When they first arrived, I was in the seventh grade and all the girls in our school went nuts over them. Somehow, it didn't seem like a very "manly" thing to like them. And anyway, they were foreigners!
Later, as both their music and I matured, I started to recognize that their music was well written and performed but then John Lennon said something stupid about them being more popular than Jesus. So, once again, I mostly ignored them.
Then, Abbey Road was released in my freshman year at college and every stereo on our floor was either playing Abbey Road or Led Zeppelin's second album (along with Creedence Clearwater Revival, Blood Sweat and Tears, Gordon Lightfoot, and some Motown albums). So, hearing their songs every day, made me really appreciate the Beatles' musicianship.
Then of course, there were the rumors about Paul being dead! Notice his bare feet in the picture and the fact that he's walking out of step with the others. These were big clues! So, the other day I ran into a link for a webcam outside the Abbey Road studios in London that shows the road crossing from the Abbey Road album cover. It's amazing how many people, after all of these years, still stop to have their picture taken in this same crosswalk - often long enough to hold up the traffic. And many of them try to imitate the positions of the four lads. The webcam is looking in the opposite direction from the picture here but you'll recognize it.
Today, as I was looking at the "This Day in History" website, I noticed that on this day back in 1964, the Beatles were knocked out of the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 list by an unlikely source. They'd held the top spot for three and a half months! I'll leave it as a mystery that you can solve by looking at this link. You'll never guess it.
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