Apple announced today that the complete Beatles library is available on iTunes! Matt asked me to write a bit about the Beatles since he is way too young to remember them. I’m not, and as a child of the sixties, the Beatles are the single most important musical influence on my life. The very first LP that Grace and I bought when we were married 43 years ago was Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles, and we still have the album with our names written on the cover. The Beatles transformed the music industry by taking rock and roll to a whole new level.
I remember watching the Beatles’ first performance in the USA on the Ed Sullivan show and watching as the Fab Four grew up in the public eye. As the Beatles transformed themselves before our eyes, we evolved with them, and their music was the soundtrack to our lives. The message of peace and love through music is ageless and the fact that 50 years later, the availability of their library on iTunes is simply remarkable.
My favorite Beatles tunes are All You Need is Love, With a Little Help From My Friends, and, as I push the date, When I’m 64 (although I can still listen to the Beatles for hours). My grandkids seem to like the Beatles, too, and the first CD Grace made for my granddaughter Khadija is a Beatle mix. Although this announcement is not for me since I have all their CDs, it is a defining moment for the iTunes store as the Beatles were the single biggest holdout.