In this fascinating book Fire and Rain , the author David Browne makes his set of circumstances convincingly, with a focus on the year of Beatle’s the careers as one of the world's most famous rock performances. Browne gets to the bottom of 1970, as their careers unexpectedly take turns, as well as the youth group struggle hard to take on board events like the Kent State holocaust and the guilty verdict of five members of the Chicago Seven which was later nullified. The end of the 1960s and the beginning of 1970 was marked as a period that was a significant time for popular culture in America. The events of that time that circulated the popular band the Beatles in their individual and group life and career was both affected and affected the culture of the time. It indicated the end of an era while introducing another in the American popular culture as the transition of time from the decade of the sixties to the decade of the seventies was made. David Browne, a music journalist, captures this aspect of change in his book “Fire and Rain” which is based on account of their lives inside and outside the studio. He tells a story of the Beatles at a time of strife and the significance of their struggles to the American popular culture scene through the 1960s and into 1970.
Having grown and dominated the American as well as the global music scene throughout the sixties, the Beatles began to experience discord within the group as the band approached the final years of that decade. This would later mark a significant shift in the American popular culture which the band had played a significant role in forming. Their tremendous success marked at the beginning of Browne’s book (Chapter 1, page 1) is evidence of their great influence and impact on the American popular culture. Having sold one million copies of their records at a time when the highest achievement was set at half a million meant that the Beatles set the pace for the American music industry during the 1960s. However, with the continued recognition that the two main acts of the band were receiving from different angles of the superstar scene, they both began to exhibit personal curiosities and sought out to find new ventures in the shadows of the successful careers that they had already established. This was the source of strife for the Beatles as a band which would later impact their careers in music and causes a shift in the American music scene.
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Though the Beatles ascended from the British culture, it had a massive influence in the American pop culture of the 1960s which its ripple effect is felt up to date. The Beatle appearance and performances in terms of dressing fashion and general presentation were unique at that time. The Beatles had a personalized and distinct mode of dressing which complements their stylistic performances of the rock and roll. Similar to British band performances, the Beatles more than any other contemporaries challenged worn out dictum of what a typical music band is supposed to mirror. Their formal brand appearances during most of their stage live performances were suits, “wearing a black suit with a yellow tie; Paul McCartney arrives at the Apple office on Baker Street in the early month of 1968 (Chapter 2 Pg 6).” The most noted physical appearance of the Beatles hairstyle which part of their uniform, the mid-length hairdo “just-over-the-ears haircut” which was associated with the band become a rebellion emblem to the growing youth culture (Prologue 1).
In the year 1969, the Beatles were to perform at a rock festival, but due to the personal problems of Simon and Garfunkel in getting together and accomplishing their specific tasks, the Beatles missed one of the biggest rock events of the year. Other upcoming bands such as Grand Funk Railroad and Jethro Tull with a much younger following got to take over the stage in their stead. From this period the sequels to the Woodstock event which was the major rock event that they missed became a reputable event which attracted multitudes of youth that who even became a nuisance to the government. Browne expresses in his book, “The mere thought of tens or hundreds of thousands of semi-clad kids descending upon their areas sent local officials and local police around the country in search of any means possible to avoid traffic jams, drug taking and skinny dipping.” (Chapter 9, page 8). The Beatles’ major influence on American popular culture was slipping away, which as evident at this time since parting of the frenzy that was brought about by the Woodstock rock festival was attributed to Crosby, Still, Nash and Young who had their version of Woodstock which had been a major hit in the country. This is despite the quartet having failed a Beatles’ audition to get signed to Apple records and alternatively went for Atlantic records.
The Beatles’ break was officially announced in 1970 which marked an ending in the American popular culture, as the author has put it “for the Beatles to come back now people would expect Jesus and Buddha (Prologue, 2).” The Beatles had finally succumbed to the strife experienced within the band during the late sixties. However, in 1970 the Beatles also signed to Apple records James Taylor. James Taylor went on to record and release the song Fire and Rain which was an unlikely hit; it remained unnoticed for a year even after being released waiting for an opportune moment to shine as Browne describes it in the book (Chapter 16, page 2). The song later debuted on the Billboard charts at 100 quickly rising the ranks to top ten in a matter of weeks. The song did not sound like the other rock songs. Browne describes it in the book as, “a song about a mental collapse and a friend’s suicide- by a performer only too willing to let the world know he’d spent time in a ‘nuthouse (Chapter 16 pg 4).”
The diminishing fame of the Beatles at the end of the 1960s was mostly attributed to personal conflict among the members and shift in the management which had a conflicting interest. The Beatle era come at a time when the western world was struggling, that is the reason why the gained a massive audience where people resort to something that could fill that void and make them hopeful again, and at this juncture, the Beatle was their remedy. This appeal according to Browne was due to political ongoing of the time including the deaths that had devastated the country during this period. At this time the country and the world according to Browne’s account had been drained by the Vietnam War, homegrown terrorism, pandemonium and death on campus (Chapter 16 pg3). These were issues that had broken down the American audience and so at that point what most people in the American rock audience wanted to hear was something quite inspiring.
All in all 1970 was both an ending and a beginning in the American popular culture in this sense. As a time that marked the peak of the Beatles as well as the gradual and eventual break of the band their dominance in the rock music industry for lasted over a decade. The band had shaped the American popular culture, and their official break in 1970 was an end of the American popular culture that they had created and shaped. Their signing of James Taylor and his hit single Fire and Rain under the Apple record label created a new age of rock music and with that a new form of American popular culture.
