21st century references Archives - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Mob Psycho 100 and the Beatles’ Mop Tops

By Nancy Carr|2020-09-12T08:41:14-07:00September 12, 2020|21st century references, Beatle-inspired, Beatles on the Web, cartoon, fans, Fashion, Television, Uncategorized|

A few days ago Eric Trump inadvertently sent the anime series Mob Psycho 100 to the toppermost of the Twitterverse when he Googled "mob." He signally failed to grasp why the popularity/relevance algorithm Google uses put images of the show early in the search results. Fans of the show reacted with predictable glee, and the Mob Psycho 100 Twitter account posted this, featuring an image of Shigeo Kageyama, the character familiarly known as "Mob": Doesn't that image remind you of someone? Or four someones? Doesn't it seem as though that look might be a merchandising opportunity for, I don't know, maybe a [...]

4

Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles”

By Nancy Carr|2017-01-06T05:50:32-08:00January 6, 2017|21st century references, Beatle-inspired, John Lennon, Other bands, Paul McCartney|

Please welcome back guest Dullblogger J.R. Clark, who sent in these thoughts on the hit song and video "Black Beatles." If you're not a fan of contemporary hip-hop music or the Mannequin Challenge, you may be unaware of “Black Beatles,” the recent Billboard Hot 100 number-one single by brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, the duo known collectively as Rae Sremmurd (Ear Drummers spelled backward). The song name checks John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and although it does not musically resemble a Beatles song, there are sly lyrical references to the song “Day Tripper.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m9zhNAgKs In October 2016, “Black Beatles” became the [...]

2

Trump and the Beatles

By Nancy Carr|2016-02-11T14:52:59-08:00February 10, 2016|21st century references, Politics, The White Album|

This is just to say how disheartening I found it to hear the Beatles' "Revolution" played twice at Donald Trump's victory rally in New Hampshire last night. I realize that his use of the song is perfectly legal, and that it probably won't make a dime's worth of difference to the way anyone votes. And we seem long past the point where candidates even think about, let alone care, what the artists whose work they employ for political purposes would be likely to say about the platform their songs are being used to endorse. But at their best, the Beatles projected hope for a world that [...]

44

Liv Warfield got “Blackbird” wrong: Ten covers that get it right

By Nancy Carr|2014-12-30T21:34:48-08:00April 7, 2014|1968, 21st century references, Beatle-inspired, Covers|

Liv Warfield NANCY CARR * Last Friday Liv Warfield, best known for her stint in Prince's New Power Generation, performed her new song "Blackbird" on The Late Show With David Letterman, declaring "Paul McCartney got it wrong / I ain't never want no song / I ain't special, I ain't strong / Black . . . bird." It's not clear to me why Warfield, who was born in 1979, is so angry about a pro- Civil Rights song released in 1968 -- especially when the song is pitched in such a universal key that it can apply to any person or [...]

22

Beatles analogy by judge in NSA spying case

By Nancy Carr|2013-12-17T19:17:56-08:00December 16, 2013|21st century references|

Justice Ringo, appointed for life NANCY CARR • You know you're the biggest band in history when a federal judge ruling about the NSA's surveillance program uses an analogy to your members to explain his judgment. The whole article is here, but I've excerpted the Beatles-related part below: “Appeals Court Judge Richard Leon invoked Founding Father James Madison and the Beatles in a frequently scathing ruling. Leon, appointed by then-President George W. Bush, ordered the government to halt bulk collection of so-called telephony metadata and destroy information already collected through that program. But he suspended his order as the case [...]

2