A 6-Week Music History Course with Pete Elman on Zoom
How America surrendered to the advance guard of the British Invasion, weaponized by our own roots music.
Due to the rise of the Omicron variant and for the health and safety of our community, this course will be held on Zoom.
What often gets lost in any discussion or course about the Beatles and the Rolling Stones is the simplest of facts; these were two of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. This course will take a hard look at how two groups of young British musicians, infatuated with America, reached deep into arguably our greatest cultural legacy of the 20th century–popular music– to achieve fame and fortune.
In this course, we will explore how these bands were influenced heavily by the Delta Blues of the 1930’s and the electric Chicago blues of the 1940’s-1950’s; the folk and country music out of Nashville in the same period; the classic R&B that came out of New York and LA; the early rock and roll, mainly out of New Orleans; rockabilly that came blazing out of Memphis in the late 1950’s, the magic that was Motown, and most importantly, the poetry and guitar of Chuck Berry.
This course will examine how American roots music was the launching pad for two of the greatest bands of all time, and the uncanny way in which their careers paralleled each other. We will examine six phases in the history of each band, and in the spirit of learning we’ll do some rock and roll contrasting and comparing. The class will look at that period when both bands were active, 1962-1969. And we will discuss why one band lasted 9 years—while the other band has been out there doing it for 56 years—and on tour as we speak!!
Week 1: The early days, 1960-62: How a couple of groups of British kids found their dream without looking for it. London, Liverpool and Hamburg: importing R&B and rockabilly from the States. The Beatles emulate their heroes from across the pond: Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and the Everlys. London, May 1962; Brian Jones, 20, the brilliant, blues and jazz-obsessed rebellious son of amateur musicians, puts an ad in Jazz News, and the Rolling Stones are formed. Within a few months, they are playing gigs.
Week 2: Watch out, world! The heady days of 1963: For the Fab Four—“Hey, we can write songs!” As for the Stones– “you know, these guys just might be more than a great bar band”. How two really tight bands parlayed their respective images into record deals. Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham take a chance, and turn them into England’s heartthrobs.
Week 3: The insanity that was 1964 and “Mersey beaucoup!” The rock and roll band as a creative force; John and Paul realize that two heads are better than one; Mick and Keith start to write songs, Brian Jones experiments. Conquering America, one hit at a time. Battle lines are drawn; the pretty boys vs. the bad boys.
“…on tour that year (1964) it was crazy. Not within the band. In the band we were normal–the rest of the world was crazy.”…George Harrison
Week 4: Help! We Need Somebody, Because We Are Out of our Heads. Superstardom– 1965: A whole bunch of brilliant albums that will last forever—every cut a winner. The Stones continue to honor their idols, cutting two covers for every original, but finally breaking through with their artistic triumph, their first all-original record, recorded in America, while the Beatles surge into creative overdrive, deciding that they’re done with gigs, thus establishing themselves as the greatest studio band of all time, with help from George Martin.
Week 5: Prisoners of their own success 1966-67: The Beatles continue to write great songs and set up shop in the studio, creating classic albums at a breakneck pace, and eventually pay the price; while the Stones make a great record, followed by a psychedelic bust, and then record their classic Beggars Banquet, signaling a return to roots rock, led by the ascent of Keith to the role of unquestioned leader.
Week 6: The game changes: 1968-69. For one group, the long farewell; for the other, the long haul. The end was not pretty for the Beatles, hastened by the schism between John and Paul. As the Fab Four broke up, the Stones, now minus Brian Jones, asserted their dominance as the world’s greatest rock and roll band through a quartet of masterpiece albums and unforgettable live shows. How their respective popularity drove them to great heights—and lowered them to awful depths…
“…as a band we were always tight…we could argue a lot, but we were very, very close to each other…” George Harrison