The allure of the Beatles will always be that they were part of the Baby Boom culture, a demographic of young people that wanted to change the world.
The drugs, cigarettes, alcohol were all backdrop to the culture of the time. The Beatles were not leaders of it although in their effort to imprint a unique art stamp to pop music history they used it to explore new boundaries of musical art.
They were foolish, immature, lovable, funny and naughty. They were like the boys next door except they were extremely talented and handsome to the young girls of the era.
Some of their songs showed a wisdom and maturity well beyond their years and makes one wonder if George Martin had a guiding hand in it. John Lennon’s “In My Life” has been rated as one of the top 3 most beautiful songs ever written and it is hard to imagine the wisdom of the lyrics coming from a 24 year old.
They were used by the progressive left as icons of anti-establishment anti-capitalism but they themselves put the leftists in their place; just listen to the lyrics of “Revolution” and you can imagine conservatives saying “Damn straight John!”.
So they were a bit of an enigma but they mostly stuck to love songs and ballads.
John in his last years is said by many close to him to have come to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s so sad we weren’t able to see him fully grow up into a real great man.
Very interesting and I think quite perceptive. It's odd that the Beatles never made much of an impression on me when all four were alive. And now, half a century after the British Invasion, a chance stumbling across "Things We Said Today" on the radio is piquing my interest in their music. Sure, Southern Gospel remains my musical genre of choice but I'm not quite as dismissive of the Beatles as I once was based upon my reaction to the song and the fascinating comments in this thread. I now almost wish I would have given them a fair hearing way back then.