Preserving History

I read in the news this morning that there is a movement afoot to try and save Abbey Road Studios in North London from being torn down and rebuilt as high-priced housing. Apparently when word went out that EMI, who owns the studio now, was looking to sell off the property since they couldn't really afford to keep it any longer, concerned fans and luminaries such as Sir Paul McCartney called on the National Trust of England to step in and declare the site to be culturally and historically significant thus helping to preserve and maintain the site. Now in case you are wondering why this site is so significant it's because it was the studio in which the Beatles recorded many of their best hits. That being said, many feel that it is necessary to save the site since it is a part of history.

Times have changed since the Beatles first started recording in the studios at Abbey Road. These days technology has improved to the point that with a minimum of effort, artists can set up a rudimentary studio within their own homes and start recording music that they can mix on a home computer. So then why preserve this studio that is obviously going to soon be outdone by products that could be purchased on Amazon? Well simply because of the significance of what took place there. Now not everyone appreciates the music of the Beatles and though I have been a fan for a number of years, my appreciation of their music was renewed over the last year with the release of all of their albums in higher quality sound (not to mention the Rock Band game that highlights lots of their music).

But so what? The music continues on now in our homes and on our computers, so then why preserve the site where the music was recorded? I suppose it comes from the more sentimental parts of our psychology. There is some part of us that will always continue to harbour a place in our hearts due to the significance of the events that took place there. I guess it's something like how people want to see historical sites like Constitution Hall in Philadelphia or the White House in DC. Doing so seems to bring us that much closer to being a part of history or at least seeing for ourselves what it must have been like to have been there when history was being made.

The decision to save Abbey Road is a good one I suppose. The Beatles are a significant part of music history and though they aren't the only ones in a veritable pantheon of artists and groups that have changed the way music has developed, they definitely rank among the more influential of them. The National Trust of England has already preserved the boyhood homes of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney which is a good thing. We can look to these sites and see that they aren't really all that much different than the average person but that that one spark of inspiration is all that it takes to change the face of music or the course of music history.