Age 13-15 was a puzzling period for me, music-wise. You see, my childhood days were filled with classic rock tunes ranging from head-banging Iron Maiden jams played from the car radio to Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes that my dad would frequently belt out on his rugged acoustic guitar. However, beginning secondary school was ostensibly the death of those nostalgic music influences in me. It didn’t have to be, but as a wide-eyed 13-year-old kid scanning my school environment to find my musical tastes wildly unpopular compared to the modern pop music of the time that got almost everyone else hooked, I shuttered myself from revealing my “outdated” tastes in music in fear of being misunderstood or even reviled.
I was even attending music classes during this period of musical nihilism. Can you imagine going to guitar classes while running dry of any musical inclination to infuse into the instrument I was trying to master?
I was having a sort of music “identity crisis” – repressing the music I loved while refusing to adhere to the pop hits I personally considered dull (not to put down anyone else’s musical tastes, to each their own after all). It was a senseless balancing act that teenage me tried so hard not to falter in.
And then The Beatles showed up.
Tunes like “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and of course “Hey Jude” became little life anthems constantly swirling in my head
Maybe it was on YouTube although it’s hard to recall now, but I remember listening to “Hey Jude” playing, and something dormant lit up inside me again – an emotional spark that electrified every fibre of my being. I’ve casually listened to The Beatles before this and I even learnt “Let It Be” and “Yesterday” on the guitar, but hearing this beautifully drawn-out classic rock anthem about consoling the tears of negative circumstances with a light of optimism and compassion was something… more.
I dug deeper into more of The Beatles’ vast discography to discover a huge array of songs that just spoke to me. Tunes like “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and of course “Hey Jude” became little life anthems constantly swirling in my head as I started to gradually unearth my long-buried rock music influences that I now wholeheartedly embrace today.
It was one of the primary reasons I thoroughly adored Danny Boyle’s ‘Yesterday’ (2019) film that, to me, is one of the best films to celebrate The Beatles’ legacy… by purposefully erasing them from existence with only the protagonist Jack remembering them! It’s a wild premise that, while disappointingly under-explored, does just enough to set up a truly poignant tale about the universality and significance of the classic influences that gave birth to our modern pleasures.
Yesterday reminded me about the idea of embracing something you truly believe in as though it’s in the present, even if it hails from the past, to truly let its worth manifest within you. Whether it’s music, art or anything else, never let your influences die out; wear them like armour and allow them to be a part of your own legacy.
Image Credits: Imdb.com, Letterboxd.com
Titan Passions 