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The Man Who Panned the Beatles

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westen44:
I'm sure others have, but I had never heard of this infamous newspaper article about the Beatles before.  This is funnier than Decca rejecting them by telling the Beatles that guitar music was going out of style. 

https://scottwesterman.com/?p=12552

Pilgrim:
I'm not surprised.  The music that gent grew up with had been turned on its head more than once, from classical, to big band, to rock & roll, to rock. I imagine that even what Pat Boone did was a stretch for him.

There are musical forms now that I simply don't enjoy, rap being first among them.  It simply does nothing for me, but I realize that for people one-third my age it's very popular.

In popular music, I'm most comfortable with variations based on the 12 bar blues format which ruled popular music from the late 50s through perhaps the year 2000.  It still is the basic of most country music.  I don't think i will ever make peace with some of the new formats, but at least I'm aware that I shouldn't be reviewing them.

westen44:
I just found the part in which he said the rock 'n' roll fad had died when Elvis entered the military.  Clearly, writing about modern music was not this guy's forte.

uwe:
Rock’n’Roll was just another form of American music that became popular. Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Country, Big Band Music, Bernstein, Gershwin, American modern military marches and Bluegrass/Folk had all preceded it. You Yanks sometimes don’t see what a huge and lasting cultural influence on the world you’ve been, thankfully so - you’ve ruled the music world for more than a hundred years now. And you show no inclination of letting up —> Taylor Swift.

Now the Fab Four were Brits of course, but they didn’t come from England and then an English Atlantic harbor town for nothing. Without American troops and their influence in WWI and WWII, no “Love Me Do” or “I Want To Hold Your Hand” would have ever seen the light of day. Talk about “soft power”, there you have it.

westen44:
I think Ronson may have a valid point with that song.  However, a false impression may be created.  Because American music and movies may be the two best things about American culture.  Other things about the country may not be quite so good.  i do find American history interesting, though, just not current events very much. 

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