Viewpoint:? Don’t Let Them Tell You It’s the Beatles- It’s AI

If you were a Beatles fan in the 60’s and beyond you might pass on listening to and viewing the November 2, 2023 release of “Now and Then.”? If you’ve already listened, I listened once, you’ve helped elevate it to the top of the streaming charts in the U.S., England, and 35 other countries.

? Not bad for a group that broke up 54 years ago and who have half of the members deceased.? The song was composed by John Lennon on a cassette tape in 1978.? And through the use of AI, Lennon and Harrison and McCartney and Starr are back together again.

? It disturbed me.? There were a few moments of interest.? In one sequence, Ringo, wearing the clothes off of the Magical Mystery Tour (AI) and Ringo in the here and now were drumming together.?

? George, who died of cancer in 2001, was made to look like a buffoon in almost all of the AI sequences, and Lennon who actually wrote the song was featured a minimal amount of time in comparison to Harrison.

? I guess the biggest problem with the song, and probably a reason John didn’t put it on an album was, it isn’t very good.

? The Beatles hold the record for the most number 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, earning 20 in the span of just eight years.

? In chronological order, the British band topped the chart with "Love Me Do" in 1962; "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1963; "Can't Buy Me Love," "A Hard Day's Night," and "I Feel Fine" in 1964; "Eight Days a Week," "Ticket to Ride," "Help!," "Yesterday," and "We Can Work It Out" in 1965; "Paperback Writer" in 1966; "Penny Lane" "All You Need Is Love," and "Hello, Goodbye" in 1967; "Hey Jude" in 1968; "Get Back" and "Something" in 1969; and "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" in 1970.

? If, by some weird fracture in the universe this latest release would reach number 1, it surely can’t be credited to the Beatles.?? It’s by the AI Beatles and it isn’t real.

? AI is scary stuff and although I don’t think it will eventually lead to the destruction of life as we know it, it has some dangers.

? It can lead to misinformation including: creating convincing fake images and video known as deepfakes; privacy concerns, including the invasion of personal data and risk of cyberattack; weaponization of AI, which could be used to build death dealing weapons; and really crappy videos of dead rock and roll superstars.

? Chances are we’ll discuss it more in the future.

? Mariah Carey is second in the all-time number 1 hall of fame.? So that makes her not only the best-selling female artist of all time but also the best-selling solo artist of all time.? I’m not a big Mariah Carey fan and in all honesty did not recognize a single one of her 19 number ones by the title.? I’m sure if I had listened to some of them, I would have recognized them- but she ain’t no Beatle.

? Number 3 was Rhianna and number 4 was someone named Drake?? Tied with Drake was Michael Jackson- finally someone I know.? Jackson began racking up number 1’s as a child with the Jackson 5.

? Five out of his 13 number one hits came from the same album, “Bad”.? That record remains unbroken although it was tied in 2011 by Katy Perry with “Teenage Dream.”

? Jackson's first chart-topper was "Ben" in 1972 when he was 14 years old.

? The Supreme’s and Madonna tied at 5th with 12 chart toppers each.

? Madonna’s first number 1 was in 1984, “like a Virgin.”? Her most recent was “Music” in 2000.?

? The Supremes had their 12 number 1 songs in a span of five years.? The first was “Where Did Our Love Go” and the last was “Someday We’ll be Together.”

? No AI hits have reached number 1 yet, at least as far as we know.? Let’s hope it stays that way.

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