Are the Beatles going to be culturally relevant for an entire century?

Mozart is still relevant after 250 years, so I don't see why not. What will be interesting is, will there be a point at which parents are singing Beatles songs to their kids without even knowing their origin? The way we do with things like "Twinkle, Twinkle" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb"....

Probably. The mythos/interest around the band hasn't really changed. The real test will be when all 4 are dead and you don't have a current day link to "that band" from 60+ years ago.

Beethoven died almost 200 years ago and we still know his music. And he lived before recorded music, photography, video, etc. The Beatles will be known for at least 200 years (barring the total collapse of civilization)

My guess? Yes. I'm in my fifties and still listening to them as much (or more) than I did in my twenties. My nine year old is already pretty fluent in the Beatles catalogue, and will likely carry the torch.

Let's all get up and dance to a song that was a hit before your mother was born

You should read “But what if we’re wrong” by Chuck Klosterman if you’re interested in this thought exercise. With the access to information and distribution today, it’s impossible to compare a contemporary band like the Beatles to say, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Highly recommend his book on the subject!

I continue to be shocked at how The Beatles resonate with young kids. I remember driving my friend’s 6 year old on an errand, realizing he was singing Eleanor Rigby in the back seat. His parents didn’t like The Beatles and for sure were not playing their music at home. That was 30 years ago. My niece has two little sons who sing Beatles songs all the time.

Louis Armstrong's earliest records are just over a hundred years old. 

Yes. We will still be listening and appreciating the Beatles in 2062

I would bet yes. It will continue to dwindle as time goes on (but may see a resurgence from time to time) but eventually they'll be forgotten like everything. I highly doubt that will happen in the next 50 years or so though.

Depends what you consider culturally relevant.

Well, culturally relevant is very different than actively being listened to in large quantities. So like everyone knows of Mozart or Beethoven, but how many people still actively listen to them? Probably not a whole lot. But, now to actually answer, with the Beatles in particular, they made so much music of such a wide variety that I do believe it will be around for the next 100 years at least. A lot of people can hear Mozart and Beethoven and think "Yep. Classical music" but very few people can hear The White Album and then hear Meet The Beatles and then hear Sgt Peppers and have any sort of similar thought. All three albums are vastly different and they all have their own completely unique style about them, while still being The Beatles. That alone, to me, means that they will survive time. No matter what someone likes, most people find some song or another to enjoy The Beatles. Whether it's Happiness is a Warm Gun, Here There and Everywhere, Nowhere Man, I'm Looking Through You, or I Wanna Hold Your Hand, everyone has something to enjoy.

The Grateful Dead scene very actively talks about the music being around 300 years from now. With the huge tribute scene and giant catalog of music (for those that don't know, a large portion of their 2000 concerts were recorded), I have little doubt that it will. I own a School of Rock music school, and we believe most any student who spends 2-3 years at the school should do a Beatles season. My kids just finished one, and nothing makes me happier than when one of them puts the Beatles on in the car or starts singing along when I do (even better when my son asks if we can jam on Come Together because he doesn't want to forget it). It took them a couple of months to warm up to it, but now they're hooked.

My daughter is 14 and is a huge Beatles fan!

The fact that the Beatles are one of the first bands to have their lives recorded sonically and visually, and that most popular music is either directly or indirectly still a derivative of the Beatles and/or their influences...yes, I definitely think the will be highly relevant.

My dad was born in Liverpool in 1953. He grew up with a local band taking over the world, and his first concert was the Beatles' homecoming gig in 1964 after Beatlemania when he was 11 years old. I remember a couple of years ago cooking dinner with my sister and we were singing along to Beatles songs in the kitchen. My dad came in and shook his head, and said something like he didn't think in the 1960s that his daughters would be singing along to the same songs in the 2020s. Lots of things change in the world but some things are universal.

I’m guessing yes and no. Artists from a century ago, like Robert Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton, are still enjoyed by a lot of people (myself included) but they aren’t really a big part of mainstream culture. I think that’s probably going to be the case with the Beatles in forty years.

yes. Billie Eilish and Harry Styles have both cited them as influences. As long as that influence stays in the pipeline, and artist do this- they start out imitating, then find their own style, it's going to be in the DNA. I mean we can still see influences of classical composers- lot of traditional instrument arrangements or interludes go back to composers nearly 300 years. I truly think the Beatles are on that level.

I mean, people are still singing Stephen Foster's songs and he died in 1864. 

Probably? It's not like there aren't other 20th century artists who have been as well, it's really more just how we think about "popular music" that's changed so we don't necessarily view them the same. Raymond Scott ("Powerhouse", 1937), George Gershwin ("Rhapsody in Blue", 1924), Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game", 1908), basically anything Tchaikovsky composed that people still remember. They're not "rock music" or for the most party anything like it stylistically, but a bunch of stuff in this vein was the equivalent in its day of "rock" or other more contemporary styles.

After ~65 years of cultural relevance, it seems very unlikely that The Beatles will lose their cultural relevance in the next ~35 years.

The future is going to be seriously weird. Copyright law being 70 years \*after\* the composer's death is absolutely f****** ridiculous. Talentless corporate execs are profiting off of work they didn't make.

I like music from the 1920s and I’m nowhere near 100 years old.

Really? I can think of plenty of artists where that could be true.

I think they'll be as relevant in 200 years as someone like Mozart or Bach is now. One of those musical history things that most people have at least heard of even if they know nothing about them beyond the name.

My 17 year old discovered them a few months ago and has been obsessed with their entire catalogue and all their solo projects.

My kids (now in their 30s) listened to ALL the albums, and my granddaughter is a Beatles fan. We love to belt out The One after 909 when we are driving together. She is 8 years old.

Mozart is still culturally relevant. Charlie Parker is still relevant. Why not the Beatles?

Stephen Kings book The Gunslinger has someone playing Hey Jude on a piano in an alternate world. Not exactly the question but it worked so well. Timeless music lasts.

haha you should meet some metal parents. those little ones have been dunked in a vat of metal music at birth.

Just listen to Abbey Road and I think you'll have your answer. It's part of what I call The Beatles Paradox: The Beatles are the most overrated band of all time, but they are also the greatest band of all time.

"I can’t think of another artist that might be true for." Beethoven, Mozart, Bach...I could go on.

Literally just watched Project Hail Mary, the Beatles continue to be timeless.

Without a doubt. Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue is something that many people still recognise and that’s 102 years old - what The Beatles did was even more accessible, vibrant and universal. Pieces of music like Strawberry Fields Forever sound like absolutely nothing else and is ***sixty*** years old. I defy anyone not to want to dance to Twist and Shout. I have always maintained that Lennon - McCartney are on a par with the very greatest composers. Time doesn’t seem to change that view either.

Yes. There isn’t really a more culturally important band from the last century. We still talk about Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie, and the Beatles are much more culturally relevant today. You probably have to go back as far as Beethoven to find a musician or group of musicians as culturally popular *and* influential. Don’t even know who else would be close. Duke ellington maybe?

People are still going to Limp Bizkit concerts 29 years later. I think the Beatles can eke out a couple more decades.

A huge amount of music came out in 1966, a lot of it, frankly, more well known than, what, Elenor Rigby and Good Day Sunshine. Yes, a lot of non Beatles music will be remembered by normies in 2066.

My dad sang Johnny Cash to me and I sang Johnny Cash to my kids.

Modern singers are still doing covers of Beatles songs, so I think they have a good chance of lasting for quite a while longer.

The Beatles will always be a reference bands and songwriters make. They’ll always talk about their influence. This is how it’s passed down and it won’t stop. I was having this conversation at work recently in fact with someone who knows nothing about them and was shocked then I told her that Blackbiird was a Beatles coveR. It’ll always be passed on.

Sorry for the spelling I mean there is always some major famous person of some era and he stayed popular no matter what. Just like we had Mozart and other musicians in their time, than we got Louis Armstrong who is still the most popular person in his genre, i think that Beatles will stay like this forever. Same thing is with few guys in Rap, Metal, Punk, Hard rock, pop and more. But i think that this era of new artist that will stay remembered forever is kinda going to its end because music industry took a different turn. But again, i really believe that Beatles will stay remembered as long there are humans. They started something special and every person know about them even if they dont listen them. Just the name is already familiar and this is more than enough to know how big they were and still are after all these years.

One of my earliest memories was riding in my uncle’s car, and listening to I Want To Hold Your Hand on the radio in 1964. That was the first song that I remember. I was three.

I have three nieces under 16. They all absolutely adore the Beatles. They will endure. They’ll get less and less prominent, but they *will* endure. 

They did enough to leave a permanent mark on musical history. Even if people stop listening to their music they will remain in history books.

This documentary [The Beatles: a musical appreciation](https://youtu.be/ZQS91wVdvYc?si=1Yodsb5R5_LvjYBZ) does a great job of putting The Beatles in historical context. It’s an entertaining and easy watch.

The Beatles will always be influential on modern musicians because they went from Nothing to Everything in a very short time, relatively speaking. Think about how much their style changed from their early records to Sgt. Pepper’s. Then from there to Abbey Road. The transitions they made from era to era are astounding and are still talked about today! Case in point: I was listening to a podcast this morning about how Helter Skelter inspired Hard Rock and/or Metal!

I'll think they'll survive the inevitable winnowing of time, along with a handful of other bands from that era, to become part of a "canon" of classics. *Yesterday* will be like *Ode on a Grecian Urn.*

The interesting thing about the Beatles that I've always thought about is that the kind of span three distinct genres of music - early rock 'n' roll, traditional, classic rock, and then the experimental type music that they did towards the end I only really like the traditional classic rock, but it seems everybody prefers one of the three different Beatles eras

They probably will be, although I personally can't stand the Beatles. Just not for me. But they were insanely popular and were able to capitalize on TV and radio in a way no previous band really had been able to.

!remindme 37 years

I listen to 200 year old music almost on the daily, so it’s certainly possible.

We’re in uncharted waters as far as cultural staying power. Some bands that were out there in the 70s are still going. Not many, but some. A select few artists who were around for the birth of rock n roll are still performing. Spotify exists. In 40 years, a high school kid will be able to go on the internet and instantly have access to the whole Beatles catalogue (of course that can be done today). That kind of access to music of times past is unprecedented in human history. Hell, the phonograph is only about 150 years old. Before home audio media, the only way to experience music at all was to go watch a live performance.

Honestly their relevance has fallen pretty considerably in the last 20 or so years. Im 34, when I was in High School (class of 2010), The Beatles were extremely socially relevant at that time, especially with the release of Across the Universe and the Cirque show in Vegas. I have a feeling the Tik-Tok generation isnt getting into the Beatles like we were back then.

I thought we just all pretended to like them just to keep Ringo happy and content?

I mean aside from the fact that they wrote so many incredible songs, they are so representative of and progenitors of the way music as an art form is currently consumed by the masses. They will be relevant for as long as commercially available studio recordings of original vocal pop songs are relevant.

I think much of popular music will fade entirely, but select ones live on as "folk" music. People will sing a song at a gathering and just say, "it's some old 20th century tune, I think from England" if asked. Many Beatles songs will be covered in the 21st century. You'll hear your grandkids singing along to some 2060s pop star version of "Here Comes the Sun" thinking it brand new.

But Wu-Tang is for the children.

We watched the movie Yesterday with our 10 and 12 year old kids and they are now huge Beatles fans.

No. I’m sure that they will be known… at least by people who make an effort to be aware of our Western cultural legacy. In 100 years, they will probably be one of the handful of things that a layman might know about the zeitgeist of the mid to late 20th century. But young people of the future will probably just be interested in what other young people are doing. And most of them will continue the age old tradition of believing the World was invented yesterday. And besides, there is still plenty of great art that has yet to be created and the newer things will be fresher in people’s minds.

I never thought if that , but you are probably right.

Go back 100 years and see whose still relevant, Louis Armstrong, Cole Porter...so sure, why not?

I like playing the game "Who from the 20th century will still be known 500 years from now?" and my personal answers are The Beatles, Hitler and Neil Armstrong (first person to walk on another planet/moon will always be famous!). So yes.

There’s a biopic coming… whether you’re happy about the film coming or not, the teens are about to love the Beatles all over again lol

Easily. It's already been 60 years and they're no less popular now than they were 30-40 years ago.

It’s still great music, you can hear their influences even today. I don’t think it will ever go away completely

They're going to be relevant for centuries provided the society doesn't completely collapse

How sad would it be if in 100 years someone is thinking how bad it was for Pete Best?

No doubt

Yes. It was not only breakthrough music, it was really well done music. McCartney, in particular, is one of the best writers of all time. And his bass approach is very inventive: it carries a lot of the songs 99% of what we hear in any era is irrelevant trash

Yes.

The Beatles have reached the point of cultural as well as academic relevance that they will continue to be part of formal and cultural music education but will gradually fade from relevance to the general populace. Kids today aren't growing up hearing their parents play Beatles songs, and it will only be when they get into music themselves and happen down the "important music you should listen to" rabbit hole that The Beatles will mean anything more than "very popular old band I've never actually listened to but I kinda know a few snippets of lyrics and melody that I think is them". Same way people know Beethoven is important but they only know those few seconds from the 5th.

Yes.

Probably not most kids today know who Mosart and beatoven are but probably couldn't tell you a song from the Beatles