It was a box office flop, panned by critics. But in using the songs of the Beatles to craft a story of Vietnam-era America, Julie Taymor reinvigorated the film musical.
When a 14-year-old Paul McCartney watched Little Richard in the hit film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It,’ he couldn’t have imagined that the two would one day take the stage together.
As the album celebrates its 50th anniversary, an expert in sound recording details how the band deployed stereo and synthesizers to put a unique artistic stamp on this iconic album.
There is a long list of bands that fell apart over artistic differences. But conflict between band members – and even some creative sledging – can be crucial to making better music.
Planned only a few days earlier, the Jan. 30, 1969 rooftop concert by the Beatles was their last. It is fitting the show included Billy Preston who symbolized their global collaborative efforts.
Remixing a Beatles album might be seen as both artistically redundant and cynically commercial. But this remixed classic allows us to experience the album in a new way.
John Lennon’s Revolution was panned by the radical media as a ‘petty bourgeois cry of fear’ in 1968. Then, in 1987 it was claimed by Nike to be the controversial soundtrack of its most seminal advert.
Pinching musical phrases and stylistic approaches has always been a part of art making and can be a respectful exchange. But shallow, ill-informed appropriation only perpetuates tired stereotypes.
Musicians were able to connect with confused, scared and angry Americans – including those who supported the war – in a way actors, broadcasters and writers could not.
Dubbed the greatest album ever by Rolling Stone, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is turning 50. We asked six experts how it had stood the test of time and found opinions diverged widely.