Global Popular Culture and the Beatles

A couple weeks ago I went to a lecture called "America through the Beatles." The lecture is a quick summary of a Humanities class by that same name. The main thesis of the lecture was the following:

"The Beatles took American music and American style, synthesized it and transformed it and sent it back to America for its consumption. Thus the British invasion--at least as manifest by the Beatles--is perhaps a misnomer since it was really America which "invaded" the Beatles first." 

I thought it was interesting to learn how the Beatles listened to American blues, country, western, and rock-and-roll music. Inspired by this music, and by American movies, they set about to write their own.

Having lived in Denmark for most of my life (55% of my life there, 45% in the USA) I understand how American culture via American music and film is a big influence in Scandinavia -- often succesful artists become succesful by imitating American trends, or better yet, by combining American trends with local Danish cultural and historical underpinnings. I think this is more a product of an American-dominant globalization than it is a product of an American fascination per se -- since America is often criticized and disliked politically.

Globalized popular culture, however, is strongly dominated by the American music industry and by Hollywood. Why? Because popular culture, as we know it today, started in America. It's Coney Island gone global! It's the American middle class merging upper culture and lower culture on a worldwide scale. It started in America so it is dominated by America. The Beatles is just one example of this--buying into the popular culture produced by America and using this as the source of their own music. Most merchandise today may be "made in China" -- but most popular culture of music and film is, directly or indirectly, "made in the USA."

One of my favorite Beatles songs