Why did groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones have such an impact during the sixties?
Why did groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones have such an impact during the sixties?
The 1960's were a period of great change. Ideas from the early 1960’s were no longer cool. For many people the 'swinging sixties' began in 1963 with the release of the Beatles first single and No. 1 hit. The Beatles had an amazing impact on the sixties and on the future decades. It can be argued that they are greater than any other pop group including The Rolling Stones. There were a number of reasons why both of these groups had such an impact.
The Beatles were the first real group to start changing popular culture. Never before had one single 'pop group' become so popular. In fact before the Beatles there were very few pop groups. The Beatles were a British rock/pop band from Liverpool. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and George Harrison started as the Silver Beatles, but soon became the Beatles in 1960 with their first performance at the Indra Club in Hamburg. Most parents liked the Beatles because of their clean cut, individual, innocent looks and romantic love songs; this made teenagers like the Stones more because no one liked to like the same music as their parents. Their ‘mop-top’ hair styles and their smart clothes, just lead to more of the older generation liking them, and less of the younger ages. Their songs made young people turn to the more rough bands, like the Rolling Stones, with lyrics like ‘Love, love me do’ and ‘You know I love you’ their songs were only accepted by their older fans. They were admired for their rhythm using electronic music and Indian sitar. In 1967 ‘summer of love’ and 1967 ‘Magical mystery tour’ was just a few of their biggest hits. In the mid-sixties, the Beatles led the ‘British invasion’ into the United States. People began to get worried when ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ was released because they started experimenting with music and their lyrics were talked about taking LSD. As they progressed and developed they became more experimental, producing ‘Sgt Pepper’s lonely hearts’ club in 1967. Their role models were American Artists but perhaps they secretly became inspired by the Rolling Stones image and didn’t want to be known for being the sensible boys. The life style of the Beatles remained private, unless one of the members specifically told the press something. The Beatles wanted to keep their private lives hidden as much as possible. So if a reporter was seen coming towards them, they would be seen with jackets over their heads running into a nearby taxi
