Students come together to celebrate Beatles Day on campus
Anna Waugh
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The band that took us down to strawberry fields and reminded us that all we need is love is back and remastered.
Beatles fans everywhere will revisit their favorite classic songs today with the release of all the Fab Four's CDs remastered, and the university is commemorating the event with its own unofficial Beatles Day on campus, said Brad Thompson, student activities coordinator.
The university will have "The Beatles: Rock Band" available for students to play, which also comes out today, along with a screening of the film "A Hard Day's Night," Thompson said.
He said Beatles prizes like books, CDs and "The Beatles: Rock Band" will be given away at the event.
Thompson said it is a big day for Beatles fans everywhere and celebrating the day on campus allows students to share in the excitement.
"It makes it kind of a unique opportunity for college students to kind of interact with a band that was super popular a long time ago, but really continues to be popular today," he said.
Journalism professor Punch Shaw, who currently teaches a class on the history of mass media and has taught a Beatles class for TCU's Department of Extended Education in the past, will introduce the film, "A Hard Day's Night."
Shaw said the film did not follow the traditional rock films of that time. He said the film shocked people with its quality because it wasn't just a showcase for the band or their popular songs, like many rock films were, but was a comedy and a film that was great within itself. Shaw said while anything with the Beatles would have sold out in theaters, the band's persistence to make a quality film caused the film to be a hit, regardless of their already well established popularity.
Shaw said the Beatles' music was superior in the way it was constructed and performed by using keys that weren't normally used in rock music. He said their music was more sophisticated because their songs became more elaborate and "painstakingly created" over time. He said the band had a fantastic producer, George Martin, who embellished everything they made.
"The Beatles came along and offered a real fresh take on really what were American forms," Shaw said. "And so they were in some ways, oddly enough, reteaching us our own music."
The Beatles influenced other bands because what they did instantly became the standard, Shaw said. The album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" changed the way bands recorded music and opened up the psychedelic era, he said.
Anne Cenney, a junior biology major, drives a '66 Mustang and said she is "stuck in the '60s." She said she was practically raised on Beatles music because her dad was a huge fan.
Cenney said she loves the Beatles because of their simple message about love and their experiments with music. She said her favorite song is "Within You, Without You" because it was when Martin introduced the Ztar.
Shaw said the remastered collection is great because it reminds listeners of the band's influence.
"For the Beatles fans that date back to the Beatles era, it's just impossible to separate their music from our memories," Shaw said. "They're all bundled up together."
The Beatles' music was not just a product of its time; even when taken out of the context of its era, it is still powerful and the audience continues to grow, Shaw said. He compared the Beatles' music to Shakespeare's plays.
"You don't need to have Shakespeare on the stage for it to be good," Shaw said. "Their songs are great enough and enduring enough that they even get more interesting when we hear other people interpret them."
Thompson said the music of that time is lyrically relevant today with the younger generation. He said the Beatles having a Rock Band game bridges the gap between the older and younger generations, showing how timeless the band is.
"I think we're kind of in a similar time as we were when the Beatles were popular," Thompson said. "The country was facing war and economic uncertainty and strangely enough we find ourselves in a similar place today."
Shaw said it is interesting how the Beatles endured as an influence in pop culture over time, adding that it amazes the people of his generation that their audience continues to grow. He said the continued Beatlemania is a vindication for the older generation that the music is as good as they thought it was back then.
What: Beatles Rock Band Tournaments
Where: BLUU Auditorium
When: 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.
What: "A Hard Day's Night" screening
Where: BLUU Auditorium
b>When: 7:30 p.m.
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