Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Long Live...


(note - this is from two weeks ago... ...time flies) Scene: I'm sitting in a hotel in Boston, drinking my 3rd or maybe 4th Harpoon Imperial IPA, and Scorcese's Beatles doc comes on HBO.

Now, I have to preface this conversation with some context. I am a Beatles fanatic. I recorded the late 90's Beatles Anthology on VHS and watched it (and by "it," I mean parts 1-2... ...starting with Rubber Soul, which I consider their tipping point... ...which is when they started doing drugs.... ...which was TOTALLY cool.... ...or at least i thought... ...think... ...thought... ...think... ...thought... ...) weekly.

What i thought as i watched this awesome documentary was:

1. Brian Epstein and George Martin wore suits and ties to the studio every day. EVERY day.

2. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be a teenager during the 60's. Your teenage years are undoubtedly when you are most impressionable in all ways. Music is no exception. In fact, I would argue that the ages of 12-16 are the years when you are more likely to develop your lifetime musical tastes than any other period in your life.

For me, this period was dominated by Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, and the aforementioned Beatles.

When I was watching this film, I couldn't help but think "this is my parents' band." I just happened to embrace, relate, and adore them. It made me wonder if I could ever really love the Beatles the way my parents did...

The first time I heard the Strokes was 2001. At that point, they were pretty new, and the SOUND was something that our Coldplay/Dave Matthews/Bob Dylan/Pavement world had not yet heard. It's not that I am better able to relate to Julian Casablancas than a kid who graduates high school on 2012... ...it's just that for 2001 Clay, it was new, exciting, and groundbreaking. For 2012 kid, "Is This It" is probably a really great album that also has some killer Girl Talk remixes.

None of these thoughts diminish my view of the Beatles in any way. If anything, it fills me with more of a sense of wonder about them. It makes me wonder, "what is my Beatles-love ceiling?"

Eric Clapton said it best when he was asked if he was ever jealous of one of his best friends in the world, George Harrison (keep in mind that this was during the "Clapton is God" phase - there was no single force bigger than Clapton at this point in time).

Clapton's reply? "It was the BEATLES. Come ON!"

I have no Idea what the point of this was, except maybe a small tribute to the best band of all time, and an expression of my awe that it's possible that I could love them MORE than I do now.

1 comment:

  1. "What is my Beatles-love ceiling?"

    That is such a good question. What I love about the Beatles is that no matter how well you know them there is something that you have never heard by them and because of that there is always a Beatles surprise right around the corner. This also applies to their history as a band. There is always some new story just waiting to be heard from some unexpected person's vantage point. I love the impact that they had on this earth and in such a short period of time. It blows my mind. I could talk Beatles shop all day long and still not have it all. If you want an interesting Beatles read I recommend "Revolution in the Head" it Chronicles the story of each song and the events surrounding it. It is pretty fun to see behind the curtain of each song. I'll add it under the Feed your mind: Read section of the Blog.

    While I was traveling in Europe during college I got in to a debate with one of my professors about the the Beatles. He couldn't understand why many of us in the class were so excited to be on the Beatles tour of London because there was so much "harder" rock going on during that time and he cited The Rolling Stones. I responded by explaining that the Beatles are to us as Frank Sinatra was to his generation. He loved Sinatra because he grew up listening and watching his parents listening and responding to the music of Frank the way we watched our parents do the same with the Beatles. He understood that response. This thought brings me to wonder, who or what musician or band will be this for our kids? Pearl Jam? Nirvana? Coldplay? the Strokes? Dave Matthew's Band? It will be interesting to see what happens as these questions are answered. The one thing I do know is that the emotion surrounding their music is unparalleled in my life. Seeing Paul live was one of the great experiences of my life and sharing that experience with the entire Paris football stadium was a miraculous event. By the end as he closed with Hey Jude the Stadium up to the last row was in tears of joy. I know this because we were in the last row center and we all had an emotional catharsis at this point and other points throughout the night. I look forward to the day I get to see him again and regret not having seen the others as they lived.

    Cheers,
    Clint.

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