The Stages Of Being A Beatles Fan...

I know this may go against all that we know, but yes the Beatles are underrated. 

With all the hype on Quora and all the hype that the Rolling Stone magazine gives them, you may think I'm out of my mind. But I'm not.

I won't go in to the statistics of it or how the Beatles changed music and the music industry. All that has been said by people much more qualified by me. 

I'm only going to give a personal account. 

As a die hard Beatles fan, I know most will agree with the cycles of being a Beatles fan.

Cycle 1:

This is when I was first introduced to the Beatles. Now I'm 21 and I had no one to really tell me what to listen to. So I started off as most did, by listening to the famous ones. I heard Hey Jude, Yesterday, Let It Be, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You, She Loves You, All My Loving, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps etc

All melodic gems. All so good to listen to and so refreshing. The positiveness in most songs hit me most (with exception of Yesterday). The Beatles were referencing all the songs to me! 

Is there anything that YOU want?

YOU think you've lost your love? Well I saw her yesterday.

As a listener, I was touched and I was instantly connected. Even in songs like Yesterday, Hey Jude and Let It Be, though they weren't addressed to me, I was Jude. I was the one in trouble. I was the one who thought I was a better man yesterday than today.

I devoured these songs.

Cycle 2:

This is the lesser-known-gems cycle. You're still stuck in the melodic part of things, but you dig out the lesser known songs

This one consists of songs like You Can't Do That, I've Just Seen a Face, And Your Bird Can Sing, I'll Follow The Sun, I'm Looking Through You, Michelle, You Won't See Me.

These might not be lesser-known gems for everyone, but they do come under the not-so-well-known category.

You begin to think "Wow! These guys are good. The melody just sticks in the head"

Cycle 3:

You start dabbling in the critically acclaimed songs. A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Here Comes The Sun, While My Guitar etc

And then you realize that these guys are geniuses. They don't have great melody, they have great lyrical sense. They cover concepts I only dreamed about.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see

With every mistake, we must surely be learning

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore, waiting to take you away/ Climb in the back with your head in the clouds and you're gone!

The lyrics blow you away!

Cycle 4:

"I must obsessively listen to all the Beatles songs!"

You start scouring their catalogue. You listen to every song there ever was. You listen to all the albums, from start to the end. This cycle lasts a long time!

Cycle 5:

You now start scouring the internet for stories. You want to know about these guys. You want to know the stories behind every song. If you're me, you read up about every song on Wikipedia and you make an application which let's others do the same !

You also start listening to the Anthology series

Sometimes, cycle 4 and 5 start parallely.

Cycle 6:

You now have a favourite. You know whether you like Lennon or you like McCartney. But you have chosen. And this will remain with you for sometime. You start reading up about their relationship. How it began, how it was ruined. You'll try and find the mistakes in the person who isn't your favourite. It was his fault!

Cycle 7:

You now obsess over the Beatles breakup. You're going to blame Yoko Ono and you start thinking Why did John have to be with her? 

Cycle 8:

You realize how underrated George Harrison really is! You listen to his songs again, the obscure ones. Love You To, If I Needed Someone, Inner Light, Think For Yourself etc. 

"Wow! George was a genius too!"

Cycle 9:

Damn Lennon-McCartney. There is no such thing as better in Lennon-McCartney. You realize that you were naive to think one is better than the other, or one is more important than the other. The Beatles, are the Beatles. There is no John-Paul-George-Ringo. You listen to their solo stuff and you realize the spark that is missing. You realize that the Beatles are greater than the sum of the individuals!

Cycle 10:

Woah! Ringo is an awesome drummer! Strawberry Fields Forever, the rolls in A Day In The Life, the drumming pattern in Ticket To Ride!

You read up about Ringo and you realize that he was the loving one in the band. The one who genuinely tried to keep the band together. Who had no ego issues. And you realize how sometimes they treated him like shit and feel bad.

Cycle 11:

You realize that the Beatles broke up, because it had to happen. All things must pass (yeah George!). Yoko wasn't the only reason for it.

You accept them for what they are. Individuals with faults.

Cycle 12:

After all this obsession, you want to take a break. So you go to other music and after some time you come back to it. 

Wow I never realized this haunting slider in Strawberry Fields Forever

I never noticed the awesome backing vocals in Here There and Everywhere

The lyrics of Across The Universe are so poetic and beautiful

You fall in love back again. You realize, how much you underestimated them. 

And this Cycle 12 continues for life. You keep going back to it, and the Beatles keep giving you more. They keep proving to you that you took them at face value, but they have more depth than you can imagine :)

P.S - I apologize if I skipped any important steps. It's a little difficult to summarize years worth of journey in a small post :)