1960s
A01=Andre Millard
Author_Andre Millard
Baby Boom
Beatles
Brian Epstein
Category=AVLP
Category=AVN
Category=AVP
Category=JBCC
Category=KNTF
Entertainment Technology
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Fan mania
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Popular Culture
Popular Music
Record business
Product details
- ISBN 9781421405254
- Weight: 318g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Jul 2012
- Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The fame, talent, and success of the Beatles need no introduction. Nor does the world need another book exploring the band's skill and its influence on music and society in the United States, Britain, and the rest of the world. Andre Millard instead studies the Beatlemania phenomenon from an original perspective - the relationship among the music business, recording technologies, and teens and young adult culture of the era. Millard argues that, despite the Beatles' indisputable skill, they would not have attained the global recognition and been as influential without the convergence of significant developments in the way music was produced, recorded, sold, and consumed. As the Second Industrial Revolution hit full swing and baby boomers came of age, the reel-to-reel recorder and other technological advances sped the evolution of the music business. Musicians, recording studios and record labels, and music fans used and interacted with music-making and -playing technology in new ways. Higher quality machines made listening to records and the radio an experience that one could easily share with others, even if they weren't in the same physical space.
At the same time, an increase in cross-Atlantic commerce - especially of entertainment products - led to a freer exchange of ideas and styles of expression, notably among the middle and lower classes in the U.S. and the UK. At that point, Millard argues, the Beatles rode their remarkable musicianship and cultural savvy to an unprecedented bond with their fans-and spawned Beatlemania. Refreshing and insightful, "Beatlemania" offers a deeper understanding the days of the Fab Four and the band's long-term effects on the business and culture of pop music.
Andre Millard is a professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the author of several books, including The Electric Guitar: A History of an American Icon, also published by Johns Hopkins.
