Trivia Time: Can You Tell the Difference Between Lennon and McCartney?

Time out from all things politics. Instead, let’s turn our attention to “all things Beatles trivia” for this short essay/game.

I went on Amazon yesterday to purchase The Beatles Stereo Box Set and was informed it was still on back order. Borders noted that the set will be available on a limited basis in October on a “first-come, first-served” basis. The Mono version, which sells for $30 more than the Stereo version, is also on back order. So the Beatles obviously remain popular.

One topic I have always found interesting is the distinction between Lennon’s songs and McCartney’s songs. Of the 200 plus songs the Beatles wrote, perhaps about 30 had some form of  collaboration between the two, with maybe 20 being jointly written completely. Yet, I have always found this distinction very misleading. Their influence on each other was so deep that their individual songs really were effectively collaborations. Besides the obvious difference in sound between, say, Wings and McCartney written Beatles songs, I have constructed a “Beatles” trivia quiz below to demonstrate this point.  I assert that we think we can tell the difference because most of us know the songs well. But in reality, they were highly influenced by the other and are more similar than we sometimes realize. (more…)

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Tags: Beatles, Lennon, McCartney, The Beatles Stereo Box Set
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 10:40 am in Entertainment, Music | 23343051 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mrulle/2009/10/03/trivia-time-can-you-tell-the-difference-between-lennon-and-mccartney/Trivia+Time%3A+Can+You+Tell+the+Difference+Between+Lennon+and+McCartney%3F2009-10-03+17%3A40%3A34Michael+S.+Rulle+Jr.

The King of Pop, Sir Paul, and the Right to Reclaim Copyrights

This may be a shocking revelation to all but the most avid news-followers, but it is apparently true: pop star Michael Jackson recently passed away.  A handful of media outlets found time to cover the story, and some of them have mentioned Jackson’s feud with Paul McCartney over Jackson’s ownership of the publishing rights to some of the Beatles’ biggest hits-rights acquired when Jackson outbid Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono in the mid-1980’s. 

People not familiar with copyright law might be surprised to hear that McCartney-one-half of music’s most-successful songwriting duo-must pay royalties to perform his own hit songs.  The fact certainly seemed to grate on McCartney, who frequently made mention of it in interviews.  But even more surprising, at least to those not acquainted with the intricacies of copyright law, is that Sir Paul will one day be able to re-acquire the rights to his music without even having to pay to buy them back.

(more…)

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Tags: Beatles, Congress, Copyright Act, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney
Posted Jul 14th 2009 at 10:21 am in Entertainment, Law | 18104270 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/carledge/2009/07/14/the-king-of-pop-sir-paul-and-the-right-to-reclaim-copyrights/The+King+of+Pop%2C+Sir+Paul%2C+and+the+Right+to+Reclaim+Copyrights2009-07-14+17%3A21%3A24Chris+Arledge

Rock Is Still Dead

It used to take decades and even centuries of cultural transmission by storytelling, theater, ballad, and a general diffusion of knowledge by processes unknown to bring myth and legend into being.  That may be another way of saying that people once had brains, and then came television, Video’s killing of the Radio Star, and the genteel cultural virtues obtained through 24/7 media immersion.

People once heard, told, acted out and retold these tales, taking active roles in creating visions of life and its possibilities in imaginative ways, instead of flopping on couches with a Monster Burger in one hand and a Bucket o’ Suds in the other, passively awaiting the predetermined outcome of one steroid-based extravaganza or another. This says something disturbing about the contrast between ancient and modern civilizations and the ways the perception of reality can either be generated by humans or imprinted upon them, unless you’re the CEO of an international fast food conglomerate or a viewer engaging in a fierce wind-breaking competition during a broadcast’s inevitable male-enhancement advertisements or rain delays.  (more…)

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Tags: 99 Red Ballons, Beatles, Crystal Method, Flyleaf, Gary Numan
Posted May 12th 2009 at 3:13 pm in Entertainment | 131842No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/05/12/rock-is-still-dead-scott-graves/Rock+Is+Still+Dead+2009-05-12+22%3A13%3A21Scott+Graves

Ugly Pop World Drives Beauty Underground

The disconnect between beauty and popularity in music has never been greater.  Where once America sang the Beatles or Motown (”The Sound of Young America”), today the music industry is severely fragmented.  Gangsta rap.  Speed metal.  Trip-hop.  The major recording companies whine about declining profits even as they pay Mariah Carey $18 million not to record.

Unanimity of public opinion over popular song has passed.  Music, which used to unite, now divides.  Eminem and Ludacris would have been unthinkable thirty years ago.  We live in an antinomian age where it’s hip to defy conventional wisdom long after every vestige of conventional wisdom lies in tatters.  Where Keats’ Grecian Urn once proclaimed, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” today’s antinomian consumer proclaims, “Whatever,” in a voice oozing ennui. (more…)

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Tags: "American People", "Burden", "Evil White Men", "I Got a Life", "McLife"
Posted Feb 27th 2009 at 2:05 pm in Entertainment, Reviews, Video | 6857889 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/02/27/68578/Ugly+Pop+World+Drives+Beauty+Underground2009-02-27+22%3A05%3A03Mike+Baron