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Do you agree with the view that the Beatles “changed the world in the sixties”?

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Do you agree with the view that The Beatles “changed the world in the sixties”?

It’s clear from any angle that The Beatles had an incredible impact on the world in the sixties, but I think it’s evident stating they “changed the world” is going too far, and in actual fact they merely reflected a changing world. Source 18 mentions the view that “The Beatles changed the world in the sixties”, and it references to some of the contemporary debates from the decade, which the four-man band had an influence on: “legalization of drugs, the war in Vietnam” and “traditional and alternate religions”. Ian Inglis also declares them as one of the “twentieth century’s more significant achievements” which is true to an extent – some of their views and …show more content…

This was a big thing – it was a fairly new drugs in UK and American culture, before the sixties tobacco and alcohol were the only widespread drugs. Although their plea didn’t work, the advertisement still created higher awareness of the hallucinogenic drug, which encouraged more people to try or use it. In 2004, Paul McCartney admitted they used drugs as an influence to most of their music – including “Got to Get You in my Life” which was about cannabis and confessed the infamous suspicion that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was about LSD. By the late sixties the band had managed to change how the youth spent their time – the younger generations now started to hang out in private open areas, listening to their psychedelic rock, growing their hair long, dressing in colourful clothes and taking mind-altering drugs – the hippie era had begun.

Although, it seems to me, it’s more evident that the Beatles didn’t “change the world in the sixties”, but in fact they merely reflected a changing world – this opinion is supported by both source 17 and 18. It’s stated by Allan Kozinn in source 17 that “although they seemed to be the leaders of the new youth culture, they were by no means its architects” which is also supported in source 18 by the inclusion of the words “innovators” and “spokesperson” – these words infer that the four men were imitating original views and opinions. Source 16 also agrees with this opinion to an extent – Lennon often had

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