It seems like it was just yesterday

Over the next week, there will be countless media events and honors for "The Beatles." They will tell you the history of the group, and about all the records they hold in the music industry. I will be watching everything that I can, because those four young men from Liverpool played a big part in my own life. Here is how I remember them.

I turned 15, (50 years ago) just five days before the Beatles appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show." My beginning experience with the Beatles did not go well.

In those days, my family attended church services on Sunday morning and evening. I knew better than to try and convince my father to let me stay home and watch the Beatles.

As we gathered in our youth group at church that Sunday evening, you can guess what was the main topic of conversation. Luckily for all of us, we were able to watch the Beatles segment of the show on the news when we returned home.

That one Beatles visit to America began what was to be known as the "British Invasion!" In the history of our country, this period of a few months was a point of demarcation that separated the generations, as nothing has done before or since.

Just a short 78 days before the arrival of the Beatles, our country had suffered through the tragedy of the Kennedy assassination.

There was another dark cloud rising in the distance. On the news every evening, there was a new report about this place called Vietnam. We had just seemed to catch our breath from the Cuban Missile Crisis, and now we were once again in trouble.

As I look back, I am surprised that most of the kids my age were not more concerned with what was going on in the world. We had grown up as "Baby Boomers," in an era where nuclear weapons were a part of our everyday lives.

Honestly, most of us did not pay much heed to the dangers surrounding us. It's just not the nature of teens to spend much time on those thoughts. We were more interested in the opposite sex, ball games, cars, and for sure "music!"

The Beatles were different for sure. Their hair was at the time considered outrageous. That would become a problem in our schools. Our principal had the right to send you home if your hair was too long in 1964.

Now there is one misconception that this week's shows won't spend much time remembering. The Beatles were four very handsome young eligible bachelors. To say that the young women of America went into almost an insane frenzy when they saw the Beatles is no stretch of the imagination.

Many of the young men my age actually held a bit of resentment for these guys at first because of this passion by our female peers. We would not admit it, but most of us wanted to be like them. "What's the old saying, "the guitar player always gets the girls?"

We all eventually came to love the Beatles for one overriding thing, their musical talent. In the history of the world to this point there has never been a more successful musical group than the Beatles.

I can prove that without any statistics. Just gather any group of people from my era, and begin playing some of the greatest hits from the Beatles. You will immediately see us begin to sing along. These songs are as familiar today as they were then.

The generation gap was of course to be expected. Our parents looked at the Beatles as if they were aliens. That never changes. I have to force myself to not judge the musical styles of today's teens, like my parents did. By the way, this Bruno Mars that performed at the Super Bowl, impressed me. It may take a bit longer for me to warm up to the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Yes the Beatles changed America and all the kids my age. Rock and Roll and rock and roll bands were now the main event in pop music. We still had a top 40 tunes rating on the radio stations in that era. Rock and roll and another emerging sound from Detroit, known as "soul," dominated the top 40.

I loved the Beatles songs, but when it comes to dancing, nothing could challenge "soul music" for that award. It's easy to prove the dance quality of soul music. Get some people my age on the dance floor, and play something like "Soul Man" or "Respect." Don't worry some of them may need oxygen at the end, but they won't be standing still.

The Beatles song "Yesterday," holds a record in the music industry. It has been recorded by more artists than any other song in history. I think that song title actually should be the anthem for the 50 years that have passed, for all of us remember, "Yesterday."

My own love of the musical revolution the Beatles helped to start is still strong. It seems that many of my fellow "Boomers" feel the same as me. Often these days when I attend a memorial service for one of these friends, you hear their favorite rock and roll tunes played, instead of spiritual hymns.

While I love the Beatles, I have one song that I want my friends to hear when they gather to remember me. It is "Won't Get Fooled Again," by the Who. For me it says it all about those years.

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

And I'll get down on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again."