markus heuger's
beabliography

Beabliography

Abstract 0364

Whiteley, Sheila (2001), "No fixed agenda. The position of the Beatles within popular / rock music." In: Yrjö Heinonen, Markus Heuger, Sheila Whitely, Terhi Nurmesjärvi and Jouni Koskimäki (eds.), Beatlestudies 3. Proceedings of the Beatles 2000 conference. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä (Department of Music, Research Reports 23), 2001, 3-13.

This article examines the ways in which the Beatles have stimulated a seemingly endless stream of critical evaluation amongst music journalist and musicologists; their continuing significance to the evolving music scene; and the ways in which their fans construct coherent identities for themselves, so creating both a sense of empowerment and a cultural activity of their own making. The Beatles, then, are more than "just a band". Their unique position within popular culture "gave voice to a feeling that the old ways were out" (Timothy Leary, Time Out, 1987), so setting the agenda for both cultural and musical revolution.

The article begins with a brief review of the Parrots, the Beatles' Japanese homage band and considers why nostalgia has played a significant role in both fandom and academic writing alike. More specifically, the article focuses on two agendas which for the author were of particular significance: The Beatles and Hallucinogenics, and The Beatles and Feminine Subjectivity. These are critically evaluated through an examination of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", from the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Finally, the article turns to two related issues. The first evaluates their significance to cultural revolution; the second focuses upon their equally important role in shaking the traditional foundations of the music curricula within Higher Education. As the title of this article suggests, there is no fixed agenda. Rather, the Beatles allow for a diverse range of readings, a never-ending story, which is told and told and told and told.