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BEATLES.
Term Paper ID:17696
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Essay Subject:
Phenomenon of British rock group in context of the 1960s. Musical, social, psychological impact.... More...
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6 Pages / 1350 Words
3 sources, 5 Citations,
MLA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Phenomenon of British rock group in context of the 1960s. Musical, social, psychological impact.
Paper Introduction:
The Beatles were four gifted musicians from Liverpool, England who were responsible for breaking more ground and revolutionizing more techniques in the rock and roll industry than any band in history. The fascinating discovery is that the Beatles were not the "overnight" success phenomenon that most Americans thought they were. Instead, they were a carefully planned and organized business machine - one uniquely determined to bring the message of "All You Need Is Love" to Americans everywhere. This paper will explore the phenomenon of this British rock group in the context of the turbulent decade of the sixties. Musical, social, and psychological impact will be analyzed in an attempt to assess the Beatle's extremely popular appeal. A conclusion will discuss the capacity of rock and roll as a regenerator and revitalizing force for a stagnant society.
Text of the Paper:
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The sales of John Lennon's solo albums had notbeen spectacular but immediately upon his death, his last album skyrocketedto number one on Billboard's Top 4 Albums chart. Rock of Ages: Rolling Stone Historyof Rock & Roll. Instead, they were acarefully planned and organized business machine - one uniquely determinedto bring the message of "All You Need Is Love" to Americans everywhere.This paper will explore the phenomenon of this British rock group in thecontext of the turbulent decade of the sixties. The Beatles were toosmart to undermine the meaning, message, and sales of their music, bydiluting what they stood for through crass commercialism. They represented hipyouth, who at times, were not afraid to turn into rebellious youth. They represented freedom. We obviously could have gotten a lot of money off of that, but we tried to keep the Beatles very pure that way. Works CitedGitlin, T. They refused corporate sponsorships if they had totaint the image of "Save your soul," "Live for love," "Tell theestablishment to f_ off," and the other revolutionary attitudes they helpedfoster in the sixties. Coming after Water-gate, and near theassassination attempt of Ronald Reagan, it truly seemed that the purity and"love" message of the sixties was gone forever now that one of the "BeatlesForever" was truly gone. A conclusion will discuss the capacity of rockand roll as a regenerator and revitalizing force for a stagnant society. This caused anational uproar as millions of Beatles fans felt violated, even raped whenthey heard one of the purest images they had from the memories of thesixties, turned into an eighties advertising jingle. In conclusion, the type of music revolutionized by the Beatles hasnow come full circle. Though the world has altered drasticallysince the sixties, the altruistic spirit which the Beatle's music helpedfoster in the sixties has returned to us in the manner of benefit concertslike Life Aid and Farm Aid. After booking them on the Ed Sullivan show the Beatles were made. The Sixties. Boys wanted to wear their hair like Johnand George. Brian Epstein took the Beatles from four unknown local lads inplaying small London pubs, to international recording superstars. One unfortunate aspect which helped to dissolve some of the purity ofthe Beatles image was the unexpected assassination of John Lennon. As turbulent as the times were, some ofthe biggest hits of the era, The Beatles, The Sound of Music, and MaryPoppins, suggest that people were still trying to fight through thenegative times and find the good and positive. Not only did they rack up more number one records,gold and platinum singles and albums, and a host of other "firsts," butthey also were the first group to ever take every detail and aspect of analbum's production into account as being essential. Certainlythe Beatle's emotionally up, positive lyrics, and revolution-based messageshelped foster the peace, love and unity era of the sixties. The Beatle Book. Rock and roll was merely a symbol of carefree youthin the mid-sixties which not only grew into a unifying voice of protest,but also an entire industry. Thefascinating discovery is that the Beatles were not the "overnight" successphenomenon that most Americans thought they were. The film was a smash hitbasically because of their involvement; Epstein's other film in 1961, alsoa rock documentary, was dismal failure. Instead, they touched a much deepersensibility, as pointed out by Todd Gitlin (1987 2 4) "Their own lovequartet - which could be taken to embody the ethnic of brotherly love:harmony through diversity." This message, that you can be in harmony eventhough you are different, galvanized the American nation, especially rightafter the McCarthy era which preached sanitized, homogenous "Ozzie andHarriet" unity. John Lennon and Paul McCartney never took guitar lessons. The Beatles enormouspopularity in part stemmed from catching a generation's restlessness anddesire for change at the right place, and at the right time. Incidents of resistance to the establishment on an internationalbasis (Tienamann square, and the opening of Russia) remind one of the anti-war, hate and racism messages of the sixties in our own country. I'd like it to stay that way."It would be nice to feel Paul McCartney means this, and perhaps he does,but he and the rest of the Beatles are familiar enough with the artisticprocess to know that when you sell the rights to your own product, you losecontrol over that product. Thefilm, A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester, was an attempt todefine the roles the Beatles felt they played for audiences everywhere.This film is very telling of the Beatle's image production machine, becausetheir molder and creator, Brian Epstein, had the film's screenwriter moldthe Beatle's image in the film to what each was perceived as at that pointin time. Psychologically the Beatles were responsible for many images withinthe American public. Noincident in the history of the Beatles did more to galvanize the nationthan this unfortunate occurrence. From this inauspicious origin, these two primary members ofthe "Fabulous Four" would take Great Britain and America by storm withinless than four years, while establishing themselves as millionaires forlife. Musical, social, andpsychological impact will be analyzed in an attempt to assess the Beatle'sextremely popular appeal. Girlswere in love with Ringo and Paul. Music still feeds on the very traditions itlikes to revolt against and disown at times. If he really wanted it to stay a true message,and to stand for an era and not be undermined into sales slogans, he andthe other Beatles should have known they had enough money for life, andkept their own rights. For example, they notonly cared about the music, but because of Epstein's astute management (andfrom having a chain of music stores in his family) the Beatles did specialthings on their album covers, on the liner notes, on the lyrics, and on theway in which the music was mixed on the album. Thisrestlessness still finds its way into the youth of new generations, andperhaps another phenomenon as big as the Beatles may never occur, but musicstill has the capacity for regeneration and renewal which was the heartbeatof the Beatle's message. New York: Lancer Books, 1964.Stokes, G., Ward, E., and Tucker, K. The social impact of the Beatles was immense from a music andmerchandising standpoint, but it was also immense from a personal image andmessage viewpoint. New York: Bantam Books, 1987.Hoffman, D. As John Lennon describes Owen's screenwriting technique: "Hestayed with us for two days and wrote the whole thing based on ourcharacters then: me, witty; Ringo, dumb and cute; Paul, this; George, that"(Stokes, Ward, and Tucker 278). Yet, in Hoffman's The Beatle Book, Sullivan recounts that: "Itstruck me as the same type of mass hysteria which had characterized theElvis Presley days" (Hoffman 8). It is not so hard to imagine that they might have, for 1989 hasseen the return and reuniting of many groups from the sixties - JeffersonAirplane, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. Theyalso represented a unification of America and Great Britain. However, asany group who has the massive devotion they had realizes, it was fromgiving the people a message they wanted as well as one that was positiveand good for them emotionally. This is because the Beatles strove to keep their imageand their music pure. In addition, the deathput an end forever to the speculation that the Beatles, the most desiredgroup of performers in the history of music, might someday reunite inconcert. Obviously the message oflove, peace and unity that the Beatle's music inspired, was an image theAmerican public could cling too. This message of love wasapparent in the Beatles music from early on as they dropped their hardedged, black inspired blues in order to become teenage audience favorites.They did more than just repeat the traditional "I'll do anything for you"strains of puppy-love in their music. Never before had a musical group instilled such a mad love inthe American buying public. They wereso poor that when they finally scraped the money together to purchase theirown guitars, they taught themselves the rudimentary skills of theinstruments. The phrase"British Invasion" was coined to describe the onslaught of the Beatlesmusical talents and product, and their far-reaching impact on Americans.Everywhere, everyone wanted to be like one or more of the Beatles. Mass marketing of the Beatle's (and Beatle's lunchboxes, sweatshirts,wigs, pajamas) affected the social consciousness of America also. Only the Disney inspired "Ballad of DaveyCrockett," and the coonskin cap, would even come close to setting off sucha mass merchandising fervor during the decade. Never before did a group orartist consider that the entire package of the music was as important asmusical content. New York: Rolling Stone P, 1986.----------------------- 8 When Michael Jackson purchased the Beatlescatalogue of music he immediately sold the rights to "Revolution" theadvertising agency which sponsors Nike athletic products. The Beatles were four gifted musicians from Liverpool, England whowere responsible for breaking more ground and revolutionizing moretechniques in the rock and roll industry than any band in history. The Beatles revolutionized the musicindustry in many ways. EdSullivan had never even heard of this group which had achieved for thefirst time, the selling of a million copies of an album before it was evenreleased. As PaulMcCartney notes in a recent interview; "I am not against sponsors, but the problem with Michael for me was that with the Beatles we used to refuse corporate sponsorship a lot, particularly soft drink firms. This image may have been simplified to agood extent, but it shows the Beatles were a methodically planned businessmachine as well as four young talented musicians. We didn't get into a heavy commercialization of it, so I think that people associate it with an era rather than associate it with products, and they like it because they feel it meant something. Epsteinrecalls on first impression; "I saw four boys with very little stagepresentation - they had scrubby haircuts, and scrubby clothes, but a goodsense of humor and an appealing beat" (Hoffman 7). Because of this, no other group in history even comesclose to matching the Beatle's musical sales, innovations and achievements. TheWoodstock era, and the summer of love sixties seem to have come fullcircle.
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