Elliot Roberts: bringing The Beatles into a new generation
What is it about The Beatles that makes them so relevant to the next generation? Sure, anyone can relate to the melodies that their parents taught them when they were kids, but the modern music scene in both the indie sphere and the greater pop scene at large tends to sound like the furthest thing from the days of the Fab Four. Although The Beatles have garnered a reputation as one of history’s all-time greatest acts, Elliot Roberts has proven that their voice is relevant now more than ever.
Hailing from Australia, Roberts has been making a living by introducing The Beatles’ music to a new generation. After first being exposed to their material through his parents, he has gone down the rabbit hole of breaking down everything Beatles-related in recent years, from the countless depictions of them onscreen to breaking down their individual solo careers.
Across his career on YouTube, Roberts has developed his own voice in telling the story of The Beatles through a modern lens. From the way that they have been portrayed in different biopics to the new revelations that have been made thanks to Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary, his insights have given fans a new perspective on a group that broke up before a large portion of their modern audience was even born.
That’s just one page out of Roberts’s playbook, though. Throughout his time on the platform, his videos have featured other classic rock luminaries like The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan and how modern acts like Weyes Blood are incorporating the warmth of those classics into their own music.
But how does one truly absorb that kind of music today while still being aware of the music that’s around now? For songs as timeless as ‘Hey Jude’ or ‘Here Comes the Sun’ remain, is there really a way for people to appreciate the entire Beatles’ catalogue in the modern age? The answer? Absolutely.
Outside of their countless bootlegs from their Anthology projects, Roberts said that the remix album Love helped open his eyes to what the group represented, telling Far Out, “That album is like a kaleidoscopic look at their music and the way it’s mixed. It was just like an explosion of sounds and melodies and hooks that I just got so addicted to, and from that album, I just wanted to be like, ‘Alright, where’s this song from’?”
That has also led to many more remixes that have come out in recent years showcasing the group’s music. Ever since the release of their final single, ‘Now and Then’, there have also been revamped versions of the band’s classics on the remastered Red and Blue greatest hits albums, which give listeners an opportunity to hear their music in the way that they would listen to the latest Billie Eilish track.
As much as the use of AI raises a few eyebrows about what can be done with other acts, Roberts believes that it has reached its maximum level with The Beatles’ final hour, stating, “I think we’ve seen the height of bringing an old song out from 50 years ago and making it shiny and new. I don’t think that’s going to have as much of an impact for any other band.”
All of that iconic material is still there, but it’s all about how the next generation is using it. Sure, it’s going to be hard to find any Beatles influence in the top 40 if you’re going in with no reference point, but if you know where to look, they are still more relevant than ever in the indie scene.
When listening closely, Roberts said that artists like St Vincent have been able to carry on the group’s tradition in more subtle ways, explaining, “There’s a song called ‘Living the Dream’, which is a real, it was the vocal harmonies in that that made me really think, Oh, this is super Beatles. Not a lot of people put their voices front and centre along with backing vocals, so when that does happen, and someone decides to produce a song where vocal harmonies are a highlight, I’ll always go back to that 1960s British invasion sound.”
Whereas some artists try to hide their influence, many more have that classic rock sound baked into their DNA. Aside from blatant copycats from yesteryear like Oasis, groups like The Lemon Twigs are making the classic sound that feels like it’s from a bygone era, almost like the greatest amalgamation of The Beatles, The Monkees, and The Zombies came together to form the supergroup that time forgot.
Even though the Fab Four’s music is still known as some of the best music in history, there tends to be a little bit of a stigma around them as well, though. As much as people have tended to pay homage to them whenever they can, there comes a point where people start to question whether they were really as important as everyone says.
It’s one thing to be against any type of Stan culture, but Roberts feels that it’s almost contrarian to go against what The Beatles did in some areas, saying, “[It’s] totally contrarian. The Beatles aren’t actually talked about enough. Without The Beatles, no music from everything after that would have sounded the way it did. They’re like the DNA of popular music. But there are so many albums and so many songs that you could collate to, you know, a layman listener who doesn’t like The Beatles and turn them around.”
And it’s not like The Beatles had one sound and stuck with it. For every listener that gets turned off because all supposed “dad rock” sounds the same, a song like ‘A Day in the Life’ sounds nothing like ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, and it would be impossible to think that the same group that made ‘She Loves You’ would be making ‘Because’ less than a decade later.
As for modern artists, though, Roberts said that The Beatles’ influence is built into every major pop star that has come afterwards, saying, “I’ll hear it from everything from like, yeah, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, to Arctic Monkeys. Even Taylor Swift might have something that like, just locks into a certain guitar line. So the heartbeat of The Beatles still beats strong throughout the industry today, both popular and indie music for sure.”
That kind of influence isn’t going to be going away any time soon. All facets of pop and rock music may shed their skin at some point, but the reason The Beatles became one of the biggest acts in the world wasn’t just because of their catchy songs. It was their ability to span a wide variety of different styles, so even if they aren’t your favourite act, chances are your favourites took something from them whether you realise it or not.
