How did you explain the Beatles to your parents?

I let the volume knob do the explaining.

 

Wich begs the question....
If you were not given the 'oh-they're-SO-inportant' schpiel , do you think, if you went to discover about them on your own, would you like them more?
By '78, I had done my own research on them, and I think that's where most of my 'fan-dom' comes from.
No one ever 'over-loaded' them on me!
AND, if they had, who knows... I may not have become the fan I am now!

 

That book should be titled 'OASIS'.
I joke as it was OASIS, who got me into exploring The Beatles' in the early 2000s and bought the 2009 CDs of their later albums from 'Revolver' to 'Abbey Road'. No interest in their early boy band pop music though.

 

Fair question. My mom (RIP) was a huge fan. She was a german native, from Hamburg, and met and followed them during that era. I suspect she was some kind of groupie (good for her; she was my mom, but as a single young euro chick, was she not entitled to have some fun ?)

She bought me my fist record player when I was 7. My first record was a Wings single, because it was a current one and she thought it would be a more adequate intro to The Beatles. I simply wasn't interested; I liked James Dean but she wouldn't let me have any records !

It comes across as contradictory to dislike something everybody praises, but I don't think it stems from a rebellious attitude, for they were never force-fed to me.

 

"Hey Mom, remember that group you really liked in the 60's? I like them too!".

 

My Parents got the Beatles. In fact, my grandma liked them too. Except when they got (in her words) "silly"

 

I still haven't sat them down to have a Beatles talk.

 

I didn't bother trying to explain The Beatles or any other group to my parents. Back in the 1960s, it wasn't cool to like the same music as your parents. I would have been mortified if my parents started listening to any of my favourite bands.

 

Really didn't have to, they kinda liked them. Never said anything negative.
The Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan however........well, that's another story!

 

I didn't...my dad explained them to me.

When I was 9, in 1970, he filled me in on John singing,"I need a fix..."

Oh.

 

"You see son, John's tire blew out on the road one day and he needed someone to fix it".

 

Ahhhh....

 

There are people besides boomers here.

 

What in the hell is there to explain about The Beatles? It's a rock band, not rocket science!

 

My parents were 45 when I was born in 1951, so they were in their late 50s when The Beatles came along. They pretty much paid no attention to me or anything I was into by that time. We watched them on Ed Sullivan together, because that's what we did every Sunday night on our only TV. Nothing whatsoever was said about their performance. I think the group was on the same level as Señor Wences for my parents--just another novelty act. S'all right?

 

FIFY

 

No explanation was necessary, just a single concert:


It was only when we pulled into the stadium parking lot that they asked, "What are we doing here?"


And, right then and there, I surprised my parents with tickets to see The Beatles live at Shea Stadium!



Even though they weren't even remotely familiar with pop music, my folks were quickly won over by what they heard. The fact of the matter is they went nuts! Abslolutely bonkers. It was more than a little embarrassing. So, when they spontaneously rushed the stage, I decided to hang back in my seat (the one I was hiding under). While in full flight, the inevitable occurred and they had the pleasure of being tackled by New York City's finest.

Bizarrely, all of this transpired during Sounds Incorporated's opening set...The Beatles had yet to play a single note.

 

I didn't have to. They apparently liked then even though they were in their 50's. However they kept playing only one song once I came back home from the service, "I'm A Loser". Hmmmm?

 

No need to; it was my mom (my dad left early [lucky and smart] and also died when I was very young, so I have no idea if he liked them or not. I kind of doubt it. All I know he liked was Trini Lopez - who I like, but...). She got me my first album ever, Introducing The Beatles (at least the first one I considered mine - but recently I remembered, wait, was Huckleberry Hound For President a "family" album? ha ha ha! or the Popeye and Friends one, with Help! Help! I Had A Hamburger Dream (the clear influence to A Day In The Life); but I swear this came first.
I was always, I remember we were always listening to the Beatles when I was young. The Beatles, Elvis, Simon and Garfunkel, and some non-rock things (as if Simon and Garfunkel are rock). The Beach Boys' Endless Summer I got into when really young too.
She loved the Beatles - except she once got genuinely psychotic to the point of reducing me to tears, when I got Magical Mystery Tour, screaming "what is this ****?!?")
but otherwise...my copy of this LP was a "fake," bought with me at Woolworth's (remember them?) back when Westgate was a nice place, and not a damn..whatever it became...strip mall....
it said Stereo on the cover but was mono...
I then got all the early ones, all used, over the next couple/few years, be it mono or stereo hell I didn't care - I was too young to care about, let alone to be a SNOB over which was better - I loved this thing called the music. It's an important part of listening many have forgotten on this site, it seems. I loved them on my rinky-dink, cheap little stereo. Those were the most thrilling times of my ever hearing them, like with Meet The Beatles for the first time! I went crazy over that! On my cheap little stereo; at 50 now, I could have the greatest stereo in the world (I sure don't, but it's of course a million times better than the thing I had as a kid of course) and still NEVER feel the same rush again that I felt when first hearing I Want To Hold Your Hand.
I loved the later ones too - well, Sgt. Pepper; I really loved Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. I never loved the other late ones as much, except for some songs. Abbey Road was my next favorite "late period" one back then. I even liked Maxwell's Silver Hammer; how wonderful being young... (Oh Christ, I remember that I loved Yellow Submarine when I was young - in fact, I think that may have been my first single actually - on the Apple logo, with a black star on it).
But anyway she didn't mind the Beatles for the most part, and loved their early, in my opinion, superior stuff; I guess she loved the first album really the most. Love Me Do, etc...
How could ANYONE not like the Beatles?
Well, some do. It's their right. (and being beaten over the head with how great they are won't make them love them, it will have the opposite effect)
There may be too many threads about them on here, but still, when I was young, the rush of hearing something like I Want To Hold Your Hand, or hearing Eight Days A Week in the car when this one relative drove...Help, Rubber Soul, they're all great. They changed of course...
I got the UK blue box when I was around 14 or so...for ages I made the mistake of forgetting those great American ones - The Beatles Second Album, Meet The Beatles, and Yesterday and Today...God I loved those.
Anyway, she never cared.

 

I was introduced to the Beatles by my dad when I was 3 years old. Quickly moved on to funk & jazz by myself around 2 years later (left the fabs in the dust). Dad is still stuck.

 

I told my Mom & Dad that they had followed me home and then asked if I could keep them. They said "no", reminding me that they had allowed me to keep Elvis but I never looked after him like I said I would and he ended up running away and joining the Army.

Stupid parents...I hate them SO MUCH !!!

D.D.

 

I didn't have to, my parents were into all kinds of music!

 

These are good.
But if you're playing Beatles your kids will either get 'em right off the umbilical or they won't (most will).

My daughter grew up with Shining Time Station (Ringo as Mr. Conductor) and Beatles frequently on the turn table.
She attended Ringo concerts at 4, 7,and 18, McCartney at 17.
We argue over who's the bigger fan, but she's treating me to the McCartney concert upcoming July 15.

My granddaughter (16 mos.) stops what she's doing when music comes on the television.
So when we're babysitting it's either Across the Universe or Mama Mia running while she's here.
She seems to prefer Mama Mia.
Kids ....

Uhh, yea.
A fact not ignored when my opening post contained the line,

"Anyway, it doesn't have to be your parents -- just friends or anyone you couldn't quite explain
your mania to when you were just past diaper rash."

My mother had a pithy little adage, "You don't learn anything when you're talking.".
If I can update that a bit:
You don't learn anything when you're just here to post.--- It's the reading where the information is acquired.

 

Didn't have to. My mom was buying records by Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Sinatra, and Peter Paul and Mary in the late 50's and early 60's. She was listening to the White album with me the day I opened it in 1968, and she liked it. For her music was music and open to most, unless it was too far out...Zappa wasn't a fave.

 

never tried