markus heuger's
beabliography

Beabliography

Abstract 0111

Heinonen, Yrjö, and Tuomas Eerolo (2000), "The Beatles and their times. Thoughts on the 'relative autonomy' of style change." In: Yrjö Heinonen, Jouni Koskimäki, Seppo Niemi and Terhi Nurmesjärvi (eds.), Beatlesstudies 2. History, identity, authenticity. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä (Department of Music, Research Reports 23), 2000, 1-42.

In this article Heinonen and Eerola apply the "relative autonomy" point of view to position the music of the Beatles onto the rapidly changing context in which it was born and in which it evolved. The basic assumption behind the concept of relative autonomy is that stylistic change depends partly on the cultural context in which it takes place, yet, is partly autonomous in the sense that it tends to follow a certain pattern in different contexts at different times. The authors also emphasize that cultural influences tend to have their effects on individual musicians and groups via personal and interpersonal contacts rather than faceless social institutions. Whether this is a universal truth, is not a matter for this article, but in any case it seems to hold true for the Beatles.