Book

Author:	John Astley
Title:	Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
Subtitle:	The Beatles Phenomenon
Publisher:	The Company Of Writers
Country:	UK
Date:	6 Apr 2006
Format:	Paperback
Genre:	Non-Fiction, Music
Total Editions:	2
Rating:	Rate
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
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Comments and Reviews


JPGR&B SUBS 16th Apr 2023		Review Annotation: The author looks back to the 1960s and attempts to analyse the global phenomenon surrounding the success of the Beatles and popular culture. Astley's text is interesting in its own right, actually stemming from the late-1970s and an early example of neo-Marxist academic thought concerning, not only the Beatles, but also popular music in general. John Astley is therefore deploying his skills as a 1970s Marxist sociologist of culture to develop a very specific ideological 'take' on the kaleidoscopic landscape that gave birth to the Beatles phenomenon. If the text is appreciated as such, a rewarding read is in store. On the one hand, all popular music was questioned by Marxists, such as Astley, as an unrewarding facet of mass production that created a state of false consciousness in its listeners; on the other, many such British Marxist sociologists such as Stuart Hall, Paddy Whannel, Dick Hebdige, et al were also coming to appreciate that popular music was an authentic representation of working class discourse and that reception was relatively autonomous. Such struggles with ideology kept many such British popular music critics and scholars such as Simon Frith up at night in the 1970s, as they sought to legitimise popular music as an authentic dialogue, while also acknowledging that the Marxist premise of historical materialism regarding the music industry still encapsulated rhetoric power. This work therefore pursues such struggles with ideology. So, this is well-written text, and valid, but appears these days circular and unreconstructed. It is plausible to state that although history is forged in conflict (as Marx alludes), clearly such conflicts require history to represent the debates concerning such struggles for ownership, rather than simply reflect historical materialism (and indeed the realities of the masses), as a given. Perhaps, it is of appeal only to hardcore Marxist-Leninist Beatles fans (should there be any these days, of course). 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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Other Editions

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John Astley - Why Don't We Do It In The Road? - The Company Of Writers - Paperback - UK - 0955183472 (2023)