The Beatles, Popular Music and Society

The Beatles' evolution from a Liverpool rock 'n' roll group into one of the twentieth century's defining images has been repeatedly chronicled but rarely analysed; a critical appreciation of their music and career, and the issues and debates they provoked, is long overdue. This book provides the first investigation of some of the many historical, cultural, musical and sociological facets of the group's career. Written by an international group of writers on popular music, it is an essential book for those wishing to understand not only the phenomenon of the Beatles, but the broader social contexts within which popular music continues to be practised and studied.

Autorentext

IAN INGLIS is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Zusammenfassung
Written by an international group of writers on popular music, it is an essential book for those wishing to understand not only the phenomenon of the Beatles, but the broader social contexts within which popular music continues to be practised and studied.

Inhalt
List of Contributors List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: A Thousand Voices; I.Inglis Men of Ideas? Popular Music, Anti-intellectualism and the Beatles; I.Inglis Coming out of the Rhetoric of 'Merseybeat': Conversations with Joe Flannery; M.Brocken The Beatles and the Spectacle of Youth; J.Muncie Lennon-McCartney and the Early British Invasion 1964-1966; J.Fitzgerald From Me to You: Austerity to Profligacy in the Language of the Beatles; G.Cook & N.Mercer The Postmodern White Album; E.Whitley You Can't Do That: The Beatles, Artistic Freedom and Censorship; M.Cloonan Tell Me What You See: the Influence and Impact of the Beatles' Movies; B.Neaverson The Celebrity Legacy of the Beatles; P.D.Marshall Refab Four: Beatles for Sale in the Age of Music Video; G.Burns 'Sitting in an English Garden': Comparing Representations of 'Britishness' in the Songs of the Beatles and 1990s Britpop Groups; A.Bennett Index