Expert: Elizabeth - 6/27/2004

Question
Hi, I'm doing some research on the pop-cultural impact of the Beatles, mainly focusing on their appeal to so many generations. I was hoping you wouldn't mind giving me some educated opinions on my questions. All questions (example: why were they so successful? Is based on a social context, not a strictly musical context) Thanks so much in advance, your help is appreciated. Answers will be used in a HSC society and culture research project, namely the Personal Interest Project. All names will be kept confidential and answers will be displayed as educated opinions only.

1. What was it about the Beatles, in your opinion, that made them so influential?

2. Would you agree that ‘Beatle mania' was one of the most incredible social phenomenons in history?

3. Do you think that a lot of the Beatles incredible success was because they were in-tune with what was happening in society, or do you think that the same music would be equally as successful in our modern era?

4. Why do you think was the reason Beatles appealed to so many people in their prime-popularity?

5. Why do you think that the Beatles music has appealed to so many generations?

6. Why do you think the Beatles music appeals to so many age groups? (That is, from small children to elderly adults?)

7. What was it about the Beatles music that attracted you're interest?

8. Do you think that another band could make it as big in the future, and what are your reasons for thinking this?

9. Do you think the Beatles had an influence on factors like fashion, drug use and haircuts?

10. Anything else you would like to add?  

Answer
1. The Beatles were inspirations and influences to so many because they took on so many new ideas and changes about everything they did so quickly.  The Beatles were only together and famous for about seven years, and anyone can see the obvious visual and aural transformations they went through.  Their fame was so great that it was able to bring practically anything to international attention and appeal.  George Harrison bought a 12-string guitar?  Then the Byrds went and bought one.  The Beatles are using a sitar on their latest record, and then a tabla on the next one?  Well, then everyone wants to know what these strange instruments are!

2. I would definitely agree with this statement, because the Beatles somehow managed to practically immerse in so many aspects of society that at the peak of Beatlemania, it was like most everything else was insignificant.  See above on how I believe they affected society so.

3. One of the things I always say about the Beatles' music is that for the most part, it's utterly timeless.  You can't listen to a lot of Beatles' tracks, especially from "Rubber Soul" on, and say "that's definitely from the 60s."  Most Beatles covers that become hits and radical interpretations of the material, they're usually straighfoward covers of the original, and even decades later they can become hit songs.  (Even the originals can become hits again, as seen by the various rereleases in 1976, and "Twist and Shout" breaking the top 40 in 1986.  George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" hit number one in Britain after his death, 30 years after the songs original release. )  The start of their success was not because they were in-tune with society, but because they were bringing something fresh and new to it, especially in the US.  The pop charts were filled with saccarine like Bobby Vinton and The Singing Nun, and the Beatles were bringing good rock and rock back to the ears.  Also, there is a little attention that must be made to the fact that the Beatles were not successful in the US until a few weeks after the Kennedy assassination.  It's been said that The Beatles' fast happy songs brought the nation out of their dispair.  (Which makes it kind of ironic that the album that was to become "Meet the Beatles" was released in the UK on November 22, 1963, and The Beatles first arrived in the US at JFK airport.)

4. The Beatles DIDN'T appeal to a lot fo people in their prime.  Conservatives balked at their "long" hair, and once John Lennon stated that the band was more popular than Jesus, it was dangerous for them to enter the Bible Belt during a 1966 tour, where the KKK would march outside the venues where they were playing.  In the beginning, the Beatles were basically like the boy bands of today, except that they played their own instruments and wrote most of their own material, and it was all good.  (And of course, there was no choreography except for bowing at the same time.) Seeing this mass appeal coming out of the teenagers, the adults decided to completely promote and market this franchise for all they were worth.

5. Like I said, I believe the Beatles music to be timeless.  It doesn't sound dated to me (and this is a grand statement coming from someone born in 1984), and I doubt that future generations will either.  

6. There is also the issue of The Beatles incorporating so many genres of music into their songs that it was impossible for someone to not find something they liked.  For example, "When I'm 64" and "Honey Pie" are definitely numbers sounding like they were for the generation prior to The Beatles' own, and I assume that the parents of the fans appreciated songs that sounded like what they used to buy records of appearing on the records of their kids.

7. Pure musicality is what attracted to to the Beatles fandom.  Theoretical analysis shows such interesting quirks in their harmonic and melodic progressions, and the time signature changes on some of the tracks I still can't figure out.  I'm also a sucker for a good vocal harmony, which is something I can always count on to be superb in a Beatles tune.  (The zenith of this in my opinion being "Because.")  Tons upon tons of lyrics inspire me to think about things, and last but not least, these four guys are masters at the instruments they play.

8. I don't believe another band could be as big as the Beatles.  The record industry doesn't work that way anymore, I believe.  For example, take chart success.  It's well known that The Beatles are the only group to have the top five slots on the Billboard chart at the same time.  Wat most don't take into account was that incident was a fluke.  The Beatles tried to gain success in the US with several other record companies before Capitol, EMI's American branch, decided to release "I Want to Hold Your Hand."  After that rocketed to #1, these other record companies decided to rerelease all these other single they had ofThe Beatles.  The Beatles may have had the top five spots, but they were held by four different record labels.  Recently, Usher had three singles in the top ten, and he is considered remarkable, but it pales in comparison to what the Beatles managed to pull off.

9. The Beatle haircut is practically synonymous with early Beatle culture, so I think there's definitely an influence there.  The Beatle haircut even came back into fashion for younger men around the time the Beatles Anthology came out in the mid-90s.  As for fashion, there's John Lennon's glasses, but there's also the collarless suits and cuban heeled boots that became popular for a time.  And I don't believe the Beatles were any kind of drug pioneers, given that eveyone else seemed to be catching on at either the same time or before the Beatles did.  (Bob Dylan was surprised when the Beatles told him that the lyric in "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was "I can't hide," not "I get high.")

10.  Thanks for taking your time to ask me these questions, and I hope my answers are what you're looking for.