Millennials Have Discovered The Beatles Thanks To Spotify, But They Are Not Impressed


Spotify added a catalog for The Beatles a few days ago, and already the band’s most popular plays have been revealed. The cross into the streaming world for the band was a decision they battled with, but now The Beatles have been introduced to a whole new generation of music lovers. Millennials in particular wondered what all the fuss was about. After sampling the Spotify catalog, millennials were not as pleased with music from the Beatles are they had been with other throwback pop sensations like Michael Jackson. Instead, millennials are using their voices in the digital age to make fun of the Beatles.

Globally, the top three Beatles songs on Spotify are “Come Together,” “Let It Be,” and “Hey Jude.” However based on recommendations that mostly likely came from their parents and other mature Beatles fans, millennials set there sites on “Yesterday,” and what happened next was complete trashing. One millennial in particular, a writer for Washington Post, Rachel Mantueffel, wrote a piece urging the earlier generation to admit the superiority of modern music. In the article titled “Today, boomers need to get over ‘Yesterday'” Mantueffel rips the lyrics to the Beatles song to shreds.

“Boomers, please believe that we are not trying to be cruel. We simply urge you to assess your music in the harsh light of reality. Of today.”

The issue with “Yesterday,” by the Beatles according to this one millennial synopsis is that it’s too dramatic, the events are in the wrong order, and everything else is ” just repetition and humming.” Though the baby boomers could argue the same thing about modern music, millennials have a far larger voice, and they have made it clear that the Beatles just don’t make the cut. According to Billboard,“Yesterday,” by the Beatles is the fifth-most played Beatles song in the catalog, but perhaps it’s the Paul McCartney aspect that has millennials denouncing the legacy of the Beatles altogether.

Image via Peopleimages.com/Getty Images
Image via Peopleimages.com/Getty Images

Back in 2014, Beatles front-man Paul McCartney appeared on a song with Kanye West and Rihanna. Some older folks were thinking who’s that tone deaf man ruining Paul’s song? Millennials were tweeting, whose that old guy with Yeezy and Ri Ri? The chart topper titled “Only One,” was written in honor of Kanye’s late mother Donde West, but inspired by “Let It Be;” a Beatles fan favorite. In a May 2015 interview with TIME, Paul McCartney explained that he was just as inspired by millennial idol, Kanye West as the rapper was by his Beatles music. Paul compared his experience working with Kanye to working with his Beatles bandmate John Lennon, who also had a flair for making music out a simple “ping,” of the piano keys.

“When I wrote with John, he would sit down with a guitar. I would sit down. We’d ping-pong till we had a song.”

Having even more in common with Kanye West than what many may believe, “Let It Be,” by the Beatles was written in honor of McCartney’s late mother after he had a vivid dream about her. “Only One,” an ode to Donde West has the same reminiscent lyrical content. Strangely, the 00s are reminiscent of the 60s altogether, and the Beatles have a lot to do with it.

Image via Jon Ragel/Getty Images
Image via Jon Ragel/Getty Images

The only true difference between millennials and boomers is music. Both groups are quick-moving, political only on things that matter to them, and terribly sex-crazed. The music is fast and more computerized now, but the love songs are still about love, and nothing is new under the sun, right?

If Paul McCartney, one of the earliest rock stars can find a way to appreciate hip hop, a genre that in 2013, Kanye West referred to as “the new Rock ‘n’ Roll,” what is all the fuss about? The truth is every new group of music lovers wants to be able to say they did it best, but Adele sounds like Lionel Richie, Robin Thicke sounds like Marvin Gaye, and Kanye West has spent his entire career sampling pretty much everyone who came before him.

So, dear Rachel Mantueffel and fellow millennials, without bands like the Beatles, there would be no modern music.

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