Essay on Beatlemania.

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AS and A Level Media Studies

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Victoria P. Panna

Fran Pliskin

English 101- 27

10 November 2003

Beatlemania

        John, Paul, George, and Ringo formed a group known as the Beatles.  They were one the first British rock group of consequence to influence in American and Western culture.  Coming from the Liverpool underclass, they were drawn to the rock & roll and rhythm & blues music that celebrated the life of the common man.  Elvis, the man who came before them, symbolized the classless society in America where a poor man can become a king.  In the beginning, the Beatles learned their music by copying the American music they loved.  As they gained popularity, they were commercialized and formed by music promoters.  Finally, they developed their skills and style to express themselves and define their own image. It is at this point that The Beatles evolved to become a dominant influence on the Cultural Revolution that began in the 1960’s.

The later Beatles music would scream the painful song of an abandoned child.  John Lennon, who was raised in a middle class home in Liverpool, was the original Beatle.  His parents abandoned John at a very young age.  His father, Alfred Lennon, left the family first after a short, unhappy marriage to Julia Stanley.  Later, Julia left John with her sister, Mimi Smith, to raise when she remarried.  After that marriage ended in divorce, she returned to live with John.  Unfortunately, this reunion did not last long.  The ultimate abandonment occurred when John’s mother died after being hit by a car. Years later, John said about his mother’s death, “It was the worst thing that happened to me.  We’d caught up so much, me and Julia, in just a few years.  We could communicate.  We got on.  She was great… That ‘s really … everything!  I’ve no responsibility to anyone now” (Goldman, p.77).   This abandonment is clearly shown through his later songs and writings.  Songs such as A Hard Days Night and Nowhere Man express the anger and pain of John’s search for the love he never had.

John taught himself to play music.  First he was interested in pop music.  Using a mouth organ, he began duplicating the songs he heard on the radio.  Also, his mother knew how to play the banjo.  When visiting her, he loved listening to her music so much that she bought him a second- hand guitar.  John taught himself to play that guitar, in spite of his aunt, Mimi Smith, who was raising him at the time.  A strict disciplinarian, Mimi would not allow John to bring a guitar into her home.  She believed that he would never make a living that way.  Nevertheless, John learned to play the guitar and formed his first group, The Quarrymen.  While playing with this group, John Lennon was introduced to Paul McCartney.

Paul balanced John in two ways.  He knew more about music and came from a strong family background.  Paul McCartney, like the rest of the Beatles, was brought up in a lower class than John.  Paul’s father, Jim McCartney, was a salesperson in the Liverpool Cotton Exchange.  After losing everything, when the market collapsed, he survived by working hard and minding his money.  These are the same qualities that Paul has demonstrated throughout his life.  Paul’s mother was a successful mid-wife until she died in 1966.  Paul had to work for what he earned.

“Paul learned music from his father, who was also a musician with a local ragtime band” (Goldman p.68). When Paul was fourteen, he bought a guitar and thought there was something wrong with it.  It was months before he figured out he was left-handed.  Early in his career, Paul went to watch The Quarrymen.  He not only watched the band, but was able to audition as well.  It was at this audition that Paul noticed how little John Lennon knew about playing the guitar.  Paul remembers that John was holding the guitar wrong and was faking the words.  John always thought that the group’s lack of formal training was what made their sound so unique.  The truth is that, in the beginning, the group was copying everyone from Little Richard to Roy Orbison.  John learned how to play the guitar through Paul and Bert Wheedon’s guitar book.  Wheedon was Britain’s original guitar- man.  Paul later introduced John to George Harrison.

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        George Harrison brought ideas and perseverance to the band.  At age fourteen, he was first introduced to The Quarrymen in Garston.  Paul had been playing with the Quarrymen and asked George to come watch them perform.  Paul convinced John to listen to George.  Paul wanted John to see that George was a better guitarist. George had taught himself to play the guitar and was actually able to play melodies instead of just strumming the guitar.  At a young age, George always thought that he wasn’t good at playing the guitar.  It took about a year until John was able to ...

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Essay on Beatlemania.
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  • Word Count
    2921
  • Page Count
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  • Level
    AS and A Level
  • Subject
    Media Studies
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