Science and the Market - More Powerful than Dirty Hippies!

The Beatles (see previous post), stopped being a band in 1970. Some think that was the true "end of the Sixities." But the music, and the legend, continued, and so did the seismic changes unleashed during that decade.

Think about it: Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Woman's Liberation, Eastern Religion, World Music, Yoga, Meditation, the Environmental Movement, Organic Food, Left-Wing Politics, LSD, Marijuana, the Drug Revolution all were on the ascendant in the Western world. And the Beatles were at the forefront of most of this social upheaval.

They were the most popular, most fully embraced Pop band in the world, but they were also quite experimental, avant garde and unconventional. They got "weird" around 1966 and they kept getting weirder and weirder until their breakup.

They actually did get more popular than Jesus. And Lennon, after taking massive quantities of LSD, briefly believed that he was Christ reincarnated. Freaky. In many ways, the Beatles do seem bound by their time. Some of their music is timeless, but at the same time, you can't really understand those songs without knowing what was going on in the 60's. World shattering events. The Revolution in the Head.

That decade was more than fashion, more than long hair and peace symbols. And then there was the counter-narrative, primarily promoted from the Right, Nixon, Reagan, Thatcher - that the 60's shook the foundations of the West - destroyed elitism, destroyed the shared values of our culture. We were told it was the "Dirty, Fucking Hippies" who ruined the West.

Ian MacDonald points out that this was only partly true, and not really true at all. The most revolutionary forces in our society, the overpowering forces that destroyed the old ways, that knocked tradition on it's ass, were actually Science and The Market! All that social upheaval actually arose out of the ashes of the triumph of these two overwhelming, devastating and tradition-crushing phenomena.

The Hippies were just looking for another way. But ultimately everything was consumed by market forces. Science upset the apple cart. Money flowed and everyone and everything became just another market segment, a demographic, and advertising target.

World Religions looked foolish and unimportant. Money and Consumerism became the new Religion. Money really the last thing bringing us all together.

Which is the world we live in today. The Left is irrelevant. Just another demographic to sell products to. And the Right is irrelevant too. A backward movement based on a world that no longer exists. But they do have their spending money. Buying luxury cars and Led Zeppelin remasters.

The Beatles music reflects a time when everything changed. That's why it still resonates. Even if we don't totally understand what it means. Those days are gone, gone, gone. Science and the Market rule the day. Music is just a branch of the entertainment complex. The Beatles were the first and last band that really did matter. And what made them important wasn't just about them. They were more than a band, they were a social/cultural phenomena, they were in the vanguard of the Counter-Culture. They were Avatars, Holy Fools, Bodhisattvas, Rich, Young, Silly, Crazed, Super-talented, a challenge to all the old ways.