Let it Be

The Beatles are now available on iTunes!

My musical tastes began to develop in the 80's when I made the interesting transition from Guns N Roses to Depeche Mode.  I'm proud to say I was a pioneer at my high school when I began to listen to this new type of music called "alternative," back when it actually was an alternative (By the way, before the suits coined the term alternative we used to call it New Wave).  But I did not discover the beauty and magic of The Beatles until 1990 when I saw the movie Imagine: John Lennon.  From that moment on I realized that nothing I had ever listened to or will listen to would ever come close to the miracle of what John Lennon and Paul McCartney created.

Often I try to think what it must have been like for America's youth the first time they heard The Beatles.  Can you imagine the awakening that must have spread across the conservative, buttoned-up, repressed nation that was 1960's America?  Nothing in my lifetime can compare to what those newly freed teenagers must have been feeling.  I'm jealous of those people.

Note: There is one type of music that has energized a group people in similar fashion in my lifetime: Rap.  Rap has given an entire generation a voice that did not exist merely 20 years ago.  Time will tell if it has made as big an impact as The Beatles.

And so I look across the landscape that is popular music and sigh. I'm not snobby enough to say it sucks in comparison to The Beatles.  In fact, there is no comparison.  I wouldn't compare my church pastor to Jesus Christ, or Chicago pizza to any other region's pizza.  The Beatles transcend 'music' because they represent more than some catchy pop songs.  They were the voice of a country coming of age - Like falling in love for the first time... and having that sudden realization that you can follow that girl anywhere.