McCartney did that a few times over, both in the wild left turns of the Beatles’ existence, and in simply writing songs that seemed to beget entire subgenres on their own. There are a lot of iconic musicians out there, but a very, very tiny handful who could be said to have shifted the entire history of pop music. He made classic albums, too, like McCartney II - once a cult oddity, now seized upon as a major inspirational touchstone by younger generations of musicians. He wrote so many immortal songs after the Beatles. When the band fractured, McCartney embarked on what would become a five-decade post-Beatles career strewn with solo albums, Wings releases, and all manner of experiments and detours. The Beatles were, of course, built on the songwriting partnership/rivalry of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Nobody really thought pop music was supposed to have a 60-plus year shelf life back then. All these decades later, they still influence up-and-coming artists new generations are still falling for them (on TikTok, they’re worshipped as if they were a currently active band) and their songs can still surprise and disorient no matter how long they’ve been in the atmosphere.

Pop music and pop culture as we know it incubated in the ’50s, and then really blossomed in the ’60s - and the Beatles were at the very top of a feverishly, rapidly changing medium in tumultuous, transformative times. But at the same time, it’s sort of hard to be that hyperbolic considering the scope of the group’s impact. Every time the Beatles come up, there’s the inevitable danger of hyperbole.

Kelly zutrau father