Abbey Road opens its doors

Occasionally, a performer is great enough to transcend generations.

My mom boogied to Glenn Miller. I likewise blast “In the Mood” like it was Cowgirl in the Sand.

A group that surely stands the test of time in a similar fashion is the Beatles.

Abbey Road Studios, birthplace of most of the Fab Four’s albums, announced this week that it will be opening its doors to the public for the first time in twenty years from now until April 3, holding its own film festival.

As a five-year-old kid, I watched Ed Sullivan with my parents on Sunday night. I still vividly recall the high-pitched female screams when the Beatles appeared. You could barely hear the music.

I became a Beatles fan on the spot, and still get goosebumps when I hear George’s opening riff on “Something.”

Abbey Road has long been a major London tourist attraction, attracting tens of thousands each year. Fans could only swarm the outside (writing their names on the walls) and the familiar crosswalk, as the studio itself was closed to the public.

Now, though, fans can enter the hallowed chambers where some of our most treasured songs were put to tape.

Which brings me to a nagging question: why haven’t we had another power pop group since the Beatles?

I can recall some disposable entities in the mid-to-late 70’s that were supposed to be “The Next Beatles.” Anybody remember the Bay City Rollers? The Knack? Klaatu?

The fact is that power pop lived and died with the former Quarrymen.

The only comparison I can draw is in the sport of billiards, with three-cushion champion Willie Hoppe. Hoppe dominated the sport of balkline, once one of the most popular games played with a cuestick, for nearly fifty years. When he retired in 1952, the sport retired with him.

Obviously, then, there will never be another Beatles. Their entire genre is gone.