This week’s story asks a great question. I think most Bee Gee fans have been asking themselves the same thing for years.

LYNN

CHARLSTON, SC

I didn’t hear the Bee Gees music until 1993. I was almost 13 when I made friends with the new girl at school,. Her name was Janice, and she invited me to her house for a sleepover. I had been so sheltered and can still remember how excited I was that my aunt let me go. My parents died in a car wreck when I was 5, and my great aunt raised me. She lived on a small farm out in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina, and the only music in the house was country music. The Bee Gees weren’t getting played much in the early 90’s in South Carolina. I’ll never forget hearing my first Bee Gee song. It was “Blue Island”, and it is my favorite song to this day. Janice’s older sister was a fanatic for them, and she had all the records back to Main Course. I became crazy for Size Isn’t Everything. Janice and I played it over and over that first weekend I visited. Later on, we would compare Barry to Jon Bon Jovi, Maurice to Eric Clapton and then we couldn’t think of anyone to compare to Robin because no one could sing like he could. Mostly we complained because Green Day, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, anyone we heard, had no songs that could compare with the Bee Gees. We’d always have conversations with Janice’s sister Melissa, who would say, “Why can’t today’s groups learn from the Bee Gees?” Eventually, it became our constant complaint. In high school, I knew kids who were into Pearl Jam and Queen, (mostly the guys). I just didn’t get it. Every Bee Gee love song was just what all the girls craved. I remember crying when I heard “Heart Like Mine”. I was in love with a boy named Johnny who didn’t know I was alive, and I dreamed that some day I’d find the right guy to love me. That song went right to my teenage heart. In 1997, I thought I’d die from happiness when I bought Still Waters with my Christmas money. I was 16. So, I’m a pretty young Bee Gee fan, which is why I’m so happy to be able to watch them on You Tube and play the songs that I started learning about at 12. I would have given anything to be a teenager in 1978 and see them tour when Night Fever came out. They knocked the world over and accomplished things no other group will ever achieve. Not all the fans go back to the 60’s and 70’s but fans like me love them just as much. I don’t even listen to music much on the radio because most of it is tame or boring or just not beautiful. When you put it beside any Bee Gee CD, there’s just no comparison. Who’d rather listen to anything over “For Whom the Bell Tolls”? See, no comparison.