The Beatles in popular culture

For cultural movements initiated or assisted by the Beatles, see Cultural impact of the Beatles.

These is a list of references to English rock group the Beatles in popular culture.

Album covers

• All of the band's album covers were spoofed by the parody band The Rutles in their 1978 mockumentary All You Need Is Cash.
• With The Beatles was defaced by Meet The Residents (The Residents) and more or less loosely imitated by Get The Knack (The Knack), Meet The Smithereens! (The Smithereens), Young Black Teenagers self-titled debut album, Kiss's self-titled debut album, and Deface the Music (Utopia) – itself an album of pastiches spanning The Beatles' career. As well, the Japanese anime soundtrack Meet the Tenchi Muyo! parodies the cover, though no Beatles songs are used. The artwork of the 1986 Genesis single Land of Confusion, is a parody of the original Beatles cover, with puppet versions of the members of Genesis.
• A Hard Day's Night was imitated by House of Heroes Meets The Beatles (House of Heroes).
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was imitated by The Yellow Album (The Simpsons), We're Only in It for the Money (Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention), Cripple Crow (Devendra Banhart), Sinister Slaughter (Macabre), Electric Circus (Common), and Let's Eat (The Wiggles)
• Abbey Road was imitated by The Abbey Road E.P. (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and the soul act 'New York City' did the same thing with their 1974 album Soulful Road. The cover of the Booker T. and the MGs album, McLemore Avenue is an homage to Abbey Road.
• Let It Be was imitated by Hot Space (Queen), Pop (U2), Demon Days (Gorillaz), and Shout at the Devil (Mötley Crüe).
  • The title of Let It Be is similar to that of Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones, which was released six months before, but had begun recording just nine months after.

Television

Absolutely Fabulous

The hit UK TV show Absolutely Fabulous, better known as "Ab-Fab", filmed a whole episode based on finding the "Lost Tapes" of the Beatles. Robert Lindsay played a fictional tape engineer who used to work at Abbey Road Studios during the time that The Beatles worked there.

A long scene was filmed in the Abbey Road Studios: Joanna Lumley pressed the record button by mistake on the reel-to-reel recorder while she was looking for a second bottle of champagne in the control room. In the meantime, Jennifer Saunders unknowingly sang over the tapes, and they were lost forever. When Robert Lindsay played the tapes at the party and realised that they were lost forever, he promptly collapsed on the floor.

The Simpsons

In the The Simpsons Season 5 opening episode, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", Homer, Skinner, Apu, and Barney form a group called the Be Sharps, which rapidly rises to the top. There are numerous references to the Beatles, such as Barney dating a Japanese conceptual artist (a parody of Yoko Ono) playing a song that repeats "number 8", a "Revolution 9" parody, and the Be Sharps naming their second album "bigger than Jesus". It ends with them singing on the rooftop of Moe's bar, a reference to the 1969 concert on the roof of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London. The episode even includes a cameo by George Harrison, who meets Homer (but Homer cares more about his brownie than the legend), and later appears in a limousine while the Be Sharps sing on the rooftop, remarking that "It's been done." Homer later states to the crowd, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group, and I hope we passed the audition", but Barney is the one who does not understand what he means. ("I don't get it.")

In the Season 7 episode, "Lisa the Vegetarian", Paul McCartney and then-wife Linda McCartney appear at the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart to give Lisa guidance of being a vegetarian. In the end they ask her if she would like to hear a song, Lisa is thrilled and agrees. But in a twist they go to Apu to sing a song (on a tabla – an off key version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band") – while they snap to his beat, and when Lisa says she ran away from home Paul says the line,"What! She's Leaving Home!?" — a reference to "She's Leaving Home" from the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The three Beatles who were alive in the 1990s recorded their voices for The Simpsons. Ringo appeared on "Brush with Greatness", George on "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", and Paul and Linda McCartney on "Lisa the Vegetarian". The John Lennon song "Mother" also appeared in one episode ("My Mother the Carjacker").

Other television appearances

• In the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101, in the episode "Vince is Back", while trying to prank Vince in an act of revenge, Logan and Michael use walkie-talkies to communicate with each other using the code names "Eggman", "Walrus", and "Cornflake", which are direct lyrics from "I Am the Walrus".
• In the American television show Animaniacs, the voice of the character Wakko Warner is modelled after the voice of Ringo Starr. His voice was originally going to be modelled after John Lennon, but the voice actor, Jess Harnell, raised the pitch and made it more like Ringo after he saw that Wakko was "a little guy". Also in Animaniacs episode 73 contains a skit called "A Hard Day's Warners", a parody of the film A Hard Day's Night, in which the Warners run from their fans as they try to reach a cartoon convention. They are later parodied in Episode 91, "Back in Style", singing a parody of "Day Tripper".
• In the Animaniacs spin-off Pinky and the Brain, episode number 34 is titled "All You Need is Narf", a parody of The Beatles' song "All You Need is Love". In this episode, Pinky becomes a guru in India, and he and Brain meet a parody of The Beatles, referencing the band's encounter of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The episode also parodies and references a few of The Beatles' songs, John Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono, and the band's break-up.
• In the episode "Rockabye Freakie" of the American television show Growing Up Creepie, the group is parodied as four beetles with Liverpool accents, who usually speak their lines in mellow, musical tune.
• The 1960s cartoon show The Beagles (inspired by The Beatles) is about two dogs playing bass and guitar.
• In the Jim Henson Productions cartoon show Dog City, there is a musical band of dogs also called "The Beagles" (a parody of The Beatles).
• In an episode from Cartoon Network's Ed, Edd n Eddy, entitled "Once Upon an Ed", Jonny briefly says to the Eds that "Plank and I want a real story, with stuff like Octopus's Gardens, silver hammers, and Mr. Kite!", which are all Beatles songs.
• In the episode "Bomb" of the English sitcom The Young Ones, Neil says to Mike, "John Lennon once said, 'a man with an arm full of takeaway is either very hungry or knows someone who's very hungry'." In the episode "Boring", while Vyvyan, Rick, Mike and Neil are walking across a zebra crossing, they mimic the album cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road.
• On Nickelodeon in a behind the scenes fact of SpongeBob SquarePants, Plankton has an album hit called Krabby Road (a reference to The Beatles' Abbey Road album), which shows him walking on Abbey Road. There's an episode in SpongeBob also called "Krabby Road", the title card of the episode has a similar style of that of the back cover of Abbey Road. Also, in addition the episode "Nautical Novice" features the Yellow Submarine in a museum of boating.
• Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo has an episode titled "Hard Days Samson", which is a reference to the Beatles song "A Hard Day's Night". The episode itself also features the Squirrel Scouts chasing Samson, similar to girl fans chasing the Beatles. It also plays a piece of music during the chase scene that is closely similar to "A Hard Day's Night".
• "The Hatrocks and The Gruesomes", 22 January 1965 episode of The Flintstones, features a band with The Beatles' trademark mop-top hair that plays "bug music", a parody of the "yeah, yeah, yeah" refrain from "She Loves You".
• In the episode "The Third Wheel" from the American television show That '70s Show, there's a scene where a girl which Steven Hyde is involved with leaves The Circle and Eric Forman says to her, "Sayonara Yoko!". Then, when Fez, Hyde, and Michael Kelso look at him, he says to them, "What?, we're kinda The Beatles." Also, in That '70s Show, there is another scene from another episode called "I Can't Quit You Baby", in which Eric tells Jackie Burkhart to stop dating Hyde because "You're breaking up the band, Yoko!". These two scenes from both episodes reference Yoko Ono's relationship with John Lennon and her presence with The Beatles, and that this was one of many contributing factors that led to the group's disbandment afterwards.
• In the episode "Battle of Panthatar" from the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh, Josh pushes Drake into giving Thornton his autographed Beatles album Abbey Road in order in get invited to Thornton's 16th birthday party.
• The early 1990s series Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad featured an episode entitled "Amp Loves You! Yea, Yea, Yea."
• Pinky and Perky, a children's puppet programme from the late 1957 until 1971 featured occasional appearances from "The Beakles", a crow based version of The Beatles.
• The Beatles TV series, a late 1960s American fictional animated television series featuring the musical misadventures of The Beatles.
• The Rutles, a mid 1970s series of sketches on the BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television, which would lead to the 1978 mockumentary film All You Need Is Cash.
• Sesame Street featured a parody band called "the Beetles", a group of four bugs with Liverpool accents and Beatle hair performing parodies of their songs, such as "Letter B" and "Hey Food".
• In The Powerpuff Girls episode "Meet the Beat-Alls", Mojo Jojo, "Him", Princess Morbucks, and Fuzzy Lumpkins form a group of supervillains named "The Beat-Alls". There are many additional references to the Beatles, their history, songs, and albums through the episode. Also, in two parts of the episode, all 4 Beatles appear in their animated forms from The Beatles cartoon series and the Yellow Submarine film.
• The Beatles were mentioned in an episode of Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 titled "Kootie Pie Rocks", where Kootie Pie threatened to turn her favourite band Milli Vanilli into beetles (she meant the Buzzy Beetles from the game). Rob and Fab comment "Who wants to be a band from the '60s?".
• Also, in the episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show called "Princess, I Shrunk the Marios", Mario and Luigi are shrunk down to the sizes of bugs, and in one scene, they are underground running away from 4 beetles with the faces of all 4 Beatles and mop-top haircuts. Mario even admits that he hates Beatles.
• The cast of British soap EastEnders sang a number of songs of the set of the programme for Children in Need 2007. They sang Beatles songs including, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Fixing a Hole" and "With a Little Help from My Friends". The performance also marked the 40th anniversary of the release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
• Nick Jr.'s Wonder Pets! premiered an episode called "Save the Beetles" in which the Pets save four beetles with mop top hair cuts stuck in a yellow submarine, referenced to one of the Beatles' songs, "Yellow Submarine". The episode also draws musical inspiration from the band itself.
• An episode of the Disney Channel original series Phineas and Ferb is entitled "A Hard Day's Knight", a parody of the Beatles' hit song "A Hard Day's Night". Also, Phineas, Ferb, and Baljeet make a band called "The Baljeetles", a parody of The Beatles.
• Before Cleveland left Quahog in the first episode of The Cleveland Show, Peter, Joe, and Quagmire are dressed in the Sgt. Pepper costumes saying they are going to find a new Ringo.
• In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko claims that "Everybody's got something to hide except meat and my monkey".
• In the South Park episode "Free Hat", the character Stan mentions The White Album in defending the integrity of original artwork and not changing it.
• Nickelodeon's Back at the Barnyard has an episode titled "A Barn Day's Night" where the play a song of the same name which is a reference to "A Hard Day's Night". The band they form is called "The Weevils", a reference to The Beatles. They also dress like The Beatles in their early years.
• God Rocks!, a Christian show on TBN, Smile of a Child and Daystar, has a band on it named The Beat Stones, which is a parody of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
• In the television show Friends, when Phoebe finds her birth mother, she says they do not have anything in common. They later discover they both like The Beatles. Also, in Phoebe's wedding, while she's walking down the aisle an instrumental version of "Here, There and Everywhere" is playing.
• In the Total Drama World Tour opening theme, Noah and Leshawna are seen dancing in exactly the same spot The Beatles were on the Abbey Road cover.
  • Also in Total Drama Action episode "Rock n' Rule", Chris McClean references Chef Hatchet as Ringo in the episode.
  • The Drama Brothers, the TDWT Aftermath band, also pays homage to The Beatles.
• In the episode of Scrubs where Turk and Carla get married, their first dance at their wedding reception was to "Eight Days a Week".
• There is an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana that is titled "Hannah in the Streets with Diamonds", which is a reference to the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
• Former ECW wrestler, Brian Heffron, goes under the name of Blue Meanie
• In the last scene of 23 May 1999 series finale Tia and Tamera sitcom, Sister, Sister, Roger (Marques Houston) sings the wedding song "In My Life" of his neighbour of Tia and Tamera Mowry's (Tia and Tamera Mowry) Lisa (Jackee Harry) who married to Victor (Richard Lawson) in the episode, "Fly Away Home".
• The title of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Yoko Factor" refers to Yoko Ono's role in the Beatles' break-up (also addressed during the episode by one of the characters).
• In the TV show Adventure Time, in the house of Marceline the Vampire Queen, a yellow album hanging on her wall looks like The Beatles' Abbey Road.
• On The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in the Tweetmail segment, Ferguson will sometimes use an intro for it performing an all roles of a fictional band called The Tweets. Ferguson in multiple roles wears the suits made famous in the band's early career. It is even shown in black & white. Ferguson also dons a mustache similar to Ringo Starr and plays bass left-handed just like Paul McCartney.
• In American television show Breaking Bad's season 3 episode "One Minute", the smarmy lawyer Saul Goodman makes a joke about the relative cuteness of partners Walt and Jesse after Jesse's face was savagely beaten, cracking "Paul meet Ringo, Ringo meet Paul."
• In a parody of The Beatles and Beatlemania, Gilligan's Island had an episode titled, "Don't Bug the Mosquitos", where The Mosquitos arrive on the island to get away from their fans.
• "Magical Mystery Cure" is the title of season 3, episode 13 from TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and makes reference to The Beatles' album Magical Mystery Tour.
• The title of Regular Show episode, "Rigby in the Sky with Burrito", is the reference to The Beatles' song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
• In the Fox television show Glee, fifth season episodes "Love, Love, Love" and "Tina in the Sky with Diamonds" played tribute to The Beatles.
• In the episode of WordGirl, "Chuck Makes a Buck", The scene when WordGirl, Huggy, and Chuck were chased by his fans is similar to The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night.

Film

• The 1978 film I Wanna Hold Your Hand is about "Beatlemania" and is a fictionalised account of the day of the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• The rock musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1978, featured Beatles covers by the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Earth, Wind & Fire and many other musical and non-musical celebrities. It went on to be a critical and commercial disaster.
• The 2007 film Across the Universe is a musical that takes place during the 1960s. 34 Beatles compositions were performed in the film along with names of characters referenced in their music and multiple small allusions to The Beatles are scatted throughout the film.
• The 1996 film That Thing You Do! tells the story of a fictional one-hit wonder rock band and makes many (indirect) references to The Beatles' career.
• In the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book, there are a group of four vultures who closely resemble The Beatles in appearance, voice, and Liverpudlian accent.
• The 1978 television film All You Need Is Cash (based on a single sketch from a mid-1970s sketch series called Rutland Weekend Television) traces the career of a British rock group called The Rutles in mockumentary style.
• The film Ferris Bueller's Day Off features at least two references to the Beatles: Ferris (Matthew Broderick) states his admiration of John Lennon's quote "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me," and later sneaks onto a parade float and lip-synchs to "Twist and Shout", to positive reception from the crowd.
• The 2011 film Mr. Popper's Penguins, Mr. Popper makes brief references to Beatles songs, such as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
• The film This Is Spinal Tap also pokes mild fun at the Beatles. In a flashback to the band's early days as a skiffle group (which The Beatles actually had roots in), they sing a song in the same style as older songs. They are also dressed similarly, with a grey, collarless suit and white collared shirts. Their album "Smell The Glove" has a plain black cover, parodying the Beatles' "White Album".
• In the 2007 comedy film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, fictional Dewey Cox meets The Beatles who are purposefully portrayed satirically by Jack Black as Paul McCartney, Paul Rudd as John Lennon, Jason Schwartzman as Ringo Starr, and Justin Long as George Harrison.
• In Winning London, a film starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the twins and their love interests can be seen walking down Abbey Road in one of the earlier scenes.
• In the film Top Secret!, a horse trots off singing "A Hard Day's Night".
• In the 2007 movie Superbad, the character Seth (Jonah Hill) says to Evan (Michael Cera) that looking into offscreen character Matt Muir's eyes was "like the first time he heard the Beatles".
• In the 2008 movie Yes Man, Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) sings "Can't Buy Me Love" when he sneaks into the Hollywood Bowl with Allison (Zooey Deschanel), He soon also mentions the murder of John Lennon and yells "I've got blisters on my fingers!" after playing the guitar to save a man from jumping off a building.
• In the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Benjamin and Daisy watch The Beatles perform "Twist and Shout" on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• In the 2001 film I Am Sam, Sam's daughter is named after the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Lucy's idyllic early years are accompanied by "Across the Universe". At the Halloween party, "I'm Looking Through You" drives home the point that Sam is "not the same" as other adults. We see Sam and Rita's relationship grow to "Golden Slumbers". Sam's lawyer's name comes from The Beatles' song "Lovely Rita", a point made by Lucy. At the end of the film, "Two of Us" is used.
• In the 2009 film (500) Days of Summer, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) claims "Octopus's Garden" is the greatest Beatles song, much to Tom Hansen's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) surprise. Summer also says Ringo is her favourite Beatle, despite Tom's claim that "no one likes Ringo".
• The 2008 film I'm Not There features a segment in the mid-1960s in which singer Jude Quinn (a fictionalised version of Bob Dylan, played by Cate Blanchett) visits London and is briefly seen fraternising with the Beatles, who are portrayed playing on a hill at fast speed and with high-pitched voices. They are later seen in the background running away from a crowd of fans, à la A Hard Day's Night.
• In the 2009 anime film Summer Wars, the two guardians of Oz (the virtual world) are called John and Yoko.
• The 2000 Icelandic film Angels of the Universe, which focuses on schizophrenia and is mainly set in a psychiatric hospital, features one character, Óli, who believes himself to have written most Beatles songs and to have transmitted them to The Beatles via telepathy, even after the split of the band. "Hey Jude" is being "composed" by Óli in one scene of the film.
• In the 2008 comedy The Rocker, Fish, Rainn Wilson, mentions the Lennon–McCartney partnership when describing Curtis (Teddy Geiger); Fish tells the band that the Beatles did not ask their mums and dads to play Shea Stadium which Matt retorts with, "they were adults"; and the record producer mentions John Lennon rolling over in his grave. The producer also sees Curtis's mom kissing Fish and says, "Well hello Yoko". Pete Best also makes a cameo appearance.
• In the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually the song "All You Need is Love" is sung. The Beatles are mentioned during the Prime Minister's speech. Ringo Starr and his wife are mentioned. Sam has a sign on his door that say says, 'Ringo Rules' during his story of learning the drums.
• In the 2000 film Almost Famous, Kate Hudson's character calls herself "Penny Lane".
• The 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums features an instrumental version of "Hey Jude" playing in the opening scene.
• In 2004 was released Lennon or McCartney, a documentary about who was the favorite of 550 artists, John Lennon or Paul McCartney.

Video games

• The arcade game Mikie features instrumental versions of "A Hard Day's Night" and "Twist and Shout".
• The arcade version of Bomb Jack features an instrumental version of "Lady Madonna".
• One of the NPC's in Final Fantasy X says "I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in," a direct quote from the lyrics of "Fixing A Hole".
• The Beatles: Rock Band, developed by Harmonix Music Systems, was released 9 September 2009.
• In EarthBound, there are various references to The Beatles throughout the game. Shigesato Itoi, the game's creator, has stated that he was a huge fan of the Beatles, and APE, the company that created the game, cited John Lennon as an inspiration for the game's music. Here are some examples:
  • Various people in Moonside will say "Hello! And... goodbye!", a reference to the song "Hello, Goodbye".
  • In the Japanese version, John (for Ness), Paul (for Jeff), George (for Poo), and Ringo (for King the dog) are included as "suggested names" (included by the developers if you do not want to create names yourself). Yoko (as in Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon) is also a "suggested name" for Paula. Additionally, "Honey Pie" is a suggestion for your favourite food, and "love" is a suggestion for your favourite thing.
  • A yellow submarine can be seen inside Dungeon Man. The description for the sub also bluntly states "the color is completely coincidental".
  • One of the Runaway Five members can be heard singing "Money (That's What I Want)" to himself.
  • Bits of Beatles melodies are scattered in the game's music. For instance, part of the opening to "All You Need Is Love" can be heard in the Cliff That Time Forgot, and part of Tessie's song references "Strawberry Fields Forever".
• In Worms & Reinforcements United, one team of worms is known as "The Fab Four", and its worms are named "John", "Paul", "George" and "Ringo".
• The Four craftsmen in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are called "John", "Paul", "George" and "Ringo" as well.
• In Curse of Enchantia, there's a music band of humanoid slugs called "The Slugs".
• In Guitar Hero 3, Xavier Stone's 'Captain X' costume is available in four styles, three of which are named after members of The Beatles: John, Paul, and George, respectively (the fourth is named Larry). The costume is also similar to the uniforms on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
• The Star Fox 1992 comic makes a reference to Sergeant Pepper by Fox making a pun by saying "General Pepper? Hmm...I thought he was only a Sergeant." Also General Shears in "Star Fox: Farewell, Beloved Falco" is a reference to Billy Shears.
• In the videogame "Sly 3: Honor among Thieves" in the opening to first episode The Oscars mentioned as the one of the reason Octavio became a villain and in the ending sequence The Oscars can be seen sitting before Guru.
• On the Internet website Neopets, there is an item on the site called the "Strawberry Fields Forever Paint Brush", named after the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" written by John Lennon.
• Issue No. 2 of the Official UK Nintendo Magazine spoofs the album cover of Abbey Road with a cover of Animal Crossing: Wild World.
• In the PC game Warcraft III, if you click on a Crypt Lord unit many times, he says "I'm the fifth Beatle" in an English accent.
• The original trailer for the Wii game No More Heroes featured the main character, Travis Touchdown, battling an assassin named "Helter Skelter". This encounter is not seen within the game, but mentioned as a prologue. The sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, featured Skelter's brother "Skelter Helter" as the game's first boss.
• In the videogame Left 4 Dead 2 there's an achievement called A SPITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS, a reference to The Beatles' song "With a Little Help from My Friends".
• Throughout the Call of Duty series, several NPC's in the games are named Sgt. Pepper.
• The game Fable III features a weapon called "Beadle's Cutlass", which contains an upgrade titled "Dayripper".
• The game Fallout: New Vegas there's an achievement called "Day Tripper", a reference to The Beatles song of the same name.
• In the official Player's Guide in Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, for world 3–5 they say "you can even dive down as a yellow submarine" despite the submarine in the level being cyan.