Book

Author:	Kevin Courrier
Title:	Artificial Paradise
Subtitle:	The Dark Side Of The Beatles' Utopian Dream
Publisher:	Praeger
Country:	USA
Date:	2009
Format:	Hardcover
Genre:	Non-Fiction, Music
ISBN13 / Barcode:	9780313345869
Rating:	Rate
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
Community:	1 Owns
Price Guide:	Valuation Page
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360 pages. Book dimensions: ‎15.6 cms x 2.06 cms x 23.39 cms.

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There is an epigram in this book from the Phil Ochs song, Crucifixion, about the Kennedy assassination, that states: I fear to contemplate that beneath the greatest love, lies a hurricane of hate. On February 11th 1963, the Beatles recorded There's a Place, a dazzling, unheralded tune which was included on their electrifying debut album, Please Please Me. This song firmly laid the foundation on which a huge utopian dream of the sixties would be built. Within that dream, however, also lay the seeds of a darker vision that would emerge out of the very counterculture that the Beatles and their music helped create. Thus, even as their music attracted adoring fans, it also enticed the murderous ambitions of Charles Manson; and though the Beatles may have inspired others to form bands, their own failed hopes ultimately led to their breakup.

The disillusionment with the sixties, and the hopes associated with the group, would many years later culminate in the assassination of John Lennon and the attempted slaying of George Harrison by deranged and obsessive fans. In this incisive examination, author Kevin Courrier (Dangerous Kitchen: the Subversive World of Zappa, Randy Newman's American Dreams) examines how the Fab Four, through their astonishing music and comically rebellious personalities, created the promise of an inclusive culture built on the principles of pleasure and fulfillment. By taking us through their richly inventive catalogue, Courrier illustrates how the Beatles' startling impact on popular culture built a bond with audiences that was so strong, people today continue to either cling nostalgically to it, or struggle ― and often struggle violently ― to escape its influence.

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Comments and Reviews


JPGR&B SUBS 21st Feb 2022		Review Annotation: Kevin Courrier has, since 1990, been a writer/broadcaster and film critic at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is also the author of three best-selling books: Law & Order: The Unofficial Companion with Susan Green (1997); Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa (2002), which won the Finalist Prize for Best Biography at the 2003 Independent Publisher's Awards; as well as Randy Newman's American Dreams (2005). Courrier currently contributes movie reviews to Box Office magazine in Los Angeles, and has written about film and popular culture for both The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. Courrier takes as his starting point February 11, 1963 when the Beatles recorded 'There's a Place'. Courrier argues that this song firmly laid a foundation on which a vast utopian dream of the 1960s would be built. However his thesis suggests that within that dream, there also lay the seeds of a darker, dystopian vision that would emerge from the very counter-culture that the Beatles and their music helped create. Courrier posits that the disillusionment with these unachievable goals of the 1960s and the rock myth directly associated with the Beatles, culminated in the attacks on John Lennon and George Harrison by deranged and obsessive fans. In 'Artificial Paradise' Courrier examines how the Beatles helped not only to create the promise of an inclusive culture built on the principles of pleasure and fulfillment, but also develop the potential for arrested development among those adherents who were clinging to the wreckage of the ill-formed messages emanating from the 1960s counter-culture. By taking us through the Beatles catalogue, Courrier illustrates how the group's startling impact on popular culture built a bond with audiences that was so strong, many today continue to either nostalgically cling to it, or struggle (sometimes violently) to escape its influence. This is an interesting exposition - well written and lucid, that demands the attention of those who might still see the Beatles as demi-gods, and the 1960s as a kind of second romantic era, without looking at the dystopian realities offered by such 'utopian dreams'. Its major problem is that it does not carry a proper historical perspective, concentrating rather too heavily on the Beatles' North American profile rather than their status in Britain. Were one to consider matters more from a British perspective, one might discover two important areas that do not effectively support his thesis: firstly, that much of the British counter-culture of the late 1960s had all-but abandoned the Beatles as representatives of authentic youth culture, preferring instead the more Marxist-Leninist interpretation that mass produced youth culture was a passive false consciousness (the highly politicised British folk revival was at its most virulent at this time). Secondly, that the erosion of adulthood of which Courrier speaks did not manifest itself in Britain in the same way as it did across North America. British youth has always been less' loyal' to their popular music icons than their American counterparts - hence the 'arrivals' of new icons Slade, T. Rex, David Bowie et al in Britain as the new decade dawned. Notwithstanding the above, this is definitely worth a read. Michael Brocken Source: The Beatles Bibliography: A New Guide To The Literature - Michael Brocken and Melissa Davis (The Beatle Works Ltd., 2012), with acknowledgement, and used here with permission from the authors for educational and historical purposes only. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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