Playing with John, Paul, George and Ringo

The Beatles are to many one of the greatest bands ever, and indisputably one of the most influential of the 20th century. They had dozens of top-ten hits, graced hundreds of “best of” lists, sold hundreds of millions of albums, and starred in feature films ? a wild success by anyone’s estimation. One thing they never had, however, was a video game. Until now.

Rock Band developer Harmonix has scheduled The Beatles: Rock Band for release on September 9th. Fans are cracking their knuckles, stretching their legs, and growing their mustaches in preparation to rock along with John, Paul, George and Ringo on such classics as “Yellow Submarine,” “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, and “Twist and Shout.” Huge sales are expected for the video game and, as a result, The Beatles’ entire musical catalogue. With album sales having stayed on a downward spiral for years, could video games be the saving grace for the music industry? Joining The Takeaway is writer Daniel Radosh, who writes about this story in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, and two Rock Band enthusiasts: Brad Malow and Rob Bricken.