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Curse of Beatlemania
LewRockwell.com ^ | 1/12/2002 | Joseph Sobran

Posted on 01/13/2002 9:55:09 AM PST by UnBlinkingEye

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To: MarkWar, BluesDuke, NYCVirago
The greatest contribution the Beach Boys made to pop music was splitting up.
41 posted on 01/13/2002 11:54:19 AM PST by jjbrouwer
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To: UnBlinkingEye
the Beatles were imposed on us by publicists and marketers

I absolutely agree!

First of all...I love the Beatle's music.

I was a dj in the 50-60's and my faves were Benny Goodman, Les Elgart, Vic Damone, Frank, Ralph Flanagan, et al.

When the "Haircuts" came over I was really pis*ed at the attention they got..........but as years went by I began to appreciate their music and even started picking a few numbers on the guitar...."When I'm Sixty-four" still breaks my wife up.

But we got sucked in by the Madison Avenue "suits" who decide who is gonna be a big seller regardless of their talent.

How many trumpeters other than Winton Marsalis (sic) have you heard about in recent years? HOw many cellists other than Yo Yo Ma. Remember Fabian? Is Britanny Spears all that hot?

Hell NO!

These media moguls sit around and decide that Vanilla Ice or whoever is the 'hot' group and then hammer the kids with the appropriate propaganda.

Teeny-boopers are not known for perspicacity.

I wish there were a way to teach kids earlier to ignore the hype and avoid the media's latest attempt to sell more CDs, etc.

42 posted on 01/13/2002 11:54:22 AM PST by JimVT
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Comment #43 Removed by Moderator

To: sharktrager
Excellent point. The Beatles were a proven talent before comign to the US. I do feel that first US appearances were somewhat as a result of hype. But that melted away almost immediately when the songs were heard and liked. It's ludacrist to lay off the Beatles instant popularity simply to hype. Fans have to buy into the product. The hype as Sobran addresses it, was simply a P.R. campaign. The kids were introduced to the Beatles. They liked. The rest is history.

As I said before, if the P.R. had been orchestrated for a non-deserving group, there'd have been empty seats at performances and albums would not have sold.

It's a little difficult to attribute record sales and sold out appearances as purely the result of hype. And it's a losing proposition to do so, as Sorbran is about to find out.

44 posted on 01/13/2002 11:54:47 AM PST by DoughtyOne
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To: The Wizard
What about the great one, Mr. Berlin

He was a little before my time, but I loved the score to White Christmas. I'm sure there are many more Irving Berlin songs I know and like, but I'm not very well educated on his music.

45 posted on 01/13/2002 11:56:20 AM PST by UnBlinkingEye
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To: UnBlinkingEye
wrote their own songs

This isn't quite true. In fact their first big record was named My Bonnie, which is something of a folk song. Actually it was the demand for this song that brought them to the notice of the owner of the record store (NEMS). The owner's name was Brian Epstein and through him they became famous.

I still prefer the Searchers.

46 posted on 01/13/2002 11:56:52 AM PST by scouse
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To: UnBlinkingEye; BluesDuke
Maybe I should have said it this way: Producers got the idea after they saw the Beatles and realized how much money could be made. That's more of what I meant; it gave them the idea for bubble gum pop.
47 posted on 01/13/2002 11:58:15 AM PST by geaux
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To: geaux
The Beatles and the Aquarian Conspiracy

An outstanding example of social conditioning to accept change, even when it is recognized as unwelcome change by the large population group in the sights of Stanford Research Institute, was the "advent" of the BEATLES. The Beatles were brought to the United States as part of a social experiment which would subject large population groups to brainwashing of which they were not even aware.

When Tavistock brought the Beatles to the United States nobody could have imagined the cultural disaster that was to follow in their wake. The Beatles were an integral part of "THE AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY," a living organism which sprang From "THE CHANGING IMAGES OF MAN," URH (489)-2150-Policy Research Report No. 4/4/74. Policy Report pre-pared by SRI Center for the study of Social Policy, Director, Professor Willis Harmon.

The phenomenon of the Beatles was not a spontaneous rebellion by youth against the old social system. Instead it was a carefully crafted plot to introduce by a conspiratorial body which could not be identified, a highly destructive and divisive element into a large population group targeted for change against its will. New words and new phrases--prepared by Tavistock(1)-- were introduced to America along with the Beatles. Words such as "rock" in relation to music sounds, "teenager," "cool," "discovered" and "pop music" were a lexicon of disguised code words signifying the acceptance of drugs and arrived with and accompanied the Beatles wherever they went, to be "discovered" by "teenagers." Incidentally, the word "teenagers" was never used until just before the Beatles arrived on the scene, courtesy of the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations.

As in the case of gang wars, nothing could or would have been accomplished without the cooperation of the media, especially the electronic media and, in particular, the scurrilous Ed Sullivan who had been coached by the conspirators as to the role he was to play. Nobody would have paid much attention to the motley crew from Liverpool and the 12-atonal system of "music" that was to follow had it not been for an overabundance of press exposure. The 12-atonal system consisted of heavy, repetitive sounds, taken from the music of the cult of Dionysus and the Baal priesthood by Adorno and given a "modern" flavor by this special friend of the Queen of England and hence the Committee of 300.

Tavistock and its Stanford Research Center created trigger words which then came into general usage around "rock music" and its fans. Trigger words created a distinct new break-away largely young population group which was persuaded by social engineering and conditioning to believe that the Beatles really were their favorite group. All trigger words devised in the context of "rock music" were designed for mass control of the new targeted group, the youth of America.

The Beatles did a perfect job, or perhaps it would be more correct to say that Tavistock and Stanford did a perfect job, the Beatles merely reacting like trained robots "with a little help from their friends"--code words for using drugs and making it "cool." The Beatles became a highly visible "new type"-- more Tavistock jargon--and as such it was not long before the group made new styles (fads in clothing, hairstyles and language usage) which upset the older generation, as was intended. This was part of the "fragmentation-maladaptation" process worked out by Willis Harmon and his team of social scientists and genetic engineering tinkerers and put into action.

The role of the print and electronic media in our society is crucial to the success of brainwashing large population groups. Gang wars ended in Los Angeles in 1966 as the media withdrew its coverage. The same thing will happen with the current wave of gang wars in Los Angeles. Street gangs will wither on the vine once media saturation coverage is toned down and then completely withdrawn. As in 1966, the issue would become "burned out." Street gangs will have served their purpose of creating turbulence and insecurity. Exactly the same pattern will be followed in the case of "rock" music. Deprived of media attention, it will eventually take its place in history.

Following the Beatles, who incidentally were put together by the Tavistock Institute, came other "Made in England" rock groups, who, like the Beatles, had Theo Adorno write their cult lyrics and compose all the "music." I hate to use these beautiful words in the context of "Beatlemania"; it reminds me of how wrongly the word "lover" is used when referring to the filthy interaction between two homosexuals writhing in pigswill. To call "rock" music, is an insult, likewise the language used in "rock lyrics."

Tavistock and Stanford Research then embarked on the second phase of the work commissioned by the Committee of 300. This new phase turned up the heat for social change in America. As quickly as the Beatles had appeared on the American scene, so too did the "beat generation," trigger words designed to separate and fragment society. The media now focused its attention on the "beat generation." Other Tavistock-coined words came seemingly out of nowhere: "beatniks," "hippies," "flower children" became part of the vocabulary of America. It became popular to "drop out" and wear dirty jeans, go about with long unwashed hair. The "beat generation" cut itself off from main-stream America. They became just as infamous as the cleaner Beatles before them.

48 posted on 01/13/2002 11:58:31 AM PST by ActionNewsBill
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To: Lazarus Long
If not for Bloomfield's and EC's switch to the LP, the '57 - '60 models would most likely be just another vintage guitar.

They weren't even considered vintages before Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton picked them up. The old Les Paul line was all but worthless until those two began playing them. Bloomfield and Clapton had each bought theirs at bargain prices in the second hand shops. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Bloomfield might have been moved to buy his after picking up on Freddie King's earlier music, since Freddie King in the beginning played a 1954 Les Paul goldtop model; in fact, he is shown playing one on his early 1960s album (and it's a classic album for any blues lover), Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King (as King Records was spelling his name in those days). He didn't switch to the bigger ES-355 until somewhere around 1969.

It was Bloomfield's and Clapton's popularity which triggered the unexpected upswing of interest in the old Les Pauls, provoking Gibson to revive the line (they'd made the SG into its own series, without the Les Paul designation, in 1964; Les Paul himself, interestingly, wasn't as thrilled with the SG as with the original Les Paul, though he played an SG on his 1967 album, Les Paul Now). Likewise, it was Clapton's popularity which put a huge jump into SG sales when his psychedelic-painted model became so familiar to Cream audiences (though John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Sam Andrew of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and - believe it or not - Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead turned up playing SGs in the earlier psychedelic era; not to mention, George Harrison played an SG for some numbers on the Beatles' final American tour in 1966).

The original Les Pauls were well along the way as hunted collectibles by the time Jimmy Page ambled along slinging his Les Paul Deluxe - Page had played a Fender Telecaster for his earlier career (with a God-awful botched psychedelic paint job on it, yet), including his entire term in the Yardbirds (1966-68); if anything, Peter Green (Clapton's successor in the Mayall group, before he formed the original Fleetwood Mac - his Les Paul was legendary for its pickups being set backward, producing a particularly distinct tone to its sound; Gary Moore is said to own that guitar now) and Jeff Beck had actually beaten Page to the Les Paul, playing one for most of the life of the original Jeff Beck Group. But it was Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton who got there first and launched, without exactly thinking they were doing so, the resurrection of the line and the collectible interest, pretty much as Jimi Hendrix would do with the Fender Stratocaster. (I remember, after CBS bought Fender, musicians catching onto differences and advertising guitars for sale as "pre-CBS" for extra value; interestingly, Hendrix didn't seem to mind playing the CBS-era Strat as well as the pre-CBS model. Hendrix was also known to sling a Gibson Flying V once in awhile, though that model is better associated with a fellow southpaw - blues giant Albert King - and with the Kinks' Dave Davies.)
49 posted on 01/13/2002 12:01:03 PM PST by BluesDuke
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To: jwfiv
That long East-West tune has been a favorite for 33 years now. GREAT little masterpiece, it was/is.

I haven't listened to it in a long time, my albums are all boxed up and put away in a closet. I still have a turntable though, probably be fun to pull the old albums out again.

50 posted on 01/13/2002 12:01:14 PM PST by UnBlinkingEye
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To: JimVT
How about the Monkees? That was a group that was imposed on the public by marketeers. Even though some of their songs are Ok, they wrote very few of them and had studio musicians to help them. That had to be the most commercial attempt on pop music salesmanship ever made.
51 posted on 01/13/2002 12:01:42 PM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: UnBlinkingEye
I also have a Les Paul Custom sitting next to me as I type.

I have an SG Custom next to me. Beautiful guitar...
52 posted on 01/13/2002 12:02:15 PM PST by BluesDuke
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To: scouse
In fact their first big record was named My Bonnie, which is something of a folk song.

You're correct in saying they didn't write all of the songs they recorded, but the overwhelming number of songs they recorded were their own compositions. I think they were the backup band for another singer on 'My Bonnie'.

53 posted on 01/13/2002 12:04:49 PM PST by UnBlinkingEye
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To: MarkWar
And our thinking then was pretty clear and I still believe in it today: WHY even "import" the Beatles? We had the Beach Boys and we had Jefferson Airplane and we had The Doors -- any kind of music you wanted to hear, we had already! WHO THE HELL NEEDED THOSE WIMPY MOP TOPS WITH THEIR OH-SO-CUTE PRESS CONFERENCES?

It appears that your memory is faulty. *We* had the Beach Boys, but since Jefferson Airplane didn't release their first record until '65, and the Doors until '67, they weren't around at the time you were claiming (February 1964 was when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan.)

54 posted on 01/13/2002 12:06:09 PM PST by NYCVirago
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To: JimVT
But we got sucked in by the Madison Avenue "suits" who decide who is gonna be a big seller regardless of their talent.

I am put in mind of a comment by Voyle Gilmore, a vice president of Capitol Records at the time they finally agreed to give the Beatles a try in the U.S. in late 1963 (Capitol had originally turned them down; hence, the earlier issues of the Beatles' records on the Chicago R and B indie Vee Jay to indifferent response - Vee Jay wasn't exactly adept at even simple promotion, even if they had the Four Seasons and Jimmy Reed at the time): There was a lot of hype. But all the hype in the world isn't going to sell a bad product. And, with various exceptions, that is still true.
55 posted on 01/13/2002 12:06:14 PM PST by BluesDuke
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To: BluesDuke
don't forget the beatles' cover of burt bacharach's "a taste of honey." the stanzas are, well, what can you do with that, anyway, but the choruses, esp. the walking bass, are truly outstanding.
56 posted on 01/13/2002 12:09:28 PM PST by johnboy
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To: ActionNewsBill
The "beat generation" cut itself off from main-stream America. They became just as infamous as the cleaner Beatles before them.

You're scary.

The Beatles name was due in part to a play on Beatnik a fifties counterculture group. I don't think Tavistock put the Beatles together, they were all kids from Liverpool who got together on their own.

57 posted on 01/13/2002 12:11:42 PM PST by UnBlinkingEye
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To: jwfiv
That long East-West tune has been a favorite for 33 years now. GREAT little masterpiece, it was/is.

There is, in case you didn't know, a CD available featuring three different versions of "East-West" played by the original Butterfield Blues Band in three different live performances. Worth the ticket and then some.
58 posted on 01/13/2002 12:12:16 PM PST by BluesDuke
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To: scouse
In fact their first big record was named My Bonnie, which is something of a folk song.

"Big" record? Reality check: It went nowhere, even with that kid in NEMS asking Brian Epstein for a copy he'd never even heard of (in Liverpool, the record sold barely a thousand copies, and only to those who already liked the local favourite Beatles), and the Beatles were only hired to be the backing group - the record was supposed to be Tony Sheridan's breakthrough, but bombed. That version of "My Bonnie" didn't go anywhere until, somehow, MGM Records picked it up for release in spring 1964, when the Beatles were hogging the top six spots on the sales charts, five of which were their own compositions (I repeat, they had no control over what got released in the States at first, and it wasn't their idea to issue "Twist and Shout" as a single, though it was one of their concert raveup numbers).
59 posted on 01/13/2002 12:15:32 PM PST by BluesDuke
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To: ActionNewsBill
The Beatles and the Aquarian Conspiracy

Did you write that post with a tinfoil hat on?

60 posted on 01/13/2002 12:16:21 PM PST by NYCVirago
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