2. The BeatlesRubber Soul
I was born in 1950, so you can make your own calculations about what age I was when this music hit me. I remember coming back to Germany in 1963 after living in Pakistan for three years, and suddenly hearing this brand new fresh modern music, so different from all the music that was in the air in Germany at the time. It’s really difficult to imagine how different the times were, there weren’t a million radio stations at the flick of your finger available to pick your favourite music. There was German Schlager music, there was folk music, there was classical music, but there was no exciting new music from America and Great Britain. I remember being in school and talking to my friends about this new music, in the beginning, in my class there were at least seven guys who wanted to start a band.
Being a huge Beatles fan straight from the beginning I can remember the moments when I heard the very early singles like ‘Twist and Shout’, or ‘Love Me Do’. These songs also have this amazing take off, like Little Richard, they start without much fussing around, they just take off! This is something that’s not easy to achieve in music, it impresses me whenever I hear the opening chord of ‘A Hard Days Night’, it’s such a great sound. It gives me goosebumps.
