Music changed forever when the Beatles landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 7, 1964. The band soon not only took the American public by storm, but the music industry as well.
From 1964 to this day, other bands and musicians have often confessed their love for the mop tops through statements or song remakes. Contemporaries like Badfinger, the Monkees and Paul Revere & the Raiders as well as modern rock bands like Oasis and Foo Fighters are only a few of those that have kept the Fab Four-sound alive.The Beatles' songs are also popular subjects for various-artist and tribute albums. Among the most recent are "Working Class Hero: a Tribute to John Lennon" (Hollywood Records), and "Bugs and Friends Sing the Beatles" (Kid Rhino-Warner Bros.), featuring Looney Tune characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tasmanian Devil and Elmer Fudd in a wacky tribute. The list goes on down a long and winding road.
Popular musicians are often willing to comment on the extent of the Beatles' impact on pop music, including their own.
"I remember always wanting to be a Beatle," Styx keyboardist Dennis DeYoung has said.
"I really loved the Beatles. They really inspired me," Cars guitarist Elliot Easton told the Deseret News recently.
"The Beatles were a major influence on my love for music," Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick said before the band's last Salt Lake City show earlier this year.
Now-defunct Oingo Boingo remade "I Am the Walrus" and featured the song as a regular part of its live shows. The neo-hippie group Phish is known to pull off live performances of entire Beatles albums, including an accurate cover of "The Beatles" (the double "White Album"). Motley Crue remade the frantic "Helter Skelter" on the band's 1983 album "Shout at the Devil." U2 followed suit with the same song on 1989's "Rattle and Hum."
Earth, Wind & Fire, Howard Jones and Tesla are known to throw in a couple of Beatles tunes during their live shows every now and then. The Neville Brothers grooved out a new rendition of "Come Together" at Woodstock '94, as did Aerosmith. Michael Jackson covered the same song on his recent double-album package "HIStory." Elton John had a No. 1 smash with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
The Carpenters had their own early hit with a remake of "Ticket to Ride," and Richie Havens opened the first Woodstock festival film with a driving rendition of "Here Comes the Sun."
Kim Shattuck, lead singer for the pop-punk trio the Muffs, KMFDM's Sasha Konietzko, Collective Soul guitarist Ross Childress, and Bon Jovi key-board-ist David Bryan all cite the Beatles as a major influence. And Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman waited forever for the Beatles to get back together.
"I was heartbroken when Lennon was killed," he said. "I knew there would never be a reunion."
Until now.