The Beatles have influenced hundreds of artists and bands including many successful and well known ones. Oasis, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, David Bowie, Keith Moon, Peter Sellers, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, ColdPlay, Queen, Pink Floyd, Snow Patrol and countless others were affected by The Beatles. All these artists have affected American culture and life significantly throughout the years but many would not be the same or even exist if The Beatles hadn’t existed. The Beatles revolutionized the music industry not only with their songs and lyrics but with how music was seen and distributed to the world. So for all you Beatles haters who spout out that Beatles are amazing simply because everyone says they are amazing and they just want to follow the crowd think about this. You hate The Beatles because everyone else loves them. You just want to stand out and be a rebel. Well go ahead and rebel but do that with a different topic. Don’t criticize the parents of the music you listen to(don’t bite the hand that feeds you). Listen to a song of The Beatles just listen and think about your favorite music. Chances are an innovation or style or song was made or inspired by The Beatles. On August 15, 1965 The Beatles held the first outdoor large scale stadium concert ever breaking records for both crowd size and revenue generated for any performance ever. This proved that outdoor stadium performances were profitable and feasible and paved the way for future stadium performances. The Beatles also jumpstarted the music video industry. In the mid-60’s instead of meeting and performing in person with various television networks The Beatles started sending promotional music videos which used unconventional methods not previously seen in videos and they quickly grew in popularity. Companies began to spend more time and money in making music videos and coming up with new methods of filming them. Besides affecting the music industry The Beatles affected the fashion and film industry. The “mop-top haircut” became popular as most members of The Beatles had them. As Minimalistic suits and casual clothing such as jeans and denim jackets became more popular as The Beatles wore them to their shows often. Cuban-Heeled ankle length pointed toe boots came into fashion as well as bringing leather in shoes back in style. Movies such as “They Yellow Submarine”, and “Help” helped forward the movie industry and forwarded the genre of musicals in movies. The video game industry has used Beatles songs in their soundtracks and recently “The Beatles:Rockband” was released on xbox 360, PS3 and the Wii. The game allows you to play several instruments in sync with Beatles songs as well as sing to the songs. Even today The Beatles generate huge revenue and affect American Culture both directly through their songs and various funds and indirectly through the many artists they have inspired and supported. The Beatles are the greatest rock band ever. They inspired millions and paved the way for the evolution of rock and other genres.
Okay, so I've learned a lot about why the Beatles are so fantastic. You provide a solid overview of all of the group's accomplishments. But I thinks the surplus of facts is the issue I have with your piece. Although I've learned info about the Beatles that I did not know before, I would have loved to have heard how the Beatles have affected YOU personally, rather than how they effected future bands and the movie and fashion industries.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you make, "You hate The Beatles because everyone else loves them. You just want to stand out and be a rebel. Well go ahead and rebel but do that with a different topic". But again, I'm wondering what you love so much about the Beatles. Do you just love how they've influenced other industries, or are you obsessed with a certain song or person on the group?
Then again, maybe this is just supposed to be an informative, "don't-hate-on-the-Beatles" piece, and I shouldn't be so critical.
I'm curious whether you knew all those facts about the Beatles, or if you found in on other blogs?
I like the points you are making about the Beatles but how would the first bands you mention cease to exist if the Beatles never existed? You don't consider other points of view and shut them down before even considering them. I get that the Beatles affected fashion and that sort of thing because people would want to be like them. However, many other artists also affected fashion, in fact, most famous people affect fashion. Maybe if the Beatles affected fashion in a bigger scale this fact would seem more interesting but no. I do agree that their ideas about the video and outdoor concert were revolutionary, and in my opinion this makes them awesome as well as their music. I don't see how they affected you much though, and am still wonderin how they have affected you.
ReplyDelete-Ivan
I am really impressed at how knowledgeable you are about all of this. You talk about a lot of different things, which is good, but I think you could have defended something more besides how awesome The Beatles are. You do some of this in the earlier parts of the blog, and I thought you could have continued this to make an even more wicked blog. The only other criticism I had was maybe talk about a few of the band members specifically. Over all, great work!
ReplyDeleteGus
Hey Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteGood choice of music artist. I like how you compared the Beatles to a ton of other inspirational because this post explains "Why the Beatles". I also like how you told off the non-Beatles fans/the haters because in reality, they probably do hate the Beatles just because they want to be different.
1. A suggestion is to write about how they effected YOU personally.
2. Also, where are your hyperlinks? Did you use them for research or did you just not use them at all?
Jenni
The Beatles were affected BY American culture and our roots in rhythm and blues!
ReplyDeleteOkay, got that off my chest. Like your defense of The Beatles, especially your focus towards the haters. The band was legit and worked very hard -- hours and hours of practicing and little money -- to make it. There's so much one could say about them, and that people have said about them, that I wish you had tapped into. For example, either you could have taken a particular stance about and aspect of them as influences of culture -- I mean, you tell us they influenced all these musicians in one list, but you don't tell us how specifically. Next, we could use some links that help us engage the subjects. I'm also curious to know more about how they fascinate you.
eder