. . . or some of that 'everything.' Referring to the tagline on the Apple website after the announcement: "The band that changed everything," why is no one objecting to that piece of (seeming) hyperbole? Like they did with that flat little statement that you will not forget this day, before the announcement. Here's an example of hyper-reaction to Apple's 'hype:'
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Curmudgeon 
The trashing of Apple isn't just because they now sell Beatles tunes - or whether that's a big deal or not. It's the fact that Apple
loudly proclaimed that it was a big deal. That it was a day you'd remember forever. That was a little bit over the top.
Loudly? But here is how you people who like Apple but don't get how they played this coup- of-all-possible iTunes coups ('coup' = 'stroke,' as in stroke of genius) can process your outrage:
For those of us who were around and sentient when the Beatles first arrived, it would be impossible to exaggerate the cultural shift that occurred. I'll put it simply: it was the end of the American white-bread culture that had strangled us mentally since the late 40s. Ginsberg and the Beats had been working on this problem, and Dylan and Seeger following Guthrie were too, but the Beatles finished off the project. Musn't forget that Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis and others were doing their part in the late 50s too, but it took the Beatles -- and the rest of the British rockers -- to finish the job, and the American mental landscape was never the same after. They, and the new prevailing phamacolgy of the period, was the reason that the 60s that y'all are so tired of hearing about (understandably) happened.
I could go on, but the world you malcontents live in today is, was, set in motion by that cultural revolution. Unfortunately, the WASP anti-bohemian instincts were also set in motion, Nixon was elected, and the whole new world of peace and love collapsed around 1969. And we're still living under the dark cloud of reaction to global cultural progress that started at that time. It's why we all are malcontents now. We know the white-breads still have the reins, and only a certain amount of bohemian bonhomie is allowed.
So when the Beatles come to iTunes, it's like a huge generational switch has been thrown, a circuit has been closed, the culture of peace and love is now downloadable. Will it sell this time around? It's never wise to sell Apple short.
One more thing, very relevant here. The Beatles were among the first to see the relatively new techniques of stereo recording as a thing to be played with, inside your head, the sounds skittering around in your brain joyfully. It was headphone-tripping, with guitars, sitars, snippets of tape, orchestras (George Martin!), etc. This translates very well to the present, when everybody is on headphones. Back then, almost nobody was, unless they were home alone stoned. It's why 'A Day in The Life' (Sgt. Pepper) is one of their most important statements.
Finally, it's a great surprise to learn from that first concert video on the Apple website that they opened with Chuck Berry's 'Roll Over Beethoven.' Exactly. Bringing Americans their own Black R&B music back to them, like the Stones and everybody else was about to do. A new declaration of independence. Way to work the system, Apple!
)
