Essay: Did the Beatles change the world? (Alex Blimes review)

When you hear people talking about the 70’ies they are probably going to bring up The Beatles. To understand the mindset and culture given at a certain time in history, various sorts of artistic trends are used extensively. The reason why people always mention The Beatles is because their music encapsulated a big group of people. Therefore it is most likely to be the reason why the journalist and editor Alex Blimes implied that The Beatles changed the world in his article Paul McCartney is Esquire’s August Cover Star, brought in the Esquire Magazine July 2nd, 2015. In the Article, Alex Blimes does a good job making an interesting portrait of The Beatles and Paul McCartney. Nevertheless, did The Beatles really change the world through their music?
Alex Blimes presents the world famous Paul McCartney in the introduction. He starts to describe McCartneys typical tour day, but at some point, Alex Blimes starts peeling the perfect façade of McCartney’s perfect life. Blimes says that it has its disadvantage becoming old as a celebrity “But there’s a cruelty growing old in public” (l.86-87
In the introductory part of the article, Alex Blimes presents the iconic and insanely famous Paul McCartney. His description of McCartney is decidedly favorable as he recounts a typical day of touring, but at some point Blimes starts shedding light on some of the darker sides of McCartney’s life. Blimes argues that growing old as a public figure has its disadvantages, “But there’s a cruelty to growing old in public.” (ll. 86-87). The nuisance of the media affects McCartney to a larger extent than others according to Blimes. On one hand McCartney used to have an appearance that mainly featured adolescence and innocence, which makes his aging more noticeable, “His face is lined, craggy.” (ll. 98-99). On the other hand McCartney’s demeanor has always been goofy and humorous, which strikes people as being strange when taking his age into account. Blimes illustrates that this still holds true for the 73-year-old as he recounts how McCartney impersonated people and acted out his anecdotes during the interviews.  However, Blimes argues that the stereotypical description of McCartney as “pop culture’s slightly embarrassing uncle” (ll. 104-105) is not completely true. Blimes states that McCartney is actually intimidating and confident in private. “McCartney, one guesses from his brisk, no-nonsense manner, is unwilling to suffer fools at all.” (ll. 116-118). In addition to the comments on and descriptions of McCartney’s persona, Blimes also states that the historical influence of The Beatles was enormous. He says that The Beatles promoted friendship, love, and peace. Furthermore, Blimes contemplates The Beatles having changed the world:
“Whether or not they really changed the world I don’t know.” (ll. 189-192). The argument regarding the influence of The Beatles seems to be the main point of view of the article.
Paul McCartney Is Esquire’s August Cover Star is a typical example of the use of a hidden form of argumentation. It is clear that the article is trying to push certain points of view, but the arguments are never presented directly. Instead the author employs a subjective, personal style, which is evidenced by the use of personal anecdotes, “I met McCartney on two occasions for this story.” (ll. 324-325). If the author wants to convince readers of anything while using a subjective style it is imperative that the readers trust the authority of the author. In other words the text relies on appeals to ethos in order to successfully persuade the readers. When Blimes mentions that he was allowed two interviews, which lasted over 30 minutes, he is invoking authority by indirectly saying that he is an important, qualified, and trusted journalist.  In an effort to engage the readers Blimes asks questions directed at them, “How to fit it all into a magazine interview? What to ask the man who’s been asked everything?” (ll. 296-298). The use of questions engages the readers in the text by making them think that they are actively aiding the author in reaching a conclusion. This ‘investment’ into the article makes the reader more likely to accept the subtle arguments that do in fact lie hidden in the text.  Furthermore, Blimes uses sarcasm and humor in an effort to engage and entertain the readers. This is seen when he parodies the overt use of truisms when talking about The Beatles, “The Beatles CHANGED THE WORLD. McCartney is our GREATEST LIVING SONGWRITER. He’s a LEGEND, an ICON, a ROCK GOD.” (ll. 135-139). The fact that Blimes assures the readers of his competence while also making fun of himself and other journalists works wonderfully. He succeeds in both engaging the readers by being humorous and strengthening his ability to convince the readers by invoking authority.
Alex Blimes argues that the Beatles’ influence on the world cannot be underestimated. He even goes as far as to imply that they actually changed the course of history in a significant way. It is clear as day that most people are aware of whom The Beatles were. Amongst these people some fanatically love The Beatles and seem think that they were more important than World War II. On the other hand a lot of people acknowledge that The Beatles were big, popular and revolutionary in the world of music, but perhaps not so much in the grand scheme of things.
Most people admit that The Beatles deserves a mention when discussing pop culture in the 70’ies, but fanatical Beatles fans have to come to the realization that music does not drive history.  Sure, music and history are intertwined. When studying Jamaican music, one can pinpoint the exact time they gained independence, but they did not gain independence because of music. The historical event led to a change of mind amongst the Jamaicans that inspired some musicians to play a new, revolutionary style of music that is known as dancehall today.   The same thing holds true for The Beatles. It is clear that The Beatles’ inspiration did not come from being liberated from an oppressive rule. Nevertheless, the reason that The Beatles were able to create their incredibly huge, global following was that the circumstances permitted it. In the 60’ies and 70’ies the West was more united than ever and lacked a common ‘culture’. The Beatles did fill out a big part of that vacuum, but the point is that The Beatles did not create the vacuum they ‘just’ filled it out.
Alex Blimes primarily focuses on the character of Paul McCartney, but it also makes bold statements regarding the influence of The Beatles. It is implied that The Beatles actively changed history, which is an argument that is backed up by a subjective style that attempts to invoke authority by appealing to ethos. Furthermore, the article engages the readers by asking questions and using humor as well as sarcasm. Overall the argumentation is successful despite the subjective style, but it is not completely evident whether the author succeeds in convincing the readers of the main point of view or not. The idea that The Beatles actively changed the world through their music is rather far fetched. The confusion probably stems from the fact that people generally put too much emphasis on artistic trends when thinking about historical periods. Yes, The Beatles were an iconic part of the 70’ies, but they were not the primary catalyst for historical events during the decade.