How did you get into the Beatles?

[gregga41]

......and when my sons are old enough to post here, they'll simply say...."My Dad!"

[mgauction]

AM radio started playing their songs in the summer of 1963 and it just consumed me and everyone I knew.

[Bosifis1]

After high school my musical interest changed. I went from rap to Elvis(Weird, I know!). Got REALLY big into Elvis(Mom and Dad always played his stuff). I always listened to the oldies station at work and ended up buying as many Cds as I could find from 50's artists(Buddy Holly, Little Richard, JJ Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry, Everly Brothers, etc...). My Mom asked me about the Beatles, but I told her that they have to many Cds, so I wouldn't get into them . I knew their early hits from the radio, but that was about it. Mom bought me Please Please Me, AHDN, and Help! for Christmas. That was it for me. Every month or so, I'd buy another Beatles Cd.

I have a very fond/funny memory-I remember buying Past Masters Vol 2 with a friend. We got back to his car and I put the Cd in...Day Tripper comes on and I looked at him and said, "THEY do that song???". Oh, how naive I was back then......mid 90's!

If I didn't get into the Beatles, I know I would've given up guitar a LONG time ago.

[Scastles]

Sullivan without a doubt, followed by AM radio and then, saw 'em live in September, '64 in Dallas. And, as with Brian, I'm that old.

[expomick]

Being born the day after the Beatles last played the Cavern Club, their music and cultural influence was always around me growing up.

Still, one late spring Sunday in 1975, the local indepedent TV station in Edmonton, Alberta were showing "A Hard Day's Night" that afternoon. My mom implored me to go outside and enjoy the nice weather, but I had received a cassette tape recorder from Consumer's Disturbuting that past year, and was into taping everything moving.

Set up my machine next to our small black-and-white TV (the colour TV was in the living room), and taped only the songs, for some reason.

Immediately knew this was what I had to do; actually two things. One, be in a band like the Beatles, and two, tape things for a living.

Point Two turned out a heck of a lot more successful that Point One.

After the film was over, it was like a previously unseen door was opened to me.

And then the album buying began...

[randyz]

My earliest memory of the Beatles is hearing 'And Your Bird Can Sing' on an episode of their cartoon series in 1966-1967. I would have been 6 or 7-years-old. I thought it was a cool song, and it's still a favorite all-time song of mine. I'm not ashamed to say that that song can bring tears to my eyes when I hear it. In 1973 I recall listening to the Beatles A-Z marathons that radio stations would play on New Years Day. It was a rare opportunity to hear records that I thought I'd never own. By 1975, I was buying records and the first ones were 'Magical Mystery Tour' followed by 'The White Album' and 'Sgt Pepper'. I had no interest in music older than 'Revolver' at the time, but getting a copy of 'Introducing The Beatles' on VeeJay (no doubt a bootleg in a bargain bin) changed all that. I thought 'Anna' was fantastic and loved Lennon's vocal although the backing vocals ( "cheat, cheat, sha-la-la-la) always cracked me up.

[randyz]

'Here I stand head, head in hand' - I can't believe I just mixed up the lyrics between 'Anna' and 'Baby, It's You'. Please forgive me. As far as I'm concerned, they both showcase Lennon's vocal talents. Sometime later 'Not A Second Time' became a favorite as well. My memory does reality very few favors...

[nattiep]

Hello Goodbye promo vid.

[morrow]

The Ed Sullivan show . The planet seemed to have taken a tilt after that , everything changed . Beatle hair , Beatle this , Beatle that . Taste and fashion did an immediate double back flip .

It's hard to explain the phenomena that was Beatlemania to those that missed it .

[chuck_king]

I don't remember the details exactly, but I know I was into Wings first---as a little kid, I remember hearing "Band on the Run" on the radio, and one my friends had the album and we used to listen to it in his basement when I was like 6 years old. The first record I ever owned---had my mom specifically get for me---was a 45 of "Listen to What the Man Said". I believe a friend who had the red album introduced me to the band that Paul McCartney had been in before Wings, and I picked up a beat-up copy of The Early Beatles at a garage sale or something, and it progressed from there.

[shamustwin]

The Ed Sullivan show . The planet seemed to have taken a tilt after that , everything changed . Beatle hair , Beatle this , Beatle that . Taste and fashion did an immediate double back flip .

It's hard to explain the phenomena that was Beatlemania to those that missed it .

Absolutely.

We'd (my sibs, neighbors and I) been hearing about them and hearing their music for a little while before Sullivan. And they looked like nothing else on the planet. The fact that they had the goods to more than back up the hype was welcome.

Sullivan came and, yep, that was the end of the old world.

My five year old was singing Beatle tunes to my strumming last night.

[iamthebassman]

My brother made us watch Ed Sullivan the first time they were on. I was 6.

[jch]

My Dad played them all the time when i was growing up during the 70's.
He only had there first four albums ,Well three, and an 8 track,so that's the period i like most now.

I have bought them all again on cd ,well ,up to Sgt.Pepper anyway.
When i first saw George in A Hard Days Night ,i knew immediately what Rickenbacker i wanted !

I miss my Dad.

[blueflamerick]

By listening to my mom's 45s.

[tamborineman]

Howard I was waiting for that .... I heard that Lennon asked you to join and you turned the boys down....