Music & Arts Discussions

I saw the Beatles... separately... almost.

I saw Paul McCartney & Wings.... George Harrison (opener, Ravi Shankar).... Ringo & his All-Starr Band... and Sean Lennon (John's son).

I guess that's as close as I'll get!

You would have to have lived through Beatle Mania to completely understand the total impact.

I was 19 when the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan. The reaction to their arrival in NYC & their appearance was unprecedented.

Their break up & whose fault it was was intenesely debated on the national news in nearly every country. Yoko Ono was the voted the Most Hated Person In the world. Not just the most hated woman - the most hated person. Some people said Paul McCartney "betrayed the Beatles" by publicly announcing that the Beatles had broken up.

They all had solo careers - with varying success - but the parts were never as good as the total.

Until John Lennon's death, there was constant rumors of a reunion.& many people believed that "the Beatles owed it" to various people/charities to perform together again.

Beatle mania  was even bigger than Elvis mania. There have been many "super groups" since the Beatles but none of them have had that kind of effect.

No other group has ever put together a body of music as rich as the Beatles in so short a time.  Or in any measure of time for that matter.

I grew up with the Beatles and they have had an incredible impact on my life.  I idolized John Lennon far too much for a while and still respect how he presented himself flaws and all toward the end of his life.  I've talked to Yoko on the phone a few times and found her to be very caring, sensitive and relatively easy to deal with.  I still 'come home' to their music.  At times I like there early material, at other times get lost in their later material.

I consider the greatest rock/pop song of all to be A Day in the Life off Sgt. Peppers.

I will probably re-buy the Beatles catalog now that they have been finally re-mastered.  I don't know if I will re-buy every album...but I do want to.

I hope they make their music available for downloads, though I understand the problems with Apple they have had for several years.

I rarely - and I do mean RARELY cry.  But...I remember while watching Monday Night Football on December 8, 1980, Howard Cosell broke in to say that John Lennon had been shot to death.  I cried like a baby.

From that point on, when ending any portable DJ gig I had, I would always end with a Beatles song & say, (In my best English accent) "In behalf of me-self and the boys in the band...I hope we passed the audition."

Every generation seems to have it's musical leaders.  Mine was John, Paul, George & Ringo.

OldHippie said…

I rarely - and I do mean RARELY cry.  But...I remember while watching Monday Night Football on December 8, 1980, Howard Cosell broke in to say that John Lennon had been shot to death.  I cried like a baby.

---

I watched the same game and was just stunned at that announcement by Howard Cosell. Prior to his on-air statement, the station I was watching (WKBW, Channel 7 in Buffalo) put a crawl at the bottom of the screen stating that Lennon had been shot. However, it didn't announce his death -- Cosell did that a few minutes later.

What a completely surreal time that was. I worked at a college at the time and it was nearly shut down in the student's grief over Lennon's death. Although the Beatles had broken up more than 10 years before, the full impact of the group's work was really becoming known by that point. It hit me and millions of others like a ton of bricks... the Beatles were never going to get back together and what they had done was ALL they would ever do. It was a very sad time.

--Bob

I watched a tribute concert for George Harrison recently and his son looks just like him. Kind of strange, as if a young George was standing on stage.

There was little chance for any band formed in the 60's to survive much longer than they did. I think their own superstardom wore them out more than Yoko's arrival.

As a young kid I remember falling to sleep to "The Long Winding Road" or "Hey Jude" on the radio just about every night.  Those were my lullabies back then.

I remember the Cosell announcement and being ashamed of the violence in America. Still have my old Beatles albums, some of which are probably worth a pretty penny. Music is so homogenized these days.

I too grew up with the Beatles so I do have an appreciation of the amazing talent they had. John Lennon was brilliant. I still can't believe we lost him. Imagine is up there on my top 3 best loved songs. I saw Paul McCartney and Wings (when Linda was still alive). He put on a great concert if anyone get the change to see him he won't disappoint you in spite of his over 60 age!