Today is a great day to be a Beatle.

The digital remasterings of the legendary band’s entire musical catalog, including all 12 of their studio albums, were released today.

This marks the first time The Beatles music was remastered digitally. The last time the music was remastered was for the 1987 CD releases.

“What makes The Beatles release significant, in my opinion, is the fact that it was withheld for so long,” said associate professor of English Jeffrey Weinstock, who teaches a popular culture class. “The Beatles themselves are arguably one of the most significant early pop music bands, so their absence has been a significant gap.”

History professor Mitchell Hall, who teaches HST 335: History of the Rock and Roll Era, agreed about the importance of the band in musical history.

“I think the Beatles remain the most influential artists of the rock era,” Hall said. “They either introduced or expanded more ideas than any other rock artist. I think they redefined rock artists.”

The foursome — Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison — formed in 1960 and quickly became one of the most influential rock and pop groups of all time. Some of The Beatles’ famous hits include “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Hey Jude,” “Yesterday” and “Let It Be.”

Weinstock said the album rereleases may cause excitement in longtime Beatles fans, but may not create any new fans.

“I think it will work at a limited extent with older listeners,” Weinstock said. “People who are already Beatles fans are excited over the albums’ release. I don’t know how many new Beatles fans are going to be generated from this.”

Grand Rapids freshman and Beatles fan Jordan Reed said she is excited for the remasterings, as long as they do not deter from the original recordings.

“I’d probably want to hear it first (before buying the new albums),” Reed said. “I’m a fan of the original music, and I wouldn’t want it to take away from it.”

Reed said her favorite part of The Beatles’ music is the lyrics, and the genuine emotion that can be found in them.

“I like older music because it’s from them, not from someone writing it for them,” she said.

Star power

Also released today was the video game “The Beatles: Rock Band” for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. The rhythm game, based off the original hit game “Rock Band” that allows players to sing, play guitar or drum to hit songs, will feature 45 songs from the band’s career, as well as likenesses of all the band members.

Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison’s son, Dhani, served as advisors for the game, developed by Harmonix Music Systems.

Hall said the game may allow fans to experience The Beatles’ music in an entirely new way.

“People experience popular music in a variety of ways,” Hall said. “For some, it’s kind of a background music to listen to. For others it’s something to sit down and listen to and ponder. There’s no one way to listen to popular music.”

Weinstock said he thinks the release of the game may be a strategy to attract Beatles fans to rhythm games rather than attract gamers to The Beatles’ music.

“Quite honestly, it seems a strategy to me, to interest an older generation, not a younger one, in ‘Guitar Hero’ (and that type of game),” Weinstock said. “I would call it a savvy marketing move.”

E-mail the author: Brad Canze