Though I was born in 1967, or perhaps because, the Beatles are my favorite band. When I was about 11 or 12 and not into music at all yet, my sister was listening to a lot of Tiger Beat type teen idols, and my mother bought her a few cassettes for Chanukah, among them the Blue Album greatest hits compilation. She hated it. I took it and fell in love.

In my first ever piece of personal expository writing, my 2013 Self-portrait in essay form that I posted on Medium shortly after I joined in 2020, I wrote:

"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."

My essay covers everything from spiritual journeys to addiction and suicide to mallomars to love. It's a very good read. Some say I've yet to write anything better.

https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/self-portrait-in-essay-form-circa-12-2013-7bdac6f1510e

This story involves the Paul is dead hoax: https://medium.com/technical-excellence/what-to-do-with-several-unfinished-stories-32502dd8e7d3