More than 60 years since they released their debut single, The Beatles now have their very own academic journal.
‘The Journal of Beatles Studies’, published by Liverpool University Press, is the first journal to establish The Beatles as an object of scholarly research.
Articles in the first issue include ‘Beatlemania: On informational cascades and spectacular success’ and ’80 at 80: Commemorating Paul McCartney’s eightieth birthday’.
The biannual, peer-reviewed journal will publish original, rigorously researched essays and notes, as well as book and media reviews.
The journal’s first issue has just been published, while the second issue is due sometime in spring 2023
‘The Journal of Beatles Studies’ is the first journal to establish the band as an object of academic research
Editors of the journal are Holly Tessler at the University of Liverpool and Paul Long at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
The editors pointed out that there’s already been a wide range of scientific articles about the Beatles, linking them with a variety of subjects.
These range from mathematics to the computed tomography scanner and an AI-powered music composition machine.
But before now, they’ve all been published in different journals, despite having a common theme.
‘Beyond conferences, edited collections and fixed-term research projects, Beatles scholars have been working in comparative isolation, compelled to publish their findings for non-Beatles specialists and audiences,’ say the editors in the journal’s introduction.
‘It is a situation that raises the question, why isn’t there a field of Beatles studies?
‘Furthermore, what would it look like, who would define its agendas, methods, quality and potential, and to whom would it speak?
‘This is a scholarly gap that the Journal of Beatles Studies seeks to redress.’
The new journal is open access – which means it is be freely available online without being behind a paywall or requiring a subscription.
There is also a limited edition commemorative paperback copy, priced at £16 and available from the Liverpool University Press website.
The Beatles pictured in June 1967. From left, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon
The journal’s first issue has just been published, while the second issue is due sometime in the spring.
One of the articles in the first issue, written by Long, commemorates Brazilian Beatles fan Lizzie Bravo, who died in October 2021.
Bravo was hanging around Abbey Road Studios in London on February 4, 1968 when she was gifted an opportunity that every Beatles can now only dream of.
Bravo – who was 16 years old at the time – was invited into the studios along with a friend by none other than Paul McCartney to sing backing vocals on ‘Across the Universe’.
In 2015, Bravo published a book about her multiple interactions with the Beatles, called ‘Do Rio a Abbey Road’ (From Rio to Abbey Road), although it’s yet to get a translation into English.
Another article debates whether the music of the Beatles would have had the same effect if it was first heard in the present day rather than the 1960s – echoing the premise of the 2019 film ‘Yesterday’.
The film, written by Richard Curtis, depicts a struggling musician who becomes the only person on Earth who knows The Beatles’ songs.
The Beatles pose on the stairs of NEMS (North End Music Stores), Brian Epstein’s Liverpool record shop, January 24, 1963
Fans of The Beatles can also study for a master’s degree in the Fab Four at the University of Liverpool
Yet another article looks at how the internet and streaming may be distorting the ‘consistent chronological narrative’ that makes up the Beatles story.
In future issues, the journal will ‘provide a voice to new and emerging research locating the Beatles in new contexts, groups and communities’.
It also promises to ‘challenge narrative, cultural historical and musicological tropes’ about the band and approach them as ‘a prism’ for insight into wider ‘historical, social and cultural issues’.
There are already Beatles degrees that fans can study – a concept Paul McCartney described as ‘ridiculous, and yet very flattering’.
The Beatles perform onstage at the Cavern Club in February 1961 in Liverpool, with Pete Best on drums
In September 2021, the University of Liverpool started offering a Master of Arts in ‘The Beatles: Music Industry and Heritage’, run by Tessler.
In March 2009, Liverpool Hope University also launched a master’s degree, ‘The Beatles, Popular Music and Society’, which ran for a decade.
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