maskitheclown | (no subject)

(no subject)

Ok, here's what I'm wondering. Who listened to The Beatles while they were active?

I hear all these smart, intelligent, worldly grownups crapping on "teenage music" and while it's hardly my intention to compare Britney Spears to The Beatles, I can't really imagine that musically sophisticated 40+ year-olds were The Beatles' main audience in the 60's.

Were they?? All I ever saw was screaming fangirls.

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Brilliant observation, milady. That ain't sarcasm either.

*g* glad you approve :)

No, but I'm seriously wondering if there were a lot of 50 year olds at that time going "Blimey, those Beatles are spiffy!"

(I'm so so sorry about the stereotyping, British people on my flist! I promise I'm going for 20th century BE, not joining the cliche olympics!)

50 year olds back then were pretty horrible, according to my dad. "The fuckers arbitrarily hated young people!" according to him, funny seeing as he's 50 now. xD

haha, yeah, and a lot (well, my mom for sure) of them are now hating on the new younger generations.

I'm not old enough to have been the Beatles main audience. They stopped touring before I was even born. Try 50+, not 40+. The beatles were at least two generations ago. I have an aunt who's the right age.

Some grownup always crap on "teenage" music. But certainly not all do, probably less than 50 years ago. Plenty of us were listening to rock music as kids. Probably depends on your social circles. Lots of "grown ups" go to rock concerts & honestly the symphony is having a hard time keeping subscribers. What some adults don't like is what they perceive is a slap in the face to their morals. Britney Spears does a lot of thing calculated to offend and it works. Teens are always going to push some adults buttons, and those adults might make the most noise about it.

Oh, I didn't mean all grownups, I just meant - all grownups who are like that :) (too much NCIS this weekend :) )

Yeah, but I do remember stories about how outrageous The Beatles were with their crazy haircuts and ... other horrible things. And now those same kids who were in love with those crazy rebels are being snobs about the music of the new generation.

This was prompted by every time I saw and heard "The Beatles! Now that was music!" Well, internet, let me get my grandma out and she can educate you on the beauty of swing and why, exactly, The Beatles sucked in her opinion.

eta: I don't mean to be aggressive and I keep thinking I'm coming off that way, so, I'm sorry if I am. I'm actually amused.

Edited 2010-11-07 19:11 (UTC)

My grandparents really did hate rock music. My grandpa was really hard on my aunt for liking it. He loved classical and big band music and didn't have much good to say about pop.

As to people not liking it because it was noisy. The TV broadcast wouldn't have had great sound quality. And if you went to a concert all you would likely hear was the screeming.

*nod* I have one grandmother who does hate it, but I think it's mostly for religious reasons, devil's music and such.
Shame about your aunt :(

That is true.

The Beatles' main audience was definitely teens and young adults, but I'm not sure whether that many intelligent, worldly grownups really had that much negative stuff about them (if they were really listening, anyway).

I'm curious, now, about what adults in general thought about them at the time. As for my own parents, I once asked why they didn't tune in to Ed Sullivan to see them, and my mom said that it just seemed like there was too much screaming, and it made it hard to enjoy the band. I don't think she had anything against the band, itself, and I know my dad was a bit of a fan once I became one myself (after they'd broken up, sadly), and he was exposed to more of their music. Being an education musician himself, he loved their unschooled approach, and the fresh way they did things "because they didn't know any better," as he put it. :)

Haha, yeah, that's how I think most adults saw them then, as noisy or in need of some more musical learning :)

But I'd like to find some random music critics of the time, see what they had to say. Hm, internet is big, surely it's stashed somewhere.

the point i want to make when i have these conversations with people is that if you judged them on their audience they shouldn't have lasted, yk? like if people say about panic or mcr or whoever 'but look at all the teenies!' like that means obviously the music sucks.

well, the beatles had the definitive screaming teenies and yet their music is now held up as the gold standard. so... anyway. did i make a point? i meant to, but i have only had 2 cups of tea this morning so i'm not sure... :P

Yes! That was my point exactly! You are brilliant :D

\o/

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