The Impact of The Beatles on Teen Culture in The 1960s

It’s 1960, on a hot summer night, one hears a girl yell, then another and another, one starts to cry but tears of joy, as the lights start to light up, one look up and it’s The Beatles. The Beatles were such an important band in the late 1950s and early 1960s because they played a key role in establishing the main attributes of the embryonic counterculture. The Beatles impacted teen culture in the 1960s in a drastic way, they changed the music industry, started the hippie movement, and then later sparked a rise for the human rights movement.

The Beatles' Unique Role in Cultural and Musical Change

The Beatles were important because not only did they have a big influence on popular culture but defined the music of the time. Rock ‘n’ Roll music was very appealing to all teenagers around the world. The Beatles had a profound influence on America, changing the music industry forever. Writer Rudolf Helc, writes on how for a lot of young people music became a way of expressing themselves and The Beatles music helped them express their feelings.

The Beatles took on the role of revolutionizing rock music though their original music which spoke of love, peace, and freedom which went against what older generations believed in. Their music gave hope to those struggling from the pressures of the Cold War, Vietnam War and racial discrimination.

The Beatles not only influenced the music industry, but they also influenced the social and cultural revolution for teens in the 1960s. The hippie movement protested against the war in Vietnam, which started in the early 1960s. Thousands of young men refused to join the army, many left their homes and lived in communities with other teenagers where they wanted to live in peace. Writer, Adam Wojtanek goes into depth about how The Beatle’s views changed American teenagers in the 1960s and their way of thinking. Hippies were, in a way, followers of the Beat generation. They rebelled against the traditional values of their parents. The Beatles didn’t just play good music or introduced new fashions from England but brought new ideas that changed the world. They brought new awareness and many social-political and political changes in the United States. The Beatles professed ideas of peace, love, civil rights, gay rights, and freedom which is what all hippies believed in. Many parents did not believe in what the younger generation was doing, there was a huge age gap (baby boom) which sparked a difference in how many parents and teenagers in the 60s behaved.

The Beatles were more than just their music. They influenced the lives of millions of people and their way of thinking. They were one of the first and most popular bands to fight against segregation. For the first time ever, The Beatles had this first U.S concert tour, where they played in Jacksonville. They found out their concert was segregated and they refused to play for a segregated audience. The writer Bruce Mirken, writes on how The Beatles were one of the most popular bands of that time to speak up and make a change on how people in America treated each other. The Beatles were not scared to speak out about what they believed in, they believed that segregation was a horrible thing. The Beatles said “We never play to segregated audiences and we aren’t going to start now”, their beliefs drew some hostility in the press. Since a popular band was standing up for everyone’s rights many people were less afraid to do so as well. This made many people realize how bad Americans were treating each other which lead to many teenagers in that time to rebel against their parents and what society thinks.

Conclusion

Many years later and our society stills talks about the Beatles, rock has become part of the conservatism of popular culture. All in all, The Beatles impacted teen culture in many significant ways, they had one of the biggest influences on music, influenced the hippie movement and spoke up for what was right which lead to human rights movements. The Beatles have influenced people in ways they would’ve never imagined which is a beautiful thing how music can change society.