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Discussion: The Beatles M.I.A.?

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GaryOmaha	The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 13 2010, 8:09 PM EDT It dawned on me that the Beatles taking over the 60s music charts and visiting America has been entirely skipped on MadMen. There have been references to the British Invasion (the Rolling Stones were on this week's soundtrack) but zilch about the Beatles. Was this because we would have expected it? (And why not? -- we expected Kennedy's assassination.) Could it be for some legal reason that doesn't allow the Beatles to even be mentioned? Sure, there's too much going on in the 60s world for MadMen to mention EVERYTHING, but you'd think the Beatles would have been there because the show takes place in NYC. Post reply 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you? Keyword tags: None
makeitadouble	1. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 14 2010, 8:56 AM EDT Actually, when Don asks his secretary Allison to Christmas shop for the kids, he requests that she buy Sally some Beatles 45's. Post reply 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
MaXimillian10	2. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 14 2010, 12:08 PM EDT \| Post edited: Sep 14 2010, 12:22 PM EDT Mad Men is a very sofisticated production, and exersize in story telling. It requires a great deal of attention, concentration, and observation to get the most out of. there's generally so much going on, in each episode, just as in real life, that it's easy to miss something. I would not be at all surprised that sometime soon, one or more Universities will offer courses, in catagories, of history, scocialogy, and TV production, around the Mad Men series, it's complex, and that significant. I've heard several references to the Beatles phenomina, inculding the one mentioned by MIAD. They also paid considerable time on the asasinations of JFK, and MLK, the struggle for civil rights, along with the Cuban missle crisis, the Mercury Space program and John Glen. Also the James Bond phenomina that swept the mid-60s. The next significant thing, will be the popularisation of Color TV, that brought forth series like the original Star Trek, and Batman. All legacies of the 60s that carry forth and effect our culture today. Hold on tight, pay attention, these pepole never miss a beat. It's a collage level program in the 1960s. ;0) M Post reply 0 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
TotalMaddict	3. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 14 2010, 2:04 PM EDT "It dawned on me that the Beatles taking over the 60s music charts and visiting America has been entirely skipped on MadMen. There have been references to the British Invasion (the Rolling Stones were on this week's soundtrack) but zilch about the Beatles. Was this because we would have expected it? (And why not? -- we expected Kennedy's assassination.) Could it be for some legal reason that doesn't allow the Beatles to even be mentioned? Sure, there's too much going on in the 60s world for MadMen to mention EVERYTHING, but you'd think the Beatles would have been there because the show takes place in NYC. " I wondered the same myself, especially after hearing "Satisfaction" but I was thinking perhaps Weiner was unable to use any Beatles music. Didn't Michael Jackson buy the entire Beatles catalogue? Post reply Do you find this valuable?
GaryOmaha	4. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 14 2010, 6:02 PM EDT Yes, but I think he sold it back (possibly to Paul McCartney)? I think we're probably on the right track -- getting rights to use Beatles tunes is too much for the limited budget. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
GaryOmaha	5. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 14 2010, 6:03 PM EDT \| Post edited: Sep 14 2010, 6:06 PM EDT Oooh, makeitadouble, you're good! I missed that but remember the scene. Still, there was no Beatles music on the soundtrack, news stories about them coming to America, etc. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
amy_c	6. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 15 2010, 7:08 PM EDT I'm also thinking they just don't have the funds to license Beatles songs. I was really hoping to see Bobby and Sally watching them on Ed Sullivan, but maybe that's expensive too. Loved hearing the Rolling Stones the other night, though! Didn't we get a Simon and Garfunkel song recently, too? It's so amazing how quickly the music and styles have changed since season 1. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
MaXimillian10	7. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 16 2010, 9:41 AM EDT "Loved hearing the Rolling Stones the other night" Part of the great fun, of MM is replaying on DVD, VCR, or HDD-Tvo, and picking up on what you've missed, among subtle details. . In the pre-Cleo awards party, in the background is a Brian Jones, come Beatles haricut look alike. This look became more common in the mid-later 60s era ad agency scene. Nobody at the agency has adopted such yet, but it's only a matter of time. The new art director has a casual style, but more often than not, dresses like a truck driver. Only Micheal Gladis, who's conspiquously missing this year had any semblence of the earlier beatnik era, with his beard. M Post reply Do you find this valuable?
makeitadouble	8. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 16 2010, 12:22 PM EDT "Oooh, makeitadouble, you're good! I missed that but remember the scene. Still, there was no Beatles music on the soundtrack, news stories about them coming to America, etc. " Thank you GaryOmaha. Besides the copyright issue, I believe that Don Draper is more Rolling Stones than Beatles and Satisfaction suits Don's predicament perfectly! Post reply Do you find this valuable?
amy_c	9. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 16 2010, 2:03 PM EDT "Thank you GaryOmaha. Besides the copyright issue, I believe that Don Draper is more Rolling Stones than Beatles and Satisfaction suits Don's predicament perfectly! " So true -- the song was a perfect choice. Plus, I loved the little montage of people walking down the street. Don was coming out of his hidey-hole and we saw how much the outside world is really changing. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
MaXimillian10	10. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 16 2010, 7:07 PM EDT "Satisfaction suits Don's predicament perfectly! " Listen to the lyrics carefully. Satisfaction's verses are a put down, of Draper's profession. M Post reply Do you find this valuable?
setharmstrong	11. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 17 2010, 5:37 PM EDT The Beatles reference seemed clumsy, like they shoehorned it in because they felt they had to. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
GaryOmaha	12. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 27 2010, 8:01 PM EDT So there they were in this week's ep, The Beatles, featured in two places (the tickets and the closing song). I note, as others already have, that the closing song was a (lame) instrumental version, which seems to prove that Beatles music is too rich for Mad Men's budget. But Sally screaming made the waiting worthwhile -- perfect! Post reply Do you find this valuable?
MaXimillian10	13. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 27 2010, 9:47 PM EDT \| Post edited: Sep 27 2010, 9:56 PM EDT " the closing song was a (lame) instrumental version, which seems to prove that Beatles music is too rich for Mad Men's budget. " True, perhaps. However, It worked, got the message across, and many people have commented that the particular selection was a brilliant touch of poetic irrony. Weiner could have spent probably a ton more money for the original as sung by George Harrison. I'd rather spend the money on the show, per-se, than have the song, with a crappy shallow minded script, that insults the intelligence of the viewer, as so many do these days. If the money he saved, paid for that brilliant shakespherian actor he brought in to play the role of lane's father, I'd say that was worth it, and brilliant. That guy could read the Manhattan phone book and make it sound interesting. A Brit version of James Earl Jones. In one of the AMC promos for Mad Men, Jared Harris himself says words to the effect, that " you don't have to spend" something, something "millions of dollars to have a good show." He's right, and how many hundered million dollar flops come out of hollywood these days ? One after another, and another, then another. M Post reply Do you find this valuable?
amy_c	14. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 28 2010, 11:55 AM EDT I didn't mind it being instrumental at all. As soon as he mentioned The Beatles, though, I thought of this thread! :D So, there ya go. Sally has succumbed to Beatlemania. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
rjim455	15. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 30 2010, 1:48 PM EDT As the Beatles were my favorite thing about the sixties, I have waited for their presence to creep its way into the series, and I honestly DON'T feel like they've been ignored or skipped at all. We know thru several references that Sally is a fan. So right now, they've been about as referenced as I suspected they'd be. I have a feeling there won't be too much more since the group's place in history is so much written about and oft-discussed. And you fans have hit it on the head with your suspicions about why we haven't heard their songs on the show: liscensing for the orignial Beatle versions would be far too expensive. The instrumental take on "Do You Want To Know a Secret" is another example of why the ingenious way music is utilized on "Mad Men" is one of my favorite parts of the series; they rarely pic the most obvious version of a popular song (for example, Bobby Vinton's version of the standard "P.S. I Love You," a song normally sung by a female, in one of the earlier seasons) and that makes keeping your ears open during an episode such a pleasure. I was kind of expecting them to use the soundalike version of "Do You Want To Know a Secret" by British Invasion group Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (given to them by Lennon and McCartney), which was the hit version in the UK. The instrumental accomplished what they needed, though. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
amy_c	16. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Sep 30 2010, 4:12 PM EDT You're right about there not being a need to focus too heavily on the Beatles. A) It's been done many times, as you said, and we already know it's going on. B) Sally is barely old enough to enjoy the music and the rest of the adult cast wouldn't be that interested in the group. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Old'sCool	17. RE: The Beatles M.I.A.? Oct 3 2011, 1:19 PM EDT \| Post edited: Oct 3 2011, 1:19 PM EDT As we now know, Mad Men pretty much skipped 1964 as a whole. So not only are the Beatles M.I.A., but so is opening of the World's Fair, the '64 Olympics, and everything else that happened that year. What gives? 1964 was a watershed year in our culture: it was when things stopped looking like the '50's and started becoming the '60's, and what better show to illustrate that than Mad Men. I think the writers missed a major opportunity here. Post reply Do you find this valuable?