Brian May says “kids today don’t know The Beatles as much as they ought to,” hopes for a Bohemian Rhapsody-style biopic
May has lamented an apparent lack of Beatles representation in today’s culture.
Image: Rick Kern / Getty
Brian May has stated that the Beatles were a huge inspiration for musicians of his generation, but has lamented how they are currently under-represented in popular culture.
Speaking to The Express, May was asked about the influence of the Beatles on Queen. “The Beatles were our bible. Absolutely at every stage in their career and their music development, they were models,” he said, before adding: “And they still are to me, I must say. I love all those albums. To me, they are the greatest. They are the pinnacle of writing, performance and ethos of rock music. They broke down so many barriers, they changed the world many times. I will always love the Beatles without any reservation.”
May continued: “I feel like they’ve been underrepresented in the world as it is today. The kids today don’t know the Beatles as much as they ought to.” He then implied that Queen tracks are more prevalent in culture than the Beatles’. “The Beatles should be woven into people’s lives in the way Queen music is these days,” he said.
He also reportedly stated that the Beatles were yet to get a Bohemian Rhapsody-style biopic, a film that he “believes should happen one day.” The Beatles have been portrayed in the films Backbeat and Nowhere Boy, as well as a handful of others, although perhaps those were stylistically separate enough from Bohemian Rhapsody to not count for May.
The Beatles also played a major role in the 2019 blockbuster Yesterday, in which a character wakes up to find that he is the only person on earth who remembers the Beatles. More recently, the three-part documentary Get Back was released on Disney+ to widespread critical acclaim.