Kevin Cronin

And I was like, I knew of Elvis a little bit.

He was a little old for me, but I knew he played the guitar and the girls liked him.

And so I was playing guitar, playing songs like Down in the Valley and Oh, Susanna, you know, my little book and Learning Chords.

And The Beatles came out.

And overnight, all the girls that liked the guys who used to chase me through the neighborhood to kick my ass because I was on my way to my guitar lesson, those same guys, of course, wanted to be in a band with me because I was the only kid in the neighborhood who played guitar.

So the Beatles changed my life in so many ways.

I suddenly... The guitar, the fact that I had been playing for a couple of years was cool.

But check this out.

So...

When the Beatles first came out, they were signed in England, but Capitol Records in the United States were like, who are these long-haired guys?

Bill Trout, who was my first manager.

Oh, my goodness.

With Nickel Records, yeah.

Wow.

But, um...

So it was kind of a mess there with VJ and Capitol.

And a lot of times, I would hang out at the music store where I took lessons, and there was a rack with sheet music.

And so, of course, I Want to Hold Your Hand came in, bought the sheet music immediately.

It's hanging on my wall right now in a plexiglass case.

But Please Please Me came out.