The Beatles and Sixties Britain

In this rigorous study, Marcus Collins reconceives the Beatles' social, cultural and political impact on sixties Britain.

Marcus Collins (Author)

9781108708463, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 March 2022

383 pages, 10 b/w illus. 15 tables
24.3 x 16.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.64 kg

'… Collins helps readers better understand the forces that impacted Britain during the turbulent 1960s, shedding new light on the Beatles for modern audiences. This deeply researched, distinctive, and well-argued book is a much-needed addition to the field … Highly recommended.' J. F. Lyons, Choice

Though the Beatles are nowadays considered national treasures, this book shows how and why they inspired phobia as well as mania in 1960s Britain. As symbols of modernity in the early sixties, they functioned as a stress test for British institutions and identities, at once displaying the possibilities and establishing the limits of change. Later in the decade, they developed forms of living, loving, thinking, looking, creating, worshipping and campaigning which became subjects of intense controversy. The ambivalent attitudes contemporaries displayed towards the Beatles are not captured in hackneyed ideas of the 'swinging sixties', the 'permissive society' and the all-conquering 'Fab Four'. Drawing upon a wealth of contemporary sources, The Beatles and Sixties Britain offers a new understanding of the band as existing in creative tension with postwar British society: their disruptive presence inciting a wholesale re-examination of social, political and cultural norms.

Introduction
1. The other sixties: an anti-permissive permissive society?
2. Society, 1963–65: The Beatles and modernity
3. Society, 1966–70: The Beatles go too far
4. Culture: the Beatles as artists
5. Politics: the Beatles, parliament and revolution
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Popular culture [JFCA], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], British & Irish history [HBJD1], Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Rock & Pop music [AVGP]