When and how did you become a Beatles fan?
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When and how did you become a Beatles fan? (I know there must be a thread about this in existence but I haven't found it yet.) Obviously some of us here are original fans from when the Beatles first became famous. I feel so fortunate to be a member of that very special group. How exciting it was to experience new Beatles material on a fairly regular basis! But many of you became fans after the Beatles were famous.... Was there a certain song or album that had a great impact on you that made you a fan? Was there a friend or relative who introduced you to their music or did you just get involved with it yourself? What was the first Beatles 45, album, cassette, 8 track or CD you bought? And lastly, did you save the Beatles 45's, albums, and memorabilia from long ago...or sell it/give it away?
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I was pretty young when I became a fan in 1964 and did not even earn money by babysitting yet so I was not buying Beatles 45's or albums the entire time while they were still together. For Christmas one year though, my parents bought me a Beatles 45 knowing I liked them a lot. It was "Hello, Goodbye". That seems so funny to me now because if there was one Beatles hit I have never really cared for, it was that one! And I still own it to this day along with my other 45s/albums from other artists in the 60's and early 70's...scratched though they all may be.
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I became a Beatles fanatic when I saw a TV program, in 1991, called "Remembering The Beatles" which played Beatle video one after another. It was compiled by a certain Danee Samonte better known as Steve O' Neal, a disc jockey. He still work in RJFM, I think. My father told me who is who. I loved the Ed Sullivan show performances. And that was it, I watched the re-runs of the show over and over again. In 1997, when I was in college, I bought a cassette tape of Sgt. Pepper's. I have a complete collection of their albums in cassette tape and CD formats. In 2006, a very kind and generous member of this forum sent me the "Live At The BBC" album. I won't mention her name, though, because I know she wants to preserve her anonymity. I think she gets a bit irritated every time I thank her in Strawberry Fields message board. Ha-ha! Going back to the topic, my father has a collection of vinyl albums of the Beatles "Love Songs" and "Let It Be", cassette tape of The John Lennon Collection, a vinyl of Sir Paul's Red Rose Speedway and George's 'best of' album - the one with Beatles songs on side 1 and post-Beatles songs in side 2. And of course, all the albums that I mentioned are still in our possession.
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I was a fan before they were on Ed Sullivan, from the first time I heard I Want To Hold Your Hand on the radio in late Dec. 1963. I was 8 years old. Everything was "The Beatles are coming!" from then until Feb. 7th. Seeing them on the TV (in living b&w!) sealed the deal! I've been in love with Paul and the Beatles ever since. Got all their albums/records as soon as they came out. Still have them all, plus stereo albums, and CDs.
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Anyone who was a fan 50 years ago...do you remember how their 1964 haircuts really did seem so radical at that time and yet when you look back now, it all seems so cute and tame? And I loved the way Paul especially kind of wobbled his head like one of those dashboard bobble heads that stuck its finger in an electrical socket. Still love that to this day and kind of do that myself as I sing along to the very early stuff. When I am alone of course, not at work.
See Paul at 1:17 and 1:52. I could have been married to that bobble head...oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
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One of the first TV news that's embeded in my memory is that of John's tragic passing. In the early 1980's I taped two Beatles' songs off my television, they were "Please Please Me", and "From Me To You", but it wasn't until 1988 that I became a conscious Beatles fan. My first Beatles albums were George's "Cloud 9", and Paul "Flowers in The Dirt", I taped them live off the Polish radio. They were brand new albums at that time. I loved both of them. By 1990 I had become a die-hard fan. I spent 90% of my free time listening to The Beatles, and looking for info about them in books and magazines. There was an American Embassy in the city where I lived in Poland, that had a library open to general public. I remember going there on a regular basis and looking for Beatles related books. That was before mobile phones and the Internet. You learnt things from books, rather than wikipedia. That was quite a thrill. We had just regained freedom, I mean managed to break up with the Soviet Union. Great time, nice memories...
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I Started To Like The Beatles When I Was Sixteen Years Old 24 Years Ago I Still Have The Hard Day's Night Album That My Mom Saved I Have A Lot Of Beatles Stuff I Have Over A 100 Beatles Books!
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PaulMcCartneyFan:
I Started To Like The Beatles When I Was Sixteen Years Old 24 Years Ago I Still Have The Hard Day's Night Album That My Mom Saved I Have A Lot Of Beatles Stuff I Have Over A 100 Beatles Books!
100 Beatles Books! I didn't even realize until I arrived at this forum two months ago that there were even 100 Beatles books available to buy! Someone else here has 100 Beatles books...is it Nancy? Just curious....do you have a room at home dedicated to Beatles books and memorabilia? I would not have the room for these things where I'm living. Well....maybe if I got rid of some shoes. Love the shoes though!
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Pawel:
There was an American Embassy in the city where I lived in Poland, that had a library open to general public. I remember going there on a regular basis and looking for Beatles related books. That was before mobile phones and the Internet. You learnt things from books, rather than wikipedia. That was quite a thrill. We had just regained freedom, I mean managed to break up with the Soviet Union. Great time, nice memories...
Hi Pawel. I guess I never gave much thought to what services an embassy would provide. I didn't think library books would be among them. That's great that you were able to have access to Beatles books like that. I've read some of your other posts on this forum. You have a lot of enthusiasm for the Beatles, it come across so strongly in your writing. You remind me of my friend who lived behind the Berlin Wall for the first 28 years of her life. And then when the wall came down she had such enthusiasm for all of the worldwide entertainment that she had been denied access to for so long.
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Scarlett14:
PaulMcCartneyFan:
I Started To Like The Beatles When I Was Sixteen Years Old 24 Years Ago I Still Have The Hard Day's Night Album That My Mom Saved I Have A Lot Of Beatles Stuff I Have Over A 100 Beatles Books!
100 Beatles Books! I didn't even realize until I arrived at this forum two months ago that there were even 100 Beatles books available to buy! Someone else here has 100 Beatles books...is it Nancy? Just curious....do you have a room at home dedicated to Beatles books and memorabilia? I would not have the room for these things where I'm living. Well....maybe if I got rid of some shoes. Love the shoes though!
Yep, that's me! I have over 100 Beatles-related books and a dedicated room for all my memorabilia.
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Also pre-Ed Sullivan. I heard them being played on the radio in Dec. and Jan. Then of course saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show. First album was Meet The Beatles. I have had several collections over the years. In this 50th anniversary year I remember the excitement surrounding their TV appearances and U.S. tours, and waiting excitedly for each new album and single. And the heartbreaking news when they broke up. And the devastating news when John was murdered. Even though they were all doing fine solo, we never gave up hope they would reunite. Until Dec. 8th, 1980. That's why this year is even more amazing. It seemed to all be over that day, but it wasn't. The spirit of The Beatles could not be destroyed merely by physical death. I think they told us that in their music!
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beatlesfanrandy:
And the heartbreaking news when they broke up.
Wasn't that a killer back then? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, thought it HAD to be a mistake. Felt like they would soon announce that they had decided to get back together after a trial separation just like in a shaky marriage. But there were too many wonderful cooks in the kitchen...each of whom had his own idea of what constituted great dishes. We who had sampled their food for years would have been perfectly happy going on doing the same. It didn't matter to us if some of them preferred using a lot of exotic spices or dishes just lightly seasoned and more simple. There were even some illegal ingredients which either hindered the cooks from creating something better or perhaps they were the cause for their creative greatness. We heard about the spats in the kitchen and how some of the cooks stormed off at times leaving only the rest to complete a recipe. One cook even brought along an assistant cook at times which may not have gone over well with the other chefs. Really, they all had assistant cooks probably, just didn't bring them to the kitchen much. When the four chefs packed up their knives and went their own ways, we who had loved their group creations were at a loss as to which new restaurant to visit in the future. In the end, much to our joy, there were FOUR fabulous new places to eat. All kinds of delicious dishes with not one chef hindering another. But we who remember the way it used to be, know that when those four chefs had once cooked together the sum was always greater than the whole and would never be seen again in the history of culinary art.
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Scarlett14:
beatlesfanrandy:
And the heartbreaking news when they broke up.
Wasn't that a killer back then? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, thought it HAD to be a mistake. Felt like they would soon announce that they had decided to get back together after a trial separation just like in a shaky marriage. But there were too many wonderful cooks in the kitchen...each of whom had his own idea of what constituted great dishes. We who had sampled their food for years would have been perfectly happy going on doing the same. It didn't matter to us if some of them preferred using a lot of exotic spices or dishes just lightly seasoned and more simple. There were even some illegal ingredients which either hindered the cooks from creating something better or perhaps they were the cause for their creative greatness. We heard about the spats in the kitchen and how some of the cooks stormed off at times leaving only the rest to complete a recipe. One cook even brought along an assistant cook at times which may not have gone over well with the other chefs. Really, they all had assistant cooks probably, just didn't bring them to the kitchen much. When the four chefs packed up their knives and went their own ways, we who had loved their group creations were at a loss as to which new restaurant to visit in the future. In the end, much to our joy, there were FOUR fabulous new places to eat. All kinds of delicious dishes with not one chef hindering another. But we who remember the way it used to be, know that when those four chefs had once cooked together the sum was always greater than the whole and would never be seen again in the history of culinary art.
Great analogy!!
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Nancy R:
Scarlett14:
beatlesfanrandy:
And the heartbreaking news when they broke up.
Wasn't that a killer back then? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, thought it HAD to be a mistake. Felt like they would soon announce that they had decided to get back together after a trial separation just like in a shaky marriage. But there were too many wonderful cooks in the kitchen...each of whom had his own idea of what constituted great dishes. We who had sampled their food for years would have been perfectly happy going on doing the same. It didn't matter to us if some of them preferred using a lot of exotic spices or dishes just lightly seasoned and more simple. There were even some illegal ingredients which either hindered the cooks from creating something better or perhaps they were the cause for their creative greatness. We heard about the spats in the kitchen and how some of the cooks stormed off at times leaving only the rest to complete a recipe. One cook even brought along an assistant cook at times which may not have gone over well with the other chefs. Really, they all had assistant cooks probably, just didn't bring them to the kitchen much. When the four chefs packed up their knives and went their own ways, we who had loved their group creations were at a loss as to which new restaurant to visit in the future. In the end, much to our joy, there were FOUR fabulous new places to eat. All kinds of delicious dishes with not one chef hindering another. But we who remember the way it used to be, know that when those four chefs had once cooked together the sum was always greater than the whole and would never be seen again in the history of culinary art.
Great analogy!!
Thanks, Nancy. That means a lot coming from a longtime dedicated fan like you.
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Scarlett14:
Pawel:
There was an American Embassy in the city where I lived in Poland, that had a library open to general public. I remember going there on a regular basis and looking for Beatles related books. That was before mobile phones and the Internet. You learnt things from books, rather than wikipedia. That was quite a thrill. We had just regained freedom, I mean managed to break up with the Soviet Union. Great time, nice memories...
Hi Pawel. I guess I never gave much thought to what services an embassy would provide. I didn't think library books would be among them. That's great that you were able to have access to Beatles books like that. I've read some of your other posts on this forum. You have a lot of enthusiasm for the Beatles, it come across so strongly in your writing. You remind me of my friend who lived behind the Berlin Wall for the first 28 years of her life. And then when the wall came down she had such enthusiasm for all of the worldwide entertainment that she had been denied access to for so long.
Thank you for your kind words, Scarlett. I'd like to make a clarification for those of you who follow my posts. It's not that in Poland we were completety "cut off" from the rest of the world and we only listened to some Russian/Soviet folk music. On the contary! We had a lot of jazz and rock'n'roll bands. We rrrawked! Beatles music was very popular, too. We got The Rolling Sones to play Poland, the Animals, and a lot other first league performers doing live shows in Poland. The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" was screened in Polish cinemas in the mid 1960's. (the title was changed to "Yeah Yeah Yeah" for our market) We were up-to-date. But still it was more like licking lolipops through the display window. On the one had we knew perfectly well what was going on in the West, in terms of music, fashion, an so on. But our practical possibilites and resources were very limited. You could not just go to a record store and buy Beatles or Stones albums just like that, because simply they were not sold in Poland. There was a black market for everything, food, clothes, appliances, and music records too. Luckily we had a lot of enlighted guys working for the radio and tv, who played this music in their programmes. We taped a lot of music off the radio in that way. I was quite up-to-date with music developments. In the 1980's I was a fan of ... Madonna. True Blue, La Isla Bonita, Material Girl, Papa Don't Preach, that sort of music. Anyway access to records, posters, promotional materials was very limited and scarse. The West was like a paradise which we coukld see from a distance but access was denied. We could even try some of it, but never satisfy hunger completety, if you know what I mean. We were teased. When the system collapsed it was like the display window glass break, and suddenly we were part of the world again. It's only that we'd wasted the 40 years. Oh well. Just seize the day and let's enjoy ourselves!
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Pawel:
Scarlett14:
Pawel:
There was an American Embassy in the city where I lived in Poland, that had a library open to general public. I remember going there on a regular basis and looking for Beatles related books. That was before mobile phones and the Internet. You learnt things from books, rather than wikipedia. That was quite a thrill. We had just regained freedom, I mean managed to break up with the Soviet Union. Great time, nice memories...
Hi Pawel. I guess I never gave much thought to what services an embassy would provide. I didn't think library books would be among them. That's great that you were able to have access to Beatles books like that. I've read some of your other posts on this forum. You have a lot of enthusiasm for the Beatles, it come across so strongly in your writing. You remind me of my friend who lived behind the Berlin Wall for the first 28 years of her life. And then when the wall came down she had such enthusiasm for all of the worldwide entertainment that she had been denied access to for so long.
Thank you for your kind words, Scarlett. I'd like to make a clarification for those of you who follow my posts. It's not that in Poland we were completety "cut off" from the rest of the world and we only listened to some Russian/Soviet folk music. On the contary! We had a lot of jazz and rock'n'roll bands. We rrrawked! Beatles music was very popular, too. We got The Rolling Sones to play Poland, the Animals, and a lot other first league performers doing live shows in Poland. The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" was screened in Polish cinemas in the mid 1960's. (the title was changed to "Yeah Yeah Yeah" for our market) We were up-to-date. But still it was more like licking lolipops through the display window. On the one had we knew perfectly well what was going on in the West, in terms of music, fashion, an so on. But our practical possibilites and resources were very limited. You could not just go to a record store and buy Beatles or Stones albums just like that, because simply they were not sold in Poland. There was a black market for everything, food, clothes, appliances, and music records too. Luckily we had a lot of enlighted guys working for the radio and tv, who played this music in their programmes. We taped a lot of music off the radio in that way. I was quite up-to-date with music developments. In the 1980's I was a fan of ... Madonna. True Blue, La Isla Bonita, Material Girl, Papa Don't Preach, that sort of music. Anyway access to records, posters, promotional materials was very limited and scarse. The West was like a paradise which we coukld see from a distance but access was denied. We could even try some of it, but never satisfy hunger completety, if you know what I mean. We were teased. When the system collapsed it was like the display window glass break, and suddenly we became part of the world again. It's only that we'd wasted the 40 years. Oh well. Just seize the day and let's enjoy ourselves!
Hi Pawel. Thanks for the clarification. Glad to hear you had rock 'n roll bands! Even my friend who lived behind the Berlin Wall would hear of Western entertainment, it was just out of her reach until the wall came down. There was a very famous US actor in the 70's whom she had heard about and desperately wanted to see while he was performing in London theatre, a very rare occurrence for him. One very short weekend she was able to get out of East Berlin as a teen on the premise she was seeing her dying grandmother just over the other side (Grandma was in fact in good health). This was a very dangerous thing to do, she could have been imprisoned or worse if caught. My friend actually used the only money she had to travel by train to London, staying with missionaries in tents outside overnight because she had no place to stay...all to see this actor at the stage door. When she met him he could detect her accent. She told him she had traveled with almost no money from Berlin. He asked very hesitantly, "Which one...East or West?" She said, "East"..and he said, "Oh my!" in a very shocked voice. This shows you how much young people the world over did not let anything stand in their way of enjoying the entertainment that they knew was being enjoyed elsewhere. And boy did she enjoy it once that wall came down! I don't know much about Poland, Pawel, but there are many friends/neighbors here of strong Polish background. I enjoy going to their houses on holidays and enjoying the kielbasa and sauerkraut, rye bread and butter, golumpki, pierogies and for dessert -kruschiki. Delicious!
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Wow! Who was the famous U.S. actor?
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My friend actually used the only money she had to travel by train to London, staying with missionaries in tents outside overnight because she had no place to stay
I understand perfectly well. You guys, in the West, may not realise how little money people were paid in the Soviet block. For example, my father who was a relatively high rank officer (a major) in the Polish army was paid a equivalent of some 20 US dollars per month. I am serious. It is true that prices in the Soviet block were a lot lower than in the West, but still not as low to make up for the gigantic pay gap. You could buy a Beatles album, or a pair of Levis' jeans on the black market, but the price was a "western" one, which was roughly 5 or 7 dollars - a week's pay. Not many could afford that! Real problems emerged when somehow someone from the East travelled to the West and had to support themselves. All the money we had was good enough for one decent meal in a restaurant. No wonder the girl had nowhere to stay, i.e. she could not afford to pay 20 pounds or so for a night at a hotel. Today, 25 years after the system change the pay gap is much smaller. Average monthly pay in Poland today is circa 1,000-1,500 US dollars per month (compared to 20 US dollars per month in the 1980's)
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Pawel:
My friend actually used the only money she had to travel by train to London, staying with missionaries in tents outside overnight because she had no place to stay
I understand perfectly well. You guys, in the West, may not realise how little money people were paid in the Soviet block. For example, my father who was a relatively high rank officer (a major) in the Polish army was paid a equivalent of some 20 US dollars per month. I am serious. It is true that prices in the Soviet block were a lot lower than in the West, but still not as low to make up for the gigantic pay gap. You could buy a Beatles album, or a pair of Levis' jeans on the black market, but the price was a "western" one, which was roughly 5 or 7 dollars - a week's pay. Not many could afford that! Real problems emerged when somehow someone from the East travelled to the West and had to support themselves. All the money we had was good enough for one decent meal in a restaurant. No wonder the girl had nowhere to stay, i.e. she could not afford to pay 20 pounds or so for a night at a hotel. Today, 25 years after the system change the pay gap is much smaller. Average monthly pay in Poland today is circa 1,000-1,500 US dollars per month (compared to 20 US dollars per month in the 1980's)
The 1980's pay was unbelievable, Paul, just unbelievable...and the pay for right now...$1000-1500/month...is still not good. If you look at the "Ladies, would you REALLY marry a Beatle?" thread you'll see me posting about my discomfort with wealth. And then how I was jokingly re-thinking that notion. Well, I'm back to my discomfort again. I don't know how you are even alive today having had so little money to live on in the 80's, I really don't. You were living on Beatles music, that's what you were doing.
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1,000/1,500 US dollars is an average, which means that A LOT of people live on less than that, 500 maybe 800 if they're lucky. The thing is that if during communist times prices in the East were relatively low, today they are about the same as in the rest of western Europe. E.g. petrol is only 10% cheaper than in Germany or France. Still, you'd be surprised to see HOW MUCH Poland has changed for the better in the last 25 years. And as a matter of fact, coincidentally, this very month we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Poland's accession to the European Union. Poland 30 years ago was all black-and-white, all shabby, gloomy and sad. Obviously, there are still a lot of places like this even today, but the change has been dramatic, especially in bigger cities.
