Natalie Decleve
March 28, 2003
Com 290
MWF 2:00
Beatles presentation
The Beatles
Ask pretty much anyone of any age and any background and they will know who the Beatles are. On February 9th 1964, with their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, the four Liverpool natives; John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr exploded onto the American music scene and changed music forever.
During their American debut, the Beatles sang 5 songs including the popular “She Loves You”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” 73 million people tuned in to watch their performance that night; in fact, their impact was so great that most of America came to a stand still during their time on the air. The combination of the release of their number one single “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and their performance on Ed Sullivan was incredible, and the mass hysteria that was created and followed them wherever they went was dubbed “Beatle mania.” Two days later, they performed their first concert in the US at the Washington coliseum.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon were responsible for writing all the Beatles’ songs. When comparing their writing styles, Paul was much more outgoing, writing often of things he felt, and actual occurrences in his life. John tended to hold back at times, and lean towards being more introverted. He wrote more of his inner thoughts than actual events. The Beatles’ first 5 albums Please Please Me, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles for Sale, Help, and With the Beatles all contained songs only about love, and were innocent stories of “boy meets girl” type of material. It was not until 1965 with John Lennon’s “Nowhere Man” that the Beatles recorded a song not about love.
This concentration on love in their song writing caused the Beatles to
have a huge following of girls and young women. Lyrics such as in their song “Ask Me
Why” said things like “Now your mine, my
happiness still makes me cry. And
in time, you'll understand the reason why, if I cry, it's not because I'm sad,
but you're the only love that I've ever had.” Words like these appealed
to girls’ romantic sides and hundreds of screaming females attended all of their
shows. Their distinct style also
influenced the younger generation of the time period, and many young men sported
their hair in similar fashions to that of the Beatles. Morals and norms were set by the
legendary group because of their credibility due to their popularity. Teens listened to songs like “Can’t Buy
Me Love” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, and the innocent romantic ideals of the
decade were a result. The Beatles
also helped teens deal with rebellious feelings and the issues of the
appropriateness of their music according to the older generation of the
time. Their song “Bad Boy”
discussed the image of rock and roll and the time saying “Buys ev'ry rock and roll book on the magazine
stand, Ev'ry dime that he gets, oh he's off to the jukebox man. Well he worries his teacher till at
night she's ready to poop, from rockin' and a rollin', spinnin' in a
hula-hoop. Well his rock and roll
has gotta stop, Junior's head is hard as rock. Now, Junior behave yourself!” Issues of peer pressure can be seen in
“Baby it’s You” which talks about a boy who loves a girl despite the fact that
all his friends say she will cheat on him.
The Beatles released many more songs during their recording career from
1962 to 1970, including 22 singles in the United Kingdom, and 33 in the US. Besides their music, the Beatles showed
their talent as actors in 5 movies throughout their career. One of which was titled “A Hard Day’s
Night”, which I have a clip of…
With 5 movies, and 33 singles, it’s easy to see why the Beatles had such
an influence on Americans, particularly teens of their time. The Beatles also broke new ground as
they were the first and only group in recording history to release singles with
hit songs on both sides, rather than the norm of a hit song on the A side, and a
filler song on the B side. They
were also the first group on recording history, with twenty number one
songs.
I think it is safe to say that the Beatles left their impact on American pop culture, and that Beatle mania had a significant impact on American teens of the time, helping them through their adolescence with their catchy tunes and lyrics with which they could relate. Without the influence of the Beatles, the pop music of today would not be the same.