Jagger and Lennon wanted money not revolution: study

Thu Oct 9, 9:40 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Pop culture icons John Lennon and Mick Jagger were clever capitalists who cashed in on the mood of the 1960s, not spokesmen for a generation seeking revolution, a British academic said Thursday.

Cambridge University historian David Fowler said that so-called "Swinging London" was in fact beyond most normal people, "less a golden age for the nation's young than a celebration of wealth by its social elite."

"The 1960s are often viewed as the point at which youth culture in this country exploded, but in many ways they were the years in which the idea began to fall apart," said Fowler.

"Groups like The Beatles were basically capitalists interested in enriching themselves through the music industry. They did about as much to represent the interests of the nation's young people as The Spice Girls did in the 1990s."

Fowler notes that Rolling Stones frontman Jagger himself, when asked by an interviewer whether he was a spokesman for a generation, replied that he was just a musician.

The academic, who teaches modern British history in Cambridge, said more authentically revolutionary youth movements can be found in the period between World War I and World War II.

He singled out a little-known Cambridge student Rolf Gardiner, who was fascinated by the concept of Jugendkultur in Germany as a way that young people could express themselves more freely and challenge their elders.

Gardiner's cult championed physical labour and rural reconstruction, Fowler said, recounting also how he organised naked bathing sessions along the Cam river, as an expression of "back to nature" values.

"People forget that real youth movements are about a lot more than spending and consumerism -- they are a way of life," added the academic from Clare Hall college, Cambridge, author of "Youth Culture In Modern Britain, c.1920-c.1970."

"People like Rolf Gardiner were true cultural subversives, pop stars before pop even existed. In terms of the influence he had on giving Britain's young people a sense of identity ... he is just as important as Mick Jagger."

The reason the 1960s is perceived as the dawn of youth culture is because of a "break in chronology" due to World War II, which left a state of "collective amnesia," the academic said.

Groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones took advantage of this -- but their separation from real fans' lives was reflected in the way they installed themselves in grand country houses, while the London "scene" was equally beyond most people's purses.

"The world of Swinging London may be viewed as an emblem of youth culture now, but it was really for the Michael Caines of this world; an elite who could afford it," Fowler said.

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How odd they print this on the 68th anniversary of John Lennon's birth.

Stupid, of course the Beatles were about making money and selling product.

That's what made it all the more important and impressive that they became the greatest innovators in rock history, and that Lennon became enough of a political figure that he was being spied on by the nixon admin.

As for Jagger, who ever said he was the leader of a revolution?

That's what I wanted to know.

Why was Mick Jagger even mentioned in the first place?

And the Beatles DID mean something that was REVOLUTIONARY in so many aspects, the study is some cockamamie bullshit.

Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, oh boy
Cause summer's here, and the time is right for fighting in the street, oh boy
But what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's just no place for a street fighting man
No

Hey! Think the time is right for a palace revolution
But where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well, then what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man
No

Hey! Said my name is called disturbance
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king, I'll rail at all his servants
Well, what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man
No
[Edited 10/9/08 14:06pm]