Now call me the devil's advocate, but to me the Beatles may be a bit overrated. I love them to pieces and they left a gigantic footprint in the music business, but it seems now their legacy is the target of cheapo cashgrabs (Kidz Bop Sings The Beatles, anyone?), fabricated by people who probably don't know the real significance of their music. (I dare anyone to listen to the original Hello Goodbye and the Kidz Bop version and say there's no difference. The kids sound like robots with no emotion)
Ah yes, the old crushed by the legacy story. Same thing with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the fact that they'll forever be remembered by the 1980's cartoon show, the toys, and all the dumb merchandise, while the great, original comics will only be remembered by comic nerds.
The problem is, over time everything boils down and gets processed into a hot dog... free of everything that made it special. Kids Bop? That's something I could go on about forever... no one needs tone deaf kids singing cleaned up versions of pop songs, be they the Beatles or Lady Gaga (they have freaking Alejandro on their recent album. Really. Wasn't that the music video that was controversial by mocking the Catholic Church?).
Anyway, we seem to forget what made the Beatles so significant, and that's why things are screwed up. Even in the late 60's they blended together with all the pasty, and in cases lame copy cats made by American labels as cash grabs. I love the Monkees, but mostly for their TV show. But the Beatles came at a very significant time in the 1960's... a beloved (especially by the young) president was killed in front of the whole country on TV. That was a wound that no country could have gently walked away from. But then, The Beatles came over here, and somehow... some way, their charm and music helped heal a country. At least, the younger generation. And while I admit being a huge fan of them, their earlier songs really didn't have the same tone as their more experimental works later.
I mean, on one hand, the fact that their music was popular with the younger generation really doesn't make them any different than a 1990's boy band, right? But then they were able to take control of their music and come up with weird, wild stuff like "I am the Walrus" and "Rain" (that was the one that was partially recorded backwards, right?)... Why, just try to make Chamber music like Elenore Rigby and dare to call it pop music or rock music if you're NOT the Beatles.... they did so much after their celebrity for the next generation of music makers, their works can't be taken lightly. Yellow Submarine is one of the best animated films of all time.
But we all forget that and take it for granted. We use "All you need is Love" for Credit card and diaper ads. The current generation knows Beatles through BAD yuppie nursery music or that Rockband game. If I didn't listen to classic rock my entire life and wasn't exposed to their music on such a basis, I would have grown up saying "Oh! That band with that guy who played Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station before George Carlin." Come on. These guys were fans of Elvis, and Elvis was trying to get the FBI to take them away for horning on his racket. HE'S overrated and a JERK.
So yeah, I know what you're saying and it's a real shame.
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