The Beatles: The Authorized Biography - Essay Example

The Beatles and Drugs The Beatles and Drugs The Beatles were with no doubt the most influential British band of the 1960s, with their music bringing a revolution to the music face as well as rock and roll. This influence was made possible by four young men of the band: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. Their influence on the life of Britons got however regarded as rebellious in areas of culture and lifestyle of the people, especially the youth; since they were their target audience. The influence occurred in various ways, and this is in terms of the hair the young people went for, clothes, and introduction to the hippie movement as well as lyrics. This change however was not only affecting Britain but the rest of foreign countries in their music and exposing them to new ways of life. It is then argumentative and controversial as to whether the Beatles made positive or negative changes to the lives of Britons in the period. It is in this essay, therefore, that we shall figure out this by focusing on various influences the Beatles had on music and life of the people of Britain. The Beatles are known to have had a great influence in the 1960s, to the British society through a unique music they composed and sang. The existing and growth of rock and roll, for instance, is highly attributed to them as they are the very first band that came up with a musical style. Rock and roll style became quite useful during the years of war, 1939- 1945. Through the Beatles, it called for people to exercise patriotism and reunite with soldiers to make the existing situation better (Gammond & Peter, 1993). One of the singers of these times of war was Vera Lynn, with her songs like: The White Cliffs of Dover and Well Meet Again bringing her to fame in Britain, during the period. The pre-rock and roll era in Britain is, therefore, said to have existed in the 1940s and 50s. Frankie Vaughan and Dickie Valentine were the solo singers who dominated the music industry, with the musical tunes they had borrowed from the Beatles. A big difference is clear between the music of the pre-Beatle era and that of the Beatles onwards. The Pre- Beatle era, for instance, was less modernized and quite unproductive time for music in Britain. Times however became better in the following years where the Beatle band began and consequent ones, as music then began moving to the desired direction. Following the rock and roll era was the rhythm and blues music; which was determined to take over the Beatles, who had already taken the music industry by storm. It was through joining their ideas and those of The Band to create an improved version of the existing musical landscape. Britain was still backward in terms of cultural diversity and had a pop scene that is said to have been approaching an end. The backwardness came as a result of its domination by dance music and singers in nightclubs and restaurants for fame and entertainment (Hunter & Davies, 1968). The musical artists of the time also had to depend on radio as a means to which their music could be heard countrywide or worldwide, as televisions were yet to take over in Britain. Therefore, the misfortune hampered the progress of many artists as they could not get established if their music were not listened to their desired capacity. It was now a matter of bringing the revolution to the music industry in Britain, and this occurred sooner through the efforts made by the Beatles. Their new sound that came as a shock to the people; in the mid to compete with Americans who were then far much ahead of the British society. Beatles influence can as well get realized through their hairstyle that was rather rebellious and had not been experienced in the 1960s Britain before. In the British society, ones hairstyle is one of the things that could be looked at to figure out which social class one belonged to. In the Pre-Beatle era, men were expected to have short and tidy hair and having unkempt one was considered rebellious and very unusual (Marwick & Arthur, 1990). The band came up with The Beatle cut in the mid-1960s that could be in the form of Dread locks, shoulder length hair and bowl cut style. The British men then began keeping this long and shaggy hair, without caring about what the society expects of them. This period was the start of men being sent out of schools due to their rebellious hair styles that the school administration could not condone. Beatle hairdo obsession had held most of the men in the British society captive, and this sadly blew up the female population too. As for women, they opted for the crown shaped ones such as the bouffant and the bee-hive; still borrowed from the Beatle cut. The earlier on considered shaggy hair style among men and the crown shaped hairdo among the females sooner got regarded as the norm. It was the most stylish hairstyle ever among both the male and female populations and socially acceptable. There then was the Mop Top hairstyle that could get worn by both men and women. The rebellious hair style appeared just like it sounds and said to have led to the Hippy Era. Not all haircuts of this era were gender neutrally, however, as there are hairdos like the bee-hive and bouffant were worn by the female population only. Age was not a matter in having the bee-hive and bouffant on as women of all ages could make use of it. The names of these hairdos are also hand in hand with what it appeared like (McGuigan & Jim, 1992). It was made by bundling of a womans hair at the center of their heads so that the head appears long. It is in this era of the Beatles that changed the culture of Britain forever, as the earlier on short and neat hair turned out to be the shaggy and ‘trendy hairstyles we see today. Their look was initially meant to have their audiences captivated, but ended up influencing their fans into their culture; in the name of standing out. In terms of their music, the Beatles had a great influence to the British society with their first song, Love Me Do. In their single, the four members of The Band present an image of a comedic life view, crazy hair styles and wild clothing. Their core topic of their songs was love and starting their music career as teenagers, they all were in search of love. Women formed a greater part of their fans all over the world, being that the Beatles main subject was love and were young. Their musical language was often in the context of the young people, something the teens could relate with and enjoy (Cleave & Maureen, 1996). The authentic and down to earth language got used in most of their songs like, I Saw Her Standing There. The phrase, ‘Pls Me’ is an epitome of the many ways they tried to connect with teenagers. They were, therefore, evidently not into music to show their professionalism, but make sure their audience that mostly consisted of teens was captivated. Another example is in an extract of their song, which goes, "My heart went boom as I crossed the room, and held her hand in mine". The hippie movement was introduced in the British society by the Beatles and also made sure that some cultures that had earlier on got shunned are accepted into the society. According to them, a hippie person is an intellect or artist that does things their way. In other words, they set their rules, different and contradicting with those of the society, without caring about what people are to say. Their audience and followers also joined in the culture and were mad lovers of their dressing, hairdo as well as the fact that they had control over the society. Before the coming of the hippie movement, people could dress comfortably in dull colors such as black, gray, and still look great. In the rise of the movement, however, the color of the clothing underwent a revolution, from the dull colors to bright ones and those containing various patterns. All this was for people to stare whenever one put the clothes on (Lodge & David, 1978). The hippies enjoyed a lot of attention and these bright colors just made it work perfectly. They did everything that the society could look at and feel they had lost their generation; from crazy hairstyles to wild clothing, slang, and now to drug use. For one to become a complete hippy, drug use was to be part of their culture. The Beatles could not even perform while sober, and taking of alcohol was the order of the day. All these ‘hippy practices were happening in American society, but such cultural diversity had not yet taken root in Britain before, hence the amazement. Later on, The British society looked into the matter and felt that the British society needed this cultural diversity for its people and that it was not bad as they had earlier thought. It, therefore, got welcomed in the country and became part of what a society could condone, for its people. Having been born and brought up in poor backgrounds, The Beatle still had respect for the rich and never despised or hated them, though only criticized the government in their song The Taxman. Realizing that their music had a great influence to their audience emotionally, The Beatles decided to go deeper in terms of relaying their message to their fans so that the British society could benefit. The Beatles started their band at a younger age and got involved in drugs for a long time while carrying on with their music career. In this case, therefore, they had an obligation to reach out to the young generation so that they could never fall into a similar trap (Harrison & George, 2002). In their music, they made the whole of their congregation aware of their having used drugs and therefore took advantage of music as a tool to help launch a campaign against drug use. One of the songs written while the Beatles got engrossed in drug use is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The influence of the Beatles to the British society had both the negative and positive sides. Positively, the British people began to accept the new culture introduced by the Beatles, which had earlier on been considered rebellious. The rebellion was in terms of the shaggy and crazy hairdos, their slang, and clothing. The society recovered from denial and realized that the young people needed this kind of a hippy lifestyle, and the school boys wanted their hair shaggy and long. As the happiness of the young people and the whole generation is very important, all these earlier on absurd practices were accepted and considered normal. The school going boys no longer had to suffer the pain of being sent out of school for having long hair, which had been against the school rules. The girls too wanted the freedom to appreciate their male artists that they had admired for a long time. On the other side, however, the set rules by the society that were meant to govern gross behavior and conduct became erased from the face of the society, and misbehavior became the order of the day. The once known to be a stable country was no longer the same, the hippie movement took over and teenage boys became even more rebellious. It, therefore, only meant that a societys well-being was at stake, and a lot of force and policing had to get done for everything to be in order. Stability in a country like Britain proved possible only when the society decided to accept fully that the Beatles had the power to decide on what was good for the society. The flower-power period was towards its climax in the late 1960s, and this is the time when adolescents were possessed with the spirit to counter the societal norms by introducing their own and using of drugs. They regarded all this as ways of having fun while still young. In terms of fashion and fads, most of the teenagers moved into the industry to produce their clothes, different from the earlier on conservative fashion. Miniskirts, knee-length dresses, and hot pants became a normal practice in Britain, and this is what they considered fashion to be like. For attention purposes, often common among teenagers, men would be seen wearing turtlenecks, broad ties, pant suits in polyester, double breasted jackets, and very brightly colored clothes. The Beatles dressed up in the exact similar manner, and the young people were simply, therefore, imitating them. The Nehru jacket among the men became very popular also, thanks to the Beatles. There also were clothes for neutral sexes, like the love beads, bell bottoms, and fancy t-shirts. Skateboarding also became quite popular during the times of the Beatles. A rock and roll musical style was introduced by the Beatles during this era, which later on was followed by rhythm and blues. It is this time that the popularity of the Beatles grew madly, with the constant changes they introduced in the music industry. Music produced war primarily of this era, nothing more. Experimentation in the field of music is what contributed to its tremendous growth during these times, with influence of drugs also playing a role. Youngsters were so in love with rhythm and blues, as well as pop music and this is what the artists like the Beatles strived to avail to them. The four music stars: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison are evidently responsible for the change in culture as well as music in the British society. In terms of culture, their being famous came with rebellious hairstyles, wild clothing, the hippy movement and romantic lyrics that had the British society change for the rest of their lives. The diverse cultures that are experienced today in Britain are as a result the rebellion brought about by the Beatles, in assuming power over the societys rules. Drug use became part and parcel of the British society and no one could receive punishment for having used them. Everything to do with the hippie lifestyle finally became acceptable in the society in the name of welcoming cultural diversity. The society accepted the integration of these cultures into their own in order to bring about stability in the society and give the young people whatever they seemed to enjoy; so that rebellious practices cease to exist. Cultural diversity could not, therefore, be one of our talks, were it not for The Beatle. References Cleave, & Maureen. (1996, March 4). "How does a Beatle live? John Lennon lives like this". Evening standard journal, 1-12. Gammond, & Peter. (1993). The Oxford Companion to Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Harrison, & George. (2002). I, Me, Mine. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Hunter, & Davies. (1968). The Beatles: The Authorized Biography. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Lodge, & David. (1978). Changing Places. London: Penguin Books. Marwick, & Arthur. (1990). British Society Since 1945. London: Penguin Books. McGuigan, & Jim. (1992). Cultural Populism. London: Routledge: Penguin Publishers. Read More