In May 1967, The Beatles celebrated the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They probably didn't know they'd still be making news 42 years later. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
by Linda Holmes
You may have heard about a hot emerging band with a lot of irons in the fire right now -- 'The Beatles,' anybody? I'm pretty sure they're going to be the next big thing.
Today's Beatles news is that Disney is working out a deal for Robert Zemeckis to access Beatles tunes to remake Yellow Submarine. Not only is a movie remake planned, but there's interest in a Broadway show.
In September, The Beatles will undoubtedly make huge headlines with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, the new video game that will allow you to play along with the band. (For a whole lot more about the game, and about the Beatles, and about why people pick on guys who like to play Guitar Hero and Rock Band, see this marvelous recent article by Daniel Radosh from New York Times Magazine.)
All that is not to mention, of course, the fact that remastered versions of their entire catalogue on CD are scheduled for release in September as well.
Need more? 'Why The Beatles Broke Up' is the cover story in the latest issue of Rolling Stone.
There's even some speculation that the Beatles' records could finally be coming to iTunes, but that still looks like wishful thinking as much as anything.
There tends to be a certain ebb and flow to interest in The Beatles, but this does seem like an interesting little uptick. I don't think there's any question that Guitar Hero has wildly increased the familiarity younger kids have with hair bands (I base this in part on my nephews' shockingly advanced knowledge of 'Rock And Roll All Nite'); I'll be curious to watch for an increase in the visibility of Beatles tunes among ten-year-olds.
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