Thank you everyone for so many thoughtful replies. Zaikesman -- superb post!
Your point about every song being an uncontestable masterpiece is exactly what I was talking about and why I was wondering if I was missing something, so your comments were a bit of a relief. Perhaps some people take Beatlemania a bit too far which I am sure was also fueled by John Lennons death.
But like your nod to Mozart, I am happy to "acknowledge (their) genius" and do want to spend more time with them and will try to take all of these comments on board.
FYI, I was born in 1964, high school 82, college 86, which ,to my mind, makes me somewhat musically homeless. The Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin were a bit before my time.
I thought I was pretty cool listening to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin in 3rd grade on my Soundesign "stereo" with plastic speakers but probably didn't get it as much as I thought I did at the time.
In Junior High and High school, "new wave" was gaining in popularity -- bands like Devo, the B-52s, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello were popular where I grew up in Virginia Beach -- a wannabe California with a strong surfing pop cultural vibe despite the tiny waves and with suburban "old school" skateboard ramps made with stolen plywood.
Further to musical homelessness, my taste seemed to be stuck in between these two genres of pop/rock. I wasn't quite old enough to be versed in Hendrix, but a lot of the pop/new wave stuff that was considered so cool by my peers I found pretentious and lacking in legs.
So I was also listening to a bit of jazz, a bit of classical and curiously exploring some dreadful "audiophile" recordings and performances which I nonetheless loved for their "ear candy" qualities. (By that time, I had upgraded the Soundesign system -- a Technics receiver with Infinity Qa's was quickly replaced with Hafler amps and Maggie MG-1b's.) I also really loved Stevie Wonder who was certainly on the pop charts but by no means considered "cool" at the time.
If anyone has any opinions on the darker, more psychadelic Beatles albums/songs to focus on, I will continue my tour there. I would also be curious -- with no disrespect to the songwriting genius that was involved, what songs/albums would Beatles fans agree are the sappiest/poppiest?
Your point about every song being an uncontestable masterpiece is exactly what I was talking about and why I was wondering if I was missing something, so your comments were a bit of a relief. Perhaps some people take Beatlemania a bit too far which I am sure was also fueled by John Lennons death.
But like your nod to Mozart, I am happy to "acknowledge (their) genius" and do want to spend more time with them and will try to take all of these comments on board.
FYI, I was born in 1964, high school 82, college 86, which ,to my mind, makes me somewhat musically homeless. The Beatles, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin were a bit before my time.
I thought I was pretty cool listening to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin in 3rd grade on my Soundesign "stereo" with plastic speakers but probably didn't get it as much as I thought I did at the time.
In Junior High and High school, "new wave" was gaining in popularity -- bands like Devo, the B-52s, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello were popular where I grew up in Virginia Beach -- a wannabe California with a strong surfing pop cultural vibe despite the tiny waves and with suburban "old school" skateboard ramps made with stolen plywood.
Further to musical homelessness, my taste seemed to be stuck in between these two genres of pop/rock. I wasn't quite old enough to be versed in Hendrix, but a lot of the pop/new wave stuff that was considered so cool by my peers I found pretentious and lacking in legs.
So I was also listening to a bit of jazz, a bit of classical and curiously exploring some dreadful "audiophile" recordings and performances which I nonetheless loved for their "ear candy" qualities. (By that time, I had upgraded the Soundesign system -- a Technics receiver with Infinity Qa's was quickly replaced with Hafler amps and Maggie MG-1b's.) I also really loved Stevie Wonder who was certainly on the pop charts but by no means considered "cool" at the time.
If anyone has any opinions on the darker, more psychadelic Beatles albums/songs to focus on, I will continue my tour there. I would also be curious -- with no disrespect to the songwriting genius that was involved, what songs/albums would Beatles fans agree are the sappiest/poppiest?