There’s something remarkably ironic in today’s news that iTunes will begin selling Beatles songs. Paul McCartney released a statement saying in part, “We’re really excited to bring the Beatles’ music to iTunes. It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.”
The comment is risible for the leader of a band that for so many years defined the musical avant garde but now acts more like a quaint anachronism. Itunes launched in January 2001 and earlier this year commemorated its 10 billionth music download. Yet only now are the songs that once defined rock’s leading edge available. In short, it’s long past the time that legions of Beatles fans have grabbed Abbey Road or Magical Mystery Tour off Limewire.
That said, no one likes a curmudgeon so it’s worth a shout-out to the best aspect of today’s announcement, namely the availability of the 1964 Live at Washington Coliseum concert. As Randy Lewis at the LA Times describes it, the concert was “never before released officially.” Loose translation: All you had to do before today was to fire up gnutella.
Don’t you find it a little difficult to have the same respect for the Beatles when you see Paul Mcartney with botox, facelifts, and a toupee?
Comment by erika — November 17, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Once again, Erika, you’ve cut to the quick! And remember that the Dartmouth-Princeton game is this weekend. We’ve dropped four straight but the Tigers are looking terrible this year.
Comment by Peter Arnold — November 17, 2010 @ 12:16 pm
And Ivy League champion University of Pennsylvania looked best of all…even better than Sir Paul with botox, facelifts, and a rug.
Me thinks the Beatles and survivors are a bit fat from a lifestyle outlook standpoint…if they really cared about their fans and/or their fans’ consumer behavior, they would have gone the digital route long ago and still gotten a lot of press.
Comment by Andy Arnold — November 23, 2010 @ 11:01 pm