The Beatles and their Influence On the Culture Of 1960's and Beyond

The Beatles and their Influence On the Culture Of 1960's and Beyond

Introduction

The Beatles' influence on rock music and global culture was deep. Earlier to their emergence as pop superstars, it was ordinary for rock bands to depend on professional songwriters for their material (the Brill Building in New York City was a basis of lots of hit singles in the early 1960s). (Emerick, 2006) This paper discusses the beatles and their influence on the culture of 1960's and beyond.

Discussion

Whilst by no means the first to do so (Buddy Holly composed his hits, for example), their example made self-composition the standard for rock bands then and since. Although they did not necessarily invent all the new ideas they incorporated in their music, they often competed with and played off of the developing ideas of other prominent acts of the period (such Bob Dylan, The Byrds, and the Beach Boys). As such, they spurred rock music, which hitherto had been largely looked down upon by older music fans, towards becoming an accepted art form. When the Sergeant Pepper album was released, it was hailed by music critics of the time as a major work of art, even compared favorably to classical musicians such as Schubert and Schuman. Within days of its release, the album's title song was being covered by artists like Jimi Hendrix. It's been said that everyone that watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show immediately started a band. Since the 1960s when the band were still recording and performing to this very day, the Beatles have inspired and influenced musicians from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, including Everclear, The Brodsky Quartet, MxPx, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, King's X, Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Neil Diamond, Rush, Jimi Hendrix, Skid Row, Buddy Miller, Alice Cooper, Jeff Lynne and ELO, Rich Mullins, Kiss, Nirvana, Los Lobos, Queensryche, Guns 'n Roses, Moxy Fruvous, and Run DMC. (Emerick, 2006)

Explanation

In the studio, The Beatles were always experimenting with new recording techniques and even coined a few common studio phrases that are still in use today. For example, a common vocal or guitar effect where two copies of the same sound are overlapped and time-shifted slightly (producing a swirling, swishing sound), is now known as flanging, thanks to John Lennon who nicknamed the effect in the 1960s.

The Beatles use of various instruments is regarded as highly innovative. With the help of George Martin, they made wide use of string and brass overdubs for a variety of different musical effects, and experimented with some more unconventional instruments. An early example is the string arrangement on Yesterday; other notable examples include the use of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood", the exclusive accompaniment of a string octet on "Elanor Rigby", and the amusing orchestral arrangement (with an initial reference to La Marseillaise) of "All You Need Is Love".

Prior to the Beatles, record albums were of secondary consideration to ...