A poster in the other Beatles thread speculated that the music of the Beatles will remain popular into the 22nd Century.
My own view is that the popularity of Beatles music will last about as long as the Baby Boomers are around. By the time the Boomers are gone, I expect the Beatles to have faded, if not into obscurity, then at least into esoterica. There will be a few hard core afficionados around, but the mass appeal will be gone.
So how long until the Beatles go the way of Rudy Valee? Your thoughts?
Actually, a lot of the popularity of the new Beatles album is from people in their teens, not baby boomers. Most boomers already had the music.
Good music can go on indefinitely. It may not be “popular” again, but people will continue to listen to it and discover it. The best example of this is someone like George Gershwin or Cole Porter – extremely popular composers of their day whose songs are constantly being revived and reinterpreted.
Now it’s likely the mass appeal will die out (thought it has held on for a remarkably long time). But Beatles songs will continue to be played.
(I actually have one song by Rudy Vallee – a pretty good version of “Let’s Do It.” But the songs of that era are identified more closely with the composer than the performer.)
Of the ten-or-so people whose record/CD collections I know intimately (all around my age (25)), all have at least one Beatles album, most have several. I don’t think their music will be popular forever, but it’s by no means solely a “baby-boomer” thing.
Good music lasts. Crap doesn’t. Beatles music will be around long after I’m gone and long after my children are gone and long after their children are gone…
The Beatles latest complilation, “1”, is by far their best selling album and will almost certainly be the best selling album of all time by the end of the year. I’m guessig that most of the sells were from new fans because the older fans (like me) already own the original albums.
The Anthology trio was also a huge seller…I believe the first one was the most rapidly selling double album in history.
It sure doesn’t look like they are going out any time soon. It seems like there is a Beatle reawakening every five to ten years and each one is bigger than the previous.
I think survival into the twenty second century and beyond is pretty plausible.
There is no way, in my disinterested opinion, that the Beatles will fade into esoterica after the Boomers have gone. As other posters have said, the Beatles are not a Boomers-only phenomenon. I’m a Gen Xer, my brother is on the cusp of Gen X and Gen Y (or whatever the 14th generation is called) and among our circle of friends, pretty much everyone has at least one Beatle CD or vinyl in their collection. The Beatles are good music, and their popularity across generations, cultures and genres will ensure their permanence.
It should also be mentioned that, beyond the great music, the “support material” remains incredibly charming.
Show me a contemporary eight-year-old who can resist the animated movie YELLOW SUBMARINE, or a blase 15-year-old who wouldn’t get a kick out of A HARD DAY’S NIGHT.
They’ll also benefit by the current writings we have that extoll their virtues. I can honestly see historians in the 23 century studying the Beatles era and their music, and I can just see the 23 century 300th anniversary concert with the latest Beatle tribute group touring the country…
But then again, there will probably be a 23 century re-discovery of Disco.
It’s interesting to ponder what it would be like to have so much documentation of your ancient history. Since much of our culture has been digitized, I can imagine that many images, movies, TV shows, etc will exist essentially unchanged for hundreds of years or more.
What would we think of the ancient Egyptians if there were entire libraries full of Egyptian videotapes of everything from some Pharoah’s home movies to documentaries on how to ensure that someone is mummified properly? I think we’d have a very different sense of history than we do now. What if we had original recordings of Shakespeare plays and interviews with the man himself? Would we still hold him in such reverence, or would he be obscured by the cacaphony of tens of thousands of similar programs and recordings?
Our ancestors a few hundred years ago will learn what that’s like. Perhaps my distant descendant in the year 2401 will sit and watch the goofy movies of my kid I made on the digital camcorder recently.