As you may or may not know, I used to work as a library page, before getting a promotion. It wasn't exactly the most glamorous job in the world (basically, you're paid minimum wage to shelve materials your entire shift. It can get pretty redundant really quickly), but what made it really interesting and new every day for me was my interactions with the patrons of the library. Since pages are in the shelves most of the time, patrons normally ask us for the location of a book before going to a reference librarian, or if we have a book or movie, etc. I always found this the best part of the job, because I was my own reference librarian, able to suggest cool movies or books to a patron if they were interested in my suggestions. Also, I could dress casually, jeans and a t-shirt being acceptable.
Because of all this there were patrons who would ask a “dumb” question or didn't know an author or movie if I suggested it, but none of them compared to one patron and a certain group she had never heard of.
It was a Saturday morning, I wasn't exactly in the mood to wake up early to head into work, and was fairly tired. I threw on a t-shirt and jeans without really realizing what I decided to wear, and headed to work. About forty five minutes after we opened, I was shelving CD's when a young girl, about 20 years old I'd say, came up to me and said, “Hey, cool shirt.” I looked down and realized I had on my black “The Beatles” t-shirt, like the one pictured below.
My initial thought was, “Huh. A cute girl who likes The Beatles? Cool.” I looked up and said, “Thanks. Yeah I like it.” She nodded. “I really like its design. Like, the low 't' is cool.” I chuckled a bit and said, “Um, yeah, I guess? That's how it's always been though.” I went back to shelving the CD's and the girl started looking through a few of them, and after a minute of silence she turned to me and said, “So, are they a band, or something?” At this point I almost fainted, but instead burst with laughter at what I thought was a good joke, but the girl just stared at me like I was crazy, when that role was actually reversed in my mind. When she didn't say anything, my laughing slowly subsided and I said, almost out of breath, “You've really never heard of them?” She shook her head. “No. Sorry. What kind of music is it?” I could feel my hands slowly begin to squeeze the few CD's that they were holding. I managed to stutter out, “They're...a rock...band.” I managed to control my breathing while the girl said, “Oh, cool. Are they still making music?”
At this point, my confusion and sheer terror turned simply into anger and frustration. I looked at her and said, “Well, no. One of the members died a few years ago from lung cancer, and another got shot back in 1980.” The girl clasped her hands to her mouth. “Oh goodness, that's awful!” I nodded. “You've really never heard of them?” The girl shook her head. I motioned her with my hand to follow me, and I immediately took her to where their CD's would be. Thankfully we had three of their best, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, and Revolver. I almost shoved the CD's into her hands as I said to her, “Take these home and listen to them right now. Seriously. You won't regret it.” The girl said she had a few other things she needed to do, but I insisted that she listen to them as soon as she got the chance.
I'm not really quite sure what to say about this story. I suppose there really isn't much to say. Now, I know that there are plenty of people out there who may not enjoy The Beatles as much as I do, but at least you've heard of them. I am really baffled by the fact that someone not that much younger than me had never even heard of the most popular band of all time, and I really worry about their relevance in the future.
I've read several articles recently that said contestants on this season of American Idol had never heard a song by the Fab Four. I am shocked that as the years have gone on, fewer and fewer people are listening to the most influential band of all time, or even hearing of them. The Beatles changed music forever. Every artist, and I do mean every artist, takes from The Beatles. I think that, even if you don't like their music, you at least should know who they are and what impact they had on music, and the world in general.
This is the kind of story I'll remember for the rest of my life, and will never get tired of telling people it as the years go on. I'm hoping that this girl was one of a very few minority, and that she's reading up on them, or, better yet, finding other great rock bands to listen to.
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