How Did YOU Discover The Beatles?

[Melack]

To make a long story short.

My father and The Red Album are the two biggest reasons I discovered The Beatles!

[sgt. peppie]

well, i introduced my 4 year old half-sister to the beatles
i watched 'yellow submarine' with her
she doesn't care about their songs for now, but she gets really excited when she hears the song
'yellow submarine' playing 

[Griff]

Lennon asking me could he borrow a pick!

                        Griff  Big Three

[sgt. peppie]

i just feel like saying this: John's birthday is on Friday!!!

[cassNJ]

It's nice to see some fans of Lewis Carroll here.   I don't know if you're aware that those books have a special connection with The Beatles.  John and Paul were both big fans of his books.  They were inspiration for some of their lyrics (like the Walrus), Paul had little statues of Alice characters in his garden at Cavendish, and he gave John a first edition of "Alice in Wonderland" as a gift.  But that's off-topic; this is supposed to be about how we discovered The Beatles.  Here's my story:

I was a little kid when they came to America.  I was probably the only person living then that didn't see their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show.  But I had to watch my older cousins go crazy over them.  I thought they were very silly (my cousins, that is)  but I did find their songs very catchy, especially "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There."

Then, when I was a bit older, one of my brothers bought Rubber Soul and Yesterday and Today.  I fell in love with their music, especially the acoustic guitar songs.  My sister was an alto and I was a very strained soprano.  We would work out the harmonies on songs like "If I Fell", and anticipating the advent of Beatles Rock Band by 40 years, we used croquet mallets as pretend guitars to play along to tunes like "We Can Work It Out."  Eventually I got a real guitar and, armed with a thick Beatles songbook, taught myself to play.  I could even do a reasonable version of "Blackbird."  I have to confess Paul was always my favorite, not because he was the Cute Beatle (ok, it was a little bit of that) but because I always loved his songs and his voice. 

By the time I went off to college, however, it wasn't cool to like The Beatles or Paul McCartney.  I was listening to completely different music.  Eventually, like many baby boomers, I realized that the new stuff coming out just didn't have the transformative effect on me that music in the 60's had.  There would be an album once in awhile that captured my imagination, but it was never quite the same.  Music became much less important in my life.

Then a few years ago I was faced with months of medical treatment and recuperation.  I decided to make a playlist of all my very favorite music to help get me through it.  Most artists, I discovered, had just one or maybe two songs worthy of my playlist.  My very favorite groups, like The Who, the Doors, and Buffalo Springfield, got 4 to 6 songs.  But when it came to The Beatles, I discovered that I couldn't narrow down my list to just 6.  Heck, I couldn't even do a top 20!  As I listened to their music I realized that they were in a class by themselves, and always will be.  So I became a fangirl all over again.

[Andy Smith]

i've always wondered how i will discover the Beatles in my next life!

[lucy~(-_-*...]

I discovered the Beatles in beatles night we did I and my family. It was a very successful evening, and preparations that revealed me very Beatles! Very! I admit it.

[Eliza]

When I was about one years old my mom took me to a Ringo Starr concert, since being one I don't remember much. That was before I even knew who the beatles were. A few years ago I was flipping through the channels and Hard Days Night was on which was one of my favorite movies before I was a fan, while I was watching it I relized how amazing they were and became obssesed.

[dramster]

Thanks for asking!

When I was a boy in the 70s my parents had a lousy record collection, but luckily they did have some early beatles on tape - With the Beatles and A Collection of Beatles Oldies to be precise.  They were a big part of my childhood, being the only great music that I had access to!  Then in the 80s my dad bought us a vinyl copy of The Number Ones album, and that was my first exposure to the later Beatles, which I thought a bit weird at the time.

As I hit the early teen tears I forgot about the Beatles and began listening to 80s pop, until I just couldn't take it any more.  I rediscovered the Beatles, collected all their albums on vinyl, and listened to nothing else for years (I think the 20th anniversary of Sgt Pepper in 1987 did a lot to rekindle my interest).  As I got older I more began to appreciate their later work.  That's something I love about them, that you can grow up with them as they mature from album to album.

After delving into various other music genres and artists over the years I find that I keep coming back to the Beatles.  The reissues have been a perfect excuse to sit down and listen to all their albums yet again, and they sound as fresh and exciting as ever!

[An Apple Beatle]

Welcome Dramster...sounds like we're same era, thanks for sharing.

[MrsHarrison]

When I was a kid, my mom had an old turntable, with more vinyls then you could count. She had almost every Beatle album, and I used to listen to them with her. Then, I saw 'A Hard Day's Night', and absolutely fell in love with them.

When I finally get some spending money, I'm gonna get the remasters boxset to put on my iPod. But, that's how I got into them; a boring story indeed.  ha2ha

[Wonderland]

Cool story, MrsHarrison, and welcome to the forum!

[Nina]

I remember listening to The Beatles since very early childhood on the radio and such, but when I was 6 years old, the album '1' came out. I remember seeing the commercials for it on television over and over and singing along to it. I guess my father picked up on my interest and told his boss, a family friend, who gave it to me as a present for my 7th birthday. I remember screaming in delight while tearing off the wrapping, and all the other little 7 year olds having no idea who The Beatles were. This started my love for them, and whenever my friends asked me who my favorite band was, I said The Beatles, to which they responded, "That's lame! The Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync are way cooler!" (I find it funny looking back how those boy bands were so popular for a while!) My dad then showed me his record collection, which contained almost all of The Beatles albums, and I remember listening to "Roll Over Beethoven" from "With the Beatles" a lot. Anyways, now, 8 years later, my 15 year old self is totally obsessed with The Beatles and I feel very grateful to my dad's boss who opened my world to the best music I've ever heard.

[georgeharrisonluver]

^Great story Nina, and welcome to the forums

I think a lot of younger Beatles fans discovered them from the '1' album, that's how I did

[Nina]

^thanks georgeharrisonluver! i have been home from school sick this past week and have been reading different threads in this forum for hours and hours and decided to join!