The Beatles in Perspective - A Carnival of Light - James McGrath

The Beatles in Perspective - A Carnival of Light - James McGrath

5. The Bohemian Beatles

The Beatles in Perspective - A Carnival of Light - James McGrath

Colin Campbell [+-]
University of York (Emeritus)
Colin Campbell is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of York. He is the author of a dozen books and over one hundred articles dealing with issues in the sociology of religion, consumerism, cultural change, and sociological theory. He is probably best-known as the author of The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism (Macmillan 1987, Palgrave-Macmillan 2018). His other major publications include Toward A Sociology of Irreligion (Macmillan, 1971, Alcuin Academics 2013), The Myth of Social Action (Cambridge University Press, 1996), The Easternization of the West (Paradigm Publishers, 2007), Has Sociology Progressed? Reflections of an Accidental Academic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and Consumption and Consumer Society: The Craft Consumer and Other Essays (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021).

Description

Although, in post-Leary psychedelic parlance, The Beatles had `tuned in’ and `turned on’ by 1967 (as was apparent in their interest in drugs and their modes) they had in various ways ‘dropped out’ of mainstream years earlier. This chapter considers The Beatles’ relationship to various countercultural influences and the broader terms of the ‘bohemian’. The group’s relationship to scenes and movements including the Beats, Hipster-Rockers and later, the Continental avant-garde. However, Colin Campbell argues here, it is a something of a mistake to conceive of the Beatles as having become bohemians. Rather it is suggested that, to a significant extent, they always were bohemians, or at least that bohemianism was a crucial part of their identity, and what is more, that this helps to account for their phenomenal success.

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Citation

Campbell, Colin. 5. The Bohemian Beatles. The Beatles in Perspective - A Carnival of Light. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 85-107 Jul 2023. ISBN 9781800502420. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=25032. Date accessed: 26 Apr 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.25032. Jul 2023

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