By Mark Hooper

Most discussions on The Beatles and ‘World Music’ begin and end with how they helped to introduce Eastern – specifically Indian – music into the mainstream of Western popular culture.

This is largely credited to George – whose interest, received opinion has it, was more tolerated than encouraged by the rest of the band, including George Martin. But, while he may have been the instigator, it’s clear the rest also embraced Eastern philosophy to varying degrees. Musically, John’s songs show the most obvious influences – from incorporating George’s sitar playing in Norwegian Wood (the first use of the instrument on a Western ‘rock’ album), via Across the Universe, The Rishi Kesh Song (later rewritten as Jealous Guy), and his interpretation of the Tibetan Book Of The Dead for Tomorrow Never Knows.

By Des Burkinshaw

The oldest trope in the book – no new music is good music.

We can easily bring The Beatles into that debate. Sixty-plus years on from Love Me Do and their place in the wider musical canon is assured. From an academic point of view, and even divorced from their original context, that reputation is still increasing.

Back in 1964, when they took America by storm, they were not so welcome. Bing Crosby once famously said, “I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the 20th century that has made great strides in reverse.”

By Des Burkinshaw

The acclaimed business guru, Robert Craven, famously compares The Beatles and Stackridge as a way of demonstrating how a great business idea can still fail. The Beatles and Stackridge had lots of things in common: great regional band, sparkling songs, multiple songwriters, no definite leader, flawless performances. George Martin arranged and produced their best work.

Despite all that, well, you may not even have heard of Stackridge. Which would be a shame, because they were one of the best bands of the 70s. If this blog achieves nothing else, I hope it drives you to stream some of their music.