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Max Ames
AP US History
Ms. Rizzo
June 4, 2010
The Beatles: How Four British Lads Shaped America
A musical group of four young British Liverpool natives arrived in the United States in
the 1960s to begin their long career of shaping American culture; they were the Beatles. John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, like the many predecessors before
them who had come from Britain such as Thomas Paine and Andrew Carnegie, became an
integral part of the history of the United States, even though they were not true American-born
citizens. Beginning with their momentous arrival in the United States in 1964, the Beatles greatly
influenced American culture in the 1960s, and left an enduring legacy. The Beatles’ appearance
on the Ed Sullivan Show, controversy with Christianity in 1966, precedents and influences in
music, impact and development of the album as an art form, creation of a variety of movies, and
influences in the counterculture as well as the pop culture helped to make American culture what
it is today.
On February 7, 1964, the Beatles landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New
York, where a crowd of thousands of fans and reporters were waiting. There was such
pandemonium, chaos, and screaming that, “One policeman who has worked at the airport for ten
years said: ‘I think the world has gone mad.’”1 Two days after their frenzied arrival, the Beatles
made a famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. “The broadcast broke all viewing records
that held for several years as more than 73 million Americans – teenagers and adults – watched
the show. It was reported that crime was almost nonexistent during the ten minutes the Beatles
1
“Yeah! Yeah! U.S.A.!,” Daily Mirror, February 8, 1964.
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were performing.”2 Beatlemania, a term given to the fanatic hysteria that the Beatles generated,
had officially spread to the United States. Many historians have considered the Beatles’
appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show as an important even in American pop culture because it led
the way for what would be deemed “The British Invasion.” The British Invasion is an era in
Rock and pop culture in which dozens of bands from England started making it big in the United
States, including: The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, and many others. A
few weeks after they left the United States the Beatles broke another record; on April 4, 1964,
the Beatles had twelve songs on the top 100 music chart as well as the top five which were
“Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Twist and Shout,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” Do You Want to Know
A Secret,” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”3 This was a feat in American music history that has
never been surpassed, let alone matched. The Beatles, with one performance broadcasted on
television, undoubtedly made a mark on American history.
In 1966, the Beatles’ fame came back to bite them. The Beatles had, up to this point,
presented an image that clearly differed from traditional American values; their outrageously
long hair and their ear-wrenching music did not make them especially appealing to the older,
more conservative citizens of the United States. John Lennon inadvertently challenged the
foundation of American conservatism: Christianity. Newspaper reporter Maureen Cleave
interviewed John Lennon for the British Newspaper The London Evening Standard and
published the article on March 4, 1966. It was not until four months later that the contents of that
article were published overseas in America in the teen magazine DATEbook.4 On July 29, many
Americans became exposed to one of John Lennon’s most infamous quotes: "Christianity will
2
Z. Lalani, Teenagers Guide to The Beatles (AverStream Press, 2005), 71.
Z. Lalani, Teenagers Guide to The Beatles (AverStream Press, 2005), 73.
4
Maureen Cleave, “How Does a Beatle Live? John Lennon Lives Like This,” London Evening Standard, March 4,
1966.
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go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're
more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity.”5
This statement spread like wild fire across the bible belt; many religious parents and
grandparents were outraged that their children had been exposed to such blasphemers as the
Beatles. Thousands of record burnings were held in which piles of Beatles records were collected
and then burned to the ground in protest of their sacrilegious ways. One person who partook in
the record burnings was a young Mark David Chapman, who would grow up to kill John Lennon
on December 8, 1980. It may be that John’s statement planted early roots for his own
assassination. Either way, John’s statement, while not making much of a splash in England,
created a tidal-wave-like reaction in the United States when it was published. “It remains one of
the biggest pop music scandals of all time, but even that dubious honor can't really convey the
impact the statement had in those bygone days.”6
There may be no area of history as influenced by the Beatles as the history of music in
the 20th century. They had so many countless firsts that would serve as precedents for future
bands and musicians and the music industry in general. The Beatles were one of the first bands to
make self composition (writing their own music as opposed to covering classic tunes of others) a
standard for rock bands. The Beatles were also writing songs for other musicians in their time
and having their songs be covered by musicians. When the Rolling Stones were a rising
sensation, the Beatles wrote “I Wanna Be Your Man” for them and within days of the Beatles’
release of Sgt. Peppers, the album, Jimi Hendrix covered the title track.7 The Beatles have
inspired and influenced many American musicians and bands of many different styles and genres
Maureen Cleave, “How Does a Beatle Live? John Lennon Lives Like This,” London Evening Standard, March 4,
1966.
6
Robert Fontenot, “The Beatles and the ‘Bigger Than Jesus’ Scandal,” About.com,
http://oldies.about.com/od/oldieshistory/a/beatlesjesus.htm.
7
“The Beatles’ Influence,” Musicophile, http://www.musicophile.com/index.php?itemid=98.
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of music including Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Neil Diamond, Jimi Hendrix,
Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Nirvana. The Beatles’ experimentation and techniques with recording
have been used by many musicians and studios such as “flanging,” a term nicknamed by John
Lennon that refers to the overlapping of two identical sounds with one time-shifted slightly. The
Beatles also popularized many ideas about rock bands that are taken for granted today. “The
popularity of the individual Beatles combined with their considerable instrumental skills let to
better knowledge in the general public of the musical contributions made by lead guitar, rhythm
guitar, drums and particularly bass guitar.”8 Some certain brands of instruments have even been
popularized by the Beatles. Since John Lennon’s common use of the Rickenbacker guitar,
Rickenbackers have been widely used in bands since the 1960s. Many up and coming bands use
the violin-like Hofner bass because of Paul McCartney’s famous affiliation with it. The Beatles’
long hair was also a trend setter. Long hair became a standard fashion for men and rock bands.
Even the collarless suits worn by the Beatles were imitated by other bands in the mid 1960s;
some bands went on the Ed Sullivan Show dressed just as the Beatles had been during their
appearance. The Beatles set a new standard for what it meant to be a rock band, and musicians
and bands have followed that standard ever since.
One of the most important aspects of the Beatles’ influence on music is their impact on
the album. The Beatles’ individual albums are iconic and, “The Beatles were so popular that
their album covers were bound to become some of the most recognizable in the history of pop
music.”9 Many famous album covers include Help!, which has the four band members standing
aside each other in the shapes of semaphores, Sgt. Pepper with its collage of celebrities, and
Abbey Road with the famous photograph of the Beatles crossing a cross walk. The Abbey Road
“The Beatles’ Influence,” Musicophile, http://www.musicophile.com/index.php?itemid=98.
Jay Gabler, “Meet the Beatles (Again – The Beatles’ Impact On Art,” The Current,
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog.
8
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cover has caused thousands of tourists to attempt to recreate the album cover by crossing the
street in front of the Beatles’ recording studio. Many of the Beatles album covers have been
“republished, repurposed, and reimagined ad infinitum.”10 One artist who copied the style of a
Beatles album cover was Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) who used a cover that closely
resembled the Beatles Revolver album cover (see Exhibit A and B). The Beatles also
significantly developed a new standard for the album, a new way of viewing it as an art. Before
them, albums were not as important as were individual songs. Album, very often, were more or
less only documentations of live performances. “Prior to the Beatles, record albums were of
secondary consideration to 45s [records of a much smaller size only able to fit a song or two per
side]…”11 In 1966, the Beatles made the decision to stop touring and because of this, they began
to craft intricate albums that could not be performed live like their earlier material had been.
“…The Beatles were popularizing the idea of the album as a standalone object only distantly
derived from live performance.”12 The album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was an
extraordinary leap forward in the music world and in the world of albums. To this day, it remains
one of the most famous albums of all time and was listed as the number one album out of the
five-hundred greatest albums of all time listed by RollingStone Magazine.13 “Sgt. Pepper’s was
the single most important turning point in the split between recordings and live performances.”14
When it came out, it won four Grammy Awards and has since had 11 million U.S. sales.15 In
today’s world, the line between object and performance is often crossed because of the Beatles’
Jay Gabler, “Meet the Beatles (Again – The Beatles’ Impact On Art,” The Current,
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog.
11
“The Beatles’ Influence,” Musicophile, http://www.musicophile.com/index.php?itemid=98.
12
Jay Gabler, “Meet the Beatles (Again – The Beatles’ Impact On Art,” The Current,
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog.
13
“500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” RollingStone, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists.
14
Jay Gabler, “Meet the Beatles (Again – The Beatles’ Impact On Art,” The Current,
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog.
15
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “Album Review: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Answers.com,
http://www.answers.com/topic/sgt-pepper-s-lonely-hearts-club-band.
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pioneering endeavors and artistic liberties they took with making some of the world’s best
known albums.
The Beatles, on top of making music, news, and hysteria, also made a total of five motion
picture films. They made their first movie A Hard Day’s Night in 1964, Help! in ’65, Magical
Mystery Tour in ’67, Yellow Submarine in ’68 and Let It Be in ’69. The Beatles’ movies were
met with huge success, especially in America and “…are, on several counts, probably the most
‘deviant’ series of British films to attain mainstream commercial success on an international
level.” 16 The Beatles films each differed from each other. A Hard Day’s Night was a worriless,
witty prime example of British Humor as was Help!. “…The success of A Hard Day's Night
contributed greatly to the influx of American capital into British film production throughout the
decade; by 1967, 90 per cent of the funding for British movies was culled from the American
majors.”17 Even early on in their movie making, the Beatles generated a great deal of interest
from the United States for their movies. The Beatles had not had any experience in movie
making but, as John Lennon said in an interview, they could tell if something was “crap” so they
tried to act like themselves and chive in spontaneously with bouts of their famous wit.18 The
Magical Mystery Tour lacked a coherent story and had a psychedelic composition that
exemplified the Beatles as of 1967 and influenced future American films such as Easy Rider
(1969).19 Yellow Submarine also had a psychedelic atmosphere and made giant leaps in
animation as it, “…taught a generation of aspiring animators that doing things on the cheap can
“Revolution: The Impact of the Beatles Movies,” The Beatles Movies,
http://www.beatlesmovies.co.uk/impact.asp.
17
“Revolution: The Impact of the Beatles Movies,” The Beatles Movies,
http://www.beatlesmovies.co.uk/impact.asp.
18
“A Hard Day’s Night 1965,” Beatles Ultimate Experience, http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/dbmovies.html.
19
“Revolution: The Impact of the Beatles Movies,” The Beatles Movies,
http://www.beatlesmovies.co.uk/impact.asp.
16
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be made to look like a deliberate effect.”20 Let It Be was a documentary that showed both the
frivolity and frustration involved with the Beatles’ song writing and recording. The Beatles’
movies had a direct impact on visual culture through their films and posters. Posters made for
Yellow Submarine “…helped land psychedelic pop art in suburban rec. rooms around the
world.”21 A Hard Day’s Night is also deemed one of the definitive and first music videos, a
precursor to the thousands of MTV music videos around today. “The Beatles’ films anticipated
the music video, the essential promotional tool of later popular musicians.”22 The Beatles’
movies, while holding their own as individual, well crafted artistic pieces, helped to shape
different movie genres, set a precedent for videos being used as a promotional tool for musicians,
and generated a great deal of interest from the United States and even influenced American
films.
The Beatles were hugely influential towards both pop culture and the counterculture of
the 1960s. From fashion to narcotics, the Beatles represented the image of the counterculture.
“The cultural influences of the Beatles were far-ranging. They popularized long hair and Middle
Eastern philosophy among other things.”23 The Beatles also experimented with drugs like many
others affiliated with the counterculture hippies. First introduced to marijuana by Bob Dylan in
America, the Beatles soon moved on to more psychedelic drugs. John Lennon and George
Harrison were first administered a dose of LSD by their dentist unknowingly after he dropped a
dose into their drinks at a get together. After their first experience, they introduced the drug to
Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney and became avid users. Albums such as Revolver, Sgt. Peppers,
Jay Gabler, “Meet the Beatles (Again – The Beatles’ Impact On Art,” The Current,
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog.
21
Jay Gabler, “Meet the Beatles (Again – The Beatles’ Impact On Art,” The Current,
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog.
22
“The Beatles’ Influence,” Musicophile, http://www.musicophile.com/index.php?itemid=98.
23
Weekly Reader Corp, “The Beatles,” GaleGroup, http://find.galegroup.com/gps.
20
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and The Beatles (more commonly known as The White Album) are heavily influenced by LSD.
John Lennon even moved on to drugs like heroin, which he was addicted to but later quit. The
Beatles acted as role models for many of the screaming fans that had followed their every move,
and the use of drugs by the Beatles was followed by the use of drugs in much of America’s
youth. After the Beatles began producing LSD influenced music, other bands in America
emerged as prominent acid-influenced, counterculture-affiliated artists such as the Grateful
Dead and The Doors. Also, John Lennon represented many of the counterculture ideals such as
peace and anti-war sentiments. Lennon was constantly preaching peace and having
demonstrations such as his two-week long bed-in during Vietnam in which he stayed bed-bound
with his wife, Yoko Ono, in protest of the war. One song that demonstrated counterculture ideals
was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by George Harrison. In the song, Harrison shows a
generational gap between the youth and the narrow-minded elders. Harrison sang about the
elders’ unawareness and foolishness with his words: “I don’t know you were diverted/ You were
perverted too/ I don’t know how you were inverted/ No one alerted you.”24 Another
counterculture song was John Lennon’s “Revolution” which called fore peaceful social change.
The Beatles with their styles, drug use, and music helped to shape the many motifs of the 1960s
counterculture.
The Beatles were extremely influential in their time, but their legacy still lives on.
Today’s world sees a reemergence of the Beatles over and over again. Always, there are movies
about or concerning the Beatles coming out in theatres. Their music is repeatedly being rereleased, sometimes with a twist on it. 1, a collection of the Beatles’ greatest hits, is the best
Wes Hatch, “The Beatles and Counterculture,” Schulich School of Music,
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~wes/docs/counterculture.pdf.
24
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selling album in the United States from 2000 to 2009 with over 31 million sales in total.25 One
re-imagined Beatles release was Love, which came out in 2006. It contained many Beatles
classics that were remixed and edited by the Beatles’ producer George Martin. In 2007, the
movie Across The Universe was released. The movie followed a character named Jude (whose
name came from the Beatles song “Hey Jude”).The movie shows Beatles era America through
the perspective of people living in the middle of a musical and counterculture society. The
movie’s soundtrack is comprised completely of covers of Beatles songs. The movie attempts to
show what life was like back in the late ‘60s to younger generations and it uses Beatles music to
demonstrate the emotions and feelings of the era. The Beatles, as was mentioned earlier, set
many precedents in the music industry such as the use of the music video, the use of certain
instruments such as the Hofner bass, and the album as an art form. American culture today is still
heavily influenced by the Beatles: their world, their music, their ideals, and their legacy.
The Beatles may not have been American-born citizens, but they did have a tremendous
impact on American culture. The Beatles showed that the history of the United States is not
defined by only native born citizens but by outside influences from far away places such as
England as well. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were an
integral part of American history in the 1960s. The Beatles shaped many aspects of American
culture. They broke television records, stirred up trouble with Christian fundamentalists, had
numerous “firsts” in the music industry that set a precedent for and influenced future American
musicians, transformed the album with experimentation and innovation into an art form, made
numerous movies that exemplified their diversity in style and creativity as well as drawing a
huge American audience, greatly influenced the counterculture and pop culture in America, and
left an enduring legacy. In the 1960s, the Beatles stomped on the fabric of American culture;
25
“The Beatles 1,” JPGR, http://www.jpgr.co.uk/a5299702.html.
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today, their foot print is still visible. Their music is still best selling material and movies still
revolve around them. Forty-four years after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the
Beatles remain one of the most famous and most influential musical groups ever to cross the
history of the United States.
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Exhibit A: The original 1966 Beatles album artwork for Revolver
Exhibit B: Yusuf Islam’s album cover that resemble Revolver