The Beatles' Influence in Pop Culture

The Beatles' Influence in Pop Culture

The Beatles were one of the most influential music groups of the rock era. They were able to conquer and influence pop culture with their music. Initially they affected the post-war baby boom generation of Britain and the W.S. during the 1960s, and later the request of the world. Certainly they were the most successful group, with global sales exceeding 1.3 billion albums. During the sixties, The Beatles using revolutionary ideas in their music inspired a generation of young adults across the globe to look at life from their perspective.

While they were originally famous for the light-weight pop music, their later works achieved a combination of popular and critical acclaim perhaps unequaled in the 20th century. Eventually, they became more than recording artists, branching out into film and particularly in the case of John Lennon political activism. They achieved an iconic status beyond mere celebrity, with far reaching effects difficult to exaggerate (Mack 41). The members of the group were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

In the Boston Globe, Geoffrey Stokes brings up the idea that The Beatles were unlike their contemporaries, the Rolling Stones. The Beatles were seldom directly influenced by blues. Though they drew inspiration from an eclectic variety of sources, their sound was closer to pop music. Their distinctive vocal harmonies were perhaps most influenced by early Motown artists and Chuck Berry (Stokes).

When the music of the Beatles was first released in the United States, it did not catch on at first. In fact, they did not become popular until their second American released single came out, which was "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." With this ...

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...up, the influence of their music will never be forgotten.

Works Cited

"The Beatles - A Biography". <http://home.att.net/~chuckayoub/the_beatles_bio.html>.

Cockrell, Dale. The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. Vol. 2. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1980. 321-22.

Cross, Craig. Beatles-discography.com: Day-by-day Song-by-song Record-by-record. 5 Nov. 2004 <http://www.beatles-discography.com/1969.html>.

Mack, Lorrie ed. Encyclopedia of Rock. New York: Schirmer Books, 1987. 40-2.

Rebecca. "The Beatles Biography". <http://www.esolcamba.org/bio-beatles.htm>.

Romanowski, Patricia and Holly George-Warren eds. The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Rock Completely Revised and Updated. New York: Fireside, 1995. 58-61.

Stokes, Geoffrey. "Beatles, and the culture they affected." Boston Globe 28 Dec. 1980.