above fame

 

I kind of wanted to study the Decluttering-Just-Stop-Buying-Stuff subject some more today, but then the New York Times had an opinion piece (by an author who never makes sense to me) about the Beatles, trying to explain their popularity in terms  of -- 'people like music because other people like it.'

        (See?...That does not make sense to me, either.)

But the Reader Comments, well worth a glance:

fast / furious

DC

    The Beatles taught themselves to be great performers during the rough years in Hamburg when they struggled to get the attention of drunken sailors and other club goers who were bored and just there to score pills.  

A tough crowd.  

It was in Hamburg (and to a lesser extent The Cavern) that The Beatles really learned to put on a show and get and hold people's attention.  

Without the training of those early years of playing live for hours in sleazy venues, nothing Brian Epstein could have done would have mattered.

Robert King

Nashville, Tennessee

    and Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun, and Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker, and Berry Gordy, and Clive Davis, and many others.  But that was before record labels became entirely corporatized, and entirely focused on the bottom line.  Label heads used to be interested in musical quality, artist development, art.... That's pretty rare these days.

manfred marcus

Bolivia

    The Beatles...were willing to fail in the process, so to make their eventual successes the sweeter.  In Spanish we say:  'Quien no arriesga no gana' (who does not risk doesn't win).

Durham, North Carolina

    This world has never been, nor ever will be again, as united as it was when we all loved the Beatles.

Joanne Witzkowski

Washington State

    I was 11 when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. ...it was all over the school the next day - big time! ...What was their magic?  It was their music, their exuberance, their uniquely tailored suits, their humor, their hair! their sex appeal, their accents, their charm.  

It was a total je ne sais quoi, a tsunami. ...and they did it all on a generally plain and basic stage - no big light show, no special effects, just their vibrant selves, thrilling us all.

Kurt

Chicago

    Some songs are so inherently good that they will prevail regardless of the times and how they are promoted.  The Beatles had a couple dozen of those at least.  

The mystery to  me is what makes them so good?  What combination of notes and beats and lyrics make a song transcendent?  

I'm not sure even John and Paul know the answer.

Michael Skadden

Houston, Texas

    You must remember that the Beatles (originally The Quarrymen) got their start in 1955.  It'd be seven long years of hard work and learning before "Love Me Do" came out....

Tim

San Jose

    I remember the excitement in Junior High School when we first heard "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There."  It was romantic and thrilling music....

Michael Kennedy

Portland, Oregon

    ...First, news of the teenagers in Europe, going bonkers preceded them.  

Their performance before the Queen in late 1963, was in Newsweek magazine.  

Then President Kennedy was assassinated. The young people, indeed the nation went into shock.  

Within the awful weeks that followed, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" came to the USA.  

You have no idea what that did to raise the spirits of the young people. 

...They brought us together through imagination, their sense of humor, professionalism, and genuine charisma.  

Indeed they still influence our culture to this day.  

They were and are above fame.  

The Beatles were four working class men who showed how to do it well and with grace.

-30-