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

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

10. "Misunderstanding All You See": Charles Manson Reading the Beatles at the End of the World

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

Gerry Carlin [+-]
University of Wolverhampton (retired)
Gerry Carlin retired as a Senior Lecturer from the University of Wolverhampton in 2020. His publications include writings on modernism, critical theory, and the culture of the 1960s.
Mark Jones [+-]
University of Wolverhampton
Mark Jones is a Senior Lecturer in English and course leader of MA Popular Culture at the University of Wolverhampton. He has published on science fiction, horror and crime in various media, and on popular music and pornography.

Description

As their work progressed, The Beatles’ music offered to its audiences portals to alternative forms of knowledge; but these were only fully accessible to those immersed in psychedelic culture. This chapter considers how a range of listeners – but most notoriously, Charles Manson – interpreted the band as the principal shapers of cultural consciousness in the sixties, and how this burden of significance mutated to configure the Beatles as functionaries of disillusion at the decade’s catastrophic close. Focusing on The Beatles’ 1968 ‘White Album’ as a foundational text, the chapter analyses closely the songs ‘Glass Onion’ and ‘HelterSkelter’ before surveying and comparing Manson’s statements on The Beatles with Lennon and McCartney’s differing responses to radical interpretations.

Notify A Colleague

Citation

Carlin, Gerry; Jones, Mark. 10. "Misunderstanding All You See": Charles Manson Reading the Beatles at the End of the World. The Beatles in Perspective - A Carnival of Light. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 185-201 Jul 2023. ISBN 9781800502420. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=25036. Date accessed: 10 Oct 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.25036. Jul 2023

Dublin Core Metadata