The Big Money site tosses out an intriguing theory from Thomas Goetz's new book "The Decision Tree": that the Beatles, in a roundabout way, helped drive up the cost of healthcare in America.

It's a counter-intuitive vignette of pop music's mid-century largesse colliding with science and technology. In short, Goetz proposes that the electronics division of EMI (the parent company of the Beatles' label, Capitol Records) became so unexpectedly flush with cash after the Fab Four's ascent that it funded the personal project of an in-house engineer that, eventually, became the CT scanner -- a revolutionary machine that threw a major kink in the healthcare marketplace.

Go read the whole thing here, and the next time you break a toe and it sets you back a grand, thank George Martin.

-- August Brown

Photo: The Beatles, shown in 1964, in a photo from the "Past Masters" CD booklet. Credit: Apple Corps. Ltd.

Here's one product you didn't see during the Super Bowl. Roy Orbison's signature song "Pretty Woman" now shares the name with a perfume. Julie Neigher over on sister blog All the Rage has the details, and sampled a scent of "Pretty Woman" last week at Apothia Fred Segal. Amber, bergamot and cedar were the aromas she signaled out. She writes:

Barbara Orbison (Roy’s widow) has created a fragrance aptly named “Pretty Woman.” Of course, one thinks immediately of the iconic song and film. Not a bad thing, considering both were hits (and you know what they say -- three’s a charm). However, Barbara claims that she had this fragrance fantasy long before knowing Roy. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to create a perfume that speaks to women everywhere. I believe that within every woman there’s a pretty woman, and my signature fragrance helps bring out that inner confidence and spirit.” 

When I chatted with Barbara (who has the most extraordinary green eyes), she captivated me with her intelligence, business savvy and effusion about her work. She plans to extend the line to face creams and candles. (She already sells a pure perfume oil in the form of a roller ball -- great for women on the go.)

Besides creating “Pretty Woman,” Barbara is an entrepreneur and also manages Roy’s legacy. She executive-produced a limited-edition box set of the definitive Roy Orbison collection (including 107 songs, a 96-page book on his life, and tracks never heard before). Packaged in linen in a chic monochrome black and white, the collectible is available for purchase at Apothia. You can indulge yourself by buying some tunes as well as Barbara’s fragrant opus, making it the perfect one-stop-shop for Valentine’s Day.  

--Julie Neigher, All the Rage

Read: 'Pretty Woman' may score a hat trick with new fragrance

Photo: Roy and Barbara Orbison. Credit: Barbara Orbison

It was an old-fashioned laser light show at Miami's Sun Life Stadium during the Super Bowl halftime show, as vintage rockers the Who energetically went largely without gimmicks and shtick during its brief mini concert. Relying on little more than the sturdiness of its riffs and Roger Daltrey's still arena-piercing yell, the Who tried to pump some life back into its classic rock hits, many of which have since been reclaimed as the soundtrack to a CBS crime show. 

If not a wholly obvious choice -- the Who have not been on the promotional circuit in a couple years -- the Who were a relatively safe one. Chosen, perhaps, by default, as one of the few (only?) giant boomer bands to have not yet received the Super Bowl stamp of approval, the Who weren't heading into the halftime show for Super Bowl XLIV as a band of surprises. Having released only one album of new material in more than 25 years, few have perfected the art of the greatest hits set like the Who. 

Such predictability has been a staple of the halftime show since the infamous Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake performance of 2004. With the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney snaring post-nipplegate slots, Pete Townshend had a right to be wondering when the group he stills calls the Who would get the promotional benefit the Sunday stage provides. As he swung his trademark windmills on "Baba O'Riley," he certainly looked the part, playing the role of a man 30 years younger.