By Mary Whitfill

Staff Writer

As I write this recap, keep in mind that “Doctor Robert” from The Beatle’s album Revolver is blasting through my ear phones, I paid $200 for the complete digitally premastered Beatles box set, the last gift I received was an original vinyl of Yellow Submarine, one of my favorite movies is “Across the Universe” and I paid way too much for a Paul McCartney concert ticket last August. 

I have a thing for The Beatles.

History

In case you don’t know, The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 and is still one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of music. Featuring the musical styling’s of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals) the band was known for incorporating ‘psychedelic’ pop sounds into their music and extending their influencing into to social and cultural revolutions of the time. 

The Beatles influence on pop culture was – and remains- immense. Many of us agree with former Rolling Stone editor Robert Greenfield when he said “no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creating and more distinctive than The Beatles were.”

The Beatles triggered the British Invasion of the US, as the United States had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout the world, and also made themselves a globally influential phenomenon.

The Beatles are the recipients of many awards and recognitions throughout

 their time on top and even after the band split. In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire. The Beatles film Let It Be won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. The Beatles have received 7 Grammy Awards and have been awarded 6 diamond albums and 24 multi-platinum albums, 39 Platinum albums and 45 Gold albums in the United States. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and were included in Time magazines complication of the 20^th century’s 100 most influential people.

The Beatles Today

Rock Band

The Beatles Rock Band was released September 9^th (I bought it that day) and its instruments resemble those played by the members while they were touring. The game is available for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. The interface of the game resembles the era that each song was originally written and performed.

Paul McCartney recent tours

McCartney’s most recent US tour ran from July to August of ’09, hitting ten cities and ending in Dallas, grossed $33,650,567. His last tour was titled the ‘Good Evening Europe Tour’ running through the month of December, with 8 stops, and in December of ’10 he will be starting the ‘Good Evening South America Tour’

Across the Universe

In this Revolution Studios’ film, music of The Beatles and the Vietnam War set the back drop for a romance between a young girl who lost both a boyfriend and a brother to the draft, and a teenage artist from Liverpool. The movie follows the controversy of the Vietnam War and all of The Beatles music written during the time. Let’s just say… the actors to an AMAZGING job of covering ALL the music in the movie.

So, as a recap, The Beatles have influenced everything and will forever be THE BEST. Don’t try to fight it, just “Let It Be.”