The Beatles; popularity via technology?

Not just tV contributed to the pop cultural phenomena of the Beatles. The early sixties saw the introduction and wide spread use of the transistor radio. All of a sudden music was “portable”. Older “tube Type” radios were heavy, and ATE batteries (even the so called portables would use 8 D cells up in less than 8 hrs of play).

The portability of Broadcast media (Transitor radios) was first largely accepted by the teen age and younger 20’s demographic, and Radio stations played into them, becoming “Rock and Roll” stations exclusively. The popularity of the Beatles not only helped create and reinforce this new media style, but changed with it, in sophistication and style. (Look at the differences between Twist and shout, Rubber soul, and Sgt Peppers).

The roaring 20’s had much in common with the swinging 60’s. There was a young and affluent post war youth culture (Flappers/hippies), Illicit drugs (Prohibition on Alchohol (1920s)and marijuanna in the 60’s) There was increased mobility (1920s- automobile becomes common place, 1960’s the increased availibility of jet travel, interstate hwys). “New” music (Swing/Jazz, and rock, respectively), and the introduction of new media - Television (1960s), and Radio, (1920s). no doubt more examples can be found.

Current pop culture has become an industry, and is stable as such. Pop Culture, such as it was, was drastically changed by the Beatles contributions. One wonders if the current introduction of new media (U Tube, etc) will produce another sea change in pop culture.

Regards

FML

There weren’t massive waves of girls for Presley? And for Rick Nelson, and Frankie Avalon, and a hundred others? Rock Around the Clock and other music movies didn’t lead to theaters full of screaming teens? The rock and roll caravans that went around from city to city didn’t attract screaming fans?

Where do you think the girls who met the Beatles got their ideas from? Or do you honestly believe that nothing like that had ever happened before and they invented screaming just because of some British musicians?

Oh, and the transistor radio was invented and became huge in the 1950s, even before the Beatles.

Part of the popularity has to be attributed to “good” marketing - although I read somewhere their manager wasn’t the greatest, they were one of the first bands to market lunchboxes, and other doo-dads to the masses, and their albums cost a bit more than the average band as well. Their catalog has always been closely held (or was anyway), notice Beatles stuff never made it onto late night “60’s music” compilations, when they can hardly be left out in any discussion of pop music of the 1960’s.

They really didn’t achieve mass popularity until the 1960’s, when the price dropped quite a bit - early transistor units were quite expensive. There was quite a bit of overlap, with tube style radios still being produced till the mid 1960’s.

Transistor radio mini-history

Heck looney tunes from the early 50s perhaps earlier were poking fun at all the screaming girls listening to Frank Sinatra. Oh Franky!

I think you can make an argument for any singer with technology. Certainly Madonna was helped by MTV. She would not be as big without that. You can find Tin Pan Alley died in the 50s as the player piano and sheet music was replaced by radio. A lot of this had to do with TV taking comedy and drama and leaving radio with nothing to play but music.

Unions for instance controlled radio. And recording were not allowed. This is why old time radio shows all had orchestras. This is why the SONG was important not the singer. Bing Crosby was the first recording artist allowed to break union rules and use recording.

But it also meant the singers worked harder as they had to do two shows one for the east coast and one for the west coast.

Even microphones make a difference. Singers like Juice Newton started at country fairs they had to be able to project even though her voice isn’t much she can belt the tune out without a microphone. Janet Jackson when she came on the scene, her voice was so slight and average that the producers of her records made videos dance something she could do better than Whitney Houston. Another example of an artist using video as a medium to succeed where her voice couldn’t cut it. ( To really see how average Janet Jackson is, watch the different strokes episode where Janet plays Willis’s girlfriend and her and Kimberly, the late Dana Plato try out for Willis’s band. She is much worse than Dana Plato, it’s actually hard to watch to see how average Janet is.)

I feel the Beatles were so well liked because they were the first group to REALLY capture the essence of the “spirit” of the 60s. They reflected what the younger people wanted to hear. Remember after the long stint of having something like five number ones in a row, the Beatles were replaced at #1 by Louie Armstrong. And the act at #1 before the Beatles first number one was Bobby Vinton. So the Beatles were very reflective of the spirit of the YOUNG people.

The Beatles were already massively popular before they ever showed up on TV. In fact, they refused to even travel to the United States until they had a #1 record there, and by that time they were already monster stars in the UK and elsewhere.

When they first landed in the US there were throngs of fans to greet them at the airport, and at their first Ed Sullivan appearance the audience was filled with screaming fans.

And the Beatles stopped performing in public fairly early in their careers. They were probably less involved in television than most other acts of the day. Their fame was all talent.

Now, you could argue that they wouldn’t be as popular today, because the music industry has fragmented so much. 20 years ago, we all listened to the same radio stations and a handful of record companies controlled the vast majority of music. Today, there are hundreds of genres, and the internet, MP3, satellite radio, and other enabling technologies have allowed us to find niches outside of the mainstream. It would be very difficult for an artist today to sell 20 million albums.

While the Beatles had a lot of talents, clairvoyance wasn’t one of them.

And they weren’t in change of their schedules; Brian Epstein was.

The simple fact is that Epstein signed the contract with Sullivan in November 1963 (before Kennedy’s assassination, even).

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” wasn’t released in the U.S. until December 26, 1963 and didn’t hit #1 until February 1, 1964. (It hadn’t even been released in Britain when the contract was signed.)

Obviously Sullivan was responding to their phenomenal popularity in Britain, but he was taking a chance that they would be as big in the U.S. As it happened, the Beatles had the number one hit in America when they debuted on his program on February 9, 1964 and the rest, as they say, is history.

There were plenty of exclusive rock and roll stations before the Beatles. By 1959 I was listening to WMCA and WABC in New York. I don’t remember any changes of technology coincident with the rise of the Beatles. Elvis was on Ed Sullivan also (waist up :slight_smile: ) and Dylan was supposed to be, but dropped out when they didn’t let him sing Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues.

It may not have been released but most top 40 radio stations had (I am assuming bootlegged) copies that they were playing around the clock. I remember when KOMA (Oklahoma’s 50,000 watt Rock n Roll station that basically was the station of choice for the youth of the Plains and Mountain West) got their copies. It seemed as if it was being played every 15 minutes.

There was a girl at our school (a relative in Great Britain, I think) that I seem to remember having a copy in October. She was the social elete for quite some time.

Were there any music critics who steadfastly panned the Beatles? Reading the historical (esp. post “Sergeant Pepper”); and contemporary fawning admiration of these guys makes it sound like they were the vanguard of some new breed of semi-gods. Sheesh.

Man, that is a great thread in itself! “Where did you first hear the Beatles”

Yeah, they sure sucked, didn’t they?

Anyway, almost all adults panned the Beatles early on as yet another addition to the cheap rock of the 50s, since they were listening mostly to the screaming girls than to the music. Every publication had a condescending and uncomprehending article on them.

Leonard Bernstein was one of the few music figures who didn’t pan them and that got some attention, but mostly they wore down the critics over time.

And with each new album they got better and better. They were praised because of the music. And rightly so.

Sometimes they were almost as good as Kelly Clarkson!

TV Time, having a copy in October would have been pretty spectacular, since the song wasn’t recorded until October 19, 1963. Carroll Baker at WWDC in Washington is usually credited with breaking the record in the U.S., but that was in December, after the British release.

In any case, it’s certain that Sullivan hadn’t heard the record when he signed the Beatles. Unless Fishbicyle can prove me wrong.

De gustibus non est disputandum…

I tend to think they were over-hyped and over-rated. And they even let Ringo and George write, and to add insult to injury, actually sing.

Exapno Mapcase: I think I got the bit about the Beatles not wanting to go to America from one of the Anthology DVDs. I believe it might have been George Martin who said that during an interview.

Yeah, how dare they let George Harrison write songs like, “Here Comes the Sun”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Something”, “Taxman”… What were they thinking?

George Harrison was a great songwriter. The real problem was that Lennon and McCartney didn’t let enough of his songs get recorded with the Beatles. For example, I seem to recall that they passed on “My Sweet Lord”.

Some critics were down on The Beatles very early in their career, but as each new Album came out and showed the continued and astonishing progression of musical complexity and quality, almost all the critics changed their minds. In fact, I can’t think of a serious rock critic who wouldn’t agree that the Beatles were nothing short of spectacular.

They got in trouble with some DJ’s due to John Lennon’s comment that they were more popular than Jesus, and that sparked a period of Beatles backlash from some conservative Christians, but even that didn’t last.

According to “The Complete Beatles Chronicle” (Lewisohn), Ed Sullivan became aware of The Beatles and the hysteria over them in England when his plane was held up at London Airport on October 31st 1963, by the group returning from Sweden. He thought it might be a laugh for his American audience to see what all the fuss was all about. The agreement between Epstein and Sullivan was reached at Sullivan’s office at the Delmonico Hotel, NYC, on Nov 11, 1963.

So no, Ed hadn’t heard the record at this time, because it wasn’t released until Nov 29th in the UK and Dec 26th in the US, pushed forward from the originally projected date of Jan 13, 1964.

Actually you left out one I like the best probably - “I Need You”; “Taxman” is excellent too - but notice that Paul plays lead on that one, not George. I just never thought he was that noteworthy of guitarist, esp. compared to so many others of the 60’s. “Here Comes The Sun” never did much for me. “While My Guitar” is just awful, maudlin twaddle. “Something” is worse… Really, the Beatles were at their finest before they stopped touring - up to and including the Revolver album.

Was there anyone who could be called a rock critic back then? I don’t recall ever reading anything from anyone who actually tried to appreciate what people were doing. Just look at the reporters they sent to interview Dylan in “Don’t Look Back”. The press conference in Hard Day’s Night, though fiction, must reflect something.

As for what adults thought, I have the Stan Freberg box set, and a lot of the bits go beyond satire into what sounds to me like a hatred of rock (pre-Beatles.) Adult comics of the late '50s and early '60s always seemed to be able to get a cheap laugh at rock’s expense.

As to critics originally they had plenty including my parents but I still recall my mother calling to me one day, “If you have to play that NOISE of yours could you at least make it the Beatles?”

I was deeply shocked.