Consider The Beatles, Thou Sluggard (Part 2 of 5)

Chance favors the prepared mind.

When they caught an extraordinary stroke of good luck (for them; as we’ll see, not so good for literally hundreds of millions of other people), the four lads from Liverpool had spent years as apprentices-cum-journeymen, not only mastering their skills as musicians and performers but learning how to judge audience reaction on the fly and adjust their set accordingly.  They proved to be great improvisers, and improvisation is a hallmark of art and creativity (both jazz and what we now call classical music are famous for creating whole new artistic expressions via improvisation).

By 1962 they appeared primed and ready for success.  They found a manager who knew how to reshape their public image to make them even more appealing to audiences, they acquired a music producer who figured out how to best craft their sound, and they jettisoned an adequate drummer for a very good well-established pro.

Without their subsequent stroke of fortune, they would have become popular successes in England and Europe, would enjoy brief success in the US, and would eventually fade from view, spiraling off into different directions of English eccentricity, though Lennon and McCartney as songwriters would continue turning out hits for other bands and singers.

Their good luck?  John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

When The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, 1964, the United States -- particularly the young people (i.e., 25 and under) -- were still reeling from JFK’s assassination.  Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Year’s tasted of cold, grey ashes.  The brief shining light of Camelot flickered out, apparently never to return.

Then four mop tops got on Ed’s stage and told those mourning youths they could feel joy again.

Camelot reborn, with the blinding brilliance of a thousand fiery suns. Only not a Camelot of kings and queens, lords and ladies, but a Camelot of the people.

And as noted, The Beatles, through years of hard-earned experience, stood ready to capitalize on it.

In no small part, they created the 1960s.

And they created it by working in sweaty dives in Liverpool and Hamburg, not by asking a machine to generate songs for them.

© Buzz Dixon