"It was forty years ago today......"

June 1 (U.K.) and June 2 in the U.S.A. marks the date of the original release of the most influential rock album of all time.

Regardless of whether you liked the music of the four young lads from Liverpool, you simply could not ignore them if you came of age during the sixties.

Even my father, who loathed and despised "long haired hippie" music, liked "Yesterday" and "When I'm Sixty Four".

The most famous album cover of the era. A lost art form, to be sure.
CD labels don't come close to replacing them.



















It was a tough time in which to grow up.
It was a time of transition, moving from the relative innocence and "buttoned down" personal regimentation and sameness of the 1950's, to the anything goes, let's throw everything out and start over mindset of the mid sixties.

Most of us didn't change that much personally.
Except for our music.

The Beatles led the charge, and exemplified the cultural changes in their music, and in their own lives. All of them were simple blue collar lads from the seaport town of Liverpool.
When they hit the scene on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, popular music was never the same again.

From their tailored suits, their long hair, their droll sense of humor to their screaming, out of control teeny bopper fans, we kids loved them, and our parents pretty much hated them.
What more could a teenager ask for?
In short, they were cool, in a time when cool was needed.

And as their music matured and progressed, those of us who paid attention to lyrics, production quality and musicianship started to notice,
"Hey, these guys actually have talent!"

1966 was a tough year. It was for the Fab Four as well.
John's incredibly stupid comment about being more popular than Jesus nearly ended their career. He was actually commenting on the ridiculousness of the hysteria surrounding their every move, but it was the most ill advised and regretful comment he ever made.

The Vietnam war reached a peak in 1966, race riots were rampant here in the States, and the drug movement started to gain momentum.
And the Beatles agreed to stop touring and performing live at the end of the year.

In December, they went into Abbey Road Studios to work on a new album, for the first time without the encumbrance of an impending tour hanging over their heads.

On June 1, the long awaited album was finally released, the next day it debuted in America.

We'll talk about that in detail on my next post.