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1.48am
1 November 2012
Offline
I have a question for the young Beatles fans here — by “young” I mean from age 12 up to age 29.
I must insist on that upper limit of 29, because of the nature of my question.
The question is:
Is there anything about the Beatles and each individual member — John, Paul, George, Ringo — their look, their music, their behavior — that seems just a little “uncool” to your young sensibility?
Don’t worry if your answer is “yes”. It doesn’t mean you don’t love the Beatles. But what I’m trying to get at in this question is whether there is any effect of the vast time gap between the 60s and like 40 years later on new generations of kids. We know that the cultural phenomenon of “cool” changes like the wind with every generation, and the obsolescence rate in this regard is often merciless.
So, anyway, if your answer to the above question is “yes” for any reason, I’d also appreciate if you could explain why you answered that way.
Also for those who answer “no” — please explain!
Thanks!
P.S.: I realize that my age range (12-29) incorporates probably two or three different standards, apportioned out among the ages, for what constitutes “cool”!)
Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...
2.57am
16 August 2012
Offline I love where you’re going with this. Since I turned 40, I’ve become obsessed with the 4-Generational Cycle. It looks like you’re looking for a social variance.
E is for 'Ergent'.
3.13am
17 January 2013
Offline Well, I’ve always been pretty “uncool”, and I’ve always thought The Beatles were “cool”… so I guess, what do I know?
In high school, it was my “freaks and geeks” types of friends (a.k.a. all of them) that really liked the Beatles….
I don’t think I’m helping this thread, am I doing it wrong? Lol. I’m still 29 so I wanted to chime in! If I can be of more assistance tell me what you would like to know. 
I’ve also noticed that these days, a lot of “Hipster” types like the Beatles… which is kinda funny because hipsters try to be underground, but The Beatles are the most popular band in history. 
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
3.33am
16 August 2012
Offline It’s because the Beatles were, in their way, subversive.
Even if you hate Hipsters, you have to admit that they are intelligent. Subversive culture always has and always will attract the most intelligent followers, because they feel a deep kinship with the artists, who themselves are intelligent outliers.
E is for 'Ergent'.
3.55am
17 January 2013
Offline 
Me and my husband used to tease each other for being “hipsters” then after a while realized, that we kind of are. But then again, what does that even mean? To me there are two different types, which kind of works with any stereotype… there are the kinds that are just following a trend, basically pretending to be a certain way (like Avril Lavigne being “punk”). Then there are people that actually like certain music, way of dressing, whatever… that just happens to be “hipster” right now. If that’s the case, then I fit the stereotype: lots of tattoos, artistic, a hippie/bohemian style of dressing, vegetarian/vegan, loves oldies, etc… But that’s just me! I’m not following anything, never have. I just like what I like, whether it’s popular or not. I bet there are lots of people like me that get stereotyped, and are thinking the same thing! So I try not to bug them now.
I’ve known people that specifically won’t like something because it’s popular, which I think is silly. That shouldn’t stop you from liking something. Sometimes, something you’ve liked for a long time becomes popular. Example: I LOVED overalls when I was a kid. I wore them a lot through 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. In 10th grade, they became popular all of a sudden (’98/’99) and everybody was wearing them. It wasn’t the fact that they became popular that bothered me, because it just made them more accessible. The reason it pissed me off is because all of the a*****e kids that made fun of me for wearing them for three years, were now wearing them. Hypocrites. Such a pet peeve. Don’t make fun of something that’s unpopular, then go and wear it when it becomes popular. 
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
5.07am
27 December 2012
Offline The only minor thing I don’t like is that they smoke both literally and figuratively. I mean how can you compete with these smoking hot guys?
5.17am
16 August 2012
Offline I knew that smoking would be the first thing to come up. It’ll be almost totally extinct in a decade.
E is for 'Ergent'.
6.45am
17 January 2013
Offline SatanHimself said
It’s because the Beatles were, in their way, subversive.Even if you hate Hipsters, you have to admit that they are intelligent. Subversive culture always has and always will attract the most intelligent followers, because they feel a deep kinship with the artists, who themselves are intelligent outliers.
It’s very true, they do have that appeal to them. Wise observation, Lord of Darkness. 
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
3.33pm
3 May 2012
Offline Like LHL, I don’t consider myself to be ”cool” because, to people my sort of age (at least in my school), to be cool is to like wearing really tiny clothes, go partying every weekend and listen to club music. That’s not me, so I don’t know how to answer, really. The meaning of the term is quite different to what it was even just 10 years ago, never mind 50.
What I can say though is that I’m sure some of the people above mentioned would think that some of the things that they did or whatever is very ”uncool”, like playing the harmonica (I know this because I heard a group of people discussing harmonica players and what they thought of them once) and wearing suits. It sounds stupid when you say that people will not listen to The Beatles if they see a picture of them with their identical (ish) moptops and suits on, but it’s true.
Me though, I can’t think of anyting they did, said, sang…. that doesn’t fit into the description of cool (much as I hate the word). I’ll have a think about it, but I’m sure I’ll come up with nothing.
Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
(Passover - I. Curtis)
8.50pm
14 October 2012
Offline I’m 17, and among the people I know, the Beatles are cool in a middle-class way- LHL is right about them being a bit hipster or indie-kid-ish. To gangsters and stuff, they’re not cool, or particuarlarly well-known. So I guess it depends if you’re defining cool as a gangster cool, or middle-class hipsterish cool. I think the Beatles are mostly quite respected though- even among people who haven’t (or don’t think they have) ever heard a Beatles song, its kind of like, “Oh, the Beatles. They’re a big deal,”.
"I don't think we were actually swimming, as it were, with shirts on, 'cos we always wear overcoats when we're swimming,"-
George Harrison, Australia, June 1964
10.19pm
17 January 2013
Offline Yeah, I work with a kid (well, he’s 21) who is that “gangster” type. When I got my tickets to see Paul last year, he was like “Who’s that?” I was floored and calmly explained who he was. Then I asked him if he knew who John Lennon was, and he said “Who?”…….
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
11.50pm
1 November 2012
Offline bikelock28 said
So I guess it depends if you’re defining cool as a gangster cool, or middle-class hipsterish cool.
Hasn’t there evolved a lot of crossover between these two types of cool? Seems like a mingling has been going on since the late 90s; I could be wrong.
Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...
11.56pm
1 November 2012
Offline LHL, thanks for your perspective. From the way you describe yourself, I have this sense that if your memory were wiped clean (but not your “inner self”) and you were transplanted in a time machine back to 1968, you would have fit right in with the nascent “Hippie” community. It seems in a way you are living in a “retro” way without really consciously affecting it, it’s just you (which means that the substance of retro lives on in the cultural atmosphere to be tapped into, either consciously as a fashion choice, or subliminally as an alternative that feels right irrespective of fashion trends — which would mean that it transcends fashion trends on some level, which I think the Beatles do, and anyone who sneers their nose at the Beatles for being uncool is, imo, stuck in the karmic cycle being a slave to Cool, which is the ultimate Uncool…).
Ok, sermon over.
Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...
12.02am
1 November 2012
Offline fabfouremily,
Another way to ask my question with special reference to you as you’ve described your outlook is — is there any musician or band out there you think is “uncool”, and if so, why? (Choices like Andy Williams, Pat Boone or Mel Torme don’t count…
)
Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...
2.05am
17 January 2013
Offline Funny Paper said
LHL, thanks for your perspective. From the way you describe yourself, I have this sense that if your memory were wiped clean (but not your “inner self”) and you were transplanted in a time machine back to 1968, you would have fit right in with the nascent “Hippie” community. It seems in a way you are living in a “retro” way without really consciously affecting it, it’s just you (which means that the substance of retro lives on in the cultural atmosphere to be tapped into, either consciously as a fashion choice, or subliminally as an alternative that feels right irrespective of fashion trends — which would mean that it transcends fashion trends on some level, which I think the Beatles do, and anyone who sneers their nose at the Beatles for being uncool is, imo, stuck in the karmic cycle being a slave to Cool, which is the ultimate Uncool…).Ok, sermon over.
You nailed it! Being transported back to the 60’s would be my ultimate dream. 
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
4.22am
1 November 2012
Offline Back in 1968, my older sister was 17 and living in Haight-Ashbury (a district of San Francisco), probably the epicenter of the entire Counter Culture — and she had ended up there after having hitchhiked up the Pacific coast of Mexico with her hippie boyfriend she married at age 16! (Her favorite Beatle was John.)
Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...
5.28am
17 January 2013
Offline Funny Paper said
Back in 1968, my older sister was 17 and living in Haight-Ashbury (a district of San Francisco), probably the epicenter of the entire Counter Culture — and she had ended up there after having hitchhiked up the Pacific coast of Mexico with her hippie boyfriend she married at age 16! (Her favorite Beatle was John.)
That’s so awesome!
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
10.59pm
21 November 2012
Offline Is there anything about the Beatles and each individual member — John, Paul, George, Ringo — their look, their music, their behavior — that seems just a little “uncool” to your young sensibility?
Hmm..not to me, except for the fact they all smoked cigarettes a lot. I don’t mind the weed, at least that has some kind of nice effect lol. Oh and I hate harmonicas, but since I’ve expressed that feeling a lot on this forum already, I think you all know that by now.
I can’t really think of a reason why they’d be uncool. I’ve always thought they’re cool. Maybe it’s just because they don’t really fit the stereotype of ”hot guys” of these days, that a lot of teens won’t listen to them? After all, a lot of teens judge based on looks. Also, their music is ”old”. Which is a stupid reason, but I think there might be (braindead) teens who really think like this.
8.37am
1 November 2012
Offline Yeah, I think it’s basically the “because they’re old” explanation.
It’s eery to think of a mind that actually believes that Justin Bieber or Justin Timberlake or Robin Thicke, etc, are better than the Beatles.
Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...
9.01am
5 November 2011
Offline One uncool thing is that George and John were both cat people. I don’t like cats. Well, actually that’s not true, but I don’t understand cat people. Dogs are just so much better.
The only other thing I find uncool is how John pretty much chose drugs and his girlfriend over his own son. I lost a lot of respect for John because of that.
Other than that I really can’t think of anything else. The cigarettes and drugs don’t bother me. I hate cigarettes and think it’s stupid for a person to let themselves get hooked, but in the sixties things were different.
I think The Beatles is a pretty cool band, with some pretty cool members. I’m proud to say that I’m a fan, and when I hear people say good things about them, or meet other fans it makes me happy. I think it makes me proud of them, as weird as that probably sounds. I can’t really explain it.
All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit
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