Meet The Beatles Again

Thanks to Rock Band: The Beatles video game there is a renaissance of their music taking place, the likes of which hasn't been seen since 1995. 2009 may be the year of rediscovering old music, what with Michael Jackson's death sparking a flooding of the airwaves with his music a few months ago followed by this new wave of Beatlemania. What's next, the return of Frank Sinatra?

And who am I to stand in the way of a fad? I can't stop it so I may as well roll with it. I've already done a Top 10 favorite song list, so I'm just gonna hit the high points on the impact their music has had on my life and/or random memories about The Beatles

• My Mom is a fan of the Beatles, so I grew up with Beatles records in the house. Rubber Soul is her favorite album of theirs. My Mom thought Paul McCartney was cute.


• I watch Yellow Submarine whenever I can on tv as a boy, because its a cartoon


• "Revolution" is the first song not related to a tv show that I can remember really liking a lot. I liked the idea of a revolution.


• Being Asian, I have to hear a lot of Yoko Ono insults growing up.


• I start to like The Beatles a lot and so we go to see Beatlemania (The Beatles tribute band) live which may have been the first concert I went to, I had forgotten about that until now. I remember it being colorful and loud.


• The movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. At the time I liked this movie a lot. Earth Wind & Fire's cover of "Got To Get You Into My Life" is still definitive over the original to me. Aerosmith kicks ass as the evil band performing "Come Together". And I found the dreamy segment for "A Day In The Life" spellbinding. Now, as an adult, I can see how dull and poorly constructed this movie really is. At the time I really dugged it, man. Give Frampton his Oscar now.


• John Lennon is assassinated :(


• Paul McCartney becomes the duet king. First he's the Ivory to Stevie Wonder's Ebony in "Ebony and Ivory" (spawning the classic SNL parody with Eddie Murphy as Stevie Wonder and Joe Piscopo as Frank Sinatra). Then he playfully argues with Michael Jackson that "The Girl Is Mine" (you can guess who won that argument) before having his last "Say Say Say". Then Jacko and McCartney stop being friends after the gloved one buys the Beatles catalog.


• Motley Crue cover "Helter Skelter". Cool.


• John Lennon's posthumous single "Nobody Told Me" is released and plays constantly everywhere. I hated this song and it drove me nuts it was played so much. Particularly that music video made up of old clips of Lennon in a boat or some kinda crap. Interestingly, this song came up on my IPOD a few months ago and I didn't mind it.


• Paul McCartney's song "No More Lonely Nights" plays constantly after its release as well, kinda gets on my nerves a bit after awhile. It doesn't bother me too much now though. The inclusion of "Eleanor Rigby" in McCartney's film Give My Regards To Broad Street catches my ear, it becomes a favorite Beatles tune for me. Friday Night Videos could not get enough of "No More Lonely Nights".


• I lost interest in The Beatles after that, except as a novelty. The inclusion of "Twist and Shout" in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off motivates me to buy the 45. Save Ferris!


• The movie Can't Buy Me Love is a teen classic!


• The Thompson Twins wreck "Revolution" at Live Aid. What the hell happened to my jam?


• In college, I have a roommate who loves The Beatles. Through him I hear every single Beatles album multiple times. For some reason Beatles '65 stands out to me from that time period. "I'll Follow The Sun" I liked at the time. But my favorite Beatles record to listen to at that time? A Hard Day's Night.


• George Harrison has a big hit with the catchy "I've Got My Mind Set On You", though I like Weird Al Yankovic's version "This Song Is Just Six Words Long" more.


• Late night at Tower Records, me and my friend hear the most bizarre version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." My friend who is also a Star Trek fan pegs the voice as William Shatner. I buy the tape and become a lifelong fan of the great one's warblings.


• I get into James Bond movies, McCartney's "Live and Let Die" becomes a favorite of mine.


• U2 cover "Helter Skelter". Meh.


• "Imagine" becomes a standard, being covered by everyone with a half decent voice. I'm still fascinated that a song that openly states a wish for the end of religion could be so popular. Anyway, of the covers I've heard Tracie Spencer's comes to mind as being the best one.


• In the early 90's, my favorite tv show was the Sunday night family drama Life Goes On. The Beatles song "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da" is used as the theme song. C'mon Corky, fight the power!
• Guns N' Roses revive "Live And Let Die" as their own, Axl does his damned best to try to make kilts cool.


• Shortly after being married, my wife and I take up record collecting. The Bunny becomes adept at spotting Vee Jay label counterfeits and mono recording Capitol label Beatles records. We become obsessed with and eventually buy a poor copy of the famous "butcher cover" record sleeve (featured at the top of the post). Which we later lost to a used record store guy named Zig when his shop closed (he was selling on consignment for us).


• The Anthology series is released on CD and as a tv miniseries. We take in all of it, I enjoyed the new Beatles singles "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love". The a capella version of "Because" is awesome. Everyone loves The Beatles even more.


• I think it's Intel that uses "Getting Better" as a theme song in commercials, so I get a copy of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to get that one.


• Ozzy Osbourne comes up with a memorable cover of "In My Life".


• Lennon's "Instant Karma" appears in shoe commercials, hooking me on that song.


• Eddie Vedder covers "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", which I like more than the original.


• Some loser stabs George Harrison in his own house.


• A few years later George Harrison passes away. "Here Comes The Sun" gets played all over the world.


• Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard gets into heavy rotation on my CD player. I play "Jenny Wren" a lot.


• I go through a Beatles phase and pick up some of their CDs, Abbey Road becomes my favorite Beatles album. This happens around the time of The Beatles1. Coincidence? I think not!


• Tried to watch the movie Across The Universe, couldn't get past the first ten minutes. Something about a cute lesbian cheerleader singing about another cheerleader, it didn't grab me so I fell asleep. It looked like it was going to be one of those ensemble musicals.


• Paul McCartney and U2 perform the "Sgt Pepper" song at the start of Live 8. Cool.


• The Beatles: Rock Band video game is released. People party like it's 1995.

And that's my Beatles story. Not a lot too it, I was a big fan as a kid afterwards I thought they were good. Their music is legendary and has been everywhere throughout my life. In terms of influence, there isn't a rock band that has had more impact.