Time was when the Beatles could be viewed as the vanguard of a cultural revolution without so much as bothering their heads about politics. Just what was implicit in their music was enough: an assumption of generational revolt and the existence of sub-cultures with alternative life styles. (p. 65)

In the beginning, the Beatles never had to attack the system overtly; their very success implied the criticism. Being isolationist and apolitical was in itself a departure from the values of the older generation; in English terms it meant not giving a damn about the Queen and her crumbling empire….

The Beatles were more than a rock band. They offered up their whole lives as a kind of entertainment, with an invitation to kids to imitate them: live free, fuck off, you don't have to play the game by society's rules to make it. Taking on the Beatles' life style...