The debate over the cultural value of the Beatles was as vehement as it was significant in 1960s and early 1970s Britain. Lennon and McCartney's early compositions received some early critical plaudits, Sgt. Pepper sought to blur distinctions between high and low culture and the band members’ side projects forged links with the avant garde. To accept the Beatles as artists, however, required critics to rethink how art was created, disseminated and evaluated and how it interacted with contemporary social, economic and technological change. This article makes extensive use of contemporary journalism, scholarship and fan literature, much of it unstudied, to demonstrate that the rethinking process was contested and protracted. No consensus emerged. Claims made for their artistry, which contributed to a wider discourse elevating ‘rock’ over ‘pop’, were countered by cultural conservatives who defended their own status as artists and intellectuals by exposing the Beatles as kitsch.

关于甲壳虫乐队的文化价值的辩论既激烈，又在1960年代和1970年代初期的英国引起了巨大的轰动。列侬和麦卡特尼的早期作曲受到了早期批判的赞誉。胡椒试图模糊高低文化之间的区别，并且乐队成员的副项目与先锋派建立了联系。但是，要让甲壳虫乐队成为艺术家，就需要批评家重新考虑艺术是如何创作，传播和评估的，以及它如何与当代社会，经济和技术变革互动。本文广泛使用了当代新闻，学术和粉丝文学，而其中许多尚未被研究，这表明重新思考的过程是有争议的，而且是漫长的。没有达成共识。对其艺术性提出的要求促成了更广泛的讨论，将“摇滚”提升为“流行”，而文化保守主义者则反驳了这一观点，他们通过将甲壳虫乐队暴露为媚俗来捍卫自己作为艺术家和知识分子的地位。