Dreaming the Beatles
The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World
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4.1 • 68 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An NPR Best Book of the Year • Winner of the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism
“This is the best book about the Beatles ever written” —Mashable
Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them.
Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up?
As he did in his previous books, Love is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time, he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time—The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today, to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia.
Dreaming the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest pop group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point, their music doesn’t belong to the past—it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world’s favorite thing—and how they invented the future we’re all living in today.
Customer Reviews
Unbeatable (get it?)
I have read various accounts of The Beatles’ influence and discography. I like them all for one reason or another. But this one really accesses the emotional toil and reward that one hopes to acquire from listening to the music. More so than any clinical rundown of songs or experiences that the Fab Four May or may not have experienced. Rob Sheffield brings you into the mix as a fan and music critic as few others can do. No surprise considering his thoughtful output to date. I suspect that anyone of any age can relate to this book. Your favorite band might not be The Beatles yet, but it just might be after reading. You may discard your false musical idols (take your pick) as you read this, and instead embrace these cats as your own and instead learn how to love your favorite idol as having gone to The Mount to doscover their inevitable forebears in John or Paul or George. Perhaps even Ringo! A great read.