Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography
Begaja , Kathryn. “The Summer of Love: Hippie Culture and The Beatles in 1967.”
TCNJ JOURNAL OF STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP, vol. 16, Apr.
2014.https://joss.tcnj.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/176/2014/04/2014-Begeja.pdf
Author Kathryn Begaja explores The Beatles’ influential relationship with hippie culture in
1967. She writes on how the group’s conclusion of live performances in August of 1966 and
their introduction to the hallucinogenic LSD, helped the band reach new musical heights and
explore their own musical prowess. What resulted in this pairing of more studio time and
hallucinogenic drugs was the band’s seventh album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Using new instruments such as sitars, synthesizers, and tape recorders, the group found a new
experimental and psychedelic sound that spoke to the hippie generation of the day. Released at
the height of the Summer of Love, the album was a huge hit, staying at number one on the
Billboard Top LPs chart for 15 weeks. Begaja’s in-depth track-by-track analysis of the album
and the reaction of the public helps demonstrate the cultural impact The Beatles had on
American culture in the 1960s.
Berman, Garry. “‘We’re Going to See The Beatles!’: An Oral History of Beatlemania as
Told by the Fans Who Were There.” Santa Monica Press, 2008.
Garry Berman, an American author and historian, authors a book focusing on Beatlemania
from the perspective of The Beatle’s audience. Berman interviewed a group of forty-two
people who experience the phenomenon firsthand. The book is ordered chronologically,
beginning with the chapter “Early Rumblings” starting in the early sixties, and concluding
with final opinions and views by the fans over their over-forty-year-long passion for the Fab
Four and their music. The experiences of the group of interviewees range from those who
were in the audience at the band’s first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show or other concert
venues. Throughout the book, Berman provides context for the interviewees’ recolecections.
Berman discusses the events leading up to The Beatles’ first trip to the United States and notes
that the musicians were anxious to cross the Atlantic, but only after they had a number one hit
in the United States. The Beatles’ manager at the time, Brian Epstein, “needed to stay ahead of
the curve” and thus booked his “boys” on The Ed Sullivan Show in November of 1963 with
the top spot on the show. (Berman, 56). Thanks to Epstein’s hard work, The Fab Four had their
first number one hit in America, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” prior to Sullivan’s show.
Berman’s commentary is useful in reminding readers of the landmarks in the group’s history
and the effect of the event on the audience. He juxtaposes with his interviewees’ thoughts and
memories of these events. Although Berman only interviewed 42 out of the millions of Beatle
fans, their experiences and memories of the historic group resonate with the millions of fans,
whether of that first generation to view them or the listeners of today. What Berman does in
this book is he looks at the experience of young American baby boomers that came of age in a
time when The Beatles were the biggest thing in popular culture.
Gardner, Paul. “The Beatles Invade, Complete With Long Hair and Screaming Fans.”
The New York Times, 8 Feb. 1964,
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/08/the-beatles-invade-complete-with-long-hair-and-scr
eaming-fans.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.
Paul Gardner, a former New York Times columnist, documents the event of The Beatles’ first
landing in New York City, on February 7th, 1964 (the column was released a day later). This
was the group’s first visit to the United States and was seen as the start of “Beatlemania”.
Gardner takes the reader through this grand event moment by moment, painting the picture of
thousands of screaming girls waiting for their teenage idols to land. His quotes gathered and
depictions of the scene help portray what huge impact The Beatles had on American
audiences even with this being their first time in the country.
Inglis, Ian. “‘Beatles are Coming!’ Conjecture and Conviction in the Myth of Kennedy,
America, and the Beatles.” Popular Music and Society, vol. 24, no. 2, 2000, pp.
93-108. ProQuest,
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/beatles-are-coming-conjecture-conv
iction-myth/docview/208070282/se-2?accountid=12381.
Ian Inglis, an English author who has written seven books and more than sixty journal articles
on topics surrounding popular culture, explores the incredible phenomenon that was
“Beatlemania” and the factors to The Beatles’ success in capturing the hearts of their
American audience. His examples given were selected not only to analyze why the Fab Four
were so successful, but also uses them to contradict one popular factor that the group’s
success could be traced back to the nation’s despair after the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy. The factors and evidence provided by the text help strengthen the topic of how
impactful The Beatles were in American culture in the 1960s.
Inglis, Ian, and John Muncie. “The Beatles and the Spectacle of Youth .” The Beatles,
Popular Music and Society: A Thousand Voices, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY,
2001, pp. 35–52. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-62210-8_3
In this chapter of The Beatles, Popular Music and Society: A Thousand Voices, which was
edited by aforementioned author Ian Inglis, English author John Muncie writes on The Beatles
and their celebrity among youth culture of the 1960s. He uses examples to prove that the
“The Four lads from Liverpool” were perhaps the key icons of the 1960s. Between their first
release of ‘‘Love Me Do’’ in 1962 and their disbandment in 1970, the group produced more
than 200 songs and sold more than 200 million records. Their early appearances were the
cause of scenes of mass hysteria the world had never seen. Muncie writes on The Beatles as
being a symbol for teenagers worldwide and for revolutionizing American pop culture,
releasing some of the greatest albums of all time, “we routinely find their albums appearing in
lists of the greatest records of all time (usually Revolver, Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band)”(Muncie). The article clearly illustrates The Beatles’ influence on
American culture through the youth.
Rowlands, Penelope. The Beatles Are Here!: 50 Years After the Band Arrived in America,
Writers and Other Fans Remember. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2014,
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lqeYAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=P
P1&dq=the+beatles+in+america&ots=iBLagQkezK&sig=qfL6F7PJxjFNHB_j_s
L__N9behg#v=onepage&q=the%20beatles%20in%20america&f=false, Accessed
25 Mar. 2022.
Like the aforementioned, We’re Going to See The Beatles!’: An Oral History of Beatlemania
as Told by the Fans Who Were There by Garry Berman, this collection of memories and
reminiscences all edited by author Penelope Rowlands helps depict the craze of Beatlemania.
Rowlands goes on to explain how The Beatles’ arrival in America was an unforgettable
cultural milestone. The book explores the emotional impact of the group’s landing in February
of 1964. Rowland gives an intimate collection of stories that go on to expound on the Beatle’s
profound effect on American culture. Rowlands even includes her own Beatlemaniac phase,
professing that she was one of the screaming girls captured in the photograph on the cover of
the book. The stories and memories of the fans help prove the impact The Beatles had on
American culture in the 1960s.
Rosenberg, Neil V. “Taking Popular Culture Seriously: The Beatles.” The Journal of
Popular Culture., vol. 4, no. 1, Blackwell Pub, 1970, https://doi.org/info:doi/.
Sandri, Kevin. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: A Journey Inside The Creative
Genius of The Beatles.” Scholarly Commons, Backstage Pass, 2019,
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass/vol2/iss1/11/.
In this analysis of The Beatles’ seventh album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, author
Kevin Sandri dissects the record and expounds on the factors that make it a classic. Regarded
as one of the greatest albums of all time, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released
in May of 1967. Being the group’s first album after concluding performing live, the album
was a tremendous success. Abandoning the commercial Rock and Roll sound the group had
become world-famous for, Sgt. Pepper’s introduces its audience to the psychedelic sound of
the time. Sandri’s analysis of the album track-by-track gives the article a flow that makes it
easy for readers to comprehend. Sandri affirms that the different musical elements give the
album a “flow” that takes the listeners on a ride through different zones of emotion and how
that gives the album the ability to “transcend time and reality.” The article clearly illustrates
the genius behind the album and the impact it had on its audience.
Silverman, Matthew. “10. The Beatles and Their Stadium.” Shea Stadium Remembered:
The Mets, the Jets, and Beatlemania, LYONS PR, S.l., 2021, pp. 28–31.
Matthew Silverman, accredited sportswriter and author, dives into The Beatles’ historic
performance at Shea Stadium in New York City in 1965. The concert marked the group’s third
tour of the United States and was performed in front of a world record audience of 55,600.
Silverman’s use of diction and imagery helps depict the scene as the “high pitched screeching
drowned out the Beatles, who were sweating in their tan Nehru jackets on the warm August
night,” (Silverman 28). The chapter depicts the larger-than-life status that the Beatles had
come into and the impact the group had on the United States.