When they appeared in the early 1960s, The Beatles quickly became the biggest pop and rock group in the world. Not only did they have great songs — and boy, they had a lot of them — they had charm, a sense of humour, and were fashion-forward.
Between 1963 and their breakup in the spring of 1970, they changed the world of music forever. That breakup was 56 years ago, and yet, The Beatles remain a staple of popular culture.
For a while, though, there was a time when the group was considered passé. The excitement of the ’60s had faded into the past, and it was time to move on. Oh, the band still had their rabid fans, but as hard as it may be to believe today, they’d become largely a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for the general population.
The 1970s may have been a good time to a solo Beatle — all four members had various levels of success on their own, with Macca leading the way with Wings — but as for The Beatles as a group, meh. They slipped into the category of nostalgia as the original Beatlemaniacs grew up and moved on.
Young’uns were more interested in the new crop of bands that included Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, and The Eagles. The Rolling Stones and The Who, two Beatles contemporaries, stayed together and continued to make amazing music and escaped being tossed into the bin. If you came of age musically in the ’70s, as I did, you might remember thinking anyone at school who was a Beatles fan was completely out of touch.
So how did The Beatles end up becoming so revered in subsequent years? Through careful recycling and refreshing.
The indoctrination of second-generation Beatles fans was orchestrated via two greatest-hits compilations released on April 2, 1973: the “red” 1962-1966 album and its “blue” companion, 1967-1970. These two double records gathered together the group’s 54 biggest hits for the first time in one place.
When they arrived as Christmas presents for me later that year, I thought, “I know all these songs! And they’re from just one group? I must know more!” Talk about a red pill and a blue pill, but in this case, both led to somewhere wonderful.
These records helped, but more work was needed. The next step was another compilation, Rock’n’Roll Music, in 1976, which covered ground not included on the “red” and “blue” albums. There was even a single, Got to Get You Into My Life, a track originally from Revolver in 1966, that peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 that fall.
Meanwhile, the British single, led by Back in the USSR, reached number 19. Again, these releases brought back good memories of The Beatles and introduced them to millions more.
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It was around this time that there was something of a movement to get the band back together. CFRW, my AM top 40 station of choice while I grew up outside of Winnipeg, started such a petition that spread across North America, ultimately gathering tens of thousands of signatures. Nothing came of it, of course.
Efforts like this were probably at the heart of Lorne Michaels’ offer of $3,000 for The Beatles to get back together on Saturday Night Live on April 24, 1976. Weirdly, Paul was over at John’s place, and the two of them were watching the show. They actually considered heading over to 30 Rock as a counter-prank, but it was too late and they were too tired.
Then came the musical Beatlemania, featuring four lookalikes/soundalikes, which toured worldwide, including a stint Broadway. Anyone who saw the production got all sorts of fresh feels for the group and their music, but the show was ridiculed as cringey nostalgia in many quarters (cf. Joe Strummer singing “Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust” in The Clash’s London Calling.)
The thing that really turned The Beatles into the cultural phenomenon they are today was the assassination of John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980. Amidst all the angry and grief was the sense that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Interest in The Beatles began to trend upward.
Enter Michael Jackson. He collaborated with Macca on two songs, The Girl is Mine, from Thriller (a number two single on Billboard), which brought some Jacko fans into the fold. Jackson returned the favour a year later when he duetted with Paul on Say Say Say from the Pipes of Peace album.
By the middle ’80s, The Beatles were back in the mainstream and receiving a new level of respect. If you remember the years when the compact disc was rolled out, there was a general feeling that until The Beatles blessed the new format with their music, the CD may not back it. That finally came on February 26, 1987 — a good four years after the CD’s rollout — that The Beatles joined the party with the release of their first four British albums. More albums followed every two months or so until the entire catalogue was on compact disc by October.
The remixing, refurbishing, recycling, and re-releasing really kicked into high gear after that.
Volumes one and two of the Past Masters collections came in 1988, kicking off (as I recall, anyway) the concept of the box set. They were followed by the Anthology project (three albums) in the 1990s, which brought Paul, George, and Ringo back into the studio together.
In 2000, another collection of remastered songs entitled 1 appeared, featuring virtually every number-one single the group had in the U.S. and the U.K. It reached number one on album charts in more than two dozen countries, selling a staggering 31 million copies in the process.
Since then, something new from The Beatles appears with regularity. The Cirque du Soleil Beatles show called Love at the Mirage in Las Vegas, along with its accompanying soundtrack album. New remixes/reissues of all the albums and box sets by Giles Martin. Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary. The 2023 release of Now and Then, featuring the salvaged vocals of John Lennon and old guitar parts by George Harrison.
And I haven’t even touched on all the books written about The Beatles. Google’s Gemini AI tells us that up to 3,000 distinct books have been published about The Beatles just since 2000.
In short, The Beatles organization continues to give the entertainment world a masterclass on how take a limited inventory of material, all dating from between 1962 and 1970, and shrewdly and carefully refresh it generation after generation, reminding the universe of the incredible genius of The Beatles.
Meanwhile, the surviving band members continue to do their part. Paul McCartney, the world’s greatest living songwriter, will turn 84 on June 19 and is still performing and recording (his just-released album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, is very good). Ringo Starr will celebrate his 86th birthday on July 7 and is the most high-energy octogenarian this side of Mick Jagger. He also continues to record and tour. Both are always happy to talk about their experiences.
The Beatles are unique in all of entertainment history. The stewardship of their legacy has been amazing. And there’s no reason to believe that they’ve become any less popular for decades.
