The Beatles, Totalitarianism, & The Great Depression: Part 1 - This Is Rock - The Beatles!

This Is Rock is going to be Part 1 of my 2 or 3 part series 'The Beatles, Totalitarianism, & The Great Depression'. Anyway, as Ed Sullivan would say, "On with the Shooo"

Who is/was the best band ever? No question, The Beatles! Why so? Many reasons.

One reason: John & Paul were the best songwriting team ever, cranking out hit after hit that have stood the test of time, through changes in musical taste during their own time, and leading the way into these new musical tastes during the tumultuous '60's. No musician or group before or after has been so influential.

Another reason: John, Paul, & George were great singers. Pop music, regardless of the genre, requires a good singer, and they all were great. This maybe is the least important of the reasons, but it sure helped.

Third reason: They changed rock forever by making it 'Beat' music (hence their name). This may sound trivial but it's not: they took the shuffle beat that rock originally had (the fast swing of black American music in the early '50's) and forced it into a straight driving beat. Compare Elvis' 'Don't Be Cruel' or 'Hound Dog' with The Beatles 'Twist & Shout' or 'Paperback Writer'. This was crucial in making Rock, I guess, White Music as opposed to just an imitation of Black Music, which it had been previously. This opened the flood gates for the 'British invasion': Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, and inumerable lesser bands who all followed immediately after the Beatles first success in '63 & '64.

The photo above is their first appearance in America on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. I remember it! Everyone watched Ed Sullivan at that time (point to make note of). Here is their show at Shay Stadium in NYC, in 1965, in their second tour of America. Look at how crazed the people were. Even though they could probably barely hear themselves with the cheezy monitors of the time and the deafening shreaks of the girls, the vocals are still solid.

The British Invasion basically was bringing the new driving Beat to America, the Beat that was the sound of The Mods (more on Mods whenever I do a post on The Who).

But, the Mod scene of Britain gave way to the Summer of Love Hippies in 1967, keyed by Jefferson Airplane's 'Surrealistic Pillow' album. Would The Beatles be left in psychodelic dust by the Hippies from Frisco? Heck no! They came back with what many consider their best album ever, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' and seized the leadership in making psychodelic and expermental music, aided greatly by brilliant producer George Martin (and selling number 1 after number 1 song doing it) back from the Hippies, and became the leading Hippies themselves. For seven years, from 1964 until they broke up in 1970, they flat out ruled the pop music and entertainment world. I remember how bummed I was in 1970 when, on page 1 of the Seattle Times, there was a report announcing that Paul McCartney had filed suit to break up The Beatles legally (it was a formality to an event that had already occurred). Just think about that: a band whose breakup makes the front page of major newspapers.

But The Beatles' innate and undeniable greatness is not the point of my story, but part of it. After they broke up and ever since, people always wonder who will be the next Beatles, or will there ever be anything like The Beatles ever again. The answer is that there probably have been greater singers or songwriters since and there will be in the future. There have certainly been many better musicians. But, there won't ever be a band or singer that can lead the world around like an eager puppy for seven years like The Beatles did (though Michael Jackson gave it a good college try in the '80's).

Why is that? Stay tuned for Part 2: Totalitarianism