7 Beatles Innovations that Changed Music

7 Beatles Innovations that Changed Music

8

Stadium Concert Venues

Although the Beatles were highly successful in selling out their early concerts in 1963, 1964, and 1965, they were only playing shows booked in auditoriums, theaters, and amphitheaters that seated anywhere between 1000 and 10,000 ticket-holders. When manager Brian Epstein initially booked the Beatles to play a concert in New York’s Shea Stadium in August, 1965, the idea was considered almost too absurd to consider. However, the tickets sold out within hours (priced between $4.50 and $5.75), and over 55,000 berserk, screaming fans (mostly teenage girls) packed Shea Stadium for the first-ever stadium rock concert. The Beatles only played 30 minutes, the fans were not allowed onto the infield where the stage was located, and the stadium’s sound system was atrocious for a musical concert, but the night’s gross was over $300,000, which stood as an industry record for many years.

7

Self-Contained Record Label

This was one of those magnificent ideas where everybody learned more from Beatle mistakes than Beatle successes. In 1966, the Beatles’ recording contract with EMI Records expired, and they re-entered into a 9-year contract with EMI in 1967. The next year, the Beatles decided to form their own record company, Apple Records, and discovered that EMI was not willing to release them. In a complicated series of confusing maneuvers, the Beatles remained with EMI, but signed a separate agreement between EMI’s American subsidiary, Capitol Records, and Apple. The result was that American releases contained the Apple label while British releases did not (at first). In addition to this mess, the Beatles legally hired two different business managers (American Allen Klein and Paul’s new father-in-law Lee Eastman) at Apple, and all contracts between Apple, EMI, and Capitol were revised. Hilarity and lawsuits soon followed, and the Beatles painfully set the standard for what NOT to do when forming your own record company.

6

Live Global Television Broadcast

Although the Beatles did not invent satellite television, they were the highlighted subject of the first ever live global satellite television broadcast in June, 1967. The TV program was called “Our World,” and it featured the contributions of artists and citizens of 19 different nations. Using four different orbiting satellites, the program was able to be broadcast live to anyone interested in receiving the signal anywhere in the world, and the Beatles performed an in-studio live version of “All You Need Is Love,” which was specially written by John for the broadcast, to close out the program.

5

Chart Success

Although many different musical acts hold variously scattered chart-topping marketing successes, no specific artist has ever come close to the nearly inexplicable global phenomenon the Beatles enjoyed in the Spring of 1964. On March 21, the Beatles held #1, #2, and #3 in Billboard’s Hot 100 (for a total of seven songs in that week’s poll). On March 28, they held #1, #2, #3, and #4 (ten songs in all) in that week’s Billboard Hot 100. On April 4, they staggeringly held #1, #2, #3, #4, AND #5 (for a total of twelve songs) in the Billboard Hot 100. On April 11, the Beatles added two more songs to the Billboard Hot 100 (fourteen in all). During this same time frame, they were also snagging most of the album and singles Top Ten lists in the UK, Canada, and Australia.

4

Studio Techniques

This item could almost be a separate list in and of itself. The Beatles (and their recording engineers) either pioneered or popularized Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), back masking, tuned feedback, spliced audio loops, distortion, equalization, stereo effects, multi-tracking (overdubbing), compression, phase shifting, and innovative “microphoning.” Although the Beatles are not credited with the invention of most of these studio tricks, they were responsible for directly inspiring countless musical acts that were desperate to copy their unique sounds.

3

Lyrics Printed On The Album

The first pop album to feature actual printed lyrics on the album was the Beatles’ 1967 epic release “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Soon, it would be considered non-standard to not do so.

2

No Touring

The typical music industry standard recording contract of the 1960s required a band to record and release enough singles for a company to release at least one album per year, and the Beatles went way above and beyond the call of duty (they released two albums per year in every year with EMI Records except 1966). Another aspect of the standard recording contract required a band to give a prescribed number of public concerts as a highly effective means to promote and sell the band’s singles and albums. However, in August, 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the Beatles played their last public concert after over six years of extended touring. The decision for the Beatles (or any band, for that matter) to end touring was a breathtakingly landmark decision, and theirs was based on multiple factors, such as exhaustion, inability to perform newest songs in a live format, inability to hear themselves onstage, wandering musical focus, safety concerns following death threats and boycotts, and boredom. The Beatles would only make one more public musical appearance, and it would come in January, 1969 in the form of an impromptu semi-private concert on the rooftop of their London studios.

1

American FM Radio

By 1968, the American radio dial preferred to have music on AM and talk radio on FM, and most AM stations played music in a three-minute single format. This meant that any singles significantly longer or shorter than three minutes were ignored by AM stations, because it would wreck their repetitive hourly format to play it. When the Beatles released “Hey Jude” as a single in August, 1968, it was nearly 7 1/2 minutes long, and AM stations simply chopped off the song at the 3:00 mark, which denied listeners the chance to hear their favorite part – “Na na na nanananaaa.” At KSAN-FM in San Francisco, radio pioneer Tom Donahue used the promise of a whole “Hey Jude” single coupled with other innovative ideas (commercial-free blocks of music, playing whole album sides at a time, etc.) as a means to lure listeners away from local AM stations to his uniquely programmed FM station, and the idea eventually snowballed across the country. Within ten years, American radio stations had almost completely switched places, and put music on FM and talk radio on AM.

7 Earliest Versions Of Everyday Technologies

7 Earliest Versions Of Everyday Technologies

7Smartphone

The world’s first smartphone hit the market on August 16, 1994. Its name was Simon. It was produced by IBM, and as smartphones go, it certainly contained most of the features we’re used to: email, predictive typing, even a rudimentary version of “apps” by way of plugging in a memory card to get more features. It also weighed over a pound, was the size of an actual brick, and cost almost $1,000.

Even though only 50,000 devices were sold, and even though it predates the existence of web browsers, Simon has still managed to influence the industry in a huge way: Today, smartphone manufacturers must still pay royalties to IBM and BellSouth, who hold many Simon-related patents on standard smartphone features like highlighting text on a touchscreen and remote activation.

6Power Tool

German tool company Fein is a monolith in the industry, having been in existence since the mid-1800s. Today, they can supply practically anything classified as a tool. When it comes to power tools, Fein could certainly make a convincing argument that nobody does them better, since Fein did them first.

The very first electric power tool was created in 1895. Within eight years, significant improvements had been made to the already-groundbreaking equipment (aluminum components and multiple speeds). In 1908, Fein converted its factory to focus solely on the production of power tools. It’s a strategy that has served the company very well: Over the first couple decades of the 20th century they would produce the first-ever jackhammers and jigsaws, and in the ’60s, they invented an oscillating plaster saw that would lead to an entirely new class of oscillating power tools.

5Sewing Machine

The sewing machine is an invention that was chased by many, many people through the 1700s and early 1800s. Many inventors pitched in ideas, and some created prototypes that turned out to be impractical.

The first working machine was put forth by Elias Howe, who was awarded a patent for a machine on September 10, 1846. He was having a surprisingly hard time gathering any interest in America (perhaps because of all the decades of false starts), so he tried his luck in England, where he wasn’t faring much better at the time his wife died. During the time Howe was traveling back to America and dealing with her death, however, sewing machines took off in popularity. Howe was able to successfully defend his patent in court—his biggest victories were against Walter Hunt and Isaac Singer, which is a name you may know as being associated with sewing machines to this day. The resulting settlements and royalties made Howe extremely rich and his company very successful.

4Parachute

Oddly enough, the parachute predates the airplane by over 100 years: The first successful parachute jump from altitude took place on October 22, 1797 in Paris, France. It was performed by the parachute’s inventor, André-Jacques Garnerin, from a hydrogen balloon 975 meters (3,200 ft) above the ground—and it didn’t exactly go as planned.

The prototype didn’t include a crucial feature (an air vent in the top) so it spun wildly en route to the ground. But the canopy sufficiently slowed his descent, and Garnerin was unharmed upon landing. Subsequent successful exhibition jumps were made all over Europe, including one from 2,400 meters (8,000 ft) in England.

3Bulletproof Vest

The inventor of the bulletproof vest, Casimir Zeglen, was so confident in his invention that, like parachute inventor Garnerin before him, he submitted his own body to its initial test on July 10, 1897. Zeglen was a priest who first conceived his invention after the 1893 assassination of Chicago mayor Carter Harrison. He had previously experimented with different, more rigid materials, but eventually discovered a way to weave threads of silk together into a dense, multi-layered cloth that would not allow arms fire to penetrate it.

Even though guns at that time were not nearly as large and powerful as modern firearms, Brother Zeglen’s initial models seemed to be incredibly robust. According to the newspaper article published at the time: “Lieutenant Sarnecki, of the Austrian army, loaded a thirty-two caliber revolver, took his position ten paces (seven meters) from the target—and fired. The bullet was repelled and everyone ran toward the inventor, who was not only smiling but overjoyed because the only feeling he experienced was that of being prodded with a stick.”

2Personal Computer

That thing may not much look like anything we think of as a PC, but the Altair 8800 is indeed the first computer ever made available to the general public. It was sold in the pages of Popular Electronica magazine for $400 as a kit to be assembled by the customer. They expected a few hundred orders at the most, but ended up swamped with a couple thousand within the first few months.

Up until that time, such magazines had only published schematics of computer designs for hobbyists. The only way to obtain a computer as a consumer was to follow a long shopping list (the contents of which weren’t exactly available at every corner grocery store), read the schematics, and build the machine. At least with the Altair, the parts were included—though you still had to put the thing together.

1Wireless Tower

Finally, we have Nikola Tesla. While he did not invent alternating current (AC), he did refine it, endlessly championing it over direct current (DC), much to the chagrin of his nemesis, Thomas Edison (for whom he worked for several years, and upon whose designs he greatly improved). His contributions to the development of electrical power supply cannot be overstated, but his most ambitious project—had it been realized—would have put to shame not only those fantastic contributions, but those of pretty much every other inventor to ever exist.

Wardenclyffe Tower, shown above, was built in 1901, and it was meant to be exactly what it looks like: the world’s first wireless transmission tower. The long-term plan was to build a global network of these towers (just like the one that exists today) to transmit information around the globe. The tower stood almost 60 meters (200 ft) high and reached 36 meters (120 ft) underground. Due to financial and tax troubles (and the fact that Tesla, while a genius, was probably kind of insane), the project was never finished, and the tower was demolished in 1917.

But had he somehow been allowed to see the project through to completion, it would not just have beaten our current global wireless network to existence by decades and decades. Tesla intended for this network to transmit not just wireless electric signals, but also wireless electric power, tothe whole world.

7 Topics Guaranteed to Start an Argument

7 Topics Guaranteed to Start an Argument

7

Feminism

As much as people like to get their hackles up at the thought of atheists and Christians or that chunk that comes out their paycheck each month, nothing compares to the vitriol evoked by feminism. Simply put: a good deal of the population seem to see the term as an invite to either spew violent misogyny or get into an oppression competition. And that’s before we even get onto the various strands of feminism that spend more time attacking each other than the patriarchy.

Now, if we’re being honest, there are some forms of feminism that really dosuck. Equally, a lot of serious articles about ‘men’s issues’ often get shouted down under sarcastic calls of ‘lolz what about teh menz?’ But the sheer hatred feminism seems to stir up is way out of proportion to any of this. After all, the basic concept is something we should all be able to get behind. For example: do you think everyone deserves equal pay for equal work, the freedom to make their own life choices and to live without the threat of violence, no matter what type of genitals they have? Then congratulations: you’re a feminist.

6

Circumcision

There are two types of circumcision: male and female. Female circumcision is better known by its more-truthful name ‘female genital mutilation’ (fgm) and everyone pretty-much agrees it’s a really bad thing. Male circumcision, on the other hand, is an absolute powder keg.

That last link, by the way, goes to a representative article on the subject—if you have time, follow it and check the comments. That’s how most discussions about circumcision look: a whole mass of people screaming child abuse, threatening to call the police and comparing the practice to witch burning. To clarify: I’m not trying to take sides here. If you have a particular bugbear about this issue, that’s your opinion and I’ll respect that. But for the life of me, I can’t see why this particular issue might drive people into a howling frenzy. Yet venture below the line on any article mentioning it, and that’s exactly what you’ll see.

5

Islam

Sticking the word ‘Islam’ in an article is like lobbing a hand grenade into a hornet’s nest. Simply put: a lot of people have some very strong opinions on the subject—and they’re not afraid to let you know it. Unlike some of the entries here, the reason is pretty clear: a decade of news stories linking radical Islam to bomb attacks, assassinations and violent riots have left most of us in no doubt that we need to tackle religious extremism.

But debates on Islam rarely focus on ‘extremism’. For whatever reason, a vocal minority of our online community have gotten used to speaking about it as a monolithic entity: as if there’s no difference between, say, a moderate Indonesian leading a regular life and a Sudanese extremist. What’s weird is how this rarely applies to any other religion. Can you imagine someone seriously being unable to differentiate between Oprah and Fred Phelpsbecause they’re both Christian; or between Jerry Seinfeld and a member of Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox community? Well, apparently that’s how some people view 1.6bn of their fellow human beings.

4

Freedom of Speech

If there’s one thing the internet loves, it’s freedom of speech. We’re kinda libertarians in that respect: there’s little more likely to invoke the wrath of Anonymous than a serious attempt to curtail our right to it. However, it’s often taken as read that this freedom extends to anything and everything; and not everyone agrees.

See, although freedom of speech may be enshrined in American law—to the extent that even scum like Westboro Baptist Church are constitutionallyprotected—the same logic does not apply elsewhere. In Germany, for example, it’s a criminal offense to display a Nazi flag and you WILL do time for it. In France, denying the holocaust can get you a prison sentence. The online clash usually comes when American ideology crashes up against European—with neither side willing to accept their system isn’t ‘best’. So let’s be honest here: free speech may be an idea worth fighting for, but just because parts of Europe have taken a different route on certain subjects does not make them any less ‘free’. Minor restrictions do not automatically make an Orwellian dystopia—any less than total freedom automatically results in the anarchic Wild West.

3

Climate Change

Most scientists wish the public would get excited about their chosen field. Mention awe-inspiring concepts like string theory, Hawking radiation or gravitons to the man on the street and he’ll probably go out of his way to avoid you. For climate scientists, however, it’s a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’.

Thanks to decades of programs, books and blogs written on the subject, just about everyone now considers themselves an expert. And part of that expertise apparently involves shouting down the other side—bizarrely enough, for the exact same reason. Those who don’t believe in it see a vast conspiracy by scientists, liberals and other boogeymen to put us all in FEMAprison camps, while those who do see a vast conspiracy involving the Koch Brothers and big oil to manipulate the ‘sheeple’ into believing otherwise. It’s a perfect storm of paranoia centered around an issue most of us aren’t qualified to understand—and, every time someone brings it up, the sparks are sure to fly.

2

The Holocaust

As you may have noticed, I’ve tried to maintain a largely neutral tone on most of these. That won’t happen here. For whatever reason, despite the mountains of evidence and eyewitness testimony proving otherwise; there are still people out there who honestly believe the holocaust was either exaggerated or simply didn’t happen. And their brand of mental sickness is virulent enough to infect the comments section of any article that cares tomention it.

There are a few things in the world that mark you out as a bad person; and denying the holocaust is one of them. It’s not just the extent of human suffering that occurred in moral blackholes like Auschwitz and Treblinka; or the sheer hatred required to send millions of Jews, gays, Poles and disabled people to certain death. It’s all that plus the stubborn refusal to learn from history—to pretend genocide never happened. And trust me, if there’s one mistake we never want to repeat from history, it’s this one.

1

Abortion

Here it is: the most-divisive issue you will ever encounter. With feelings running so high on both sides, it’s impossible to take any sort of stance on abortion without seeing the entire comment section explode in your face—so I’m remaining one hundred percent neutral on this one.

You’re probably aware of the basic arguments. Pro-lifers believe with the utmost intensity that killing a fetus is as bad as killing a child. Pro-choice supporters believe with an identical passion that criminalizing abortion is State intrusion into women’s bodies, and completely incompatible with a free society. Politicians meanwhile try to search for a middle ground—a point where termination remains acceptable and a point where it unequivocally isn’t. But this is one argument that’s never going away: so long as there’s a human race it will continue to rage—and nowhere is this more apparent than on the internet. Now, I’m not going to make any value judgement on this, and I appreciate that people have strong feelings about it. But wouldn’t it be great if both sides could debate this and other issues—just once—without resorting to hysterical name-calling? I guess we’ll find out in the comments.

7 ways in which we discriminate against the male gender

7 ways in which we discriminate against the male gender

7Acts Of Kindness

Do women expect too much? It’s not unfair to want men to treat women nicely. Opening doors, offering to pay for dinner, and general acts of kindness are expected. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be treated well—unless it’s an act of selfishness.

For the women with male partners that are reading, when is the last time you held the door open for your mate? Opened his car door? Paid for a meal or done something kind for him without expecting anything in return? It’s important to give respect to get respect. Women want their men to treat them like queens and have a tendency to bash or insult them when they don’t do it. But how often do we treat men like kings?

6Lack Of Emotion

How often have we heard the term “real men don’t cry“? We expect men to be tough and hide their emotions. Men are supposed to shake things off and move on, not turn into emotional beings.

The truth is, real men do cry. Every man has emotions. Why should it be unacceptable for a man to show weakness?

5Deadbeat Dads

One of the media’s favorite punching bags is the deadbeat dad who tries to evade child support, doesn’t spend time with his kids, or generally tries to avoid any form of parental responsibility. This is unfair because it doesn’t apply to all of the single fathers out there. In fact, there are many deadbeat mothers who have abandoned their children in every way possible, including financially and emotionally, leaving the father to play both parenting roles for their children.

Fathers aren’t incapable of caring for their offspring. They aren’t all deadbeat parents that would rather hang out at the local bar than give their children the time, love, and affection that they deserve. When it comes to single parenting, why do we often praise the mothers for their hard work, but demean the fathers?

4Lack Of Trust

Men aren’t just kept out of the childcare and nursing industry because of the jokes—there’s also the lack of trust. People will often assume that a man who wants to spend time caring for children has dark ulterior motives.

For example, teenage girls are commonly hired to babysit and nobody gives it a second thought because it’s in their nature to be a parent, but we never assume the same for teenage boys. They’re forced to go get adult jobs.

3Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is a difficult and painful topic, and nothing here is meant to suggest that there is any excuse for rape. No matter what a woman says, wears, or does, she never deserves that kind of assault. No one does.

But it is also important to remember that men are victims of rape as well, and though such incidents are no less heinous, we as a society are taught to ignore it or even find it funny. One of the most offensive examples comes at the end of 40 Days and 40 Nights when Josh Hartnett’s character is raped by his ex-girlfriend. Not only does his new love interest believe him to be responsible, but the audience is expected to find her position understandable or even sympathetic.

Ignoring even one victim of rape is unacceptable because it weakens our resolve against this horrible, and tragically common, crime.

2Violence

Males are considered more violent than females. We expect them to physically express anger because an inability to control emotions is considered part of their inherent nature.

But what about females? We almost never hear reports of men being attacked, injured, or abused by females, even though it does happen. Do we consider those males weak if they do report such incidents? Do we not trust their stories of abuse?

1All Boys Have Cooties

Parents have a tendency to tell their daughters to stay away from boys because they’re icky, mean, and have cooties. The intentions aren’t bad, because we all want to protect our children and keep them young and innocent for as long as we possibly can. But when we start drilling into their heads as early as possible that boys are bad news, what kind of lessons are we teaching them?

Instead of encouraging our daughters to keep their distances from boys, shouldn’t we tell them to play together? That would likely help to teach both genders to respect one another. Telling our daughters how disgusting boys are encourages resent and disrespect. Shouldn’t we, as a society, teach our children that discriminating against either gender is a bad thing?