It’s been 30 years since the last Beatles album was released, and today the Fab Four are still as popular as ever. One of the reasons for their ongoing popularity is the Fab Four movies. These movies showed a side of the Beatles that most people didn’t get the chance to see – especially John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who didn’t appear on camera together until the third movie in the series. In the last 30 years, the media has documented John and Yoko’s fight for equal rights and have painted a more human side to the band members than we ever saw before. While it’s still common for fans to idolize the band members, it’s also opened the door for new generations of fans who didn’t know any different.
Perhaps one of the most endearing things about the Fab Four is their irreverent sense of humor. They poked fun at themselves and each other throughout their time together, and those pranks continued even after their break-up. In the 2019 documentary, Let’s Talk About Love, which follows the band over the course of their breakup, we see Yoko Ono playing a prank on John by convincing him that he’s been accepted to college – which he hadn’t been accepted to yet. The prank worked, and it was one of the many jokes that made the film so endearing.
From Quirk to Icon
If Let’s Talk About Love was a prank, then John and Yoko’s wedding day was definitely no joke. The couple looked completely overwhelmed as they tried to figure out how to be married with all the pomp and circumstance while still being true to themselves. Their desire to keep their personal life private was mocked on their wedding day when hundreds of guests arrived at their estate to celebrate with them. The media was there to document the event, and it was easy for people to fall in love with the happy couple, who still adore each other decades later.
The wedding day was one of the most iconic event of 2019, and it demonstrated the power of love over politics. In an interview with Variety, Ono said that when she and Lennon are apart, they make up for it by being closer to each other. She said, “We are, both of us, big believers in love and marriage. We are very happy that so many people got the message that we wanted to send to the world on our wedding day and how much we value marriage and love.”
The Dad Factor
Another reason why the Fab Four are so popular is that they were ahead of their time. In the late 1960s, when they started recording, the Beatles were pioneers in popularizing music videos. They were initially wary of music videos, but eventually embraced them as a tool to reach an audience that would have never seen them live. One of the band members’ first music videos was of them performing Little Richard’s “Tutti-Frutti.” In the clip, Richard can be seen mimicking the dance moves of four white men in the audience, including John. When John saw the Richard video, he said, “All right, I gotta go out and try that.” The song would later become one of the best-selling singles of all time. The other videos that the band released in 1968 were also groundbreaking for the time, featuring animated sequences and psychedelic imagery. These videos made the band members known for their artistry, and many of their songs became part of the culture through constant radio play and music videos.
Less Is More
While the most noteworthy facts about the Beatles are undoubtedly their extraordinary songwriting and the way they changed the world with their music, it’s important to remember that they were a minimalist band. There are only four known recordings by the Beatles, and fans constantly debate over whether or not the group should have released more music. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Paul McCartney said, “I think we were trying to keep it small. We were trying to keep the numbers low, because if you go back, every album was incredibly successful. If we’d done another album, it would have just gone over. There’s no point doing something if you know it’ll never be accepted.”
The Whole Family
Another reason why the Beatles are so popular is that they were a band that everyone could love. They spoke to everyone – from kids to parents – with their music and their light-hearted humor. The members of the band weren’t just influencers in music, they were role models for anyone who wanted to be someone in society. Their lyrics spoke to people of all ages about being true to yourself, which is something that anyone can relate to.
While the members of the band were obviously proud of their families, it was something that they kept hidden. Out of respect to their parents, the band members rarely spoke about them or showed photos of them onstage. Only in recent years have the families of John and Yoko been acknowledged by the band. In the 2019 documentary, Let’s Talk About Love, the filmmakers captured rare images of the whole family, including John’s parents, Cecil and Ada, and his sister, Christina. The group also included drummer Ringo and his wife, Maureen, who were photographed for the first time since their marriage in 2018.
Even today, the Beatles’ legacy stands as one of the greatest of all time, and it will continue to do so long after their deaths. While these four musicians will always have an important place in music history, they will be remembered for more than their music. The future of the band, and of music in general, is looking more and more like the Beatles imagined it back in 1962. Thanks to their influence, music will always be a part of our culture.