First published 2014
Martin W. Sandler examines how the Beatles reshaped popular culture starting with their February 9, 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. More than seventy million Americans watched that performance, creating the largest television audience for an entertainment program at the time. Sandler argues the Beatles went far beyond musical success to become symbols of the 1960s social and cultural upheavals. The book traces how they altered the way people consumed music and understood its place in daily life. Sandler shows how their enormous popularity eventually trapped them, forcing a retreat into recording studios where they created their most influential work. The author demonstrates how their later albums changed the fundamental nature and significance of popular music itself. Readers learn how four musicians from Liverpool became the voice of a generation and left a permanent mark on American society.
Genres: 20th-century, biography-memoir, music, american-history
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-impact, voice-of-a-generation
Setting: Liverpool, United States
Period: 1964, 1960s
176 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury USA Childrens