New Wave Outpost Forum

I was listening to London Calling and wondered what they meant by "phony beatle mania has bitten the dust"? Was this a Punk angst against the establishment?

The whole song is apocalyptic...'This is London Calling' was the sign on for BBC World Services during the blitz in WWII, and they broadcast on a mediumwave frequency, kinda like AM radio...'the top of the dial', even though MW is generally lower in bandwidth than AM...anyway, the line tells that the shallow showy hipster attitudes of the past have been stripped away by the brutality at hand...

London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared, and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don't look to us
Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain't got no swing
'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing


a truncheon is a nightstick or other club used by paramilitary types...

that's what I think it means, anyhoo...

Wauk, you are a veritable Clash philosopher [;)][8D]

Strummer was a walking encyclopedia of Rock and was a big fan of Beatles, Dylan, Elvis, Little Richard, etc. I don't think he meant it personally. If he had though, he could've taken The Beatles in a fight (maybe not ALL four...).[:D]

[quote]Originally posted by Nero Lance
[br]I was listening to London Calling and wondered what they meant by "phont beatle mania has bitten the dust"? Was this a Punl angst against the establishment?
[/quote]

He was railing against "Beatlemania", which was a Broadway show featuring Beatles look-alikes.

[quote][i]Originally posted by ghosty[/i]
<br> I don't think he meant it personally.
[/quote]

yeah, I agree...I think the line was an attack on the phony (obviously) attitudes that were around in Britain in 78/79 when he wrote the track...remember the big mods comeback in the UK in the late 70s...

[quote][i]Originally posted by Eeyore2[/i]
<br>He was railing against "Beatlemania", which was a Broadway show featuring Beatles look-alikes.
[/quote]

yeah, that too...that show opened in 77 here, I remember it...it was that whole revolting scene...ugh

It could have been a literal rip on the money-making, ridiculous ideals of the people behind Beatlemania, the silly Broadway-like show featuring four people dressed like th Beatles playing Beatles songs. It was huge in the late '70s but had essentially died out by the time the Clash kicked it's ass, lyrically. The idea was created by Americans for Americans, using British musical icons....

Soundtrack LP released, movie released, etc. Shame.

http://beatlemaniaalumni.com

Personally I loved the 1978 Pythonesque TV mockumentary of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rutles#The_Rutles_.281978.29" target="blank">"The Rutles"</a> in the film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Cash" target="blank">'All You You Need Is Cash"</a> Great lampoon of the whole Beatlemania phenomenon.[:D]

I had always heard that it was a line against a mass re-release of Beatles records that was happening at the time. Not 100% sure though.

Keith