The Beatles

The weird thing was that during this time, 6th to 8th grade, is that an amazing thing happened that made my surf music and Jerry Lee Lewis obsolete. And that thing???? The Beatles.

I have always been on the wrong side of current fashion and this was that in spades. I don't remember learning any Beatles songs except maybe Money which was a cover tune for them as well, done by all the surf bands, until 9th grade at least.

First I heard of them was a little tiny picture in Life magazine of bobbies carrying fainted girls out of a hall in England. Within a few weeks they hit like gangbusters. I remember laying in the dark and having I Want to Hold Your Hand Coming on KXOA. When it hit that part at the end of the bridge with John's chugging Rickenbacker rhythm I just went nuts. I had never heard ANYTHING so cool. Within a few more weeks the Beatles just dominated pop music. I remember a week when they had 7 of the Top 10 hits. Soon they were on Ed Sullivan. I also remember going downtown to see a close circuit broadcast at the Fox Theater of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Leslie Gore(It's My Party.......) Being a natural contrarian I was waving the Beach Boy flag right up to the point when the Beatles came on, when they hit it was all over. I remember getting caught up in the hysteria and screaming my head off like a little girl!!!!! They were just overwhelmingly great. Pretty soon the rest of the invasion hit and I got turned on to bands like The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and the Who all who have stood the test of time but also I dug Jerry and The Pacemakers, The Searchers, Peter and Gordon, the Dave Clark 5 and a bunch of others. My world and the whole world changed then, but little did we know what was right around the corner.