Fifty years after the Beatles disbanded, can the rock spirit still rebel against the mainstream?
Author | Liang Keke
The 50th anniversary of the band’s dissolution.
《Don’t let me down》
Crashing hit a wall
Right now I need a miracle
Hurry up now I need a miracle
Stranded reaching out
I call your name but you’re not around
I say your name but you’re not around
I need you I need you I need you right now
Yeah I need you right now
So don’t let me don’t let me don’t let me down
Fifty years ago, in April 1970, paul mccartney of the Beatles.(Paul McCartney)The announcement of solo flight not only broke the hearts of millions of fans, but also shocked three other band members. It was regarded as a symbol of the official dissolution of the Beatles, and an American reporter called it "a milestone in the decline of the British Empire". With lead singer John Lennon(John Lennon)Being shot, the world will never see this great band perform on the same stage again.
There are different opinions about the reasons why the band broke up. At first, it was difficult for fans to understand and accept it, but as time went by, the truth gradually emerged. The gap between the four has a long history, since the band’s Bole and agent Brian Epstein in 1967.(Brian Epstein)After his death, the Beatles often had disputes because of economic disputes and different creative demands, and everyone was exhausted. The financial situation of the co-established Apple Studio was in chaos. Paul was very dissatisfied with Lennon’s practice of obtaining cash from the studio privately, and had a disagreement when introducing new management. He hoped to invite his father-in-law to manage it, but this suggestion was not recognized by the other three Beatles, and Paul refused to sign the final letter of appointment. All kinds of emotions piled up and finally broke out after Lennon met his second wife.
Many people think it is Japanese artist Yoko Ono Lennon.(Yoko Ono)The appearance of Lennon cut off the spiritual bond between Paul and Lennon. Since her high-profile combination with Lennon, they have been inseparable all day. Under her influence, Lennon became interested in avant-garde art and actively participated in contemporary art and anti-war performance art. Lennon said, "Yoko is a part of me now. We are John and Yoko, we are together. " This new enthusiasm also affected Lennon’s time devoted to the band itself, and the members who were left out in the cold felt unhappy and increasingly dissatisfied. Paul even said in an interview: "John fell in love with Yoko, and he no longer loved the other three of us."
In fact, Lennon’s love for Yoko Ono Lennon made up for the trauma of single-parent family, which not only brought him endless emotional comfort, but also inspired Lennon’s creative inspiration. Just eight years ago, Paul finally explained to the public that as far as he was concerned, the dissolution of the band had nothing to do with Yoko Ono Lennon.
In fact, Lennon wanted to fly solo earlier: in September 1969, Lennon proposed to quit the Beatles. At that time, the Beatles were negotiating with EMI to renew their contract, so they were put on hold. He still attended the Toronto Rock Music Festival with Plastic Ono in the same month, and on February 11th, 1970, he played a new solo "Instant Karma" on the British TV program "Pop Songs", in which Yoko Ono Lennon sat behind him and knitted while covering her eyes with sanitary napkins.
Finally, in 1969, the rooftop performance on the red brick roof at No.3 Saville Street became the curtain call performance of the Beatles. In a cold English winter, four people improvised on the roof for 42 minutes, singing Get back and Don’t let me down respectively. For the Beatles, who like to be spontaneous and good at breaking the rules, this farewell may be the most in line with the characteristics of the band, and the police’s suspension adds a touch of more sadistic flavor to all this. In the documentary, the four people smiled simply in this performance, but their singing remained sincere and natural. As all members of the band pointed out, despite personal conflicts, they still liked the music they had composed together.
beatlemania
《Strawberry Fields Forever》
Let me take you down
‘Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It’s getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn’t matter much to me
The Beatles were born in the declining old industrial city of Liverpool, England. In the 1950s, when noise jazz was popular in Britain, Lennon was only a teenager.(Born in 1940)I met Paul, who is two years younger than him.(Born in 1942)Attracted by each other’s talents, they formed a band called Quarrymen. Soon george harrison.(George Harrison)Joined and became the third guitarist. Since then, the core trio has changed including Peter Best.(Pete Best)A series of drummers, including Ringo Starr.(Starr)The accession in 1962 stabilized.
Before the appearance of rock music, the mainstream of American pop music was jazz, as well as swing music and country music played by jazz bands. Elvis Presley Elvis Presley(Elvis Pressley)The combination of country music, blues and mountain rock music formed a new style with distinctive personality, which strongly shocked the music scene at that time. His signature hip twisting movements, excellent dancing skills and the transformation of mainstream music ignited the passion of the younger generation, and the door of rock and roll was opened.
When this trend swept from the United States to Britain, the conservative middle class music aesthetics was the mainstream in Britain. Lennon and others were deeply influenced by rock music culture. After listening to a sad hostel recorded by Elvis Presley in 1956, he became interested in pop music. At the beginning, the Beatles sang mainly about love, with a simple and catchy rhythm, and their works mainly covered American rock. As the band became more and more mature, it gradually absorbed the essence from the initial noise jazz, and then merged it with folk songs, blues, R&B and rock music, forming its own unique style.
It can be said that before the 1950s, music was mostly passed down from top to bottom. Adults passed down mainstream and classical music forms to children, but since the Beatles, young people began to decide everything.
In 1961, the band was renamed "The Beatles". Brian, a music agent, noticed many people asking about an album called My Beauty this year. He found that the accompaniment of the album came from a little-known band in Liverpool. So, he made a special trip to the cave bar to watch the Beatles’ performance and felt a frenzy caused by this young band. Brian signed a contract with the Beatles at the end of 1961. He transformed the band, which used to hang out in Hamburg Club full of prostitutes and wandering poets, into a neat and clean group of four young idols who played blues, thus achieving great success. From the single "LOVE ME DO" in 1962 to the movie soundtrack "Help" in 1965, the Beatles became popular in Europe and America in just three years.
In the past, people’s understanding of the British was still a rigid gentleman’s style, but the Beatles’ youthful appearance and lively and spicy typhoon broke this convention. Their anti-upper-class, anti-orthodox artistic posture catered to the depressed resentment of contemporary young men and women and was regarded as the embodiment of the ideal of anti-cultural movement at that time. Four young boys responded intelligently and tactfully in front of the camera, teasing the reporter’s questions. Even Queen Elizabeth II of England.(Queen Elizabeth II)In Buckingham Palace, when he personally presented order of the british empire to every member of The Beatles, Lennon thanked him and said, The poor clap your hands, and the rich please shake your jewelry.
In 1964, the Beatles made a public appearance in the United States, which immediately caused public madness. This phenomenon was later called "British invasion"(British Invasion)There is even a special word "Beatles fan"(Beatlemania)The suffix mania stands for this phenomenon of "obsession" and means mental illness.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the band’s dissolution, the wooden stage recording the original story of the Beatles was auctioned as a lot.
When the band members arrived at Kennedy Airport, thousands of young girls gathered together, and the police set up a cordon in front of the crowd. The girls’ faces were twisted with excitement, and they screamed and pushed, and finally broke through the cordon, and people fainted constantly, and the scene was in chaos. As for why there is such a Beatles craze, people generally think it belongs to the adolescent behavior of fans. And just the year before, shortly after the assassination of beloved President Kennedy, the United States was still immersed in sadness. When the Beatles landed in the United States with the song "I want to hold your hand", they immediately set off a crazy "Beatlemania".
Since the release of "Rubber Soul" in 1965, the Beatles began to change their music style and showed a more complicated world view in their music. The music structure has changed from simple and straightforward to richer, and a large number of variant chords, as well as the use of the Indian classical instrument Sita Qin, make the song full of mysterious charm. During this period, they boldly and sharply intervened in sensitive social issues, and challenged the secular behavior on the stage, which became the leading force of the youth and social and cultural movements of that era. It can be said that they are the most commercial band and the most experimental band.
Until "Sgt. pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band", the Beatles’ creation reached its peak, and the album constructed a whole story, which was called the pioneering work of the conceptual album. The whole album was based on a virtual sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, which catered to the illusory, decadent, psychedelic and hippie background at that time and also completed the transformation of the spiritual connotation of rock music.
There is no denying that the Beatles are the most successful rock band in history, with certified sales in the United States exceeding 183 million and estimated global sales of 600 million. All four members were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, it topped the list of the most successful artists of all time on Billboard Hot 100. The band won seven Grammy Awards, four British Music Awards and an Academy Award.(Best original song soundtrack of the 1970 film Let It Be)And fifteen Ivor Novello prizes. Time magazine listed them as the 100 most important people in the 20th century.
Why is it great?
《Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band》
It was twenty years ago today,
Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play,
theyve been going in and out of style,
but theyre guaranteed to raise the smile.
So may I introduce to you,
the act youve known for all these years,
Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Why is the Beatles called great? It was related to the social and cultural background of the world at that time. After World War II, the population of the United States increased rapidly, the economy developed rapidly, and the society prospered unprecedentedly. The baby boomers who grew up in stable social progress and excellent families coincided with entering the adolescent stage in the 1950s. The wave of consumerism enables them to choose their own entertainment and consumption methods, which embodies the freedom of consumption brought about by economic prosperity.
In Britain, it’s a different scene. The social class division is becoming more and more obvious, and people’s preferences for music are also broken. Young British people from working-class families resonate with rock music, while other American cultures such as jazz and blues are welcomed by the middle class. The working class has been upgraded in both resources and status, and their cultural needs have also expanded. The new generation of young people are not satisfied with finishing school and just engaging in traditional jobs, but want freedom and independence. Therefore, the emergence of rock music in the 1950s just met the cultural needs of young people in Britain and America.
In addition, the prosperity of rock music can not be separated from the help of mass media. The progress of science and technology and the keen intuition of the recording industry make rock music "prosperous". Record owners aim at the rise of baby boomers after World War II, seize the rebellious spirit of teenagers, analyze and study the preferences of consumer groups, formulate business strategies and marketing methods, and produce and sell rock music in large quantities.
Due to the technical revolution of record promotion, the production cost is greatly reduced, the recording quality is greatly improved, and the price of record sales is sharply reduced. The right of propaganda and discourse of mass media seeks commercial interests in this process, and makes teenagers immerse themselves in rock music and fall into infatuation. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the Beatles are the highest-selling band in American history, with 177 million records sold.
The role played by the band manager is also extremely critical. In just two years, Brian turned four boys from working-class families in Liverpool into music idols that the whole world was crazy about. In addition to changing the image of the band to be closer to that of an English gentleman, he put on a wool suit, cut-out shirts and trousers, and also negotiated business cooperation with record companies on their behalf, asking EMI Records to sign the Beatles and complete the recording of the first album in Abbey Road Studio. Before he brought the band to the United States, he had been promoting the Beatles’ songs for several weeks, and the band also appeared on the famous American program "Sullivan Theater Show", which was the highest-rated program in the United States at that time, with an audience equivalent to 40% of the total population of the United States.
Rebellious rock
《HEY JUDE》
Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
The influence of the Beatles on western society has now been taken for granted. Their names often appear in various European and American dramas and movies, appear on the covers of countless magazines, and have countless related theme museums, documentaries, movies and other cultural materials. From Haruki Murakami to Jobs, countless cultural celebrities were deeply inspired by the Beatles.
But the most profound influence is the rebellious rock spirit represented by the Beatles. Rock music has a strong appeal because it creates an atmosphere in which listeners can indulge and interpret themselves. In almost crazy performances, young people feel mania, shock and love. This kind of music is fascinating because it makes the audience and musicians find resonance together and become an outlet to vent their emotions. In that confused and turbulent era, rock music broke national boundaries, eliminated cultural barriers, dissolved hierarchy to some extent, and expressed contempt for the shackles of political ideas.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon initiated the "Peace in Bed Movement", and they jointly drew BAGISM.
The most famous case is the "Peace in Bed Movement" jointly created by Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon. In Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon stayed in Room 1742 of Queen Elizabeth Hotel for seven days. During this time, they do almost nothing but lie in bed all day. The door is always open, receiving all kinds of media reporters, artists, cultural celebrities and politicians who heard the news, shouting "Make love, don’t fight"(make love,no war)Anti-war manifesto.
Rock music represents freedom from imprisonment, and it is also a way for young people to express their thoughts, feelings and know the world. Since then, rock musicians have been brave enough to express their views on social public issues, constantly singing the theme of love and peace, and expressing their anti-war and anti-violence demands through music, which has influenced them to this day.
In the transformation of western pop music, rock music has also extended many branches, infiltrating into soul, funk, reggae, disco, rap and other music categories. The Beatles combined all kinds of fresh elements with rock and roll, especially the exploration and pursuit of music in the later period, which made rock and roll develop in a more free and casual artistic direction. Rock music has always had a close relationship with pop music in the future, and rock musicians are also proud of maintaining their unique personality.
Although business made the Beatles, it also laid the seeds for the dissolution of the band in the later period, and the invasion of music by business became a contradiction that musicians could never avoid. Almost all aspiring musicians are exploring how to maintain creative autonomy under the record industry system, and the balance between commercial mechanism and independent creation has become an eternal problem.
At the auction held by Julien‘s Auctions in April this year, the manuscript of Hey Jude was sold for 910,000 dollars.
At 22: 49 on December 8, 1980, Lennon was shot dead by mark chapman, an American fanatical male fan who was said to be mentally ill, in front of his apartment in new york. He died at the age of 40. Today, people have not forgotten this band that was popular all over the world. At the auction held by Julien‘s Auctions in April this year, the manuscript of "Hey Jude" was sold at a sky-high price of 910,000 US dollars.
Although the Beatles finally had to disband, it seems to be part of their growth to find their own way out in the cracks. We see the Beatles in countless rock musicians, but rock music itself is getting softer and more peaceful. As people say, we have been living in a world without the Beatles ever since.
References:
1. Wang Qian’s "Looking at the Essence of Music from the Development of the Beatles"
2. Wang Yuebo’s Music Industry Theory
Author | Liang Keke
Edit | Zhang Ting
Proofreading | Wei Zhuo