Episode details

Radio 2,27 Jun 2021,60 mins
The Beatles Anthology: The Beatles - Reborn In 96!
Sounds of the 60s with Tony BlackburnAvailable for 3 days
In a series of exclusive conversations, Geoff Lloyd looks back at the story of The Beatles Anthology, which saw the band sell more records in 1996 than at any point since they鈥檇 broken up. 1996 marked 25 years since The Beatles wrapped up their past and discovered a future. In late 1995 & early 1996, the Anthology series 鈥 three double CDs and a multi-part TV documentary 鈥 came out, and as a result The Beatles sold more records in a single year that at any point since they broke up. To millions of younger fans, they were 鈥 to all intents and purposes 鈥 a new band, and a new generation of Beatle fans were born. Geoff Lloyd tells the story of the Anthology and talks to some of those new fans to discover why The Beatles became teen sensations all over again, 30 years after Beatlemania. But that鈥檚 not all 鈥 the success of the Anthology kickstarted a whole legacy business for the music industry, and with the advent of file sharing & digital downloads came the musical era of the eternal present: when everything is available all the time and the only thing that matters is - is it any good? So how do you buy into that if you鈥檙e a musician with a past 鈥 The Beatles have an obvious advantage, but what if you鈥檙e The Doors, say, famously marketed under the headline 鈥淵oung. Hot. Dead.鈥? Or Janis Joplin? Or The Beach Boys? Or Motown? And if you鈥檙e The Beatles, how do you service that huge audience you鈥檝e suddenly gained? First broadcast in 2021.
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