John Lennon

The Beatles White Album:

But by 1968 the rot had started. The tendrils of exploitation were creeping in. Revolution was big business. Money bred excess. The values were already being undermined and trust tested. The casualties were beginning to surface. Reality hit home. In San Francisco in October 1967, they held a march for ‘The Death of Hippie’ in protest at how the values had become commercialised. The ‘Summer of Love’ was officially dead. The sharing culture, love and peace, equality and freedom, was tainted.

   Incredibly, The Beatles had not only risen with the tide but had adopted a leading role in this revolution.  What had started as a standard rhythm and blues (r&b)/rock ‘n’ roll cover band, had developed into a highly original teeny-bop band that had taken the whole world by storm with their energy, originality and effervescent personalities. That might have been it if they had not been so clever and creative, so eager to absorb new ideas and develop. Their infamous meeting with Bob Dylan in August 1964, the experimentation with pot and acid, the delving into Indian music, folk, country, electronic and blues coupled with their interest in Beat poetry, art and fashion, set them apart from their contemporaries. They absorbed and evolved; always enthusiastically pushing the limits. The songwriting became more varied and sophisticated with greater depth of poetic lyric coupled to expanding musicality. The folkie essence of Beatles For Sale evolved into the harder pop-rock of the soundtrack Help and thenveered off into greater elaboration with Rubber Soul whichsaw the beginning of a new type of songwriting ultimately exploding into full ferocity in Revolver. The Beatles had transitioned. By 1967, with the help of George Martin and all the possibilities of unlimited studio time and the latest equipment, that transition culminated in the psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It set a new standard in writing, performing and complexity. Rock music had come of age and even the most avant garde bands were looking to the Beatles to set the standard.

Opher Goodwin

The Beatles – The White Album (Rock Classics) eBook : Goodwin, Opher: Amazon.co.uk: Books