From Baby Boomers to Gen-Xers to Millennials, there are very few phenomena that have the galvanizing power to transcend the generations with equal vitality. The Beatles are one of them.
But next Wednesday’s release of “The Beatles: Rock Band” is more than a swan dive into the digital age; it demonstrates an important evolution in gaming, where new and old cultural media collide for redefinition. Can you think of anything more amazing than witnessing 15-year-olds standing alongside 65-year-olds to pick up preordered copies?
And just look at this soundtrack:
• Drive My Car
• Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
• I Am the Walrus
• Revolution
• Dear Prudence
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Helter Skelter
• Don’t Let Me Down
• Come Together
• Something
• I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
• Here Comes the Sun
• I Got A Feeling
This is just the tip of a 45-song iceberg covering the band’s legendary decade-long career. Hitting the shelves globally on September 9th, the “Rock Band” event coincides with the much-anticipated release of the digitally-remastered Beatles catalog. Backdrops for the game include the Cavern Club, the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, Abbey Road Studios, and the immortal Apple Corps “Let It Be” rooftop performance. Evolving from earlier “Rock Band” editions, The Beatles version allows six players and is the first to challenge players with a three-part vocal harmony.
Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, created the soundtrack using the original master tapes his father recorded. But George Harrison’s son Dhani – a fan of the “Guitar Hero” game – was the project’s brainchild. When he met MTV Networks president Van Toffler in 2006, Harrison mused about a version of “Guitar Hero” using all the Beatles. Toffler informed him that MTV had just bought the company Harmonix, which produced “Guitar Hero” and was then developing the first edition of “Rock Band,” and the whole thing fell together seamlessly from there.
After capturing the interest and blessings of surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono, “The Beatles: Rock Band” project went into development with the ultimate hopes of bringing the band’s music to future generations.
Which is exactly what it’s now going to do. Talk about an event.
Images courtesy MTV Networks.
