Guest post: Treadmarkz is my brother-in-law, a Human Beatles Encyclopedia and the author of the weblog Treadmarkz.wordpress.com.

I am sure you have heard all the hubbub, but maybe you never quite knew what it was all about, this thing, this MANIA called the Beatles. If you have been thinking of getting into the Beatles (and I mean really into the Beatles, not just buying their latest Greatest hits compilation) this is not the Beatles’ Top 12 Best Albums, and I am not reviewing each album. This is just the order you need to buy them in, in order to feel the full effect of what they did.

The chronological order in which they were originally released seems like the most sensible way to do it. But this isn’t sensible. If you get into the Beatles you have to be prepared for a little disjointedness and things that come out of left field. You don’t have to follow this guide exactly, and as you will see, I give you opportunities to make your own choice. Also, this is just the original Beatles Music we are talking about here, not Let It Be…Naked, or the Love Album. Having said that, I give you…The List: Read the rest of this entry

Guest post: Treadmarkz is a Human Beatles Encyclopedia and author of the weblog Treadmarkz.wordpress.com

Buddy Holly wrote his own songs. Chuck Berry wrote his own songs. Little Richard wrote his own songs. Paul McCartney and John Lennon, being devoted followers of all three, began writing their own songs early, and often. McCartney wrote rough versions of “I’ll Follow the Sun” and “When I’m Sixty-Four” in about 1957. And many of the originals from the Beatles first album were written by John and Paul around that same time. They knew that it set them apart from the other up-and-coming bands.

But rock n’ roll had changed drastically by 1960. Holly was dead, Berry was in jail, Little Richard had become a preacher, and Read the rest of this entry

Guest post: Treadmarkz is a Human Beatles Encyclopedia and author of the weblog treadmarkz.wordpress.com

The Beatles competed to be the best ever since their days as the Quarrymen in Liverpool in the late 1950’s, and during their stints as a bar band in Hamburg, Germany from 1960-62. This desire to be the best did not stop in February 1964 when they were seen by 73 million people on the Ed Sullivan Show, or in April ‘64 when all of the top five singles in the U.S. belonged to them. It didn’t stop when they were the first rock band to sell out a Major League Baseball stadium, when they rocked Shea Stadium in the summer of ‘65. Desire, some might say ego, is what pushed them beyond teen idols to legend status.

In December 1965, the Beatles released the album Rubber Soul. The Beach Boys’ leader Brian Wilson would later say Read the rest of this entry