Open Editor's Digest for free
Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
When Ringo Starr joined Paul McCartney on stage in London for the final concert of his Got Back tour last week, they effortlessly slid into songs, including “Helter Skelter” and “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.” They had time to rehearse. : It's been 64 years since the Beatles first started playing with John Lennon and George Harrison.
McCartney is 82 years old, more than four times the age of the 18-year-old at the time. However, the remaining Beatles continue to play, long after Harrison and Lennon's deaths. They made up half of the best-selling musical acts of all time who took rock and roll from its American roots to unleash modern British music acts.
The latter is also still going strong, putting other local industries that have faded since the 1960s to shame. Growth of UK recorded music exports Slow down last year, but it still reached a record high, and it is estimated that the industry contributed £7.6 billion to the economy in 2023. Singers such as Adele and Ed Sheeran have followed the Beatles' path to global fame.
There's plenty of competition, with South Korean bands like Stray Kids becoming internationally successful, but the distinct advantages of British music have been passed down through the generations, from the Beatles to Arctic Monkeys, Dua Lipa and Lewis Capaldi. As the year ends, we should reflect on this achievement.
English always helped of course. The fact that the Beatles wrote and sang songs in English not only helped them conquer the United States, but was also part of their marketing. It would have been difficult to get the audience's attention on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 if they had needed an interpreter.
But behind language lies creativity. Rock and roll was American, but the Beatles and the bands that followed took the genre and gave it a British twist. Lennon and McCartney were well versed in musical forms and conventions, as the Rolling Stones were with the blues. They added original fun and wit.
The distance was also helpful. Ian Leslie, author John and Paulan upcoming biography of Lennon and McCartney, argues that their simultaneous devotion to and separation from the United States allowed them creative freedom. “They took American music and sold it back to Americans… They liked to turn it around, change it, corrupt it.
They come from a tradition of wordplay and humor that goes back to Shakespeare. It was also a product of the education, particularly the art schools, that many songwriters went through, from Lennon to Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Joe Strummer of the Clash. Adele and Amy Winehouse both attended the industry-supported BRIT School of Performing Arts in Croydon.
The UK music industry then benefited from the agglomeration effect: when it became clear that an exceptionally bright quartet from working-class Liverpool could take the world stage by storm, it was natural for others to aspire to follow suit. Once a sustainable group of performers formed the core of the industry, the UK became a music bloc.
This group was helped to emigrate after the war. Ska originated in Jamaica but was revived by bands such as The Specials in the 1970s, while grime, a London-based fusion of different forms, has produced artists including Stormzy. Immigration is also an important element in the British jazz revival, and has helped maintain the degree of social mobility beneficial to the industry.
Music in the UK faces challenges today. The careers of major music artists have enjoyed remarkable longevity in an era of world tours and extended residencies, such as Adele's Las Vegas stint that ended in November. But McCartney is getting older, and so are the Stones and Elton John, who are on their farewell tour total $939 million. The UK has a great back catalog but they need to keep revamping it.
Global competition is intense. US singer Taylor Swift is the world's highest-grossing artist and no British band appeared in the top 10 songs of 2023 list compiled by trade group IFPI. A new music invasion has come from South Korea, with Seventeen, Stray Kids, Tomorrow There are other difficulties, including post-Brexit barriers to European tours.
But the UK remains the third largest music market in the world, and the fact that others are actively competing for the attention of fans (now more in their own languages) is no sign of failure. It just means that they have learned what can be achieved. The Beatles and others demonstrated that music was not an art school distraction: it was a global business.
Britain still has a spirit of musical creativity and invention, although its economic future is less clear than it was in the early 1960s. If the government values this creative asset and helps it flourish, the band will continue to play.
