The Beatles are known all over the world - Wherever you go, you will find people who are familiar with the names John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Many of them will not only imagine their music, but the magic which moved them listening to a Beatles song for the first time. A feeling that went beyond the musical experience and had influence on the acting and thinking of their young years.
Girls and Boys who got infected by the Beatles-virus will never forgot the first time they got in touch with it. They will remember their parents who forbid them listening to Beatles music being horrified at such unusual "noises". They will remember when they fought with their parents for maybe the first time and the good feeling having something on their own that was not right according to their parents' taste. It was just the beginning of freeing oneself from the restrictions in family, school and companies. - A phenomenon which could not only be found in Germany but all over the world.
It was probably not just the music alone that electrified the young people but the signal coming out of it at the right time.
Millions followed the signal and changed the world for at least one decade. In my opinion this movement caused effects which are still relevant for today's life and left marks in the live of lots of people.
That's why I have the Beatles to thank for. With the Beatles everything began what was important in my later life. They were the beginning for everything I cared and fought for until today, although of course there were other influences which played an important role - but everything started with the Beatles.
When my son asked me, I told him a lot about this time and acknowledged how much I liked doing that and how important these events were for me and my generation.
On the initiative of my son (he gave me a book about the Beatles from the library) I got deeper into this topic and in the eighties I found the time to collect everything about the Beatles and the sixties. Doing that I found out that lots of people all over the world share this love with me and how much material there is about this topic which was published by caring hands. Mainly this was all about the Beatles themselves (LPs, Cds, films, concerts and events) but not about how they affected the life of their fans.
I am interested in why the Beatles became unforgettable and why you find them very often in everyday conversation and the media. It cannot be the music alone.
I want to find out why the Beatles are so important for so many people in the world. I am interested in the story behind all this.
That's why I want to start a world-wide project to collect the stories of the fans and their adventures with the Beatles.
For this reason I'd like to ask all Beatles fans in the world to publish this letter on their homepages so that everyone who is interested can send me an e-mail with his personal Beatles story.
If this project leads to good results it might be possible to publish the scripts as a tribute to the Beatles in form of a book.
Important are following details: (The text can be written in prose or as a poem.)
When and where was your first contact with the Beatles?
How was your reaction?
How was the reaction of your environment (parents, teachers, friends...)?
Did the Beatles change your life?
How did they (Way of life, appearance, engagement...)?
Were there any conflicts?
Which conflicts did you have?
In which way was it possible for you to listen to Beatles music?
Could you afford Beatles albums?
Who was your favourite Beatle?
Do you think that having contact with the Beatles still affects you today?
Do you still listen to Beatles music (Beatles and solo)?
This is just a little help. Otherwise you can write whatever you want.
Important details concerning copyright supposing the results will be published - Please give:
Name, age, address , city, zip code, country, e-mail address
If you do not want to give your name and address: gender, age, e-mail address and probably first name
My address:
Joachim Gerke (50 years)
Basubooo@aol.com
Hermann-Rein-Str. 25
37075 Göttingen
Germany