How the Beatles Changed America

It would not be an overstatement to say that the Beatles defined and reshaped American

culture in the 60’s by bringing old cultural ideas to a new place and by sparking some new

cultural ideas in the process. The Beatles spear-headed the musical and cultural revolution here

in America, known as the British Invasion. Of course there were other influencers and musicians

that followed them here and found success, but none of them had quite the cultural impact on

American culture as the “Fab Four” did. In this case study, I will analyze the ways in which the

Beatles changed American society in different aspects of music, clothing and style, social

movements, and the mood of the American people.

Just like every other country's cultures around the world, music is a huge extension of

American Culture. By far, the Beatles’ largest impact was on American music. Before the

Beatles arrived, “the (post-war) frustrations, desires, fears and resentments of a young generation

provided much of the energy and many of the concerns of rock n roll.” (Grossberg, 106) America

had known it’s share of a rebellious rock n roll craze with people like Elvis Presely and Buddy

Holly, but the state of rock n roll was almost gone before the Beatles arrived. As Rolling Stone

states, “America had mostly left rock & roll behind. Buddy Holly had died, Jerry Lee Lewis and

Chuck Berry had been blacklisted, Elvis had joined the Army, and pioneering rock DJ Alan

Freed had been booted off the air – all these events neutered rock’s early spirit and hindered its

future” (Rolling Stone). Popular music in the 1950’s filled the gap between traditional music and

classical composition, and even though rock n roll was a part of popular music culture in the

50’s, “its variants were very much part of lowbrow culture, which was rarely seen as possessing

artistic merit until the mid-1960s” (Halliwell, 122), which is when the Beatles had their breakout

into American culture.

 With the Beatles’ arrival in 1964, a revival of the genre came with them due to their new

and exciting sound. They featured very new musical ideas such as distortion, and incorporated

sounds from the middle east, such as sitars. They introduced the idea that rock songs don't

always need to be upbeat and happy and they were one of the first groups to experiment with

psychedelic rock. They were always redefining their sound and trying to push the genre of rock

in new directions that were foreign to American ears. It’s for this very reason that the Beatles

still hold records in the music industry to this day. In an article written by the Daily News, “the

McCartney-penned song “Yesterday” is one of the most recorded songs in history with more

than 2,200 cover versions to date,” (Daily News). Some of the other big things the Beatles

introduced to the music industry were mass, live, stadium concerts, intriguing conceptual album

covers and lead the start of putting music videos to their songs. This is important because, up

until the 60’s, America was the center for where a lot of other cultures around the world drew

their musical inspiration and then incorporated it into their cultures musical sound. This was one

of the first times in awhile that America was able to incorporate other cultures' musical sounds

and enjoy them. The Beatles also influenced the way the music industry functions and promotes

artists in today's society.

Another big part of cultures across the world is style and clothing. Before the Beatles

spread their influence, the style of the 50’s was “used to set a common standard of look. This

meant that not many choices of dramatically different styles were available throughout the

decade. A lot of clothing was similar in shape and silhouette but varied in color, pattern or type

of fabric...for men, fashions changed very little throughout the decade. Choices were suits, sport

coats, slacks, sweaters, or casual wear all in similar fabrics and styles. Occasionally bolder

patterns might emerge for casual wear, but business clothing remained largely unchanged during
the fifties, as well as pompadours and buzz cuts for hairstyles,” (The People History). This was a

very distinct difference in style compared to the style the Beatles introduced in the 60’s. If you

knew the Beatles, you would hear them referred to by many as “mop-tops.” This is because of

the specific hair style the band adopted that became the way many adults and teens of the decade

wore their hair. Their hairstyle was so popular that it even changed the business and marketing

industries. In a quote from an article on Times Reporter, “Their hair-style led toy manufacturers

to begin producing real-hair and plastic ‘Beatle Wigs.’ Lowell Toy Manufacturing Corp. of New

York was licensed to make ‘the only AUTHENTIC Beatle Wig’” (Huffman). They also brought

into popular fashion “bright colorful patterned shirts and heeled boots” as well as “Indian style

clothing such as, collarless shirts and sandals” (Huffman). This was able to let American teens of

this decade, and other teens across the world, gain a sense of identity and they were given a way

to channel their rebelliousness.

The American spirit was immensely crushed right before the arrival of the Beatles. The

country had one of it’s most shocking tragedies happen. This tragedy was the assasination of

president John F. Kennedy. This event killed and demoralized american culture and was sure to

cast a dark shadow on the rest of the decade, until the Beatles came. The Beatles’ emergence of

peppy, joyful love songs was able to pull America out of a cultural depression and open

themselves back up to the rest of the world to embrace new cultural ideas and the new cultural

exchange with Britain. British artists were celebrated in America as were American stars and

artists in Britain.

The Beatles’ influence even spread post music and pop culture into religion. During a

time in society where Christianity was the religious affiliation of the majority of Americans,

through their trips to India, they introduced the spiritual culture of the Middle East into American
culture for the first time. According to another article published in Rolling Stone by Clair

Hoffman, “A year later, the Beatles would go to India. Out of that trip came not just the band’s

epic White Album and Donovan’s “Hurdy-Gurdy Man,” but a seismic shift in the popular

understanding of Eastern spirituality, meditation and music. It also was the beginning of a

strange relationship between the Beatles and the meditation movement that they inadvertently

popularized. Not to mention the rise of an Indian guru who shaped my own life” (Hoffman). This

is important because prior to the Beatles and their transcendental spirituality movement,

Americans were settled in a “God-fearing culture that united through Chritianity against atheistic

Communists after a heated post Cold War,” (Mart, 109). Because of this, Americans in the 50’s

closed off their acceptance and indulgence in other religions so they could rally the American

culture around a Chritian mindset. It was only until several years after the tensions against

Communism were put on the back burner and the American culture was able to unalienate itself

with the Beatles arrival, were the Beatles able to introduce the idea of different religions back

into American culture through their music and self image. Americans were able to open up their

beliefs to adopt transcendental meditation and gain a new cultural perspective on Indian

spirituality as well as their clothing as mentioned before which is something never before

exposed to mainstream America.

So looking back on what has been analyzed, the effect of the Beatles spread much farther

than just bringing together musical cultures and by influencing the way that the American music

industry functions today. They were able to extend their influence they had into the way

American teens dressed, the way they invested their faith and spirituality and they also were able

to change the whole mood and mentality of a nation after one of it’s toughest tragedies by taking

British culture and using it to revive rock n roll in America.

 Works Cited

Daily News. “10 Ways the Beatles Changed American Culture.” Daily News, Daily News, 28

Aug. 2017, www.dailynews.com/2014/02/06/10-ways-the-beatles-changed-american-culture/.

Edmonds, Kemp. “How The Beatles Changed Music.” Digital Media Academy, 17 July 2019,

www.digitalmediaacademy.org/2016/01/21/how-the-beatles-changed-music-2/.

Grossberg, Lawrence. “The Politics of Youth Culture: Some Observations on Rock and Roll in

American Culture.” Social Text, no. 8, 1983, pp. 104–126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/466325.

Accessed 12 Feb. 2020.

Hoffman, Claire. “How the Beatles in India Changed America.” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018,

www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/how-the-beatles-in-india-changed-america-

201531/.

Huffman, Rex. “Five Ways The Beatles Changed the World.” Times Reporter, Times Reporter, 9

Feb. 2014, www.timesreporter.com/article/20140208/NEWS/140209379.

Mart, Michelle. “The ‘Christianization’ of Israel and Jews in 1950s America.” Religion and

American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, vol. 14, no. 1, 2004, pp. 109–147. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rac.2004.14.1.109. Accessed 12 Feb. 2020.

Nash, Allana. “The Beatles: 7 Ways the Fab Four Changed America.” The Fiscal Times, The

Fiscal Times, 7 Feb. 2014, www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/07/Beatles-7-Ways-Fab-

Four-Changed-America.

Pearson, Steve. “Clothes and Men's and Ladies Fashions in the 1950's Prices and Examples.”

The People History, www.thepeoplehistory.com/50sclothes.html.

Rolling Stone. “How the Beatles Took America.” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018,

www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-the-beatles-took-america-inside-the-biggest-

explosion-in-rock-roll-history-244557/.
Part 1:
Please write 300ish words below reflecting on your process of composing this paper and what
you learned in that process. Address issues including (in no particular order) how completing a
peer review for your peer helped you revise your own project, how your peer’s feedback
helped you revise your project, how this project has helped you better understand the
discourse of your field and profession, what you might still revise in your project if you were
able to do it again, what about your process of writing (brainstorming, drafting, revising,
polishing) was helpful and what might you change in the future about your process, and other
points about your process that you think are relevant for reflection. Be sure that you are
primarily reflecting on your process of writing and not only on what you learned about the
content about which you wrote (although you can address that also). Additionally, be sure you
spend some time on this and be honest with yourself. It is not enough to say “I didn't learn
anything from my peer review” or “I didn’t learn anything about my field or profession”. You
will want to spend some time reflecting because you will be asked to use this reflection again at
the end of the seven weeks.

This assignment was a challenge for me in terms of making sure I chose the right things
to say and then also in terms of making sure I talked about both before and after. In my draft,
based on peer review and professor comments I seemed to write very one sided on my topic at
first but as I took in the comments I was able to gain a better understanding on the context i
needed to give on my argument. Before, I was just giving the points of my argument without
stating the history before my case study. I think that after diving deep into music with different
aspects was definitely interesting and it gave me a very cool insight on what musician scholars
thought of rock n roll in its early years. If I was able to do it again, I might try to revise the way I
did my sources. I approached finding my sources in a weird order that caused me to backtrack a
lot when I was initially searching and then when I had to revise. I definitely want to keep
working on the way I look for sources and make it more refined and efficient. I also want to try
brainstorming key sentences and form my words and sentences better before just putting them
on the page, that way I can get the closest to what I want to say, that way when I go back to
revise, it{s much less work. Overall, I thought this was a very different writing process than I
usually go through, mostly because of the conciseness of this project. Usually, research papers
can seem like information dump to me but this one, I had to be more reserved in how much I
said and I had to be more choosy on what I thought was important.

Part 2:
Please complete the self-assessment below, including the points and comments section.
Please spend some time on this and complete it honestly with points and comments. I will also
use this when I grade your final product.

Each section is worth 5 points:

5=excellent, 4=good but could be improved, 3=adequate but needs significant work, 2=doesn’t quite meet the
requirements and needs significant work, 1= does not meet any of the requirements.

Category and Goals Points Student Comments Professor Comments

Genre: 4/5 I believe that after peer review and Some great revision here! I thought your intro
professor feedback, I understood the and thesis was clear, but it would have been
● Demonstrates careful case study genre better in a way I did not good to gesture even more to the larger
research and before. Overall, I think I was able to context that the case study is unpacking in
evidence for the case effectively look at the topic and answer terms of the influence of music in general on
study topic the question from multiple disciplines. culture (that the Beatles exemplify). I tend to
agree here with your self-assessment 4/5
● Demonstrates
understanding of
genre of case study
● Effectively
demonstrates
complexity in
exploring your
question and issue
● Demonstrates
engagement with
interdisciplinary/dis
ciplinary knowledge
 making
● Demonstrates
creativity and critical
thinking
● Is sufficiently
developed.
● Shows effective use
of citation
conventions.
Rhetoric: 5/5 My paper and argument has stayed on Good work here! I thought you mostly
topic for the whole paper and has been anticipated your readers’ needs, but I also
● Demonstrates effectively showing the difference in think you could have made slightly stronger
understanding of culture before and after the Beatles and topic sentences and provided even more
rhetorical situation their music came to America. larger context outside the Beatles to help us
understand the larger point you’re making.
and audience needs
Remember, this was not a report on the
in the specific Beatles, but an argument about music using
discourse. the Beatles as an example case study. 4.5/5
● Demonstrates aim
and engagement with
critical problem that
adds to the
conversation
● Demonstrates
anticipation of genre
and audience
expectations in your
own writing.
Research: 5/5 At first I did not have very scholarly Good work here also! I can see that you did
sources but I was able to find some that some significant research. How did it also
● Uses sufficient supported my argument well. inform your ideas? Additionally, although
textual examples and your citations are mostly correct, be sure that
provides sufficient the format on the page is correct and also be
evidence for claims sure that you’re always using the most
updated citation guide. 5
including, scholarly
research (with at
least 5 peer reviewed
journal articles and
primary sources)
● Demonstrates
analysis of genre,
author/s, purpose,
audience, context,
sources, content
level, format,
language and visuals.
● Uses sufficient
textual examples.
 ● Shows effective use
of citation
conventions.
Style/organization: 5/5 I believe my thesis was very clear from Good work! I agree that your organization
the beginning and I believe I organized was clear and concise. In your next project I’d
● Demonstrates careful my paper to talk about the strongest like to see you push out of the traditional
crafting, including cultural impacts while making it easy for essay form to think about how to appeal to a
structure, with the audience to read. reader beyond the 5 paragraph essay. 5
respect for the
primary audience.
● Is sufficiently
developed.
● Demonstrates clear
writing and is
grammatically and
tone appropriate.
TOTAL: 19/20 18.5/20

Peer Review Grade: 3/5 (peer review

significantly under word count)
Draft Grade: 5