The 60’s as the Decade of Progress and Transformative Change
Each band trying to one-up on the other however slightly or strongly it was perceived by the fans, it made Rock & Roll a genre of music that started to transcend the medium it was born out of. Instead of music to dance or listen to it began to be an art form, first off and secondly an “instrument” for poetry, songs of strong messages in morality, ethics, perspectives, philosophy and the dangerous politics & religion. Many experimental and strange albums were made in the 60’s and 70’s. Art, music, poetry, writings, fashion, light and our arena rituals all melded into some grand ritual celebration next to sports. The progression of the Rock & Roll show to a Multi-Day Festival.
The American Music Festival, seen as an almost religious experience to some, a spiritual experience to others. This grew out of a combination of the folk movement, the Jazz festival and the Ken Kesey Acid Tests in San Francisco. A Festival of endurance, a rite of passage, in terms of braving dehydration to bad trips, to outright overdose. The rock festival is very shamanistic, just like Jim Morrison had mentioned, the festivals unite people who get hyped up watching the Shamans freak out. the experience sometimes feels ancient, like the “primitive tribes” erecting stone monuments, using astronomy, and having a deeper understanding of sound, music, and sonic medicines and cures.
The 60’s was a time where great artistical expression came to the front of pop music where the groups stayed true to the rock & roll, rhythm & blues, deep blues, folk music ethos. This is where music through rock & roll became a philosophy and a way of life, almost like a religion to some people. This new spiritualism was complete with myths, tales, and mysteries. Written by the laureates and sages of rock & roll and performed and administered by the priests or shamans whipping out a most “devil worshipping” rhythmic conjuring corrupting the youths of the generations in the adulation and ecstasies of the music.
That is what rock & roll represents above all else – Angst, boredom cure, an emotional cure-all. “I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad”. Music has always had the nature of upliftment, even the Blues songs. But then the use of sound changed after the assassinations Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Bobby Kennedy in 1968. ushering some real anger and resentment to the socio-political military economic corporate complex. They still lie to us regardless of the political parties involved. Racism, is still an issue, Roe v. Wade, still an issue, etc.
McCartney is in many ways that songwriting entity that transcends time, that creative spark inherent and residing in all great pop music. He is a multi-instrumentalist, a master of the pop song like anyone at the Brill building, master of the pop hook, a great solo guitar composer who used to work out his solos step by step. McCartney was an essential ingredient to the Beatles success in using a wide range of musical styles or “musics” (as McCartney says), this song is proof of that.
The Bass Fidelity
The bass sound is very important in determining a songs age I hear a difference on the Rubber Soul album.