I've been listening to the Beetles reluctantly since I can remember. I enjoyed a few of there hooks and songs but overall thought it sounded like good elevator music. I was a bit of a Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton kind of snob and the Beetles just didn't enough grit/soul/blues for me.
Until... a couple of years ago I went to see some really great local musicians who are in various bands but pay their bills by playing in a Beatles cover band called Abbey Road Live. The meat of the show is to cover a Beatles album from front to back. I've seen them do Abbey Road, Sgt Peppers, and The White album. These guys have a website... so if they ever come to your town it will be $10 well spent.
Seeing and hearing this music live was quite revelatory. I was pleasantly and surprisingly astounded by how good this music was. After years of ambivalence a light went off in my head and it was oh my
these songs are fantastic. When I heard them with the impact you only get in a live setting, it was like discovering a really, really good band and I already knew all the words.