The Beatles AI Song Seems Like a Desperate Move to Prove They’re Still Cutting Edge
The classic rock genre would look drastically different today if not for The Beatles. Heck, 21st-century pop music wouldn’t be what it is without the Fab Four. They became trendsetters and tastemakers when they became international stars in 1964. Even the English language changed because of their influence. That’s why The Beatles’ AI song seems like a desperate move to remain relevant.
The Beatles making an AI song seems like a play to show they’re still cutting edge
Paul McCartney announced The Beatles’ AI song in June 2023 and planned to release it later the same year. Macca planned to use computer technology to lift John Lennon’s voice from a well-worn demo tape for “Now and Then” and finish the song with help from artificial intelligence.
The die-hard fans will surely eat it up. The bank accounts of Paul, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison stand to benefit. And hearing how John’s AI-enhanced voice sounds will be interesting. Will the technology make it sound warbled, such as on “Free as a Bird?” Guttural like “Twist and Shout?” Effects-laden like “I Am the Walrus?” We’ll have to wait and see.
Yet The Beatles’ making an AI tune seems like a desperate reach for relevancy. The band that once charted the course is now riding in the wake of others.
John, Paul, George, and Ringo were THE musical trendsetters of 1960s pop music. They made what many consider the first psychedelic record with 1966’s Revolver. Once The Beatles did it, exploring psychedelia became safe for Donovan, Pink Floyd, and others to follow suit.
Backmasking on purpose? John once bragged that it was a Beatles invention that he discovered. Soon, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin employed it and made it a feature of some of their songs.
The Fab Four created pop music’s first great concept album with 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It paved the way for The Who (with The Who Sell Out and Tommy and Quadrophenia), The Rolling Stones (Their Satanic Majesties Request), and a host of prog-rock bands of the 1970s to go that route.
The Beatles’ multimedia movie/album combos for Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine predated similar efforts by Pink Floyd (Live at Pompeii) and The Band (The Last Waltz).
Heck, even putting John’s vocals on “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” in the mid-1990s felt fresh.
In short, Liverpool’s most famous band were gatekeepers in the 1960s. When it comes to computer-generated music, The Beatles’ AI song seems like a desperate reach.
Paul’s move to make one more song with John comes several years after Brian Eno — the ambient music pioneer and superstar producer — and the AI Instagram influencer Miquela made music that relied on 21st-century technology. Macca blazed the trail 60 years ago. Now Eno, a musician from the same generation, is the one leading the way.
Considering all he has given to the music world during his career, Paul earned the right to make an AI Beatles tune. “Now and Then” was on a tape labeled “To Paul” that Yoko Ono gave him after John died. It’s his to do with as he sees fit. Yet it still feels a little sad seeing a leader follow others down the AI path.
Will we plan to listen to The Beatles’ last, AI-assisted song? Of course we will. It is The Beatles, after all. But it will be one of the few times ever a Fab Four song rides the trends instead of setting them.
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