How to relive the 1960s with the Beatles every day

Carrie

Welcome to She Said She Said, a podcast about podcasts about the Beatles. Today we're looking at something pretty specific but really interesting in the world of Beatles fandom.

Mia

Yeah, the Beatles60 community.

Exactly. If you've ever wondered how some fans go like really deep into the history, not just the music, well, this is for you. We want to unpack what they're all about.

Right. We've looked at how they describe themselves, their methods, and the goal today is really to get a handle on what makes Beatles60 tick, how they approach the band's history.

And maybe touch on why it sometimes sounds a bit academic but maybe isn't.

Exactly. Hopefully show it's actually pretty engaging, you know, not some stuffy highfalutin thing.

OK, so let's start with the core idea. They talk about living in the history. What does that actually mean in practice? It sounds intense.

It is pretty full on, yeah. The central thing is this idea of a daily time machine. So they literally go back exactly 60 years to the…

Day, right. So today, whatever date it is for you listening, they are immersed in that exact date 60 years ago.

Precisely like today is May 2nd 2025, so they're all focused on May 2nd, 1965. What happened then?

Right. So it's strictly chronological. No jumping around to say the Sgt Pepper sessions one day and Hamburg the next.

No, none of that. They really stress the day by day sequential thing. They call it a real-time chronicle almost.

Like a soap opera unfolding.

Kind of, yeah. Or just history unfolding at the pace it actually happened. The earth turning is their guide, basically.

That's a unique approach. So where does this daily time travel actually happen? Where do they gather?

Well, the main hubs are these dedicated Facebook groups. There's one called "It was 60 years ago today (Beatles Daily)." That's a big one.

Okay, so Facebook is like… like the town square for this?

JOIN GROUP

Yeah, that's where each day's immersion really happens. People sharing stuff, talking about it, and then their podcast complements that. It goes deeper, you know, context, interviews...

Gotcha. Facebook for the daily fix. And podcast for the deeper dive. What kind of stuff are they looking at each day? Must be a lot to track down.

PODCAST

Oh definitely. And this is where it gets really interesting. Look at the sources they use because, you know, 60 years ago it was a different world, information-wise.

Right. No Internet, obviously.

Exactly. So they really focus on what people at the time would have been seeing, reading, hearing. The community's top contributor, Kevin, digs up just the right photos and media from that exact day sixty years past.

OK, like what? Give us some examples.

Well, a big one is the British music press from back then. They share scans of magazines like Disc, Record Mirror, Pop Weekly, NME.

The ones the Beatles themselves might have been reading.

That's the idea. You get a feel for the trends, the buzz, what was in the air. You know, it's like looking over their shoulders a bit.

That's cool, seeing the world through their media, sort of.

Yeah, and it's not just print. They share daily photos, film clips, and of course music -- anything capturing moments from exactly 60 years ago. Yeah, including public stuff, private moments, social movements.

Any relevant media/audio news?

Uh huh. Relevant audio clips, maybe bits from news reels, radio snippets, all tied to that specific day.

And I heard personal memories are part of it too. 

Oh, absolutely. That's crucial. People in the community who actually lived through the 60s share their first-hand recollections.

Wow, that must add a whole other layer.

It really does. It brings that human element, you know, stuff you don't get from just documents. Plus they use excerpts from reliable Beatles books, biographies, expert analysis, but always linking it back to that specific day.

So it's all anchored to the date. Like if it's August 62, they must've had stuff about Ringo joining, maybe photos, someone's memory of the local reaction.

That's exactly the kind of mix you'd find. They also (of course) track the Beatles' locations that day, their activities, recording, filming, performing, traveling.

And the wider world too.

Yeah, they try to bring in the broader cultural context. Other stuff that was happening. You know, maybe other music trends like ska or Blue beat getting popular or the mod scene stuff that was around them.

OK, this daily sequence thing, it seems really central. Why is that so important? How does it help understanding?

Well, they call it context-in-sequence. That's kind of their mantra. By following events day by day as they happened you...

...see the connections better.

Exactly. You see how things unfolded, how one thing led to another, how their sound developed, maybe gradually, not just in big leaps. How the incredible fame built. It stops you looking back with hindsight thinking it was all planned or inevitable.

Can you give an example? 

Sure. Like, if you look at newspaper articles from, say, early '63 right alongside their studio logs for that same week, you might see how incredibly fast they were reacting to what was happening around them musically, picking things up. You might miss that just looking at album release dates later.

Right. OK, that makes sense. Now, about that term, the one that sounds a bit intimidating.

Ah yes, the "longitudinal, phenomenological, historiographic study."

Yeah, that one. Let's translate that into normal English. What's it really mean for Beatles60?

OK, yeah, they use it sometimes, maybe in their descriptions, but it's not meant to be like highbrow or anything. It just describes the method.

So break it down longitudinal.

That just means they're focused on that timeline 60 years ago and they follow it consistently over a long period, day after day, year after year.

Okay. And phenomenological sounds complicated.

It just means they're trying to understand the experience of the people back then. What it felt like? They talk about trying to walk in their Beatle boots, you know, get a sense of their world from the inside as much as possible.

So less about just listing facts, more about the feeling, the perspective of the time.

Exactly. Not just looking back from 2025 and judging or analyzing, but trying to grasp it as they lived it.

And the last bit, historiographic.

That just means it's based on history. Reliable reference materials. They use established historical sources, reliable books, documents, media from the time. It's grounded in actual historical research and writing, not just like random opinions or making stuff up.

So it's structured, it uses real sources, and it tries to understand the experience, but not necessarily like a formal academic paper.

Right. It's a framework for digging deep, but the goal is engagement, understanding the lived experience, not writing dense jargon.

So it sounds like this daily process naturally leads to insights, discoveries.

That's the idea, yeah. By putting all these different sets of information side by side each day. By juxtaposing them... A news item, a photo, a fan memory, a studio note, connections. Members just sort of...

Immerse. You see things you wouldn't otherwise.

Potentially, yes, especially around how the Beatles reacted to things happening that day, or how contemporary trends might have influenced a specific recording session or decision.

Reading between the lines a bit.

A little, yeah. They'll probably say "reading between the facts," trying to understand the inner lives, the motivations, which you know, always involves a bit of interpretation, some guesswork, but informed guesswork based on the evidence for that day.

And the community plays a big role here, doesn't it? It's not just one person doing this. Oh.

Hugely. The collaboration in the Facebook groups is key. It's a massive strength.

How so?

Well, you've got real Beatle nerds, you know, people with incredible knowledge of tiny details. Uh huh. There may be more academic types sharing analysis, and crucially, those people who actually lived it, sharing memories and contexts.

So everyone chips in.

Exactly. It's a collective effort. Someone posts a rare photo, someone else identifies the exact date or location, another person remembers being at that show... It builds this really rich, layered picture every day. Nobody does it alone, you know.

That collaborative aspect sounds really powerful. How does this whole approach make Beatles60 different from, say, other Beatles fan clubs or forums online?

Well, they're usually quite very gentle about it, but they do draw a distinction. Many fan groups are primarily about celebration, right? Saying the Beatles are the greatest, sharing favorite songs, that kind of thing. Which is great, but.

Beatles60 is different.

Their focus is more on, well, what actually happened 60 years ago today. The good, the bad, the mundane, the exciting. Of course the Beatles were brilliant, but... It's about understanding the historical reality as it unfolded, not just worshipping the legacy.

So less about "aren't they brilliant" and more about what was going on right then.

Pretty much. And including the tricky bits, the less glamorous moments. And another difference is their timeline. They started in 1960 (in 2020), when the name ‘the Beatles’ had been settled.

Not 1962 with Ringo joining, which is often seen as the starting point.

Right. Many narratives kind of jump in there with Ringo, but Beatles60 goes back further, tracking those formative years in Hamburg and Liverpool day by day from 1960 onwards. They see themselves fundamentally as a steady group using a specific method, maybe more than just a fan club. More like an historical society or something. But, of course, most members are fans.

Interesting. They also mentioned something about avoiding "anchoring." What's that about?

Yeah, that's an interesting point. Anchoring is basically how sometimes the first version of a story you hear, or maybe a version from one influential book, becomes the accepted truth, even if it's found later on to have been based on shaky or limited sources. Oh.

OK, like one biography sets the narrative, sort of.

Yeah, yeah. This kind of fallibility and discernment is what historiography is about. They feel their approach -- by looking at contemporary sources day by day -- helps avoid that. You see information and perspectives as they actually emerged at the time, rather than relying solely on maybe later memories or interpretations that might have solidified into the standard story. It encourages a more critical look at how we know what we think we know. But it's not the only way of living in the history. Just the B60 way. It's straightforward, really.

Right. Questioning the dominant narrative by going back to the original daily sources makes sense. OK, so if we were to boil it all down, what are the absolute core pillars of the Beatles60 community?

OK, first, that daily immersion living the history exactly 60 years later. Second, the heavy reliance on contemporary materials, the magazines, photos, news, memories from that specific time. Third, the massive emphasis on sequence and context, understanding things day by day to see the connections. And fourth, the collaborative community aspect. Everyone sharing knowledge and experience.

And the goal isn't just fandom, but deeper historical understanding, letting insights emerge from that daily process.

Precisely, it's about understanding the journey, the contact, the influences, the day-to-day realities that happened, rather than just celebrating the finished product years later.

And hopefully, as we've discussed, it comes across not as deliberately highfalutin, but as a really engaged, immersive way to connect with the past.

Yeah. I think that's fair. It's structured, sure, but driven by curiosity and shared discovery.

Got it. So if this sounds like your kind of thing, you can find them on Facebook. The main group is "it was 60 years ago today." Definitely sounds like a unique way to experience history.

Really is! And maybe a final thought for you listening. Think about how your view of any historical event might shift if you tried to experience it sequentially, day by day, using only the information available back then. It's quite a perspective shift.

A powerful way to think about the past for sure.

Nothing is real, but we’re grateful to She Said She Said, a “made up” podcast that spotlights Beatles-focused podcasts and communities, for this thoughtful feature on Beatles60. Hosts Carrie and Mia do a brilliant job unpacking our day-by-day approach, the collaborative spirit behind the project, and the difference between celebrating history and truly inhabiting it. The transcript below captures their full conversation.