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Gloag, Kenneth (2001), "The Beatles: high modernism and / or postmodernism?" 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, 79-84. |
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In his influential study of postmodern culture (Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late capitalism, London and New York, 1991), Fredric Jameson describes the Beatles — along with the Rolling Stones — as "standing at the highmodernist moment" of the evolving tradition of popular music. This suggestion here provides a background for the consideration of the stylistic and historical position of the Beatles in relation to the possible distinctions between modern and postmodern culture. The central aim of this article is to reposition the later music of the Beatles — The White Album, Let It Be, Abbey Road — in relation to what Jameson describes as the "empirical, chaotic and heterogeneous" qualities of postmodernism. This consideration of the stylistic/historical position of the Beatles in relation to postmodernism will contribute, the author argues, a new understanding of the Beatles as well as providing fresh stimulus to the modern/postmodern debate. The paper concludes with a clarification of the questioning of Jameson's "high-modernism" and a restatement of the relevance of the definition of postmodernism. This conclusion inevitably has, Gloag says, wider implications for an understanding of both the Beatles and the history of popular music. |
