The Media Discourse Of Youth Subcultures Media Essay

The Media Discourse Of Youth Subcultures Media Essay The cultural universe of young people is a complex and dynamic one (White, 1999) and there has always been a tendency among youth researchers to investigate the significant social changes that are being revealed through the experiences of contemporary youth (Leccardi Ruspini, 2006). Some of the earliest sociological researches on youth can be linked to the emergence of new forms of consumptions and distinct youth cultures that began to rise in the late 1950s. The changes in youth at this era were highly visible through music and fashion the young populations were consuming. This was viewed both as a result of the increase time available for leisure and personal resources (Leccardi Ruspini, 2006) as well as an attempt to create some symbolic meaning for self (White, 1999). In times of high unemployment where youth were caught in between the ideology of spectacular consumption promoted by the mass media and the traditional ideology of capitalism and the meritocratic work led to a pro liferation of empirical studies across a wide range of diverse issues from homelessness to unemployment, youth crime to street gang violence that engages in research relevant to both empirical and theoretical matters in order to stretch the conceptual boundaries in the contemporary society (White, 1993). Youth subcultures can be viewed as a response to the interaction between these different areas. This response is seen by some as an identity seeking reaction between resistance to consumerism created by the production based Puritanism and the new hedonism of post war consumption (White, 1993). This paper looks into the contemporary youth subcultures and the media discourse used in the representation of these subcultures. It is argued that such negative representations of youth subcultures would result in the popularization and re enforcement of activities rather than limiting or controlling such deviant behaviors and thereby confirming the labeling of a demonized and at risk youth groups. Further, the reports supports the idea that the media interventions in crime and social problem areas can lead to misplaced reactive political resources in mythic rather than real social problem areas resulting in amplified and exacerbated social problems generating moral panics (White, 1999). A culture can be defined as designs for living that constitute peoples way of life (Macionis Plummer, 2008:128). The five components of culture identified by Macionis and Plummer (2008: 130) include; symbols, language, values, norms and material culture. Culture has several, often contradictory meanings that carries ambiguity that can be traced in its different uses throughout history (Brake, 1985). While the classical perspective views culture as a standard of excellence (high culture), others view culture as a way of life which expresses certain meanings and values attached with a particular way of life known as the low culture'(Williams, 1961, p. 57). It is this conceptualisation of low culture that is central to the development of subcultures as an analytical concept (Brake, 1985). Subcultures can be defined as a cultural pattern that set apart some segment of a societys population (Macionis Plummer, 2008: 139) or a social group which is perceived to deviate from the normative ideals of adult communities (Thornton, 1995: 2). The earliest use of subcultural theories within sociology can be linked to its application as a subdivision of a national culture (Lee, 1945; Gordon, 1947). Culture in this context was viewed as learned behaviour with emphasis on the effects of socialisation within the cultural subgroups of a pluralist society (Brake, 1985). In most of the Western world, studies of youth subcultures have been dominated by a tradition associated with the 1970s work of the Centre of Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, England (Thornton, 1995). The Birmingham subcultural studies tend to banish media and commerce from their definition of authentic culture seen media and commerce as incorporating subcultures into the hegemony and effectively dismantling them (Hedbige, 1978). Chicago School sociologists on the other hand were concerned on researching empirical social groups by taking precedence over their elaboration of theory and were mainly focused on the shadier recesses of polite society (Nayaka, 2003:14 in Thornton, 1995). This report will look at subcultures as cultures that are labelled directly or indirectly by the media with a problematic authenticity and as media and commerce integral to the authentication of its cultural practices. Supporting this, A.K. Cohen states that a major determinant of s ubcultures among the youth as what people do depending upon the problems they contended with (Cohen, 1955, p.51). Cultural theorists argue that what it means to be young should be seen in the context of its cultural significance indicating that it is the context of cultural significance that makes been young so distinctive and not the structural focus of society (Alan, 2007). That is, the context the youth are exposed to and the issues that their exposures carry play a significant role in the construction of a youths culture. When understanding the conflicts surrounding young people and the way they use public space, the media plays a central role by constituting and shaping the principal form of the public sphere and by gathering and distributing important public information (Thompson, 1994 in Sercombe, 1999). One may argue that there is no certain measure of the direct effects of media coverage on the public. However, there are often negative and powerful cultural effects of media produced by the constant flow of its commercialized imaginary fictions and stereotypical coverages that socially construct a moral and narrative set of offerings upon which the youth attempt to build their identities on (White, 1993). Not only in building identities, the youth tend to use these social constructions by the media also as a measure for their achievements and personal worth by simply deriving an identity from a set of meanings drawn on the basis of media constructed stimulations instead of their local experiences (Baudrillard, 1983). It is important to note that the notion of identities are constructed across and by differences, and the social construction of youth identities though historically varied is tightly bound with the media representations made available at the time (White,1999). Therefore, we can argue that media is a critical component of the development and maintenance of the representation of young people which often feeds into the fears and negative attitude surrounding the presence of young people in public space as problematic or threatening (Sercombe, 1999). Moral panics in relation to youth music and subculture are not uncommon in the news and other media (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2008, pp. 124-145, in Phillipoy 2009). Most cities in Australia like many other cities around the world housed for a large number of subcultural activities ranging from skateboarders occupying the steps and benches in the Melbourne streets to Goths congregating the inner city suburbs (Gelder, 2007). It also has a number of drag night clubs, gay and lesbian bars, a remarkable graffiti subculture; in which Melbourne has been claimed as a stencil graffiti capital (Smallman Nyman, 2005). Australia has several times witnessed its teenage subcultures clash in the streets; like the Mods and Sharpies in August 1966 (Sparrow Sparrow, 2004: 73-77). Stan Cohens classic Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1980) and the centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies Policing the Crisis (Hall et al. 1978) both indicate how mainstream media contributes to the public anxiety about youth subcultures and youth groups that are deemed to be deviant. Cohen, in his work looks at the development of conflict between mods and rockers, in a British seaside town, and particularly the escalation of conflict that arose as a result of the medias representation of these events. He argues that the media were responsible for amplifying the perception of deviance arising from a few of small-scale disturbances, which ultimately led to an escalated interventions from the police and judiciary, with the demonization and over-typification of young people involved in the mod or rocker styles. Similarly in Australia Cunneen et al. 1989, carried out a study on the disturbances at the Bathurst motorcycle races concluding that it was the over representation of the small di sturbances that led to the large scale conflicts and that the press concentrated on authority opinion while sensationalizing the material published (Cunneen et al., 1989). When analysing the literature published on the media representations of youth and youth subcultures it is evident that communications media create subcultures in the process of naming them and drawing boundaries around them in the act of describing them (Thonrton, 1995). The way media is inextricably involved in the meaning making and organization of youth subcultures will be discussed through the analysis of the representations of many recent incidents related to youth subcultures, particularly the ravers, Goths and emo subcultures. The rave subculture emerged worldwide in the late 1980s as a musical subculture and was a phenomenon in the area that attempted to invert the traditional rock n roll authenticity by remixing and creating a cutting edge disk culture with a warehouse party format and was established in Chicago, Detroit and across Britain (Thornton, 1995:4). Soon groups of young people were clustered in sites conventionally aligned with musical performance to listen and dance to electronic dance music played by djs in Sydneys alternative rock scene Unlike other musical subcultures such as alternative rock scene where performances generally took place in formal environments such as pubs and clubs the raves in Australian cities began to use spaces such as old warehouses, factories and train stations for their activities (Gibson Pagan, 2006). Since the late 1980s rave culture worldwide has increased their members and was diversified and fragmented in many aspects becoming more contradictory with various s ubcultures emerging such as the Doofs, Drum and Bass and Happy hard core. Mean while controversies and public moral panics were starting to generate over the diverged more politicized illegal party culture that were shifting itself from the mainstream (Gibson Pagen, 2006). Associations were made between these part scenes and illegal drugs such as ecstasy by the media providing the basis for a moral panic. Ravres were described as new age hippies where their activities summed up to no sex, but drugs and rock roll (Sun Herald, 15/1/1995:1995,121). Dance parties in Sydney eventually became associated with tropes of youth deviance and illegality making the rave space in the public consciousness as a site beyond the domain of mainstream, and thereby causing strong reactions from the public and a need for increased control over their events (Gibson Pagen, 2006). A major shift in the perception of the public of youth subcultures could be related to the ecstasy related death of teenager A nna Woods from Sydney at an Apache party in 1995. Her death was magnified within the media creating an unprecedented wave of media attention and public panic. With headlines such as Ecstasy agony and Ecstasy secret world running on the front pages for nearly two weeks, dramatically altering not only the rave culture but the perception of youth subcultures as a whole (See Sydney Morning Herald, 26/20/1995:1,4). The initial response of sympathy by the public to the incident soon turned into fear and anger that progressed from tension and social anxiety to a full blown social and political crisis (McRobbie, 1994) with scapegoating not only the ravers but creating fear against many youth subcultures (see Daily Telegraph, 25/10/1995:415). The death of Anna was interpreted as a symptom of the malaise affecting many young Australians (Daily Telegraph, 5/11/1995:8), with the NSW state government taking actions to close down clubs and bars which have promoted drugs in parties (Gibson Pagen, 2006). For a few months in 2007, the dangers of Emo and computer use were significant themes in many Australian newspaper coverages (Phillipoy, 2009). Emo is an abbreviation of the terms emocore or emotional hardcore which is a musical sub-genre of punk rock music, characterised by emotional or personal themes. They adopt a look that includes black stovepipe jeans, dyed black hair and side-parted long fringes, which might merely have been one of the many tribes (Bennett, 1999) that characterise this contemporary youth culture(Phillipoy, 2009). Following the deaths of Melbourne teenagers, Jodie Gater, Stephanie Gestier and Carly Ryan in year 2007, over an approximately five months period the media portrayed the two separate incidents linking the suicide and the murder to the Emo subculture and to the social networking site MySpace, presenting both as dangerous and worrying developments in contemporary youth culture (Phillipoy, 2009). These media discourses surrounding the deaths included many features of moral panic including a build-up of concerns disproportionate to the real risk of harm (see Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2002, pp.33-41). While the emo youth were viewed as straightforward folk devil (Cohen, 1972) or the enemy, the problem of emo was also framed as a product of much broader problems of youth culture (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2002). The connections between emo and the deaths of these young girls were tenuously published over the mass media and was seen as symptomatic of what John Hartley (1998) describes in the context of r eporting on young people more generally as a profound uncertainty in the textual system of journalism about where the line that defines the boundary of the social should be drawn by the broader groups of non-subculturaly affiliated youth. The result of this according to Phillipoy, is a cultural thinking out loud (Hartley, 1998) where broader cultural anxiety are expressed and explored that can be described as anxiety about disclosure. The newspaper coverages on the deaths focused on the dangers of young peoples disclosures that made them inaccessible to adult authority that otherwise could have prevented the tragedies. Although some of these concerns were connected to the specificities of emo subcultural expression, with excessive emotions on display and the enigma associated with subcultural imagery respectively, they were on the whole linked to a broader problem in contemporary youth culture that was seen to apply to all young people, irrespective of any subcultural affiliation. T he expressions of anxieties that the private lives of young people were becoming increasingly unknowable to adult authorities, and, hence, that youth culture itself was increasingly unknowable were popular statements made by the media (Phillipoy, 2006). Reportings such as bizarre teenage goth and emo world world constructed both as dangerous (in the sense that the apparent involvement in subcultural activities was presented as disturbing and something that put her at risk of harm) and impenetrable (in the sense that subcultural affiliations and imagery was understood not simply as harmful but also as bizarre). In conclusion, the representations of young people in the media directly or indirectly depend on the interest of the newspapers and the discourse of its source. Language used by these media allows painting young people in different colors (Sercombe, 1999) and as youth subcultures are prime fare for the news media as in terms of news value they are both exotic and familiar (White, 1993) media and youth subcultures have a complex and symbolic relationship where young people are devoted consumers and producers of media and engage with media in the approval and adaptation of subcultural forms for their own context. Therefore, many of the subcultures can be argued to be reproduced and constructed through the media (White, 1999). The mainstream media however tend to represent youth subcultures mythologically as they often attempts to represent not the real world but the world that suits the advertisers, owners and the government. This leads to the constant stereotyping, reinforcing and exa ggerating issues, particularly in relation to the youth (White, 1993). Youth was been commodified and portrayed within the media as the mindless hedonism of lost youth (Brown, 2005). They were categorized as a careless generation that was only concerned with seeking pleasure and satisfaction from personal risk taking and drug use (Brown, 2005). By constructing notions of deviance and illegality, commercial media not only position youth and youth subcultures but are implicated in defining authentic underground activities that further strengthen subcultural practices that are deemed deviant (Gibson Pagan, 2006). Therefore, it is clear that media have been and is today, a major influence in fuelling and reinforcing perceptions of problem youth. Subcultures are constructed and stereotyped by the media as deviant and the media representations linked to the issues around subcultures have created an image of uncaring, hedonistic and self centered youth (Alan, 2007). Hence, this report suggest that the media is directly or indirectly responsibility for the fuelling and reinforcing of such deviant activities that they have constructed aligned to youth subcultures and that youth subcultures are a social construction mainly influenced by the national mass media. Therefore, the national media, particularly newspapers as the most commo nly used news media has a responsibility in the a discourses that are used to represent youth groups and youth subcultures as it carries an impact on the broader youth communities worldwide.

Audi Swot

Audi began Germany in 1932 , it was formed the merger of four different cartaker, In 1969 Volkswagen acquired the business in 2008 Audi delivered more than one million cars to customer. Today the business goes from strength to strength and manufacturers in many parts of the world including India. This is a manufacturer of very high quality cars tend to be highly engineered robust and priced at a premium level. STRENGTH Audi's reputation is undoubtedly based upon a very strong brand. In fact the four rings of Audi is one of the most identifiable logos and images globally.The brand is very innovative and the range is continually developed and extended. Being a German technology product, obviously Audi has a reputation for operations management and its production approaches. The company manufactures in excess of 1 million autos a year. Interestingly, more than 1000 of these cars are Lamborghinis, Audi's premium supercar brand. The company manufactures cars in the German cities of Ingols tadt and Neckarsulm. Audi is also renowned for technology, creativity and innovation.The business invests almost $3 billion every year in research and development for its new products. Historically, the company's innovations are quite impressive – for example, Audi Quattro’s four-wheel-drive technology. New innovations include light emitting diode headlights (you may have seen them on the highway) and also MultiMedia Interface (MMI), which is a mash up of entertainment technology, navigation technology, and communication technology – including telephones as well as other innovations, which also improve passenger safety. WeaknessesOne interesting problem for the business is that whilst it is a very large vehicle manufacturer, it doesn't operate on the same huge scale as some of its close competitors, including Ford and Toyota. A simple revenue analysis based upon units produced shows that its competitors can make equivalent vehicles more cheaply, simply because o f economies of scale. That is to say relative unit are relatively higher. Audi's are German and its brand is associated with its national identity. Whilst in some ways this is a strength, others might view this as a particular issue.The brand is very dependent upon its European markets. It is relatively small in North America. Some of the sustained sales in Europe have to be due to environmental initiatives and incentives offered by European governments, and this won’t go on forever. The European market might also go into decline, simply because of the debt being experienced by large markets such as the Greece, Ireland and Spain. In common with some of its competitors including Toyota , Audi has also had to endure the embarrassment of product recalls.Especially for a brand which encompasses security and safety, this could potentially be damaging. In North America, there have been problems with gearboxes (transmissions) . Similar problems occurred in the South Korean market. O pportunities Without a doubt the new emerging markets of China and India are huge opportunities for Audi. New car sales are growing in both countries as consumers are getting wealthier and more discerning, they need status brands such as Audi. By 2015, the Indian car market is going to be huge, with estimated sales reaching more than $40 billion.In China figures indicate that sales will be in excess of 250,000 million vehicles in a similar period of time. Audi with its innovative history is obviously investing heavily in vehicles which are low emission and will be targeted at the greener car market. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) will become very popular in the large countries of the United States and China, whereby petrol stations will become slowly replaced by plug-in stations. So obviously the growth of environmentalism and the nature of global warming mean that consumers are calling for low emissions alternatives.Hopefully in the coming years, the global car market will begin t o recover and car sales and production will increase. There are a number of drivers. Government programs which offer incentives to consumers to ditch their old gas guzzler to replace it with a modern hybrid car for example, mean an increase in sales. The problems associated with raising credit in Western nations will hopefully disappear and consumers will begin to take loans to finance their vehicle again. Audi has become a leaner business by increasing its profit per vehicle and reducing its inventory.Threats Like any business which operates in a global economic environment, Audi has to deal with local business environments. For example, regulations by local governments in relation to emissions or safety, or even strategic alliances with local companies in order to enter a market, such as China. All please add to the bottom line and reduce margins potentially. Trading in a global market means that the business is essentially exposed to commodity price fluctuations. Steel prices hav e been on a helter-skelter.Commodity prices vary, and it makes it difficult for Audi to keep costs steady. In the car industry, generally, the largest threat relates to the nature and level of competition in what is a mature industry. There are a number of similar brands including BMW and Mercedes. Car production globally tends to move where the high dependence on labour cannot impact its cost base, so over years to come more manufacturing will move to India and China, where costs of labour are lower. The German worker is comparatively expensive.

Advertising, A Web To Trap Consumers The Corporations

Advertising, a Web to Trap Consumers: The Corporations Goal is to Create a Spin in the Mind of Consumers through Advertising for Earning Profits Corporations have existed since the time of the Roman Empire but the influence of modern technology transformed corporations into something new without fringes(Bogdaneris,2016). Due to globalisation corporations can operate anywhere in the world Although the perspective of corporations is the same as the past, corporations now believe they exist only for earning profits (Bogdaneris,2016). The golden age of media influences the growth of corporations through advertising their products (Bogdaneris,2016). This paper focuses on how corporations use various marketing techniques to advertise their†¦show more content†¦In â€Å"Environmental Advertising† Some organisations use ambiguous words in their advertisements which creates confusion in the mind of consumers and affects their decision-making power. (Kangun et al.,1991, p.48). Most normal words utilized by these associations are environment friendly, degradable or ozone friendly which have no reasonable importance (Kan gun et al.,1991, p.48). Entangled claims made in advertisements confines the purchaser to basic known words which can be effectively confused by them (Kangun et al.,1991, p.49). Landler (1991) explains the most praised body of evidence is recorded against the Mobil compound organization for its distortion of its â€Å"Hefty degradable trash bags† as earth safe, however these bags do not disintegrate in secured landfills yet association no longer make this claim in its publicizing (qtd. In Kangun et al.,1991, p.49). Along these lines, these sorts of claims end up being insignificant, deceiving or beguiling to customers. Advertisements aimed not to motivate children to purchase things but rather inspiring them to nag their parents to purchase them (Bankan,2005). 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The Beatles Legacy - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2969 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/08/16 Category Music Essay Level High school Tags: The Beatles Essay Did you like this example? Beatlemania and the British invasion, two terms used to describe the profound way people from the United States and rest of the world felt about the Beatles. The Beatles, the greatest musicians of all time left a legacy that has been incomparable for around half a century. Prominent in the sixties, the popular rock band produced thirteen albums in less than ten years. The two hundred plus songs they created during this time period contained dozens of hit records, many of which can be heard traveling the radio waves to this day. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Beatles Legacy" essay for you Create order However, the Beatles were not always multi million dollar-worth superstars travelling the world. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were all born in Liverpool England during a three year span from 1940-1943. Ringo Starr was actually born Richard Starkey but then changed his name to something more appealing. The name Ringo came from a large golden ring that he would always wear and Starr was a condensed play on his last name. In the summer of 1956, at the young age of sixteen, John Lennon and a few of his classmates at Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool decided to form a band. They named their band the Quarrymen and began to perform ar St. Peters Woolton Parish Church in 1957. During this time, Lennon was introduced to a fellow musician named Paul McCartney. Paul was only fifteen, but immediately became friends with John and soon after was invited by John to join the Quarrymen. The next year, as the band continued their performances and picked up a little steam, they expanded once again. George Harrison was recruited (also at the age of fifteen). Lennon, who had been attending the Liverpool College of Art convinced a classmate Stuart Sutcliffe to join the band in 1960. After he joined, the four artists decided to change their name from the Quarrymen to the Silver Beetles. However the name didnt stick long as it was promptly changed to the Silver Beatles (with an ea instead of an ee). In the summer, the Silver Beatles picked up their new drummer Pete Best. They also changed their name again as they shortened it to just the Beatles and kept on performing at different small venues and clubs, displaying their enthralling mix of folk rock music around England The group of five musicians traveled to Hamburg Germany shortly after acquiring Best. In Hamburg, the Beatles performed at several different clubs including the Kiaserkeller and the Indra clubs. After their first trip, they went back four more times from 1960-1962. It is said that during these long mini tours, they discovered their collective musical identity and the sound that made them so unique. After returning from their first trip to Hamburg, the Beatles staged a homecoming performance at Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool where they had fans waiting for them. This ecstatic show was the eighth of twenty shows they had at Litherland Town Hall and was one of the most memorable. They were also gaining popularity as they performed at clubs such as the Cavern Club and the Cassanova Club in Liverpool. In 1961, Stuart Sutcliffe quit the band to pursue a career in art. Stuart never really wanted the career of a full time musician and was an extremely talented painter. Another factor that was involved with him quitting was his engagement to the German Astrid Kirchherr. Astrid Kirchherr met the Beatles during their Hamburg visits and was friends with all of them. Unfortunately, while living with Astrid in Hamburg, Sutcliffe died less than a year after leaving the Beatles of a brain hemorrhage. Later, in November of 1961, the Beatles hired Brian Epstein to be their manager. A former student of the Royal Academy of the Arts, Epstein worked at a family run music store but became professionally involved with musicians around Liverpool. He met the Beatles at one of their shows and two months later he was hired. It is said that Epstein was the one who inspired many of the Beatles outfits and their iconic mop-top, bowl cut, mullet style hairdos. In the beginning as a manager, he successfully helped mold their persona from an average startup boy band to the loveable, quartet that took the world by storm. On January 1, 1962 the Beatles experienced their first real speed bump in their musical journey. Epstein took them to audition for a large record deal in London but took it roughly when they were turned down. Dick Rowe of Decca Records made one of the biggest investing blunders known to man when he snidely responded to the Beatles manager saying, Guitar groups are on their way out Mr. Epstein. Mr. Rowes misjudgment and inability to envision the fab fours musical potential no doubt cost him millions. Although the fallout with Decca Records was disappointing, the Beatles bounced back in May of the same year by hiring George Martin as their producer. Martin was the only producer who worked with the Beatles as a band and has been described by many, including Paul McCartney, as the fifth Beatle. He was able to land them a record deal with EMI, a well known record label. EMI has signed artists worldwide and many from the United Kingdom, some of which are Avicii, Pink Floyd, Queen, Iron Maiden, Coldplay, AC/DC, David Guetta, Snoop Dogg, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, Frank Sinatra, Spice Girls, Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, J Balvin, Cher, Calvin Harris, and many more. Right after Martin was hired, on August 16, Pete Best left the Beatles. There is still some controversy over whether Best left or was fired by Martin after their EMI audition. Martin apparently disliked Best and believed the rest of the group would be better off with a more skilled drummer. Pete Best also never really fit in with the rest of the Beatles as he was more introverted and preferred to spend his down time alone. He also refused to switch his ducktail haircut to the classic Beatle cut when the rest of the Beatles did. After this, the Beatles were in desperate need of a new drummer. Ringo Starr joined fit the job description perfectly and joined the Beatles just two days after Best left (or was fired). Ringo was a close friend and had filled in as a drummer a few times on their Hamburg trips when Best wasnt available. His quirky but skillful drumming style and his fun loving personality helped him fit right in with the other three members of the Beatles who enthusiastically invited him to join the band. On September 11, of the same year, the Beatles recorded their first single, Love Me Do. It did well for the first single they produced and even reached number seventeen on the British top singles chart. 1963 was the year the Beatles really blew up and became prominent and recognized in the music community. On January 11, 1963 they released their second single, Please Please Me in the United Kingdom. In just a month, it reached number one on the British singles chart and stays there for two weeks. By February 11, they recorded their first whole album, also called Please Please Me. By this time, ten more songs were also recorded to add to Love Me Do. On March 22, their Please Please Me album is released in the United Kingdom and becomes an immediate hit, staying at number one for twenty-nine weeks. In July the same album that had gained so much popularity in the United Kingdom was released in America but had an unexpected result. The release was a flop. Although the Americans had not yet started to pick up on the Beatles music, it was spreading like wildfire from the United Kingdom all throughout Europe. This quick increase of popularity outside of their home country was just the begi nning of Beatlemania. On October 13, roughly fifteen million people tune in to watch the Beatles perform on ITVs Sunday Night at the London Palladium, which is the British equivalent of The Ed Sullivan Show. Less than a month later they had a royal performance for Queen Elizabeth II, Lord Snowdon (the Queens son in law), and Princess Margaret at a Royal Command Performance on November 4. Here John Lennon introduced a new song they had been working on with this cheeky statement, For our last number Id like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if youd just rattle your jewellery. Wed like to sing a song called Twist And Shout. The Beatles did not perform again at the Royal Variety Show even though they were asked to every year. They chose not to because it seemed too formal to them and they were all extremely nervous about playing and speaking in front of the Queen. On November 22, then Beatles second album, With the Beatles, is released in the United Kingdom, clinching the number one spot on the British album chart for twenty-one weeks. With the Beatles dropped Please Please Me down to number two in the United Kingdom and the two albums together stayed on top of the charts for over fifty consecutive weeks. The fab four was on a hot streak and could not stop producing music. A week later, on November 29, the band released another single in the United Kingdom called I Want To Hold Your Hand which immediately went to the top of the charts. Less than a month later this song was released in the United States and jumped to number one, where it held that spot for seven weeks. On January 20, 1964, Capitol Records released Meet the Beatles! in the United States. On February 7, the Beatles landed at JFK Airport in New York where they were mobbed by thousands of fans who were waiting for them. The fans followed them and surrounded the Plaza Hotel in New York where they were staying. This was the spark that lit the flame of the British invasion. Two days later the Beatles were invited on the Ed Sullivan show setting a televised record of 73 million viewers. Here the fab four performed I Want to Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, and I Saw Her Standing There. Two more days after their televised performance, the Beatles played at the Washington Coliseum in Washington D.C. This was their first live performance in America. The next day, on the 12th, they performed live at Carnegie Hall. Their short trip to the United States was a key factor is boosting their popularity in the Americas. After those three memorable performances, Meet t he Beatles! reached the number one spot on the Billboards hot album chart and had no competition for eleven straight weeks. On March 2, George, Paul, John, and Ringo decided to try their hand in the film industry by starting their first film, A Hard Days Night. The musical comedy illustrated the everyday life of a Beatle and only took eight weeks to film. On March 32, 1964, the Beatles set a musical record having songs in the first five spots of the Billboards singles chart. These five songs that so enthralled the American public were, from one to five, Cant Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me. At this point they didnt think it could get any better but by April they had the privilege of having fourteen songs on the Billboards Hot 100 singles chart. In July, the Beatles release another movie with a sister album called A Hard Days Night. Both the movie and the soundtrack are consumed by the public worldwide and the album hits the top of the charts in both the United Kingdom and the United States. On August 19, 1964, the boy band begins their first tour of the United States and Canada. It started at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and lasted one month. After their tour, they took a break for a while and produced their next album on December 4. Beatles For Sale once again has no competition and skyrocketed to the number one spot on music charts worldwide. In February of 1965, the Beatles started shooting their second movie Help! in the Bahamas. The hit film had a budget of $1.5 million and only took about six months to make. This movie was also a hit and its accompanying album was a success as well. In the summer, the Beatles returned to the United States where they held a concert at Shea Stadium in Queens. Here they set a record attendance of 55,600 people and roughly grossed about $304,000. In December, another smash album, Rubber Soul, is released and of course rests atop the charts for over five weeks. The Beatles never returned to the incredible speed at which they produced music during 1964, but they were still steadily releasing albums at a rate much faster than most artist today. Their next album Revolver was released on August 5, 1966 and inevitably rose to the top of the charts where it stayed for six weeks. On August 29, 1966, the iconic quartet ended touring for good. They performed on tour live one last time in San Francisco and decided to invest more time recording in the studio. They were sick of the emotionally and physically painful and stressful tour life and wanted to change it up temporarily. Revealed by Ringo Starr in an interview in the early 2000s, hey never intended to stop touring completely, but sadly they did. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is released on June 1, 1967 and stays at the top of British charts for twenty-seven consecutive weeks. On June 25, a two hour television program made by the Beatles titled Our World aired in twenty-four different countries via new satellite technology making it the first television show to air worldwide. On August 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Beatles family as their manager died at the age of thirty-two. Brian Epstein, the man who was responsible for making the Beatles who they were passed away due to an accidental drug overdose in Sussex England. The Beatles were heartbroken, having lost the fifth Beatle, but they kept on, releasing the Magical Mystery Tour in November, which also hit the top of the charts. In Febuary of 1968, the Beatles became infatuated with the Hindu religion and especially transcendental meditation right at the time they claim to have dropped drug abuse. They journeyed to a seminar teaching this in Rishikesh, India led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi along with sixty other people including a few other celebrities. They returned from the seminar in a few weeks and on May 14, Lennon and McCartney guest starred on the Tonight Show to announce the startup of their new company designed to help young upcoming artists, Apple Corps Ltd. On November 22, they released another album The Beatles or The White Album and it reached number one once again. Less than two months later, Yellow Submarine was released and hits the top of the charts, falling second to The White Album. On January 30, 1969, the Beatles have what will be their last performance together ever at a rooftop party for Apple Corps Ltd. in London. This was mainly due to the fact that the band had been deteriorating basically ever since the death of Brian Epstein. Drug abuse was back and there was a lot of conflict and tension between the four members of the group. A large part of this was due to Yoko Ono, a Japanese woman John Lennon left his wife for. He broke one of the imperative rules put in place by the four members of the band, not bringing wives or girlfriends into the studio, by inviting her into the studio. Feelings clashed even more when Lennon enthusiastically allowed her to bleed some of her artistic input and opinion into the music the fab four created. Lennon unofficially left the band sometime in September. However the Beatles last studio recording was dropped on September 26 and of course found its way on top of the charts. Even with this album doing well, there was no comin g back for the Beatles. The damage had been done and they were moving on towards their solo careers. Although they had a few minor hits individually, they could never be as great as they were collectively, together, and as the Beatles. On December 8, 1980 John Lennon was murdered by an unhinged fan. Over twenty years later, George Harrison died of cancer on November 29, 2001. Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney are still alive to this day. While the Beatles were incredible musicians and entertainers, they lived a life full of harmful drug abuse. A few of the drugs they regularly used at different points in their career include speed, cannabis, LSD, cocaine, and heroin and their self harming lifestyles were not exemplary or condonable. However the Beatles left a legacy of incredible music and unprecedented sound and which is still listened to by millions today. Works Cited Brush, Joseph. The Beatles and Drugs. The Beatles Bible, The Beatles Bible, 7 May 2018, www.beatlesbible.com/features/drugs/. Miller, James E. The Beatles. Encyclop? ¦dia Britannica, Encyclop? ¦dia Britannica, Inc., 25 Apr. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/the-Beatles. Spitz, Bob. Beatles The Biography. Simon Schuster Audio, 2005. Bramwell, Tony. Magical Mystery Tours. St. Martins Press, 2005. Dianna. Why Did Ringo Starr (The Beatles) Choose This Name? OldiesMusicBlog, www.oldiesmusicblog.com/why-ringo-starr/. Atcheson, Ella. The Beatles Never Intended to Quit Touring for Good. NME, NME, 24 Aug. 2016, www.nme.com/news/music/the-beatles-4-1191035. Beatles Manager Brian Epstein Dies. History.com, AE Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/beatles-manager-brian-epstein-dies. daveliftongmail-com. The Day Ringo Starr Joined the Beatles. Ultimate Classic Rock, 18 Aug. 2015, ultimateclassicrock.com/ringo-starr-first-beatles-show/. Paul McCartney Announces the Breakup of the Beatles. History.com, AE Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paul-mccartney-announces-the-breakup-of-the-beatles. The Beatles. Billboard, Billboard, www.billboard.com/artist/383540/beatles/chart.