of The Monkees plus some they later re-issued in the 70s or 80s. And I remember hearing the story at the time that they didn't even play their own instruments. And I have some of The Beatles and Rolling Stones records on 45s and still have Record Players that can play LP's 45s and 78s. And The Beatles were the only group to ever hold the Top 5 positions of Billboard's HOT 100 and 15 out of the Hot 100 tunes were by The Beatles.

beatles1964

#21 --

The line about Presley and SUN is an over-used cliche - . . . ."

It happens to be a "cliche" that's true.

". . . . virtually all of the major Presley singles were recorded after he joined RCA."

That being beside the point I'm making. As well, some of the earliest Presley hits on RCA were Sun recordings.

"I'm not disputing that he released a lot of crap doing the 60s but there is still a lot of good stuff among it."

A minority of it, and then mostly singles.

"It is strange how Presley get blasted for releasing the mediocre material but the Beatles are forgiven - every Beatles album has some atrocious songs on it."

Really? You name none. "What Goes On" is perhaps their weakest recording -- as a song. But if one listens to the mastery of US "country and western," is is excellent. And, of course, the performance is superb.

"All band images were manufactured - it could be argued that the Beatles were the first boy band in the way that their image/personalities were sold."

First "boy" band!? Be real: the "boy band" label applied to boys -- not adults. The Beatles were adults when their image was cleaned up.

"The Beach Boys influence extended well beyond the West Coast - . . . ."

So did that of The Monkees. (Yawn.)

". . . the Beatles listened avidly to them, looking for inspiration; . . . ."

McCartney listened "avidly" to them because he saw them as competition.

"Sgt Peppers is their answer to Pet Sounds."

One of those overly-repeated cliches. One of these days I'm going to compare the release dates to determine which was first in fact.

"After 40 years it is Pet Sounds that sounds better."

I disagree. Then again, I'm not much for songs about the speculation "God" being treated as an unquestionable given.

"The tragedy for the Beach Boys was the mental disintegration of Brian Wilson . . . ."

Which was "caused" by his inability to deal with "Sgt. Pepper".

". . . which effectively halted their artistic period (although there were still the occasional highs to come)."

But note that The Beatles "artistic period" didn't end with either "Sgt. Pepper" or "Pet Sounds".

"I don't know anyone that thinks that Monkees weren't based on the Beatles."

Then you don't know people of later generations who knew nothing of "A Hard Day's Night".

"It is true that the humour can be seen as forced but musically their songs still hold up - the result of hiring decent songwriters and producers."

Yeah: audition musicians for a pre-fabricated "group," to include as drummer a connected child of Hollywooders. Then hire people outside the "group" whose profession was writing songs for a living. Then have studio musicians make the actual recordings.

I don't know of any of "their" songs that hold up.

"Of course, the irony is that in the 70s Michael Nesmith would release a sequence of albums that are superior to the solo material from the Beatles."

That's why those Nesmith albums were such huge hits. (Yawn.)

#22 --

I still have a turntable, but no stereo system which has inputs for both that and CD player.

I have the complete Beatles run of singles from just after their first several through to their last -- all but a few of the latest with picture sleeves. My first set of their LPS were mono -- up to and including "Sgt. Pepper". I wore those out, gave them away, and replaced them all with stereo versions on Apple.

I have some stones singles, and at least their first 6-7 LPs on vinyl.

It's amazing how misinformed subsequent generations are about The Beatles. As example, I've a friend who dismissed them because he knew of -- but hadn't heard -- "Sgt. Pepper," and thought it was "hippy". And that their hair was a "gimmick". I had to explain that The Beatles were from Liverpool, England, and came to the US in 1964, whereas "hippy" was in San Francisco, during 1966-67. And it was The Beatles who inspired the having of long hair, not the hippies. And had to show him photographs to dmeonstrate that the hair wasn't a "gimmick"; it was the old "DA" without the grease and allowed to "fall" as it would, then trimmed.

That same friend loves "Taxman" by Stevie Ray Vaughn -- but never looked at the label for who wrote it. He was disappointed when I pointed that out to him -- it took some of the imagined wind out of the Vaughn sails.

He also relied on Vaughn for Hendrix covers he'd never heard by Hendrix, and originally didn't know they were by Hendrix. The few he knew of by Hendrix included "All Along the Watchtower" -- which was originally by Dylan.

I think a lot of songs by The Monkees like Pleasant Valley Sunday, The Monkees Theme, Last Train to Clarksville all held up very well. I still love to listen Sgt. Peper but haven't listened to Pet Sounds for years. Personally, I feel Sgt. Pepper was better than Pet Sounds.
Did anyone ever notice how Jan & Dean imitated The Beach Boys California Sound and Surfing tunes.

beatles1964

Does anyone admit today that they like Jan & Dean at the time?

I recently heard "Pet Sounds". Sounds dated to me.

The whole "surf" thing was at best sillly: who in the midwest surfed? And The Beach Boys themselves, except perhaps Dennis, didn't surf.

And if you look at the sheet music of "Surfin' USA," you'll find that the music was written by Chuck Berry. Brian borrowed the music for the lyric.

I guess if you like the Beatles you have to dislike everything else.

(Yawn)

A selection of bad Beatles songs include - Blue Jay Way; Maxwell's Silver Hammer; Revolution No.9; Yellow Submarine; Octopus's Garden; Mr Moonlight; Flying; Why Don't We Do It in the Road; Wild Honey Pie; Savoy Truffle; and, of course, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da (voted the worst song ever by the British public).

Pet Sounds was released in 1966: the same year the Beatles released their best album, Rubber Soul.
Beatles producer George Martin stated that "Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds."

That's why those Nesmith albums were such huge hits. (Yawn.) Using sales as a criteria? By that criteria Candle in the Wind is the greatest single ever. We all know that the general public has notoriously dodgy taste - that's why they were buying Wings instead of Michael Nesmith. (I'm guessing you've never heard a Nesmith album).

Personally I happen to love those songs. But then again it's a matter of taste on whether or not someone actually like something or they don't. Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Revolution No.9, Yellow Submarine,Octopus's Garden are just a few of my favourite tunes from The Beatles. Of course I also love HELP!, Eight Days A Week, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Want To

Personally I happen to love those songs. But then again it's a matter of taste on whether or not someone actually like something or they don't. Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Revolution No.9, Yellow Submarine,Octopus's Garden are just a few of my favourite tunes from The Beatles. Of course I also love HELP!, Eight Days A Week, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Want To Hold

Personally I happen to love those songs. But then again it's a matter of taste on whether or not someone actually like something or they don't. Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Revolution No.9, Yellow Submarine,Octopus's Garden are just a few of my favourite tunes from The Beatles. Of course I also love HELP!, Eight Days A Week, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Want To Hold Y

Personally I happen to love those songs. But then again it's a matter of taste on whether or not someone actually like something or they don't. Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Revolution No.9, Yellow Submarine,Octopus's Garden, Blue Jay Way are just a few of my favourite tunes from The Beatles. Of course I also love HELP!, Eight Days A Week, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Back In The U.S.S.R., I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane, A Hard Day's Night. In fact I would have to say there aren't too many songs by The Beatles that I don't like.

I like some of the songs like Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden because they are different.Just like I do Ricky Nelson's Garden Party. Petula Clark's Down Town, I Know A Place or Don't Sleep In The Subway, The Kinks Lola, The Herman's Hermits, Lulu, Dusty Springfield,THE WHO or basically anything that came from The British Invasion at the time.

Of course I still own their LP's and would never even think of getting rid of them. I just love the music that came from them because it was so much different than what I was listening to over here in the States at the time before The Beatles started The British Invasion.

beatles1964

Over the years the records have gotten scratched and worn over the repeated playing of them but that doesn't alter the fact that I still love listen to the songs and the Artists that made them famous. In fact, I also own a lot of the same Albums on Cassette Tapes and CD's too. As well as some of the Albums I don't have in LP's but I do on Cassettes or CD's. However, I still like the sound of Vinyl over Cassettes and CD's.

beatles1964

Have any of you heard of the Rocket Boys? They're a cool band that got over shadowed by the Beatles and only made 1 album. They sound a whole lot like the Beatles and The beach boys mixed. My fav song of there's is Follow me.

I remember first hearing Why Don't We Do It in the Road and wanting to be able to scratch through it so that it would go directly to the next song. I hated it.

Some of the songs were silly, admittedly.

Not all of us who lived in Hawthorne California (home of the Beach Boys) were surfers or even really knew surfers.

madonna and the supremes tied?
i think not, the supremes are an excellent group, better than madonna. (but thats my opinion)
but the beatles on #1- now theres something to make any beatlemaniacs day ^_^

#27 --

No one said that. And it isn't true. So I guess your "method" is to go to extremes, then put strawmen in others' mouths.

#28 --

A selection of bad Beatles songs include - Blue Jay Way; Maxwell's Silver Hammer; Revolution No.9; Yellow Submarine; Octopus's Garden; Mr Moonlight; Flying; Why Don't We Do It in the Road; Wild Honey Pie; Savoy Truffle; and, of course, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da (voted the worst song ever by the British public).
_____

I disagree.

#35 --

One of the merits of "The Beatles" (aka "White Album") is that it INCLUDES their sense of humor, therefore making for a more rounded and accurate portrait of The Beatles.

"Silly"? Perhaps -- but, then, The Beatles were huge fans of the "Goons". If you don't know of the "Goons": Monty Python was next generation (as were Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band).

Often, beyond "silly," absurdist. And they knew of Dadism from their times in Hamburg.

>37 JNagarya:
Guess so.

Friday April 10th, was the 39th Anniversary of The Beatles breaking up. In the 1969-70 School Year I was in the 5th Grade at Colesville Elementary School where New Hampshire Avenue and Colesville Manor Drive meet. Today it is called The Colesville Day Care Center.
I used to walk up Colesville Manor Drive along with a lot of neighborhood kids and we had to cross New Hampshire Avenue every day in the morning and once again later on in the afternoon. April 10, 1970 I was 11 years old and my Classmates and I couldn't believe that The Beatles had broken up we thought it was some kind of a nasty rumor that was circulating arounfd the School at the time until we found out that it was really true.

During the beginning of the 1971-72 School Year when I was beginning the 7th Grade at White Oak Junior High on New Hampshire Avenue right next to the Saint John's The Baptist Catholic Church. Anyway, today it's called White Oak Middle School but to me it will always remain White Oak Junior High. A rumor had started to spread around the School that was saying The Beatles were going to get back together again which made all my Classmates and me very happy until we later learned that it had unfortunately only been a rumor and our hopes were dashed about a possible Beatles Reunion. Does anyone else have any memories or thoughts about the day The Beatles officially broke up? When I was in Junior High and later on at Springbrook High School we had to report to our Home Room first thing in the morning before we had to to off to our First Period Class of the day. Mostly Home Room was a chance to meet and talk with your friends before you left for your First Period Class while others used the time to finish up your Homework or Study for an up coming Test later on that day. I would sometimes chat with other kids in my Home Room but at times I did use the time more constructively and try to finish some Home Work I had failed to do over the weekend or to try and Cram for some Test or even try to finish writing a Report in a Class where I was due to give in front of the Teacher and the rest of the Class. I always hated to give a Report in front of the Teachers and my Classmates either by myself or as a member of a group for a group project everyone had been assigned to do at the time. Some kids in the Class would always make fun of me when I had to get up in front of everyone else and speak to them. This would always disrupt the Class and the Teacher had to make the rest of the Class Shut Up and stop making fun of me so I could give my Report to them. I had always been one of the kids that had been picked on by the School Bullies which didn't end when we reached Junior High School and later on as older High School students.

Beatles1964

You know I always thought one og the main reasons that caused The Beatles to break-up was because of Yoko Ono since John was spending a lot more time with her than with the rest of the Band and that wasn't sitting well with Paul, George & Ringo. IF Yoko Ono hadn't interferred with John and the others The Beatles may not have broken up at the time and continued to record and write new songs for awhile longer. I wish they had been able to get back together and go on Touring again like The Monkees did even without Michael Naismith. Maybe Sean or Julian could've filled in for their father which would mean a Lennon was still a member of The Beatles even if it wasn't John himself. I know it wouldn't have exactly been the same if either Sean or Julian had taken their father's place in the group however at the time you still would've had Paul, George & Ringo. When John David Chapman assassinated Lennon in December 1980 when he was walking out of his New York City Apartment it was a very sad day around the world for his family, the three remaining Beatles and Beatles fans everywhere. For what he did he clearly deserved to get the Death Penalty not for just assassinating John Lennon of course and stealing his genius away from everyone but for the criminal and deliberate act of premeditated murder.

Beatles1964

Even McCartney says that Yoko was not the cause of the Beatles' break-up.

In reality there were many causes, one being that they'd each developed their own individual lives outside The Beatles. Another was that they wanted to do other things, including solo work, which latter was problematic becasue of contractual terms.

And Lennon said, among other reasons, that they had done everything that could be done with three guitars and drums.