Elijah Wald is a good writer. And like most good writers, he knows a good title when he sees one; a good title will grab you and make you eager to open the book and start finding out where that title came from. So when he titled his new book How The Beatles Destroyed Rock'n'Roll, he knew just what he was doing
Elijah is not bashing the Beatles - at least, not in the way you'd think. Instead, his thesis is that rock'n'roll was a simple, communal form of dance music - like big band jazz and ragtime before it - but that the Beatles turned it into "art," thereby creating a divorce between a new kind of rock aimed at the head, and produced exclusively in a studio environment, and the good old fashioned party-time rock'n'roll of Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, which was still driven by live performances (TV included).
If the Beatles really did destroy rock'n'roll, though, they didn't do a good enought job, because they left the music industry standing, stronger and stupider than ever. And that industry has continued its lifelong distrust of and fight against any new advancements in technology. As Elijah points out, musicians and the evolving music biz were opposed to every step: radio, records, jukeboxes, etc., and that has continued with the industry's decade-long battle with digital media.
And if the Beatles destroyed rock'n'roll, it appears to have been unintentional. Compare that to their musical stepchildren, Radiohead. Like the Beatles, Radiohead also moved from popular rock hits ("Creep") to more arty, studio-based stuff ("Idioteque," among many others). But while the Beatles' response to the record industry was to form Apple Records, and thus become part of the industry, Radiohead took at least one swing of the sledgehammer at the music business by releasing In Rainbows, their 2007 album released digitally by the band itself at a pay-what-you-wish price. I'm not saying that Radiohead is more important to music history than the Beatles, but they seem more intent on destroying at least a little of the rock machine.
Tell us: Do you believe the Beatles fundamentally changed rock? If so, was that a bad thing?
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John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
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