TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRAOV

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

DEPARTMENT OF ROMANIAN ENGLISH

How the Beatles influenced

the 60s?

Supervisor:

Student:

Senior Lecturer Ph. D.: Oana-Andreea PRNU

BRAOV
2014

Anastasia-Maria TACHE

SENTENCE OUTLINE:
1) Introduction:
Presenting general aspects about The Beatles phenomenon
2) Content:
A short history of the band
Some of their lyrics
Fashion of The Beatles
John Lennons political activism
3) Conclusion:
Importance of The Beatles impact on the 60s world
ABSTRACT:
The present analysis deals with a fascinating and controversial legend from the musical
range: The Beatles. The four lads from Liverpool, also known as the fabulous Beatles
or

Fab Four were a symbol for young generation of the 60s, who were rebelling

against the old traditional ideals. The Beatles took strong positions against war and for
peace, for womens liberation, environmentalism and even gay liberation. They always
stood against the current.
In other words, they had a significant impact on the British society in the 1960s.
Nowadays, only two members of the Beatles are still alive, but the legend dressed
around the band is to survive on and on. The Beatles music lives on today in every
corner of the world, bridging cultural and international boundaries. Together and
individually their contribution to world music is phenomenal. They will be remembered
forever as the greatest influence on popular music in the 20th century.
KEYWORDS:

Beat Generation

1)

British Invasion
60s world
mop top
Vietnam War
Bagism
Nutopia

INTRODUCTION:
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960 and one of the
most commercially succesful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular
music. They were included in the Beat Generation, which had a persuasive influence
on rock and roll and popular music.
Generally speaking, the Beat Generation was a group of American post-World War II
writers who became famous in the 1960s. The Beat culture promoted elements as
the rejection of received standards, innovations in style, use of illegal drugs,
sexuality, an interest in religion. The Beatles spelled their name with an a partly as
a Beat Generation reference and John Lennon, the leader of the band was a fan of
Jack Kerouac, one of the representative writers and promoters of this cultural
phenomenon. Beside their musical projects, the Beatles were the embodiment of a
cultural and social aspects. This fact is the topic of the following chapters.

2)

CONTENT:
A short history of the band
The 1960s were a time of upheaval in society, fashion, attitudes and especially
music. The British Invasion is the name given to the period of time in the early to
mid 1960s during which many British rock bands and pop artists found mainstrem
success in the U.K. and worldwide. The one of the bands that comes to mind when
speak of the British Invasion is the Beatles. From 1962 the group consisted of John
Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul MacCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George
Harisson (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals).
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In 1957, John Lennon had formed a group with some school friends. He and Paul
MacCartney met at a church fete in July 1957, Paul was soon to join Johns group,
The Quarrymen later to become Johnny and the Moondogs then Silver Beatles .
In 1958 they were joined by a schoolfriend of Pauls George Harisson. Meanwhile,
in another part of the city, a young man called Ringo Starr had been pursuing his
musical career as a drummer. In 1959, The Silver Beatles as they were known,
consisted of John, Paul, George and another friend of Johns from Art College, a
gifted artist called Stuart Sutcliffe. A local entrepreneur called Allan Williams had
been arranging gigs for many of the local groups, including The Silver Beatles. He
offered them a chance to work in Hamburg in Germany. Hamburg was the place
where they served their apprenticeship, working long hours to tough audiences,
living in harsh conditions with pills and alcohol freely available. In 1961 the Beatles
appeared for the first time at the Cavern, a basement cellar in Liverpools
commercial district. The Beatles appeared at the Cavern 292 times. It was here they
were discovered by Brian Epstein. Brian became their manager and succeeded in
arranging an audition for the Beatles at E.M.I.s No.3 studio Abbey Road. Here for
the first time they met George Martin, who was later to figure so prominently in the
production of the Beatles music. In 1962, they made their first official recording
Love me do. It was the moment when the place of drummer was taken by Ringo
Starr. The Beatles popularity had been growing rapidly all over the U.K. and by the
end of 1963 they had captured the hearts of British teenagers. One of their record
had been promoted in U.S.A., but really became popular in 1964 after appearing on
the Ed Sullivan Show. The phenomen that surrounded them was known as
Beatlemania.
Among the many things we didnt understand then was that Beatlemania occured in
two versions first a British one, and then an American one. Of course, all
successful acts come along at the right time as the cliche has it. ( Curtis,
1987:136)
The sudden death of their manager Brian Epstein in 1967 shocked the Beatles and
determined them to cope with the financial issues. The group planned to make a film
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called Magical Mystery Tour , in which a happy band of travelers including

themselves, would travel countryside in a bus, filming whatever happened on the
way. In 1968 a cartoon film was made about the Beatles. It was based on an earlier
recording by the group, of a song written by Ringo in 1966, called Yellow
Submarine. The film was such an immediate success with children all over the
world that toys and memorabilia were produced especially for it. Soonly, they
decided to quit the group. The Beatles gave their final live performance atop the
Apple building at 3 Savile Row, London, in what became the climax of their Let It
Be film.
Some of their lyrics
Beside the haircut, also known as the mop top , and the colarless suits, the Fab
Four became unique due to their lyrics and their rebellious attitude. The proper
formula which they found consists in expressing their opinions and belifs in their
songs. Therefore, some of their political belifs turned into successful tunes. A certain
lyrics of them can be understood as an antiwar movement or the civil rights
movement. For instance, the song Revolution was written against the violent
protests from France about the Vietnam War. In the Rolling Stone , 1971, John
Lennon stated:
I wanted to put on what I felt about revolution. I thought it was time we spoke
about it, the same as I thought it was about time we stopped not answering about the
Vietnamese war when we were with Brian Epstein and had to tell him,
Were going to talk about the war this time, and were not going to just waffle.
I wanted to say what I thought about revolution.
Another exemple is Come Together . The song was composed for the Timothy
Learys campaign against Ronald Regan as governor of California. Leary and his
wife Rosemary had traveled to Montreal for John and Yokos bed in for peace,
which took place on 1 June 1969. The Learys participated in the recording of
Lennons Give Peace a Chance.

Also, a relevant exemple is the song Blackbird which is a tribute to Martin Luther
King Jr., his ideals and his relentless persistence for change. Even if is not a song
with political meaning, I should mention Hey Jude , one of the Beatles best sellers
dedicated to John Lennons son, Julian. It was written by Paul MacCartney in order
to comfort Julian because John and Cynthia were getting a divorce.
Broadly speaking, the Beatles discography is a wide one and provides plenty of
socio political aspects which are related to the reality of 60s.
Fashion of The Beatles
The Beatles were more than a rock band. Gradually, they became a badge for their
country and learnt the people what the identity meant. They promoted the idea of
releasing from the constraints of society. The Fab Four suggested that the Southerns
were equal to the citezens in the North, Britain was no better than Ireland or India.
Also, they could be a role models for youngsters. All of them were born in humble
families, but this fact wasnt a stumbling block for them. Despite of all hurdles, their
managed to push the boundaries and conquer the entire world with their talent and
determination. Therefore, the teenagers received the Beatles phenomenon in an
enthusiastic way. Beside their attitudes and music, The Beatles brought another
novelty their fashion.
The Beatles haircut, also known as the mop-top because its resemblance to a mop, is
a mid-length, straight cut, collar length at the back and over the ears at the sides with
straight fringe bangs. In the early Beatlemania years, The Beatles would occasionally
wear black, and then later grey, collarless suits. These suits, instead of leather
trousers, plaid shirts, and slacks, became very common for new bands to wear after
1964.
Later, during the psychedelic era of 19671968, The Beatles popularized bright
colors, and wore paisley suits and shirts and trousers with floral patterns. The Beatles
also made Indian-influenced fashions such as collarless shirts and sandals popular.

By the late 1960s, The Beatles had adopted trends towards more casual fashions,
with t-shirts, blue jeans, and denim jackets. Lennon also popularized wearing solid
white suits, reflecting an interest in minimalist design that also influenced the cover
of the album The Beatles. This mixture of casual wear and unconventional formal
clothing could be seen in The Beatles' later years as they grew beards and flocked
towards more hippie and Indian clothing.
The Beatles also brought boots into fashion. Beatle boots , are tight-fitting, anklelength boots with a pointed toe which originated in 1963 when Brian Epstein
discovered Chelsea boots while browsing in the London footwear company Anello &
Davide, and consequently commissioned four pairs for The Beatles to complement
their new suit image upon their return from Hamburg, who wore them under their
trousers.
John Lennons political activism
After the disbanding, Paul, George and Ringo started to show interest in their
musical career, but the only one who really remarked both in musical range and
social activities was John Lennon. He engaged in social activism, giving long,
passionate interviwes or writing and recording songs. His involvement in these kind
of activities was related to a private aspect of his life: the marriage with Yoko Ono, a
Japanese artist and peace activist, known for her work in avant garde art, music
and filmmimg.
As a matter of fact, John Lennons name will always be synonymous with political
activism. In September of 1969, John Lennon returned his Order of the British
Empire, awarded by Queen Elizabeth to the Beatles in 1965, in protest over Great
Britains support for the Vietnam War. In March 1969, John and his wife, Yoko
began their first bed in at Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. It was at their second bed
in in Montreal in June 1969 that Lennon recorded Give peace a chance in his hotel
room. This song was sung by a half a million Vietnam War protestors at the second
Vietnam Moratorium Day in October 1969, Washington, D.C. and it remains an
anthem for the antiwar movement. The famous couple often combined advocacy
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with performance art, such in bagism , first introduced during a Vienna press
conference. Bagism is a term which was created by Lennon and Yoko as part of
their extensive peace campaign in the late 1960s. The intent of bagism was to
satirize prejudice and stereotyping. Bagism involved literally wearing a bag over
ones entire body. According to John and Yoko, by living in a bag, a person could not
be judged by others on the basis of skin color, gender, hair length, attire, age, or any
other such attributes.
In 1972, John Lennon expressed his disapproval concerning the re election of
Richard Nixon and attempted to mobilize the youth vote against Nixon.
Moreover, in 1973, the singer formed a conceptualized state called Nutopia, which
would have no boundaries or passports. Everyone would be a citzen and ambassador
of the imaginary country. Nutopia is a portmanteau of

new and utopia which

suggests Nutopia is a new, utopian society. John talked about the imaginary country,
which would fulfill the ideals of his song Imagine which could be consider an
international anthem of peace:
I hope someday youll join us, and the world will live as one.
To sum up, he was a complex, witty and difficult person who tried to change the
habits of mind and bring peace in the world. Unfortunately, Lennon was shot and
killed by a fan on the 8th December in New York City. Nevertheless, his personality
trancends the time.
3)

CONCLUSION:
This paper draws the attention to the long and winding road which the four lads from
Liverpool had to follow in order to fulfill their dreams. Their trust in themselves was
the recipe of success. But they also learnt how to rely on each other and become all
for one, one for all lads. The Beatles meant a worldwide phenomenon which
influenced an entire generation of teenagers. Nowadays, their influence is the
expression of the great legacy they left behind: their creativity and distinctive
revolutionary spirit, their musical and video innovations, their commercial success,
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their global impact on fashion, the counterculture they promoted and their
involvement in various social and political arenas, everything had a strong influence
on peoples attitude and behavior. They were successful and inspired. Their wide
discography is an obvious testimony which show us that the Beatles had never found
out what the shortage of inspiration meant. Beside this fact, they were inspiring for
plenty of youngsters, adults and even writers. For instance, Haruki Murakami, one of
the best rated Japanese writers of the 21th century wrote a notable novel called
Norwegian Wood. The original Japanese title Norwei no Mori , is the standard
Japanese translation of the title of The Beatles song Norwegian Wood written by
John Lennon. The song is often mentioned in the novel, and it is the favourite tune of
the character Naoko.
In conclusion, the way they entwined music and militancy against issues that
concerned the 60s world, their unconventional outfits and haircuts and their naughty
behaviour acted like magnets for the audience.
4)

REFERENCE:

Curtis, Jim (1987), Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954
1984. Bowling Green State University Popular Press

Harris, Jonathan (2005), Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and
Counterculture in the 1960s, Liverpool. Liverpool University Press

Haruki, Murakami (2011), Pdurea norvegian. Polirom

MacDonald, Ian (2005), Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and
the Sexties. London: Pimlico

Thurmaier, David (2003), The Beatles as Musical Experimentalists Forum

on the Arts. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Vol. 83, No. 2

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lennon-remembers-part-two19710204?page=2
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