What would have been different in world culture had the Beatles never gotten together? Never affected the world (I'm particularly thinking America) as they did?
A Lennon-less World: Earth Without the Beatles
- Thread starter godsown1991
- Start date
Hard to say. Music would still evolve, but the folk scene of the 1960s might have been the major factor there instead of the experimental quality that the Beatles were largely responsible for. Also, we'd see fewer major American labels being willing to take a risk on British acts. This means a less prominent Rolling Stones, no British Invasion, and we're also seeing an influence on the future punk movement with no Kinks, and no Mods/Rockers stuff exported.
Jazz might be more influential also, because it would take the place of the R&B whose development was championed by the Beatles and those who followed in their wake. Probably some kind of fusion of jazz and folk would have arisen.
How's this for a POD?
In July 1946, Alf [John's dad] visited [aunt] Mimi and took Lennon to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#cite_note-CynthiaLennonJohnp56-14 [Lennon's mother] Julia followed them, and after a very heated argument, Alf made the five-year-old Lennon choose between Julia or him, and Lennon chose him twice. As Julia walked away, however, Lennon began to cry and followed her. Alf then lost contact with Lennon until the height of Beatlemania when father and son met again.
What if John stuck to his decision, and went with his father to New Zealand?
Imagine a timeline where John Lennon becomes a writer, cartoonist, or musician in NZ.
Maybe he becomes an actor, or a satirist, or maybe he joins the band Split Enz or becomes an important figure in the early days of the Flying Nun music label.
And what of Paul McCartney?
Well, if The Beatles didn't exist I wouldn't have this username 
Like those who have answered thus far its hard to assume what repercussions the music world would have if The Beatles never existed. If anything the "British Invasion" of the early 1960s would never have occurred, or if it did it wouldn't have had as of a profound impact upon the music industry as it did in RL. Thus, the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Who, among others who were apart of the "Invasion" would never have achieved such remarkable success in the United States.
Like those who have answered thus far its hard to assume what repercussions the music world would have if The Beatles never existed. If anything the "British Invasion" of the early 1960s would never have occurred, or if it did it wouldn't have had as of a profound impact upon the music industry as it did in RL. Thus, the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Who, among others who were apart of the "Invasion" would never have achieved such remarkable success in the United States.
Have I been mistaken all these years, or were the Beatles (and by extent the British Invasion) not largely responsible for the rise in Eastern spiritualism over here? That might definitely take a hit, if I'm not mistaken.
Much Eastern spiritualism of the 60s, at least in terms of how it became popular in the west, can be traced to the Maharishi Maharesh Yogi, the founder of the TM movement. The Beatles were certainly responsible for a large part of his popularity. However, Zen was already popular on the Beat scene, and some other East Indian beliefs had influenced the musicians and writers of that period, Ginsberg and Kerouac being among the most well-known of those who chose to study the philosophies.
Upon further reflection, I don't think that jazz would have been a major influence, as that was in passing with the rise of R & B and rock and roll. Additionally, the literature and poetry of the time would seem to indicate a revolt against the middle-class ideologies prevalent at the time. Garage bands were also beginning to make themselves known. If anything, we might see an earlier rise of music not tied to production values, something akin to a punk movement as seen through the 1960s.
Upon further reflection, I don't think that jazz would have been a major influence, as that was in passing with the rise of R & B and rock and roll. Additionally, the literature and poetry of the time would seem to indicate a revolt against the middle-class ideologies prevalent at the time. Garage bands were also beginning to make themselves known. If anything, we might see an earlier rise of music not tied to production values, something akin to a punk movement as seen through the 1960s.
Actually, that's not a bad point.. and with far more "home recordings" issued.. in OTL many writers were recording demos in their home studios (case in point - the Beatles pretty-much demo'ed the entire White Album at George Harrison's home studio).
Maybe in that timeline, these sort of recordings are more openly released in the 1960s/70s - rather than being bootlegged?
Maybe more Jazz-Bossa nova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZmQr78Otv4&feature=player_embedded
and Mancini/Bacharach music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1JTEFlof48
Well...is a very nice timeline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZmQr78Otv4&feature=player_embedded
and Mancini/Bacharach music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1JTEFlof48
Well...is a very nice timeline.
Keep in mind, though, that Kerouac, Ginsberg and the other Beat writers remained something of a minority taste in the society as a whole. Even the folk-music boom, while it got Bob Dylan and Joan Baez national attention, didn't percolate through to every nook and cranny of society. The mass popularity of the Beatles, and the general sense (as pointed out by Greil Marcus) that they were sort of the central focal point for popular culture at least during the 1960s, had much to do with spreading rebellion against traditional interpretations of values, and Eastern spiritualism, and so forth to the masses (what Robert Christgau likes to call the "mass bohemianism" of the time).
If you subtract the Beatles, you lose the mass, and the bohemianism develops but without the appeal to the majority (I can still remember when you were widely regarded as a dork if you DIDN'T have long hair). So probably the influence of the Beat writers, the garage bands and other sources would have created niches. Maybe the most likely scenario is that the currrent state of popular culture - that of fragmentation - would have arrived sooner.
The worse conformism is the fake nonconformism.
But i agree, The Beatles were sort of the central focal point for popular culture on the road to "mass bohemianism".
Many events
did the 60s as we know them; the most important three are the murder of Dallas,The Beatles and the Vietnam War.
Eliminates those three events (or only one) and we have much different 60s (and 70s).