50 Years of Beatles Studies

Abstract

This article reviews half a century of Beatles studies, the history of which is examined here in the light of the academic research carried out on popular music since the 1960s. While focusing on the Fab Four's contribution to legitimize this field of study, the author investigates the musicological bias that was long characteristic of research on the band, and the way it influenced the development of popular music studies in the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Scandinavia.

Liverpool's Urban Imaginary: The Beatles and Tourism Fanscapes

“…Popular Beatles fanscapes are woven into the fabric and narrative of Liverpool, and they are part of the city's unique music identity. Geographers (Kruse), destination marketers (Whang et al.), popular culture experts (Julien), and cultural historians (Stark) have conducted previous academic research acknowledging the Beatles. However, no study has positioned the Beatles alongside literatures that unite tourism with authenticity and fanscapes using coconstructed autoethnography.…”