British Invasion: Mods, Rockers, & Social Crosscurrents
Though the Beatles and Elvis performed their music at different times, a comparison of the two musicians/music group shows that the Beatles had an advantage over Elvis. The Beatles were more aggressive in their marketing compared to Elvis and his Rolling Stones(Spitz 23). When it came to marketing, Elvis’ music appealed to the youth while the Beatles appealed to the older masses. It, therefore, meant each group had its clients in a separate age bracket. Through cumulatively, the marketing of the Beatles was more aggressive, and they were able to sell more than Elvis. When it came to mass culture, the two groups had a mass following. Elvis had more youths following him as compared to the Beatles whose majority of their audience were people of advanced age (Spitz 30). Elvis was, therefore, able to transform the way the youths carried on most of their daily activities. On the other hand, the Beatles could not change the image of the older generation that formed bug chunk of their following. The marketing of Rolling Stones was far below that of the Beatles. The Beatles were able to capture the audiences with their songs compared to the Rolling Stones ( Shellans & Slater 61). The Rolling Stones tried harder, but they could not match the Beatles. The Beatles were just too good for them when it came to marketing. The two groups got their bad boy image from the fact that they were simply menacing on stage. The way they glorified sex, and their use of marijuana made them get the bad boy image. No parent would have wished their children to be associated with them. They did not always have their bad boy image as the law was always there to put them in check (Shellans & Slater 45). The distinction between the rocks and the Mods is still there up to now. The difference is reflected in the type of music that they play and