Journal: News & Comment

Power pop

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My oldest daughter, who's seven, has become obsessed with a particular music album. She plays it over and over again, in the living room, in the car, in her room, on my iPod shuffle when she borrows it. She sings along and dances and writes down the names of the songs and looks at the photos of the artists and figures out who is who.

Now, normally that might be kind of annoying. But the album she's obsessed with is the Beatles' 1, which, when I think about it, is probably the least annoying rock album to play over and over and over again. Take a look:

"Love Me Do," "From Me to You," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Can't Buy Me Love," "A Hard Day's Night," "I Feel Fine," "Eight Days a Week," "Ticket to Ride," "Help!," "Yesterday," "Day Tripper," "We Can Work It Out," "Paperback Writer," "Yellow Submarine," "Eleanor Rigby," "Penny Lane," "All You Need Is Love," "Hello Goodbye," "Lady Madonna," "Hey Jude," "Get Back," "The Ballad of John and Yoko," "Something," "Come Together," "Let It Be," and "The Long and Winding Road."

It's pretty hard to get tired of those. All I wish is that "All My Loving," "Twist and Shout," "Drive My Car," "Rain," "Revolution," "Here Comes the Sun," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Don't Let Me Down," "I'm Down," "Yes It Is," "Tomorrow Never Knows," "Magical Mystery Tour," "Money," "Norwegian Wood," "A Day in the Life," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "The Fool on the Hill," "Please Please Me," "In My Life," "I Am the Walrus," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "Nowhere Man," "Girl," and "With a Little Help From My Friends" were on there too.

Actually, this album and this one would probably do the trick.

Man, take a look at that list of songs. How did one band do that—and dozens more I didn't mention—in just eight years?

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