What would the world have been like without The Beatles?

The Guardian feature on what would the world have been like without The Beatles ahead of the new Yesterday film got me thinking ... what would it have been like?!

Would as many kids have picked up guitars and form garage bands in America and beat bands across the UK?

Would kids have grown their hair into that famed moptop that provoked so much debate and imitation? Think of how the band inspired tailors, designers and artists and of course, The Beatles gave us Beatlemania - a way for millions of teenagers to scream and let go of pent up frustration, urges and to express their feelings.

What would the world have been like without these things?

The platform The Beatles had was worldwide; allowing them to discuss the music they listened to, what books they read and what films they watched.

Everyone wanted a piece of the fab four, sometimes literally as hair was snipped, suits were torn and minds were blown. And money was made! See my previous blog on Seltaeb.

The Beatles kicked down the door for the underground, in part because it was the underground that inspired them. Drugs, art, fashion, music, different sounds and ways of thinking - The Beatles were keen to explore, reflecting and amplifying underground scenes from London all the way to San Francisco and in turn inspiring more kids to think that they could do something. The Beatles even went as far as opening the crazy Apple Corps Ltd to give grants to dreamers.

The Beatles got the world singing, talking about love and peace, thinking about art and experimentation in mind, body and music.

As the 60's progressed and The Beatles developed from Love Me Do to All You Need Is Love you had Harrison endorsing Indian meditation, McCartney discussing drugs in mainstream media and living it up on the London arts scene and Lennon going from Lucy In The Sky to Cold Turkey via Give Peace A Chance, oh and he happened to mention that Christianity will go, it will vanish and shrink.

The Beatles developed from wide eyed amphetamine fuelled cellars in Liverpool and Hamburg to glazed eyed psychedelic experimenters, aided by George Martin and unlimited studio time. All in the glare of the world who fell in love with them.

Indeed, without The Beatles, the world wouldn't have one of the greatest love stories of all, a story continuing to this day through McCartney and Starr and the ever lasting legacy of Lennon and Harrison. The story of friendship, adventure, luck, hard work, fame and music, not all pretty.

So many have fallen under their spell, discovering the band through parents, elder siblings or via the media's never ending love affair with them. You could start at The End and work your way back, or through Love Me Do up until The End, or somewhere in between,

My own introduction came via a cassette of my Dad's - 20 Greatest Hits. I discovered pure pop, feedback, chiming guitars, riffs, a touch of psychedelia, nursery rhymes, harmonies and rock n roll. Four guys took on the world and won. I was transfixed and bought loads of books, records and old bootleg cassettes from their time in Germany.

What would the world have been like without The Beatles? Imagine not having the thrill of stomping to their take on Twist and Shout, of singing the na, na, na, na chorus to Hey Jude, of marvelling at the production on Sgt Pepper, the flow of side 2 of Abbey Road, the mind blowing Tomorrow Never Knows, b-sides like Rain and shaking your head and singing yeah, yeah, yeah ...

The world would have been darker, less fun and in 8-years The Beatles produced a stunning catalogue of music that showed the world you could change and develop. The Fab Four did it in front of the eyes of the world

Thankfully we had The Beatles, we have them, we'll always have them.

Read on for loads of top 5 lists of my favourite Beatles songs, moments, albums, solo songs and covers ...

Five favourite Beatles songs
1. Don't Let Me Down 2. Got To Get You Into My Life 3. Tomorrow Never Knows 4. Ticket To Ride
5. I Saw Her Standing There

5 from John (in addition to any above) - I Feel Fine, Rain, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey, Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day In The Life

5 from Paul - You Never Give Me Your Money, I'll Follow The Sun, I've Just Seen A Face, I've Got A Feeling, I'm Down

5 from George - Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, It's All Too Much, Here Comes The Sun, If I Needed Someone

Five faves The Beatles covered - You Really Got A Hold On Me, Twist and Shout, Bad Boy, Money (That's What I Want), Please Mr. Postman

.... just rattle your jewellery

Five favourite Beatles albums
1. Revolver 2. Abbey Road 3. The Beatles (White Album) 4. Let It Be 5. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Five favourite Beatles moments
1. Shea Stadium 
The Beatles on fire, laughing at the absurdity of it all. I once bought a jacket from Topman because it vaguely resembled a Shea Stadium jacket. Lennon playing keys with his elbow is super cool.

2. When John met Paul
6th July 1957. An iconic photograph of Lennon playing with his band The Quarrymen at a garden fete in Liverpool. A young Paul McCartney was there and was introduced to John via Ivan Vaughan who sometimes played tea chest bass with The Quarrymen. McCartney had the confidence to teach John how to properly tune his guitar and show off playing and singing Eddie Cochrane's Twenty Flight Rock and Gene Vincent's Be Bop A Lula.

3. JFK press conference
The Beatles land on American soil and charm the hysterical American press with their natural humour - Elvis impressions, sheer cheek, super confident, poking fun at themselves and Beatlemania. And the scenes outside are just insane. More info HERE

4. All You Need Is Love worldwide broadcast
The height of the summer of love - 25th June 1967. The Beatles perform All You Need Is Love to a worldwide television audience of 400 million. For a brief moment in time maybe 400 million people believed that was true, simpler and more hopeful times.

5. The rooftop show
On a cold 30th January 1969 The Beatles played together for the last time along with Billy Preston on keyboards. They look and sound fantastic. McCartney in black suit, as confident and as cheery as ever; Lennon in fur coat, those classic round granny glasses,  black trousers and converse; Starr looking cold in his red mac but still managing a stoned grin; Harrison rocking a black fur coat with a red shirt and green trousers. Oh to have been on that roof as they played Get Back, Don't Let Me Down, One After 909, Dig A Pony and I've Got A Feeling - various takes of each.

Five favourite Beatles solo songs
1. Watching The Wheels - John Lennon 2. What Is Life - George Harrison 3. Wah Wah - George Harrison 4. Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney 5. Instant Karma - John Lennon

Mogwai play Zidane, Glasgow 21st July 2013

Last night an extraordinary event took place in Glasgow that combined music, film, art and festival.

Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait by Douglas Gordon is a film focusing on Zidane playing for Real Madrid against Villareal in April 2005. Seventeen cameras were trained on the magical footballer throughout the match and afterwards Gordon approached Mogwai, his fellow Glaswegian's to provide the soundtrack to the film.

The results have been available on DVD and album for some time, however Mogwai had never performed the album live as the film was being played.....until now.

The Manchester International Festival has a first class reputation for combining music with film and art and they approached Mogwai with the idea of playing live to the film. They accepted and additional dates were set up for their hometown of Glasgow and in London.

Their was a real buzz about the show in Glasgow, not only down to the facts above but also because the performance was to take place at a brand new venue/site - 220 Broomielaw, oh, and it was going to be outdoors!

220 Broomielaw is waste ground in Glasgow's financial district on the banks of the Clyde. At some point in the not too distant future it will become an office block similar to those that surround the site, however last night the dusty waste ground was transformed into a mini-festival site.

Doors were opening at 6pm and although the band were not on until 8.45pm I arranged to meet my friends Lorna and Colin at 6.30pm as there had been an announcement of a BBQ and we thought we would make the most of the stunning Glasgow weather!

The site was small but perfectly formed - toilets at the back; some cool merch (I got a ltd print) at the back to the side; a beer bar, cider bar and BBQ to one side, sound-desk in the middle and a small pop up bar to the other side with the stage obviously at the front!

The traffic flying over the Kingston Bridge made it all look quite surreal at times. It all generated a great atmosphere.

Mogwai came on stage at 8.45pm promptly and the film began. The film and performance were exhilerating.

Zidane glided about the pitch, his eyes following the ball like a hunter, his feet moving effortlessly when the ball came his way, the sweat dripping from his brow. Everything is captured beautifully and originally by Gordon and his team, I especially liked the rare smile from Zidance to Carlos towards the end. Zidane's focus on the ball and the game is complete.

Mogwai were all seated, caressing their instruments (well maybe not the drum kit) and building waves of sound from nothing. We started off stage right but soon moved back due to the volume (class Mogwai) and it worked in our favour as it was good to take the whole thing in; film, music and the site.

Mogwai excel in producing emotional and inspiring instrumental post-rock music and to see them doing it in this setting with Gordon's film playing behind them was truly memorable. Their music was delicate when required, it rose and soared at others and when required it was furious and intense.

Gordon's portrait of Zidane is incredible, yet one of the most memorable parts of the film (or certainly last night) was the piece that Mogwai played to soundtrack the half-time section of the film. At half-time Gordon's portrait cuts to other events that happened around the world during the game; in many ways it reminded me that 'football is only a game'. Mogwai's soundtrack to this section of the film was sensational as they generated all kinds of controlled white noise from their instruments.

It really was quite an incredible night and Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai was quick to thank everyone involved in making it happen. That was echoed by everyone in attendance, this was a remarkable display of music, film, art and venue (and weather) combining to create something unique and beautiful.

A short clip from the film is posted below;