Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation Summary and Reviews

Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation
by Philip Norman

Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation
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Book Summary Information

Author: Philip Norman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-12-04
ISBN: 0743235657
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Touchstone

Book Reviews of Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation

Book Review: A Definitive Work
Summary: 4 Stars

This book, first published in 1981 and reissued in 1993, was yet put to a third edition in 2003 to incorporate the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison and the knighting of Sir Paul McCartney along with his disastrous marriage to Heather Mills--so it feels quite up to date. Norman tells it like it is, painting our heroes with warts and all. The chapters are divided into five parts: Wishing, Getting, Having, Wasting, and Lasting. No band seemed less poised for stardom until it was thrust upon them before some of them had turned 21. They were a core group of blokes, united in their Liverpudlian northerness, who by wit and charm and pure musical genius won over a generation, a world. Paul was the most into the group until the last, generating brilliant ideas and bossing his cohorts into resentment to get it just right. John was the edgy and angry artist, rounding out Paul's sugary songs into hits and also crafting his own remonstrations that were then tempered by Paul successfully. George, by Normans's account, was a mediocre and cantankerous player, who seemed to have his best success on his own, often disdaining his years as a Beatle. Ringo, never renowned for his talent (he couldn't do a good drum roll, according to some), emerges as the emotional center of the group,--kind, lovable, and even-tempered.

But there are things in this book that you might not want to know about your heroes. How George (after a plethora of infidelities) slept with Maureen, dooming not only his marriage but Ringo's. How John's caustic personality made him yell tauntingly "Run, Cindy, run . . ." as their train pulled away from the station heading to the Maharishi without his wife as his she was trying to jump aboard. He later even had loud sex with a gal at a party, so that Yoko and everyone else in the next room could hear. Ringo and wife Barbara Bach packed away the booze. Paul became a despot over animal rights, refusing even fake fur to be present on his tours. This is after he betrayed Jane Asher with a groupie, going on to marry Linda who was the animal activist.

But some of the wives shine in this account. After George had been stabbed multiple times by an intruder, his Olivia conks the guy repeatedly with a poker and lamp base, putting him into the hospital. Linda is Paul's soulmate and Yoko is John's. Barbara saves Ringo from alcoholism, and he her. But Maureen and Jane and Cynthia and Patti should not be forgotten. In a hellish fishbowl, they all stood by their men loyally for many years before being replaced. Ringo is to credited for seeing Maureen through her terminal bout of cancer long after their divorce.

This is a cautionary tale of young men being given talent, wealth, and fame beyond normal reckoning. Whether along the way they handled it well or otherwise, this book reminds us of the priceless gift that they gave us all . . .

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