Let Us Now Praise... The Beatles

"We started out as a blues band. But we're listening to everybody, including jazz and classical. I just found out something that completely blew my mind — the Beatles' song, 'Rain'. I stood back and said, Wow! What are they doing? I got the biggest kick out of spinning the…

Tell us about your influences. "First and foremost, the Beatles. For the first eleven years of my life I did nothing else but listen to the Beatles. Their influence on how I write the chords of my pieces, it’s undeniable . . . I've always loved the Beatles." --#KurtCobain…

"Everybody knows what an incredible Beatles fan I am by now. If I ever get some terminal disease, just give me my medication, put on any Beatles album and just let me die like a f***** Viking. That's my last request." --#OzzyOsbourne R.I.P. #Ozzy, one of the most…

"Every time one of their records came out, I wanted to have it. I dug the writing, the effects they got. I just said ‘Why can’t I?’ I wanted to do something else, go other places. The Beatles made me feel I could do some of the ideas that I had." --#StevieWonder…

"Picking your favorite Beatles songs is like trying to sum up the Bible in a paragraph. They were, and still are, the fabric of my musical life. But much more than that, the Beatles drove our culture — and our consciousness. Thank you John, Paul, George and Ringo."…

Over the top, maybe, but it's worth asking: what is it about the Beatles that inspires rapture? "Jesus and the Beatles — certain people come to this planet to create a bridge over the yawning gulf between God and humanity." --#CarlosSantana "Truthfully, I think of the…

"I've always wanted the freedom to try different things musically, and I'm sure that was formed by listening to the Beatles. Now, after two years of very expensive therapy, I've come to realize that there are some unbelievably God-given-talented geniuses in this world, and they…

"The Beatles were about moving forward, always. They were breaking down barriers every time they went into the studio . . . Paul and John were always trying to outdo each other, outdo Brian Wilson, outdo whoever else they were thinking about. There is nothing dated about what…

The sickly kid that spent years in the hospital grew up to be the drummer for the greatest rock group in history and one of the most famous people on earth. Today he turns 85 years old and is still playing drums, singing, recording, touring and spreading joy.…

Today marks a new extreme in cognitive dissonance: A Beatle is 85 years old. #HappyBirthdayRingoStarr "So many people aren't hip to Ringo. He's got his own approach, and he drives everybody with a very funky beat. He inspired us so much that we wrote three songs that…

"I was a classical accordionist, I started playing aged five in Chicago. Bless my mom and dad, they paid for nine years of classical accordion lessons and I just took to it. It was a great musical backdrop for me. "At maybe ten or eleven, somebody played me a Jerry Lee Lewis…

"The Beatles affected me a great deal. When I heard 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,' it blew my mind that the same band that did 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' did this completely experimental piece of music. That's the thing about the Beatles: they travelled so far in such a short…

"I loved every record. You know, to me, the Beatles stand alone, in the way that Miles Davis stands alone. What they did to music, what they did for music, can never happen again. And when I go listen to those songs and even try to learn some of those songs now, they're even…

On This Day, June 25, 1967: Our World, the first-ever worldwide satellite television link-up, is beamed live to a global audience of half a billion people. The Beatles are chosen to represent Great Britain. With the tape rolling at EMI studios, accompanied by friends, flowers,…

On This Day, June 25, 1967: 'Our World,' the first-ever worldwide satellite television link-up, is beamed live to a global audience of half a billion people. In a complex geographical coordination of simultaneous broadcasts, 14 nations contribute live segments representing…

On This Day, June 25, 1967: 'Our World,' the first-ever worldwide satellite television link-up, is beamed live to a global audience of half a billion people. In a complex geographical coordination of simultaneous broadcasts, 14 nations contribute live segments representing…

"If there had been no Swinging London, if the Beatles hadn't been kings of the world at the time, unleashing all these possibilites for everyone . . . Enoch Powell and The National Front would have become a much more powerful force. At that point in time, the Beatles had a huge…

"I saw the Beatles at the Granada, Bedford. It was one of the first surreal, non-drug-provoked epiphanic moments it’s been my good fortune to experience. The Beatles had started the tour at the bottom of the show and were moving up the bill in increments as 'Please Please Me'…

"So many black musicians over the years have found themselves in Paul McCartney’s songwriting. Maybe that’s because Paul McCartney found himself — as a musician and as a human being — by being a white ally in support of black humanity and black lives long before that was…

"Paul's music makes me feel there’s more good in the world than we think, and maybe love can really exist in a pure form. And isn’t that what we want to feel when we listen to music?" --#TaylorSwift #HappyBirthdayPaul #Macca #PaulMcCartney83 @taylorswift13 #Songwriting…