Introduction
The Beatles took England by storm with their rock and roll music in the late 1950s, and by the early 1960s, their influence had reached the United States. The band comprised Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr, commonly known as the Fab Four. The band, originally from Liverpool, had its first success in Germany, where it got sponsors before dominating England and Europe in the following year. The crew penetrated the US market only after the “I Want to Hold Your Hand” hit was released in 1963 and became a hit in 1964. The band was known worldwide, and its tunes were famous even in non-English speaking countries, including Brazil and Japan. The cultural influence of The Beatles was not just limited to the Western world because their songs were translated into different languages. The Fab Four had a significant impact on the American music industry, culture, and social life. Changes in culture were noticed most vividly by how people varied their dressing styles to reflect the band members. The Beatles affected the American culture by influencing its style, music, mode of concerts, videography, and television subscribership, among other contemporary aspects.
The Beatles had a massive impact on the culture of most people in the United States and changed the way music is viewed as an art. Many have argued that no band has had more impact on popular music and culture than The Beatles (Whitt 116). Great Britain, where the band originated, was the most greatly influenced, and the US was not very far behind. US citizens were very susceptible to change during the 1960s as many young people were trying to move from the traditional approaches to life. The Beatles released albums with impressive covers in terms of art and rarely released singles. Since they were successful, the four were highly imitated by both musicians and would-be bands. The band’s music genre generally influenced people of all cultures. Thus, it was a significant uniting factor in a somewhat divided nation. In almost all facets of culture, an open-minded individual can find this band had an influence. Today, America cannot be attributed to a single event, generation, or person, but some have had more influence than others; people place The Beatles in that category.
Style
When The Beatles first arrived in the US on 9th February 1964, the journalists did not focus on their excellent music but on their hairstyle, which they criticized as shaggy. Little did they know that most American young boys and girls would try to imitate their dress code as soon as they landed and for the following years. Beatlemania, the name given to their diehard fans, had a habit of imitating what the four wore, especially the fine suits associated with the four (Engelskircher 55). When the band landed at the newly named JKF airport, their dress code differed from a typical American dress in 1964, which has remained to date. Since today’s youth have scant knowledge of who Paul, John, George, and Ringo were, some may find it surprising if you tell them that they influenced their hairstyle. Nonetheless, this would be true because, at the peak of The Beatles’ career, most teenagers had changed from the well-trimmed hair look to “shaggy mushroom haircuts,” as journalists had described them.
They Catalysed the Growth of Rock Music
Although the rock genre started in America, by 1964, a time The Beatles were topping the charts, rock and roll music in the US was far behind compared to other music genres. When the band first started performing across the country, many people did not think they had a chance. Rock music was in decline, and if American bands could not penetrate the market, then the British had no chance, many argued. Nevertheless, the four proved critics wrong when their hits dominated American top music charts for decades. Although they were not the only famous British musicians of the period, they were the most popular. The bands that imitated the style of the four enjoyed success to varying degrees. This spread initiated by the band was an instrument for mediation and understanding between people of different cultures (Engelskircher 102). Rock and roll music had also gained back its popularity, and new artists copying The Beatles’ techniques were able to gain some recognition and following.
They Brought the Charity Rock Concerts
At their peak, the fanatism of people towards The Beatles in the US was phenomenal. Although the term “Beatlemania” was coined in Britain, many Americans in this era did fit the description. People’s massive interest in the band was channeled into other productive avenues, such as charity events. The Beatles introduced rock charity concerts in the country, and many donations were made during these performances. The Beatles were copied by other rock bands, and by 1966 rock charity concerts were very common in the country. Cultural capital, which is achieved by assimilating into a group, was a massive contributor to people copying the style of The Beatles (Engelskircher 113). These concerns and other related events instilled a generous culture in the American population, and even today, the US is one of the most giving countries in the world.
They Brought Back the British Invasion
The popularity of The Beatles came when the US was mourning the loss of John F Kennedy. Many people said that the joy the band had brought somehow filled the gap left by the assassinated president. In addition, the band merged the cultures of Britain and the US, with the language being a more identifiable concept as most of their songs fitted and imitated American English. A famous statement among the band’s lovers was that Britain had lost its colony in 1776, but it regained it back in 1964 through The Beatles (Nunez and Azzi 34). Today, when Americans speak, their English is vastly different from the British, but it has been identified that the song language is more common. This change is directly attributable to the US’s British rock & roll invasion in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Changed the Music Taste
The success of The Beatles in the US changed the taste of music for many, forcing many musicians to transition to the more popular genre. Many artists were driven out of the industry, including specific groups that the band loved to listen to. Though the impact of the group on the taste in music has been shown to have started before The Beatles’ dominance, it is evident that when the group offered a chance to transition, many Americans were willing to jump on and enjoy the ride. The Fab Four, as people called them, arrived in a time of cultural, economic, and technological change and, in a way, became pioneers of the cultural revolution of the 1960s. The rigid cultural norms that characterized agrarian societies gave way to norms allowing most individuals freedom of choice (Inglehart et al. 5). This autonomy was also reflected in the music tastes and preferences as the young people in this era were rebellious to most cultural norms. The population of the time did not want forever music during this age, and it demanded the hits of the now, and the Fab Four delivered precisely that.
Other Cultural Influences
Television subscribership in America rose during this era as many people wanted to see their favorite band perform. Videography was greatly influenced by The Beatles, especially the rock and roll ones. Many producers felt imitating the band’s art of filming their performances would charm Beatlemania into loving their productions. The Beatles also promoted the animation culture prevalent in the US today through their movie “Yellow Submarine.” Their creative album cover works were so touching and fascinating that many artists today see fit to imitate them. O’Roark explains that the music industry pioneered the group in the 1960s and 70s, leading to American youth being more rebellious and thus ready to match the civil rights movements and anti-war campaigns (44). The Beatles were not only a musical but a cultural phenomenon that transcended racial and social classes.
Conclusion
The Beatles, along with John F. Kennedy, have been widely cited as the dream figures of the US in the 1960s. They had a considerable influence on American culture, from dressing to the hairstyles seen today. Alongside other British bands, the Liverpool group caused what many have described as the British invasion, a form of recolonization that resulted in an exchange of cultures, including the language used in both countries. The charity concerts synonymous with the band were hugely imitated and the Americans became more generous than before. In trying to gain a portion of the market share, many artists were forced to change their music genre to rock and roll. This alteration resulted in a change in taste in genre from the previous music for ages to current hits. Although The Beatles band was not the only cause of change in the above-listed cultures, its role cannot be underestimated.
Works Cited
Engelskircher, Kathrin. “Beatle Boots and Lennon Glasses – 1960s Fashion in Pop Music.” Revista 2i: Estudos de Identidade E Intermedialidade, vol. 3, no. 3, 2021, pp. 53–71.
Engelskircher, Kathrin. “Intercultural Dialogue via Music: Translating the Beatles’ Legacy into Contemporary Pop Culture.” Culture and Dialogue, vol. 9, no.1, 2021, pp. 101-126.
Nunes, Mariana Backes, and Júlia Nunes Azzi. “Did America Invade the Beatles as they Invaded America? -A Comparative Analysis on the Beatles’ Accent in Former and Later Years,” 2017.
O’Roark, B., K. Holder, and G. D. Mateer. “From the Beatles to Twenty One Pilots: Economics in Music in the Pop Culture Era.” Perspectives on Economic Education Research, vol. 11, no.1, 2018, pp. 41-57
Ronald F. Inglehart, Eduard Ponarin, Ronald C. Inglehart, Cultural Change, Slow and Fast: The Distinctive Trajectory of Norms Governing Gender Equality and Sexual Orientation, Social Forces, vol. 95, no. 4, 2017, pp. 1313-1340.
Whitt, David. Popular Music in the Classroom: Essays for Instructors. Mcfarland & Company, 2020.