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Showing Original Post only (View all)'How the Beatles Destroyed Rock-n-roll' Has anyone read this book? [View all]
It poses some interesting ideas chiefly that rock-n-roll started out with black and white performers and black and white fans but separated around the time of Sgt Peppers into white rock music and black soul music.
The book states that rock-n-roll was dance music that emphasized rhythm and that the Beatles started out in this tradition, But that changed in 1966 when the Beatles stopped touring and concentrated on recording in the studio. Sgt Pepper, the book argues, is good music but not rock-n-roll since it is not dance music and has little to no connection to rock-n-roll's black roots. James Brown started out as a rock-n-roller but was reclassified as soul as a reaction to these changes. Since that time, there haven't been very many black rock performers or fans and a white artist could have soul but still won't fit in that category. Essentially, the book states that the Beatles resegregated popular music. Billboard had dropped the separate pop and r&b categories in 1962 because they were nearly identical but brought them back by 1967 because black people were listening to soul music and whites to rock.
The author does not portray the Beatles as doing anything wrong or lacking talent and they don't really get mention until the last chapter. Most of the book details the history of American popular music before the Beatles and the cross-pollenization between black and white musicians that happened.
I look forward to reading this book in it's entirety because it's a refreshing change from the normal rock music group-think mentality of the Rolling Stone Magazine types.