AUBURN - A group of very '60s-looking music fans crowded into the living room at the Cayuga Museum in Auburn Saturday afternoon, hankering after nostalgia.
Terry Hamblin was speaking about The Beatles' impact on the culture of the '60s and '70s, and some guests were willing to sit out in the hallway to listen.
A few wore their tie-dye keepsakes, including Eileen McHugh, executive director of the museum and Auburn city historian, whose tie-dye socks were unique.
Hamblin began with a video of The Beatles' arrival on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964, with the “Mop-Tops” singing “All My Loving” to a screaming teenage audience.
“People laugh at the Beatlemania that occurred,” Hamlin said, “but in recent years musicologists and historians have been looking more seriously at The Beatles' impact on society and politics.” He said there was a symbiotic relationship between The Beatles' music, particularly that of John Lennon, and social problems both in the United States and Europe.
“Looking at that video, The Beatles look a lot different than Ed Sullivan,” he said. “In the '60s, people in their forties looked conservative. The Beatles' long haired mop-top and clothing personified the youth culture.” He emphasized how that look reflected the cultural revolution and impacted it as well.
“You can't just look at The Beatles as a musical group,” he said. “The Beatles were one of the first groups to transcend global boundaries. They were not only popular but critically acclaimed as well.”
Hamblin, a history and economics professor at SUNY Delhi, said the exploration of the political impact of The Beatles is an untapped market for research.
“Since 1963 over one billion albums have been sold,” he said. “When the Internet releases their music, it will go through the roof.”
Using a chronological approach, Hamblin began with the '50s and the birth of rock-and-roll. He said pop idols such as Neil Sadaka and Elvis Presley dominated the music of that time and that timing was a big factor in the success of The Beatles.
When The Beatles arrived on the scene, President John F. Kennedy had just been shot. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing when they came out with a hybrid of rock, rhythm and blues, and country.
People wanted to hear music by lovable mop-tops. “They were positive models that parents could live with as opposed to Elvis and Chuck Berry,” Hamblin said. Their agent, Brian Epstein, told them not to comment about the Vietnam war.
From a guitar trio and quartet, by the mid-'60s their music was influenced by sitar music, Bob Dylan and psychedelia. By the late '60s, hard rock music of groups such as Cream and Led Zeppelin also impacted their work.
Hamblin titled his lecture “Revolution” because that song in 1968 was the Beatles' first chance to comment on the war. He used George Harrison's 1966 “Taxman” criticizing political corruption and taxation in England as an early example of their political stance.
The beginning of the anti-war movement abroad and in the U.S. in 1966 and the Summer of Love in 1967 also involved The Beatles.
The album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” was a political statement, Hamblin said. “A number of songs on the album were banned because of references to illicit drug use,” such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” and “Within You Without You,” references to transcendental meditation from Harrison's trip to India to meditate with the Maharishi.
“The significance of ‘Sgt. Pepper' is that it was No. 1 for the entire Summer of Love in 1967 and it influenced the whole genre of album-oriented rock,” Hamblin said.
The Beatles' overt public political stance was met by resistance in the South, John Lennon's comment in a British tabloid that The Beatles were “bigger than Jesus” and that “Christianity will go. It will vanish,” but the Beatles' music would last, caused a reaction in the South. A “Holy War” against Lennon and The Beatles ensued. The KKK outside of Memphis even threatened to blow up the arena where they were performing.
Throughout his lecture, Hamblin stressed The Beatles' rejection of violence to solving problems and their emphasis on love to create a revolution. Once John Lennon was asked why he didn't write an anti-war song. He said, “All of our songs are anti-war.” Paul McCartney also said, “Our music was always about peace and love.”
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-3511 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
A few wore their tie-dye keepsakes, including Eileen McHugh, executive director of the museum and Auburn city historian, whose tie-dye socks were unique.
Hamblin began with a video of The Beatles' arrival on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964, with the “Mop-Tops” singing “All My Loving” to a screaming teenage audience.
“People laugh at the Beatlemania that occurred,” Hamlin said, “but in recent years musicologists and historians have been looking more seriously at The Beatles' impact on society and politics.” He said there was a symbiotic relationship between The Beatles' music, particularly that of John Lennon, and social problems both in the United States and Europe.
“Looking at that video, The Beatles look a lot different than Ed Sullivan,” he said. “In the '60s, people in their forties looked conservative. The Beatles' long haired mop-top and clothing personified the youth culture.” He emphasized how that look reflected the cultural revolution and impacted it as well.
“You can't just look at The Beatles as a musical group,” he said. “The Beatles were one of the first groups to transcend global boundaries. They were not only popular but critically acclaimed as well.”
Hamblin, a history and economics professor at SUNY Delhi, said the exploration of the political impact of The Beatles is an untapped market for research.
“Since 1963 over one billion albums have been sold,” he said. “When the Internet releases their music, it will go through the roof.”
Using a chronological approach, Hamblin began with the '50s and the birth of rock-and-roll. He said pop idols such as Neil Sadaka and Elvis Presley dominated the music of that time and that timing was a big factor in the success of The Beatles.
When The Beatles arrived on the scene, President John F. Kennedy had just been shot. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing when they came out with a hybrid of rock, rhythm and blues, and country.
People wanted to hear music by lovable mop-tops. “They were positive models that parents could live with as opposed to Elvis and Chuck Berry,” Hamblin said. Their agent, Brian Epstein, told them not to comment about the Vietnam war.
From a guitar trio and quartet, by the mid-'60s their music was influenced by sitar music, Bob Dylan and psychedelia. By the late '60s, hard rock music of groups such as Cream and Led Zeppelin also impacted their work.
Hamblin titled his lecture “Revolution” because that song in 1968 was the Beatles' first chance to comment on the war. He used George Harrison's 1966 “Taxman” criticizing political corruption and taxation in England as an early example of their political stance.
The beginning of the anti-war movement abroad and in the U.S. in 1966 and the Summer of Love in 1967 also involved The Beatles.
The album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” was a political statement, Hamblin said. “A number of songs on the album were banned because of references to illicit drug use,” such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” and “Within You Without You,” references to transcendental meditation from Harrison's trip to India to meditate with the Maharishi.
“The significance of ‘Sgt. Pepper' is that it was No. 1 for the entire Summer of Love in 1967 and it influenced the whole genre of album-oriented rock,” Hamblin said.
The Beatles' overt public political stance was met by resistance in the South, John Lennon's comment in a British tabloid that The Beatles were “bigger than Jesus” and that “Christianity will go. It will vanish,” but the Beatles' music would last, caused a reaction in the South. A “Holy War” against Lennon and The Beatles ensued. The KKK outside of Memphis even threatened to blow up the arena where they were performing.
Throughout his lecture, Hamblin stressed The Beatles' rejection of violence to solving problems and their emphasis on love to create a revolution. Once John Lennon was asked why he didn't write an anti-war song. He said, “All of our songs are anti-war.” Paul McCartney also said, “Our music was always about peace and love.”
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-3511 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
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