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John Whitehead's Commentary

The Day the Dream Died: 30 Years Since the Beatles' Breakup

John Whitehead
Although the Beatles' career lasted only eight years, with a mere l0 1/2 hours of recorded music (22 singles and 14 albums), their impact is unprecedented.

The four young men from Liverpool and their music arguably constituted the single most important agent of cultural revolution in their time. But Beatle history not only mirrors the culture of their time, it also impacts the present. From the early Hamburg-Liverpool days as punks in the Cavern to lovable mop tops to drug-inspired music to a brief fascination with Eastern religion to the individualized style of each Beatle, the composite of music history in terms of style seems to be repeating itself in the music and youth culture of the present.

A casual listen to groups such as REM, Oasis, Flaming Lips, Built to Spill, Smashing Pumpkins and Fiona Apple reflects the lingering effect of the Beatles. Where Bob Dylan had created the mode for the new generation, the Beatles gave it a universal link through music. Thereafter, rock music became the international language of youth.

The Beatle phenomenon began with their acceptance in the United States. The Beatles did not just come to America in 1964; they invaded it. For a month, the Beatles performed to shrieking, squealing audiences as the"Bealtemania" that had gripped Great Britain in 1963 enthralled America. Beatlemania was an instant fad, and soon many of the '60s generation abandoned crewcuts for long bangs and black boots.

The Beatles, however, quickly proved they were more than a fad. And with their innovative first film, A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles showed they could engage in social commentary as they irreverently mocked middle-class materialism and authority. Despite an apparently harmless façade, the Beatles introduced a very subtle generational revolt.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, called "the greatest composers since Beethoven" as early as 1963, steadily improved their lyrics and music compositions. This lasted through the Beatles' final album, Abbey Road, in 1969.

With their 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the Beatles incorporated the group's art background, literally fusing pop art and music. This album initiated the "Summer of Love." The world seemed to stop and listen. As Tim Riley has written in his book on the Beatles: "The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released."

But by 1968, students were rioting and revolution was in the air. Along with it, the wall of solidarity that had united the Beatles began to crack. The tension was so high on the recording of The White Album that Ringo announced he was quitting the group, although he later returned.

The artistic greatness and business disputes evident in the making of The White Album spilled over to Let It Be. The film counterpart to Let It Be, released in 1970, shows the group's interpersonal strains.

In essence, what appeared to give the Beatles insight--drugs--later seemed to pull them apart. Drugs led, in part, to the different paths they pursued as individuals until the last track on their final album, "The End."

By early April of 1970, it should have been evident that the group was finished. McCartney was quoted on April 2 as saying: "We all have to ask each other's permission before any of us does anything without the other three ... We're talking about peace and love but really, we're not feeling peaceful at all."

Then on April 10, the hammer fell in the form of front-page news about McCartney quitting the Beatles. "I don't know whether the break will be temporary or permanent," Paul said. John Lennon, when asked about Paul's departure, responded enigmatically: "You can say I said jokingly, he didn't quit, he was fired." The split, thus, was final.

The Beatles emerged from the grayness of the '50s when magic and religion were on a decline. Scholars were asking whether God was dead. Then came the Beatles, who reinstated magic. They were, as Professor Wilfred Mellers once wrote, "simultaneously magicians (dream-weavers), priests (ritual celebrants), entertainers (whiling away empty time), and artists (incarnating and reflecting feeling--rather than thoughts--and perhaps the conscience of a generation)."

The Beatles were folk heroes. And insofar as they were representative of the electronic age, they were metamorphosed into gods--as Lennon said, quite literally, if momentarily, more influential than Jesus Christ.

And for a decade, we pined for them to reunite and break the leisure-suit bleakness of the '70s and bring back the magic. But a maniac brought all that to an end. As John Lennon staggered his last few steps some 20 years ago, bleeding from chest wounds ripped by an assassin's bullets, the dream as well tottered, reeled and died. The earth moved ever so slightly, and the magic was gone. And with it, the hopes of a generation.

WC: 823

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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