[luxinterior]

The Beatles have never been able to hold my interest for long. Most of their music grates on my nerves. I can't really say why. When I was 13 my uncle gave me Sgt. Pepper's because I was into other classic rock type things at the time, but that album didn't do anything for me. Not long after, one of my mom's friends gave me the White Album, and it was a little better than Sgt. Pepper's, but I rarely had the urge to listen to it. When I think back to that point in time, I guess I was in the 7th or 8th grade? Anyway, there were a few of us in my grade who had started playing instruments because of our newfound interest in rock & roll music. And basically, if you weren't a huge Beatles fan, you were probably really into Led Zeppelin, was how it worked as I recall. My favorite band at that time was T. Rex, but I had more Led Zeppelin albums than I did T. Rex. And I still couldn't get into the Beatles. I think that if I had totally bypassed Led Zeppelin, I would probably not be able to appreciate them if I were just starting to listen to them now. When I was 13, they were a totally new thing to me. I had nothing to compare them to, other than whatever pop radio was like 5 years ago. But yeah, they may as well have been the only classic rock band ever for all I knew. And I do still love them, but I have since found things more suited to my tastes. The Beatles are like that, only worse, since I never really cared for them. I have found that I do like some of their songs, just not when they are being sung by the Beatles. I like it when Ike & Tina do "Come Together", or when Robyn Hitchcock sings "A Day in the Life."

I think what I'm saying is that The Beatles and Led Zeppelin are bands of the sort that sound their best when you have little to compare them to, then they seem like the best thing ever, and I think their fanbases are both largely made up of people who experienced rock & roll music for the first time through either one of those bands.