Abstract
The Beatles played different music styles, not only rock and roll as many people think. The main music styles they performed were skiffle, rock and roll, and psychedelic rock. The different styles were marked by some events or attitudes. This paper deals with all of these music styles, the role they played on them, and some of their characteristics.
1. Different music styles
The web page called The Beatles Music (1995) affirms that “The Beatles were undoubtedly the most influential band of the century” but they say that “they changed not only rock and roll, but also the face of all music forever.” This means that they did not only play rock and roll but other music styles.
The Beatles played many different music styles in their career; they were originated as a skiffle band, and then they evolved to rock and roll style. In the year 1966 they began to play psychedelic rock with some songs like “Rain”, “Tomorrow Never Knows” or “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” as DeRogatis mentions in his book (DeRogatis, 2003.)
1.1.SKIFFLE
Firstly skiffle appeared on the music scenery because of the different degree of acceptability of rock and roll music, there were a large number of people that accepted it but there were also people that did not accept it. Skiffle is a combination between two different music genres: pop and rock and roll. Siobhan Mulligan, K. (2010: 4) said that “Skiffle was a hybrid that ran down the middle of these two genres, turning up the tempo and rhythm of pop, and turning down the scandalous lyrics of rock and roll.” This new music style was fun for young people, it did not need instruments, it just keeps the beat. This book mentions that people in Liverpool was in love with this particular music style, however, John Lennon thought that rock and roll was the thing that would be correct and he was right; so The Beatles became a rock and roll band.
1.2.ROCK AND ROLL
According to Beatlebay, there is no other rock and roll group that had a bigger influence on people as did The Beatles. There is no only because of the rock and roll style, they also changed the culture, lifestyles, the way of clothing, the attitude, and the hairstyles. The Beatles were influenced by Elvis Presley, another great rock and roll start. Before became famous, they listened and copied the styles of other rock and roll singers of the previous decade (1950s). They were the first group of England that performed rock and roll, and little by little they achieved the role of the rock and roll kings for a completely generation. This web page says that “The Beatles are the most collected and celebrated group in rock ‘n roll history” (Beatlebay, 2012).
1.3.PSYCHEDELIC ROCK
This band performed the psychedelic styles in music, and they also helped to popularize this style in other arts like graphic design where we can find artists like Milton Glaser, Peter Max, or Heinz Edelmann. Lennon himself introduced the psychedelic style in drawing, The Beatles also made a poster campaign with their sentence “War is over!” that inspired minimalist protests even nowadays (A Visual History of Beatlemania, 2014).
According to DeRogatis, as well as other artists, the Beatles wanted to check anything at least once, so they tasted LSD between 1964 and 1965 like the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. Because of this fact, the Beatles were convicted as irresponsible due to their comments. This book supports the idea that “the psychedelic experience inspired radical changes in each band’s music, and the music inspired fans and other musicians to follow in their psychedelic footsteps” (DeRogatis, 2003.) Psychedelic drugs inspired the band to see all the problems of the world and they expressed this in some of their songs like “Caroline No” or “You Still Believe in Me.”
REFERENCES
A Visual History of Beatlemania. 2014. 22 de March de 2014. <http://www.fastcodesign.com/3025974/a-visual-history-of-beatlemania>
Concept, Media. The Beatles Music. 1995. 22 de March de 2014. <http://www.delta.ro/beatles/phist.html>
DeRogatis, J. Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. 2003.
The Legend of Rock. The Beatles Music Style and Evolution. 2009. 21 de March de 2014. <http://rockerinfo.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/the-beatles-musical-style-and-evolution/>
Siobhan Mulligan, K. The Beatles: A Musical Biography. ABC-CLIO, 2010.
They were great in all differents styles!! even in those they never played :P :P
ResponderEliminarSincerely, I prefer its Rock and Roll period than its experimentation with Psychedelic Rock. But I love them anyway!
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