Are the Beatles Still Relevant?

If your age is less than 34 or thereabouts, then you weren’t around to catch the “Fab Four” on Ed Sullivan. You probably don’t even know who Ed Sullivan is. But that’s beside the point. The 40th anniversary of the Beatle’s appearance on that once popular and influential TV variety show that launched “Beatle Mania” in the USA is approaching.

Yes, the world has changed since then, and the then sophisticated, melodic sound the Beatles pioneered isn’t particularly relevant now. In fact, we are now in a universe in which the Beatles might as well never have existed: Hip-hop, Electronica, Grunge, contemporary R&B, and various forms of heavy metal have replaced the once-ubiquitous Beatles “pop-song” model.

It’s true, The Beatles, don’t seem to matter much anymore. The Beatle’s seem to be relegated to background music in a dentist’s office. As one station program director stated: ”The way the Top 40 is going these days I don’t think any of it is influenced by the Beatles.”

But is that changing? “Top 40” has turned its back on the Beatles, but “Beatlemania” is quietly being resurrected by at least some segments of the younger population.

For some of a newer generation: the Beatles has become the “alternative music” to the once-alternative music that rejected the Beatles style and became the mainstream.

Not convinced? Well, one of the America’s biggest new “cult bands” leaders, Mark Hoppus of blink-182 is among the Fab Four’s more high-profile standard-bearers, who briefly considered calling their latest CD Our White Album. They are only one if a new generation of rock bands who are adopting the “Beatle style”. ”Of course the Beatles are still relevant. They changed the landscape of music forever. They are geniuses and heroes and will always remain relevant”.