More than 50 years after McCartney first started penning songs for the Fab Four, the septuagenarian doesn't look like he's slowing down any time soon. Despite his formidable presence in the music scene (the Guinness Book of World Records once claimed that "Yesterday" had the most cover versions of any song ever written), the Internet endured the travesty of having "Who is Paul McCartney?" trend on Twitter during the Grammys earlier this year. The knee-jerk reaction, of course, is to gripe about how tone-deaf tweens know nothing about good music. And there's no shortage of examples to prove this point.
But it's also fair to point out that The Beatles, icons of the vinyl generation, faced multiple hurdles in moving to the digital space. The struggle to get The Beatles catalog on iTunes took years to resolve (expectedly, the original recordings aren't available on Spotify). "The Beatles: Rock Band" is not cross-compatible with the other Rock Band titles, limiting its audience availability and preventing younger users from discovering their music through gameplay.
But there's hope on the horizon: The Beatles' classic 1968 animated film, "Yellow Submarine," was relaunched on iTunes and Blu-Ray over the weekend. McCartney recently performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert and will be featured in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. He also released "Kisses on the Bottom," his fifteenth studio album, last February.
On a lighter note, a bunch of Beatles-themed memes resurfaced online in honor of McCartney's birthday, and we compiled them for your viewing pleasure. Do you think McCartney is still relevant in the current music scene? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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