Beatlemania is back with the rollout Wednesday of the Fab Four's remastered CDs and first-ever video game, reaching out to a whole new generation decades after their parents and even grandparents first succumbed.
It's been nearly 40 years since John, Paul, George and Ringo announced their breakup, but the new game and discs caused a worldwide buzz as the Beatles returned to the top of the charts in Britain, the land where it all began.
Fans flocked to get their hands on the long-awaited sonic masterpieces, with lines snaking outside record stores in London and Liverpool. Some die-hards jammed the streets outside Abbey Road, the landmark studio where the Beatles recorded many of their groundbreaking albums.
About 50 people gathered outside the HMV music store on London's Oxford Street early Wednesday some, like university student Daniela Gutierrez, waiting in line since 3 a.m.
"My parents were huge Beatles fans and I grew up listening to their music," said Gutierrez, 25. "I can't wait to have the game and start playing the songs."
It's not exactly 1964 there were no fainting teens or other visible signs of feverish Beatlemania but the long-awaited release brought the long-gone band to the top of the charts maintained by online retailer Amazon.co.uk.
Or, as John Lennon liked to say, "to the toppermost of the poppermost."
Uma Nolan, an Irish nurse visiting London, came to the Abbey Road studio to be photographed at the pedestrian crossing made famous on the "Abbey Road" album cover. She plans to buy the entire set of 17 CDs even though she already has all the songs in the collection.
"I will absolutely go out and buy them," she said. "I'm a huge Beatles fan and have every single LP in original first edition copies. "
"The Beatles: Rock Band" video game also is expected to sell well, opening a new revenue stream for the band.