Why Am I Obsessed with the Beatles?

I have claimed the Beatles as my favorite band since I was about 6. And I’ve maintained that obsession throughout my life. Which always struck me as a little odd, although I’ve had no desire to change that. I mean, here’s a bunch of guys, half of whom died before I was born, that were active during my grandmother’s generation and now they’re my favorite. What up with that?

On introspection, there’s two responses to this question. The first is that they have been an active presence throughout my life. The first album I ever had and listened to repeatedly was the Beatles “1” album. And over time I’ve discovered the others, but gradually so I continually had stuff to listen to that never got old (also horribly out of chronological order). And the second response is that they were such a dynamic and changing group during the brief time that they were together (almost a decade, and they went from “Please Please Me” to “Abbey Road”).

And their interests overlapped with several of mine as well. John was into Christianity at one point, I was too (at one point). Then I swapped for Eastern religions and Buddhism, George got very into that. I also wanted to become a hippie when I was too young to actually understand what that meant (A+ for effort though), hello John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.

The music too is also incredibly diverse. They played everything from avant garde to sappy love songs, and went from recording an album in a day to taking several months to churn out “Sgt. Pepper’s”. Not many other musical groups can say that. And as a result you don’t need to be in a specific mood to listen to the Beatles, if you want something to dance to, pick up an early album. If you want more introspection, try a later one. The best part is that not all of them are love songs, they were singing about paperback writers and yellow submarines fairly early on. There’s literally something for everyone.

Regardless of the fact that I still think this obsession is a little strange, it’s one that aligns with my life and has made me who I am today. It’s a part of me that connects with the past, and I'm not giving that up.