The Beatles in popular culture

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The Beatles in 1965.

This is a list of references to English rock group the Beatles in popular culture.

  • The Beatles, a late 1960s American fictional animated television series featuring the band's musical misadventures.
  • Petticoat Junction, "The Ladybugs": Hoping to cash in on Beatlemania, Uncle Joe recruits Billie Jo, Betty Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Sally to form a Beatles-like pop group.[1]
  • The Beagles, a 1967-1968 American animated television series in which its name is a takeoff on The Beatles.[2]
  • The Rutles, a mid 1970s series of sketches on the BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television, which would lead to the 1978 mockumentary film All You Need Is Cash.
  • Sesame Street featured a parody band called "the Beetles", a group of four bugs with Liverpool accents and Beatle hair performing parodies of their songs, such as "Letter B" and "Hey Food".
  • In the Dark Skies episode "Dark Days Night", a Hive plot to hijack the Beatles' broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show and activate their latest agenda for world domination.
  • In The Powerpuff Girls episode "Meet the Beat-Alls", Mojo Jojo, "Him", Princess Morbucks, and Fuzzy Lumpkins form a group of supervillains named "The Beat-Alls". There are many additional references to the Beatles, their history, songs, and albums through the episode. Also, in two parts of the episode, all 4 Beatles appear in their animated forms from The Beatles cartoon series and the Yellow Submarine film.[3]
  • The Beatles appeared and were mentioned several times in The Simpsons. Specifically, the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" roughly parallels the Beatles' story, providing numerous references. The three surviving members of the band, at the time, have guest starred as themselves during the series on separate occasions.
  • In the Wonder Pets! episode "Save the Beetles!", the Wonder Pets save a rock band named The Beetles, consisting of four Liverpudlian insects, whose yellow submarine is tangled in kelp. The band also performs a song titled "Kelp!", a parody of "Help!".
  • In the Amphibia episode "Battle of the Bands", in the scene where Sasha Waybright sees Anne Boonchuy's concept art for the group bug outfits, Marcy Wu the drummer of a band named "Sasha and The Sharps", is doing the peace sign. This could somewhat be a reference to Ringo Starr, who also does the peace sign. This reference is seen once again in the episode "Turning Point", where Sasha Waybright sees Anne Boonchuy's journal.
  • Doctor Who featured a brief cameo of The Beatles in the second episode of season 1 "The Devil's Chord", which aired in 2024. The episode takes place in an alternate universe in which music is not valued and is seen as unnecessary, with John Lennon and Paul McCartney helping to bring the joy of music back to the universe.[4]

Film

  • In the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, Bond is disparaging of the group, commenting: "My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!"
  • The 1967 film The Jungle Book features four vultures named Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy and Dizzy, with Liverpudlian accents and mop-top hair style referencing the Beatles.
  • The 1976 film All This and World War II features cover versions of Beatles songs by various famous musicians that are juxtaposed with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films.
  • The 1978 film I Wanna Hold Your Hand is about "Beatlemania" and is a fictionalized account of the day of the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
  • The rock musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1978, featured Beatles covers by the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Earth, Wind & Fire and many other musical and non-musical celebrities.
  • The 1978 television film All You Need Is Cash (based on a single sketch from a mid-1970s sketch series called Rutland Weekend Television) traces the career of a British rock group called The Rutles in mockumentary style.
  • The 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off features at least two references to the Beatles: Ferris (Matthew Broderick) states his admiration of John Lennon's quote "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me," and later sneaks onto a parade float and lip-synchs to "Twist and Shout", to positive reception from the crowd.
  • The 1994 film Backbeat chronicles the Beatles' Hamburg days.
  • The 2000 Icelandic film Angels of the Universe, which focuses on schizophrenia and is mainly set in a psychiatric hospital, features one character, Óli, who believes himself to have written most Beatles songs and to have transmitted them to The Beatles via telepathy, even after the split of the band. "Hey Jude" is being "composed" by Óli in one scene of the film.
  • In the 2001 film I Am Sam, Sam's daughter is named after the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Lucy's idyllic early years are accompanied by "Across the Universe". Sam and Rita's relationship is seen growing to "Golden Slumbers". Sam's lawyer's name comes from The Beatles' song "Lovely Rita", a point made by Lucy. At the end of the film, "Two of Us" is used.
  • The 2007 film Across the Universe is a musical that takes place during the 1960s. 34 Beatles compositions were performed in the film along with names of characters referenced in their music and multiple small allusions to The Beatles are scattered throughout the film.
  • In the 2007 comedy film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, fictional Dewey Cox meets The Beatles who are purposefully portrayed satirically by Jack Black as Paul McCartney, Paul Rudd as John Lennon, Jason Schwartzman as Ringo Starr, and Justin Long as George Harrison.
  • The 2008 film I'm Not There features a segment in the mid-1960s in which singer Jude Quinn (a fictionalised version of Bob Dylan, played by Cate Blanchett) visits London and is briefly seen fraternising with the Beatles.
  • The 2019 film Yesterday written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle is set in a world where no one has ever heard of The Beatles apart from one man. The film contains covers of many of their songs, including the titular track: Yesterday.
  • A series of four films under the umbrella title The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event is to be released in April 2028. Each film is directed by Sam Mendes, and produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Neal Street Productions, and Apple Corps. Each film is set to be told from the perspective of each band member.[5][6][7]

Video games

The Beatles mentioned in song

See also

References

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