February 13, 2010

A Guy's Perspective on The Beatles and Their Appeal

Last night I posted a tweet about something that has bugged me for a while, but I have mostly tried to ignore it. The tweet was "It's kind of sad (and/or annoying) that a lot of women/girls seem to like The Beatles for a much different reason than us guys like them for." Then I got off of Twitter for the night, and away from the computer. Today I was surprised by the number of replies. So, I guess I should elaborate on what I meant. Remember, I'm just giving my male perspective on the way I see things. Hopefully there are some other guys who feel the same way.

When I first discovered how great the Beatles were it was because of the music. It surpassed anything before or after, even to this day. It wouldn't have mattered much to me if they all looked like Woody Allen (just for an example) or whatever, I would have still been a big fan. I became a guitarist and songwriter because of the Beatles! Before I even had a guitar, or knew a single note, I bought a huge Beatles songbook that had nearly every song in their catalog. The price of this book wasn't cheap, but I really wanted it. The songbook was all about the MUSIC - no pictures or any thing else. As I learned more about them I found that they had wit and personalities, as well as talent, so that was a bonus.

So, we fast forward many years and there's this thing called the internet. A place where you can find other fans of whatever it is you like. Like most fans, I would search for information and articles about the Beatles, and visit forums, etc. I have never been much of a forum dweller, but I signed up for a few and tried to participate a little bit. After a while it seemed like there were way too many "gushy" posts about how "cute" this Beatle was and how "gorgeous" that one was, and all this creepy stuff. Obviously, these posts were coming from girls/women, and as a guy, I didn't relate to it. Sure, there were posts about the music and other important and interesting stuff, but it wasn't really worth weeding through. Soon, I left those places and never returned.

Now we have Twitter. One good thing about it is you can control what you're exposed to a bit more because of choosing to follow or not follow certain people. But even with that, I still have to weed through the occasional gushy, slobbering stuff. And the same thing with Tumblr and the like. Actually Tumblr is worse because most people, like myself, post photos there. I found it a good place to find and share pictures that are rare and most people haven't seen before. I know, it's your Twitter or Tumblr and you can post what you want, but some of the comments are enough to make a male Beatles fan sick.

Of course, I am not saying all females are over the top with gushiness, I just said "a lot". At least it seems like a lot after a while. If I wanted, I could find some female musicians, actresses or models to get all gushy and slobbery about, but I know most people wouldn't want to hear about it. And I'd probably feel creepy doing it.

So, what am saying with this long rambling post? I'm just trying to say the Beatles were much, much more than their looks, and it's sad (and annoying) when it appears that some forget that and just talk about the physical part. I think the gift itself is much more important than the gift wrapping!

For the most part, guys are fans for different reasons than girls, generally speaking. I know there are different aspects to the Beatles greatness, but if they all "looked like Woody Allen", their female fan base would plummet, while their male fan base probably remain around the same.

I don't know, maybe a lot of the girls should just turn their attention to the Jonas Brothers. They are young and still have their looks, they're all still alive, most are unmarried, and who really cares about the music anyway, huh?