The Beatles are my all-time favorite band. This was part of my first self portrait in essay form that I wrote in 2013:

The Beatles are proof to me of the existence of “God.” In July of 1964 they perfected pop (A Hard Days Night (their first album without any cover tunes) was released). A few months after releasing Help! in August 1965, they began to take music to a place it had never been before and hasn’t been since. In a year and a half, they released Rubber Soul (December 1965), Revolver (August 1966), Strawberry Fields Forever as the A-side and Penny Lane as the B-side of a single (February 1967) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (June 1967). Absorb Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s in that order (I recommend the mono mix of Sgt. Pepper’s over the stereo mix). Hear the nuances and the techniques never before realized and being expanded and perfected over the course of those albums. Universal influence is apparent. The creative advancement, out of nowhere, cannot otherwise be explained.