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8.13pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
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In a separate thread, our new friend Inner Light wrote the following about Paul. I had been thinking about something similar to this earlier today and did not want to derail yet another thread, so I created this one. Inner Light wrote…
“He is everywhere now in the media which to me hurts his image in my eyes. He is making himself too accessible and the mysticism is gone. It used to be if you ever saw one of the Beatles it was rare.”
So I ask – do any others feel the Beatles “market” has been over saturated? Back in the day before things like internet, cable TV or satellite radio, Beatles info was relatively rare – especially if you were like me and grew up in a small village of only 3,000 people. But that made it extremely precious. If you knew a kid who had a bootleg version of anything Beatles, he or she was a hero for at least 6 months. Now, he or she is just…well…one of us.
On one hand, I miss the excitement generated when I stumbled across a rarity. On the other hand, I want all the rarities and I want them NOW, damn it!!!
Those of you who are older than 40 know what I mean, so I would like to hear from you. I also would love to know from our younger posters, who really have had unlimited access to Beatles info for as long as they can remember, do you also wish you could have had the excitement I mentioned earlier?
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
8.26pm
20 December 2010
Offline Great thread. I look forward to everyone's comments.
The further one travels, the less one knows
9.46pm
27 February 2010
Offline I can't really tell…
First of all, I'm consider myself a hardcore beatle freak (and people around me think the same way), so I see beatles everywhere, put there on porpose by the market or not (read: my delusions).
Second, and I already said this before, I live in a city where T-shirts (and backpacks, pins, car stickers and so on) with a Beatle motive is not only not rare, but very common.
I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon
10.20pm
19 April 2010
Offline Well, I'm 53 so I guess that makes me over 40. And I can remember the absolute excitement over every new release. I can remember finding the first Let It Be bootlegs and me and my friends buying them and thinking we'd found treasure. I can remember the early days of videotape and spending evenings watching videos – awful quality – all the recordings coming and rumors of break ups and John in the news then Paul in the news.
I remember how we had to scour the papers for news, scour record stores for notleg releases – every find was like a sacred quest. We would actually schedule days to go into NYC to go through all the underground record stores in the hopes of finding one rare thing.
Is all that missing now in the days of insta-info? Yes. But in the end it's about the incredible music. And anything that makes that more accessible is good.
Is the Beatles brand over-saturated? For sure. But you really can't over-play that music. Fab gear aside, it's all about the music. Seeing new generations getting turned on by the music – that's where it's at.
"She looks more like him than I do."
10.26pm
25 November 2010
Offline robert said:
Is the Beatles brand over-saturated? For sure. But you really can't over-play that music. Fab gear aside, it's all about the music. Seeing new generations getting turned on by the music – that's where it's at.
And this is probably the exact reason why Steve Jobs got the Beatles on iTunes, though at first blush, it DID sound redundant and ridiculous.
My 11 year old nephew asked for (and got) Beatles Rock Band for Christmas. 
Too bad I don't live closer…
10.30pm
10 December 2010
Offline Me being a younger fan, I have to say that I would prefer to have lived when the Beatles were less commercial. I saw a magazine today about John's last interveiw with Rolling Stones and I thought that would be something really cool to have so I bought it. Then I learned almost everyone already read it on the internet. Old news, apparently. 
Although I can't relate to the whole small-town thing, my grandma can. She grew up in the midwest in a town of even smaller population – although the number escapes me now. She said that her friends used to have these sort of Beatles parties were a lot of the girls would come over and they'd listen to their music. She said girls would bring over magazines and posters and other “rarities” as they were known to them.
I also hate how since everyone at least knows them, it's hard to claim to be a fan when almost everyone else out there says they are too. Wearing a Beatles shirt doens't make you a big fan – it means you're like everyone else who owns one just to say they own one. Does this make sense?
At the same time, if I really just want to know who played the guitar solo in a certain song, or who said they liked what type of food, I can just go onto the internet and have my answer right there, rather than having to search through every magazine and interveiw of them to find it.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night...
_¸.·´¯¯`·-» take these broken wings and learn to fly
11.08pm
9 June 2010
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In my town, Beatlemania is not widespread. So I love getting Beatles stuff. But I could easily live without all my Beatles stuff if I had to give it up in order to keep the music.
If I seem to act unkind, it's only me, it's not my mind that is confusing things.
11.47pm
19 September 2010
Offline As a Young Poster, I think We can still experience the excitement of new info if we don’t feel entitled by the new info. However, (and This is part of why I wish I was born in the 1950’s) All new info is expected, not exciting. I would have loved to be a kid in the 70’s who always would be asking his friends “Any new Bootlegs?” I Think That it would be best To reduce the news leaked about EVERYBODY – not just the Beatles, but everybody and everything. I really wish I could experience the Excitement You mention, but Then, of Course, We Wouldn’t be having This discussion now. There’s good and Bad, But, without the outlets to get the unlimited resources, Nobody would be on this Forum, and This site wouldn’t exist. There is more Good from The Media oversaturation than Bad.
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
1.00am
1 May 2010
Offline 
I'd just echo what the other younger posters have said, the coolest part of the “oversaturation” is that every piece of information about the Beatles can be found instantly. That's what makes the band so unique and so interesting, there is so much information available which makes the group never really get stale because it's not always just about the music, but even when you find a new piece of information I feel like the music just improves. They are clearly more than just a band because this website wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it were all just about the music.
It's just difficult to really see the Beatles as being put out there too much because our generation is so used to EVERYTHING being put out there so much that it usually makes seeing a Beatles commercial like a breath of fresh air. We've been programmed to accept this in your face all of the time attitude that exists with the media and technology, which is maddening to try and escape from if that's what you've been used to all of your life. So I look at the Beatles as an opportunity for the younger generation to expand their lives and consciousness in some way because there are so many aspects of life to get interested in once you learn about these guys and what they were interested in.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine
2.08am
13 November 2009
Offline I think you could argue that they were commercial as soon as they came to America. A part from gigs and album releases, they had a cartoon, movies, tv specials, board games, fanzines, comic books, bobble heads, toys, bubblegum cards*, talcum powder, etc. And everyone was buying. To me, that's satuarated.
I agree with marcelo – it seems like a lot because you're looking. Most of the Beatle news I come across is one sites dedicated to bringing it to Beatle fans.
I am incredibly jealous of anyone who got to see them (a)live or to hear a new new album. But it's a lot easier to cut through the fangirling** now. People might wear a Beatles t shirt and barely know they were a band, but it's pretty easy to find other fans and I think it's wonderful thing.
*Proof that they were “great”.
**Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I can go to one of Paul's concerts or buy a album without risk of getting trampled.
Ad hoc, ad loc, and quid pro quo! So little time! So much to know!
6.09pm
9 June 2010
Offline skye said:
**Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I can go to one of Paul's concerts or buy a album without risk of getting trampled.
Oh my gosh. That was awesome.
*9*
If I seem to act unkind, it's only me, it's not my mind that is confusing things.
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