Anyone who plays video games on a regular basis will be aware of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band phenomenon. Who would have thought that picking up little plastic instruments and pretending you’re a real musician could be so fun? But it is, immensely so, which is why the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises are so huge.

But as cool as Rock Band is, there is a way to make it better - make a special edition featuring The Beatles and only The Beatles. Which is exactly what is happening. The new video game, ingeniously titled The Beatles: Rock Band, features 45 Beatles tracks and is coming out for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii later this year.

Today saw the start of E3 2009, the biggest video games show in the world. The Beatles were the star attraction on day one, with the surviving members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, unveiling the game, showing off an exclusive new demo, and revealing more details as to the track listing for the game.

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Modern British music has been popular and successful since the UK headed the Rock’n'Roll revolution in the 1950s and 1960s. Since then it has enjoyed a fantastic half-century, providing some of the greatest artists the music world has ever seen.

Like every other country, styles and tastes in music have changed in the UK massively over the last 50 years and the Brits have managed to change with the trends of the day. Consequently, this little island has musicians and artists providing all sorts of genres.

But which genre of music do Brits excel at? Thankfully, the readers of Brit Music Scene have had a good crack at answering that conundrum. Variety isn’t lacking in this country but we do definitely focus on certain types of music.

The question we asked and the results of the poll are revealed below.

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Online file-sharing, which first came to light with Napster and is now predominantly made possible by BitTorrent and peer-to-peer networks, is a huge problem which needs to be resolved in some way or another.

You may have heard about four people closely associated with The Pirate Bay being convicted of “assisting copyright infringement” last week. The four men, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström can expect prison sentences and heavy fines.

For those who don’t know, The Pirate Bay is one of a handful of huge torrent trackers which act as directories of torrents which can be downloaded. They link to files present on people’s computers, be they copyright-free or otherwise.

Most people were shocked that A Swedish court decided to convict the men, essentially siding with the IFPI and big media companies who hold The Pirate Bay responsible for online piracy, be it of music, films, TV shows, games, or software.

However, one man, a certain Mr. Paul McCartney that you may possibly know of, has come out and stated he agrees with the ruling. In essence, Paul McCartney hates you if you’re a music pirate or someone who has any part to play in it.

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Paul McCartney may now be 66 but he can still rock out with the best of them. Which is why he was booked to close the first night of the 2009 Coachella Festival. He played a set in excess of two hours and remembered all those people in his life who have passed away.

McCartney’s set on Friday night spanned the whole of his career, with song from his days in The Beatles and Wings sitting comfortably alongside those from his later solo career and his alter-ego The Fireman.

McCartney played alongside his four-piece band for the duration although did sing alone with an acoustic guitar for part of the set. He played both the guitar and the piano, and gave the crowd all the songs they wanted to hear.

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The UK has produced an inordinate number of talented songwriters over the past 50 years, especially when you consider the small size of the population. But who are the best of the best? Who are the people whose songs have shaped and defined Britain through music?

Artists come and go all the time, one bad album and that can be it. But the ones that endure, either staying together for years (Oasis, Rolling Stones) or whose music lives on for generations (The Beatles) are the ones who are capable of pumping out magical song after magical song.

Songwriting is a special talent that generally cannot be taught. Which is why those manufactured stars from reality shows such as The X Factor have to rely on dedicated word smiths and musicians to write their songs for them.

According to Digital Spy, OnePoll recently carried out a survey to find people’s opinion as to Britain’s greatest songwriter. The results stand up as a testament to the incredible range of talented songwriters the UK possesses, but the winner may be a surprise to some.

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40 years ago today, the four members of The Beatles, plus guest keyboardist Billy Preston, played a concert on the roof of the Apple building in Saville Row, London. Although it was cut short, it’s still regarded as a momentous moment in music history.

By this time in their career, The Beatles weren’t getting on, with tensions producing some of the band’s best music in the studio, but putting paid to the notion of performing in public. This therefore ended up being the last gig the four played in public together.

The gig on the roof is now an iconic moment, but it wasn’t popular with the authorities at the time. The Metropolitan police stopped the show, first by pulling out the leads from George Harrison’s amps and then finally cutting power to the building altogether.

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The story of Decca turning down The Beatles is very well-known but the most famous British group ever were also turned down by HMV and Columbia before finally being signed. Who signed them? Parlophone, a label dedicated to novelty acts. Wow.

While Coldplay aren’t quite as big as The Beatles, they are a very important British band, as are Blur. And it’s now come to light that the two groups are inextricably linked forever by the fact that Blur bassist Alex James turned Coldplay down when he had his own record label.

James revealed the slip-up himself in an interview with The Sun. But he then went further and dismissed Coldplay as a group altogether. He either believes this or he’s saying it now in order to save face for turning down one of the best signings he could ever have made.

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2009 has arrived so I’m actually overdue in rounding up my best of Brit Music Scene from 2008. Here we finally make it to the end of 2008 with the biggest stories and talking points between the months of October and December

October

The month began with Rick Astley unbelievably being named Best Act Ever by MTV. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin were threatening to tour with a new lead singer in place of Robert Plant, and Pete Kay beat Leon Jackson in the charts.

There were rumors that The long-awaited Smiths reunion could finally be happening, but it still hasn’t yet. The Ting Tings called for Top Of The Pops to be brought back, and it looked as though Simon Cowell was the man to save the show.

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It’s been a long time coming but at last Blur are back, having officially reformed with all four original members. Okay, so it isn’t like The Beatles reforming (which they’d have a job doing now anyway) but it’s still a brilliant moment for British music and one I want to celebrate.

Talk of a Blur reunion began last October when the four original members met up for lunch and a bit of a catch-up. But that was it, nothing else happened for almost a year before the petty squabbling seemed to raise its ugly head once again. Damon Albarn was reported to have said “Blur is over,” and Graham Coxon responded with a lengthy rant.

By November, the chances of a reunion were looking better, with Albarn stating how it was very possible he’d rejoin the group once again. By the end of November the band were rehearsing with each other as a four piece again for the first time since 2000, but no further plans were announced.

Now, on December 9, 2008, Blur are officially back. Damaon Albarn and Graham Coxon have apparently patched up the differences that lead to the split in the first place, and Alex James and Dave Rowntree are also along for the ride.

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Over forty years ago, at the height of The Beatles’ powers, John Lennon claimed the band were “more popular than Jesus” and all hell (excuse the pun) broke loose. Christians everywhere decided this was the ultimate blasphemy and burned The Beatles records.

It was an overreaction by religious zealots who could see the way the world was going, with The Beatles summing up the new cult of celebrity that was about to arrive. And it did harm the way The Beatles were perceived, especially in the United States.

Lennon made the controversial remarks in an interview with the London Evening Standard. Not only did he compare The Beatles to Jesus, he also ranted about religion. But his comments were very tongue in cheek, and really should have been taken with a pinch of salt.

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