The Beatles and changing times.

[Lover-o-Classics]

Enjoyed the Monday discussion on 'A Hard Day's Night', as I was interested in listening to informed opinions on the movie.  I've always thought of the Elvis and Beatles movies as being very flimsy musicals, almost trashy, made on the cheap to entertain teeny boppers and sell records.  Perhaps 'A Hard Day's Night' did something to promote a positive image of the Beatles with the older generation, who saw them as being wild and radical.  Regarding the sixties as being changing times, I don't recall the early sixties, when the Beatles were starting out and 'A Hard Day's Night' was made, as really being a part of them.  Fifties values still ruled.  That's why The Beatles relatively clean cut look still seemed so outrageous at the time.  They were still singling light fluff rock songs like 'She Loves You' and 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'.  Pretty tame stuff.  It wasn't until the late sixties that things really started to change:  hair got long, skirts got short, protest against the Vietnam war and 'the establishment' took off... and then hippies and flower power.  The Beatles had a lot to do with those changing times. Their music, which had always been trend-setting, became more intellectual and radical, helping change attitudes.  But their much shaggier look on the covers of 'Let It Be' and 'Abbey Road' barely caused a ripple.   

[BlueMoods]

I loved the Beatles from their first appearance on Ed Sullivan when I was seven to the rooftop concert and everything in between. Whether I prefer to listen to She Loves You or I Am the Walrus depends on what mood I'm in, but I love them both equally. My husband, on the other hand, dismisses the early Beatles and really only likes the heady thought-provoking music they came out with after they started visiting the Maharishi in India. He'll tolerate it if I want to listen to the fluff stuff but you can tell he's not really enjoying it.

And their metamorphosis did cause a ripple in some sectors. My parents enjoyed me enjoying the Beatles and never had an unkind word to say about them, other than that their hair was "too long." But when they really did grow their hair long, and facial hair, and the whole Indian/Hindu thing, they were totally disgusted.

[corinne54]

The movie has always been a fave of mine (as is the band). I think they captured their anarchic thumbing their nose at the establishment, their very British humor, and they're very natural and relaxed in this film (as opposed to Help where they were bored and stoned during the entire filming). As was mentioned in the lecture, the film contains their best early songs.

[MotherofZeus]

Love the film. Love the Beatles enthusiasm in making it. Love how it played so uniquely at the time and still stays fresh. Unlike their subsequent films, this is a joy every time I watch it. My 13 year-old son loves it also. That speaks a great deal for its appeal. I dare say most acts today could not play so naturally as the lads did. The perfect blending of artists with director. 

[LynnBlake]

I really enjoyed the lecture on Monday. Really well done. Really loving Gary Rydstrum. Thank you

[Kathie2]

Watching "Hard Day's Night" brings me back to my childhood when the Beatles were a huge part of the British Invasion.  Each song provokes a happy innocent memory.  My parents were of the mindset to reject the Beatles and complain about their hair, appearance, loud music, etc.  However my mother (at age 94) frequently asks me about the Beatles now and enjoys listening to their music.  Funny how things change in 54 years.  

 

[jakeem]

In case you missed it, people are raving about CBS late-night host James Corden's nostalgic Carpool Karaoke segment in Liverpool with Sir Paul McCartney. The "Cute Beatle" turned 76 on the 18th of June.

 

[Kathie2]

The Carpool Karaoke segment with Paul was wonderful!  I highly recommend watching.  

[Lover-o-Classics]

Beatlemania in '64... there was never anything like it in North America!  Not Elvis... not Michael Jackson... nobody's ever come close.  In the first half half of '64 the Beatles topped the charts for months, with one hit after another:  She Loves You, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, All My Lovin'... and they'd stay at the top for weeks.  Then there was all the screaming and hysteria of the young girls at the concerts... mania was the only word for it.  Who finally knocked The Beatles off the top of the charts in your area?  Where I lived, in Toronto, I'm pretty sure it was The Dave Clark Five, and I think the song was Glad All Over... or maybe it was Bits and Pieces.  Week after week we were waiting to see when, if ever, it would happen.  What a year... the start of the British Invasion!

[Lover-o-Classics]

Jakeem, that Carpool Karaoke was fabulous!  Wish I looked that good now... let alone when I'm 76!

[jakeem]

21 hours ago, BlueMoods said:

And their metamorphosis did cause a ripple in some sectors. My parents enjoyed me enjoying the Beatles and never had an unkind word to say about them, other than that their hair was "too long." But when they really did grow their hair long, and facial hair, and the whole Indian/Hindu thing, they were totally disgusted.

The Beatles were masters of the promotional video genre 14 years before MTV revolutionized music and television. Their videos for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were shown here in America in February 1967 on Dick Clark's weekday afternoon music show "Where the Action Is." The Beatles had changed so much -- artistically and physically -- since they had decided to stop touring.

 

 

[Chuck V.]

This seems appropriate. From the 1967 Beatles-directed TV movie Magical Mystery Tour.

[Whipsnade]

        I never saw this in a theater, but I do have fond memories of this movie on TV within a couple years of its release. Although they thought it was ridiculous, my parents made sure we saw it. Things had changed so much by this time (ca. 1966), that the early Beatles looked pretty tame.  I've always felt that the revolutionary nature of their early music has been understandably overstated. They broke out first and get the lions share of the credit, but they did not operate in a vacuum. In general, early Beatles songs were more wholesome and commercial (and therefore, less revolutionary) than a lot of their competition. At the same time that the Beatles hit it big, other important British bands, like the Rolling Stones and the Animals, were embracing more controversial subject matter.   

On 6/26/2018 at 8:54 AM, Lover-o-Classics said:

  Who finally knocked The Beatles off the top of the charts in your area?  Where I lived, in Toronto, I'm pretty sure it was The Dave Clark Five, and I think the song was Glad All Over... or maybe it was Bits and Pieces.  

       And it was The Dave Clark Five that was the most popular challenger to the Beatles and topped them on the charts in 1964. By 1965, the LA scene changed American music and challenged the British with revolutionary bands, like The Byrds, Love, and later, The Doors. Meanwhile among the British Invaders, The Rolling Stones became the primary competitor to the Beatles. Then by 1967, the San Francisco scene asserted itself with their answer, in the form of Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. And later Invaders, like Cream and Traffic, joined the Stones in competing with the Beatles.  While the Beatles led a lot of this in the beginning, they followed much of it in the end. While it is important to acknowledge their impact, it is equally important that we not overstate it.

       Statements about the sizes of their crowds also need to be put into context. The crowds were larger than before, but so were the venues where they performed. Additionally, The record crowds could have been proportionally similar to earlier crowds, because the general population was larger than before. Twenty years earlier, large crowds of young girls screamed and stormed stages to get at Frank Sinatra. Twenty years before that, young crowds pursued Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee. In all these eras, parents rolled their eyes and wondered what was wrong with their kids. It is ever thus.  

[Suzy-Q]

On 6/26/2018 at 10:54 AM, Lover-o-Classics said:

Beatlemania in '64... there was never anything like it in North America!  Not Elvis... not Michael Jackson... nobody's ever come close.  In the first half half of '64 the Beatles topped the charts for months, with one hit after another:  She Loves You, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, All My Lovin'... and they'd stay at the top for weeks.  Then there was all the screaming and hysteria of the young girls at the concerts... mania was the only word for it.  Who finally knocked The Beatles off the top of the charts in your area?  Where I lived, in Toronto, I'm pretty sure it was The Dave Clark Five, and I think the song was Glad All Over... or maybe it was Bits and Pieces.  Week after week we were waiting to see when, if ever, it would happen.  What a year... the start of the British Invasion!

On May 9, 1964, Louis Armstrong and Hello Dolly knocked the Beatles out of first place, where they had been since February 1.  The Dave Clark Five, although a terrific group, didn't have a number one hit in the US or Canada until 1965, although they did in the UK.