Subject: Re: movies
I won't try to convince you to like "Yesterday". But I will point out that, at least indirectly, a musician that knew about the Beatles in a world where they didn't exist was -imo- a plausible obstacle. He was just about to give up on a music career, and then he had a resource that allowed him not to quit. Ellie wasn't going to go along for the ride. She was going to remain a maths teacher in a smallish town. That is an obstacle if he's going to jet around the world performing.

It's difficult to parse out the differences in modern music that resulted from the Beatles. I think they relied more on some of the quality songs. "Yesterday" is just a beautiful song, no matter when it appears. Some of the older songs probably wouldn't play well today ("I want to hold your hand"). "Back in the USSR" would certainly be anachronistic, as was pointed out in the movie. "The Long and winding road" is another gorgeous song, no matter when it appears. "Something" had to be one of the most passionate love songs ever written. I could imagine that singer who does the old-style singing (Bubley??) doing well with that if Harrison hadn't recorded it 50 years ago.

I think some of their more innovative songs would play well if no one has ever heard them before. I'm often surprised that 1poorkid and her friends know as much Beatles music as they do. None of them were born when John Lennon was alive.

Also, the world didn't know about Coca-Cola, Harry Potter, and another musical group I hadn't heard of (Oasis?). It was almost like a sci-fi parallel universe thing where things are almost the same, but not quite.