THEBEATLES

Nobandhasinfluencedpopculture
thewaytheBeatleshave.Theywereone
of the best things to happen in the
twentieth century, let alone the Sixties.
They were youth personified. They were innovators who
werebiggerthanbothJesusandrock&rollitself:During
theweekofApril4,1964,theBeatlesheldthefirstfiveslots
ontheBillboardSingleschart;theywentontosellmore
thanabillionrecords;and2000's 1,acompilationofthe
BeatlesNumberOnehits,hit NumberOne in35countries
andwentontobecomethebestsellingalbumofthe2000s.
Everyrecordwasashockwhenitcameout.
Compared to R&B evangelists like the Rolling
Stones,theBeatlesarrivedsoundinglikenothing
else.TheyhadalreadyabsorbedBuddyHolly,the
Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry, but they were
alsowritingtheirownsongs.Theymadewriting
your own material expected, rather than
exceptional.Asmusicians,theBeatlesprovedthat
rock&rollcouldembracealimitlessvarietyof
harmonies,structures,andsounds;virtuallyevery
rock experiment has some precedent on Beatles
records.AsaunittheBeatleswereasynergistic
combination:
PaulMcCartney'smelodicbasslines,Ringo
Starr'sdrumming, George Harrison'srockabilly
style guitar, John Lennon's assertive rhythm
guitar and their four fervent voices. As
personalities,theydefinedandincarnatedSixties
style: smart, idealistic, playful, irreverent,

eclectic. Their music, from the notsosimple love songs

they started with to their later perfectionistic studio
extravaganzas,setnewstandardsforbothcommercialand
artisticsuccessinpop.
Lennonwasperformingwithhisamateurskiffle(kind
ofmusic)grouptheQuarrymenatachurchpicniconJuly6,
1957, in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton when he met
McCartney,whomhelaterinvitedtojoinhisgroup;soon
theywerewritingsongstogether,suchas"TheOneAfter
909."Bytheyear'sendMcCartneyhadconvincedLennonto
let Harrison join their group, the name of which was
changedtoJohnnyandtheMoondogsin1958.In1960an
artschool friend of Lennon's, Stu Sutcliffe, became their
bassist.Sutcliffecouldn'tplayanotebuthadrecentlysold
one of his paintings for a considerable sum, which the
group, now rechristened the Silver Beetles (from which
"Silver" was dropped a few months later, and "Beetles"
amendedto"Beatles"),usedtoupgradeitsequipment.
Tommy Moore was their drummer until Pete Best
replaced him in August 1960. Once Best had joined, the
bandmadeitsfirstoffourtripstoHamburg,Germany.In
DecemberHarrisonwasdeportedbacktoEnglandforbeing
underageandlackingaworkpermit,butbythentheir30set
weeksonthestagesofHamburgbeerhouseshadhonedand
strengthened their repertoire (mostly Chuck Berry, Little
Richard, Carl Perkins, and Buddy Holly covers), and on
February 21, 1961, they debuted at the Cavern club on
MathewStreetinLiverpool,beginningastringofnearly300
performancesthereoverthenextcoupleofyears.
In April 1961 they again went to Hamburg, where
Sutcliffe(thefirstoftheBeatlestowearhishairinthelong,
shaggystylethatcametobeknownastheBeatlehaircut)
left the group to become a painter, while McCartney
switchedfromrhythmguitartobass.TheBeatlesreturnedto

LiverpoolasaquartetinJuly.Sutcliffediedfromabrain
hemorrhageinHamburglessthanayearlater.
The Beatles had been playing regularly to packed
housesattheCavernwhentheywerespottedonNovember
9byBrianEpstein(b.Sep.19,1934,Liverpool).Afterbeing
discharged from the British Army on medical grounds,
EpsteinhadattendedtheRoyalAcademyofDramaticArtin
LondonforayearbeforereturningtoLiverpooltomanage
hisfather'srecordstore.
The request he received for a German import single
entitled"MyBonnie"(whichtheBeatleshadrecordedafew
monthsearlierinHamburg,backingsingerTonySheridan
andbilledastheBeatBrothers)convincedhimtocheckout
thegroup.Epsteinwassurprisedtodiscovernotonlythat
theBeatlesweren'tGermanbutthattheywereoneofthe
mostpopularlocalbandsinLiverpool.Withintwomonths
he became their manager. Epstein cleaned up their act,
eventuallyreplacingblackleatherjackets,tightjeans,and
pompadours with collarless gray Pierre Cardin suits and
mildlyandrogynoushaircuts.
EpsteintriedlandingtheBeatlesarecordcontract,but
nearly every label in Europe rejected the group. In May
1962, however, producer George Martin (b. Jan. 3, 1926,
NorthLondon,Eng.)signedthegrouptoEMI'sParlophone
subsidiary.PeteBest,thenconsideredthegroup'sundisputed
sex symbol, was asked to leave thegrouponAugust16,
1962,andRingoStarr,drummerwithapopularLiverpool
group,RoryStormandtheHurricanes,wasadded,justin
timeforthegroup'sfirstrecordingsession.OnSeptember11
the Beatles cut twooriginals, "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I
Love You," which became their first U.K. Top 20 hit in
October.Inearly1963"PleasePleaseMe"wenttoNumber
Two,andtheyrecordedanalbumofthesamenameinone
10hoursessiononFebruary11,1963.Withthesuccessof

theirthirdEnglishsingle,"FromMetoYou"(NumberOne),
the British record industry coined the term "Merseybeat"
(aftertheriverthatrunsthroughLiverpool)forgroupssuch
as the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J.
KramerandtheDakotas,andtheSearchers.
BymidyeartheBeatlesweregivenbillingoverRoy
Orbisononanationaltour,andthehystericaloutbreaksof
Beatlemaniahadbegun.FollowingtheirfirsttourofEurope
inOctober,theymovedtoLondonwithEpstein.Constantly
mobbed by screaming fans, the Beatles required police
protectionalmostanytimetheywereseeninpublic.Latein
theyear"SheLovesYou"becamethebiggestsellingsingle
inBritishhistory(intheyearssince,onlysixothersingles
havesoldmorecopiesthere).InNovember1963thegroup
performedbeforetheQueenMotherattheRoyalCommand
VarietyPerformance.
EMI's American label, Capitol, had not released the
group's1963records(whichMartinlicensedtoindependents
likeVeeJayandSwanwithlittlesuccess)butwasfinally
persuadedtoreleaseitsfourthsingle,"IWanttoHoldYour
Hand,"andMeettheBeatles(identicaltotheBeatles'second
British album, With the Beatles) in January 1964 and to
invest$50,000inpromotionforthethenunknownBritish
act.ThealbumandthesinglebecametheBeatles'firstU.S.
charttoppers.OnFebruary7screamingmobsmetthemat
NewYorkCity'sKennedyAirport,andmorethan70million
people watched each of their appearances on The Ed
SullivanShow onFebruary9and16.InApril1964"Can't
BuyMeLove"becamethefirstrecordtotopAmericanand
British charts simultaneously, and that same month the
BeatlesheldthetopfivepositionsonBillboardsingleschart
("Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "She Loves
You,""IWanttoHoldYourHand,""PleasePleaseMe").
Their first movie, A Hard Day's Night (directed by

RichardLester),openedinAmericainAugust;itgrossed
$1.3 millioninits first week. Theband wasaggressively
merchandised Beatle wigs, Beatle clothes, Beatle dolls,
lunch boxes, a cartoon series from which, because of
Epstein'sineptitudeatbusiness,thebandmadesurprisingly
littlemoney.TheBeatlesalsoopenedtheAmericanmarket
tosuchBritishInvasiongroupsastheDaveClarkFive,the
RollingStones,andtheKinks.
By 1965 Lennon and McCartney rarely wrote songs
together, although by contractual and personal agreement
songsbyeitherofthemwerecreditedtoboth.TheBeatles
touredEurope,NorthAmerica,theFarEast,andAustralia
that year. Their second movie, Help! (also directed by
Lester),wasfilmedinEngland,Austria,andtheBahamasin
thespringandopenedintheU.S.inAugust.OnAugust15
theyperformedto55,600fansatNewYork'sSheaStadium,
settingarecordfor largestconcertaudience.McCartney's
"Yesterday"(NumberOne,1965)wouldbecomeoneofthe
mostoftencoveredsongseverwritten.
InJunetheQueenofEnglandhadannouncedthatthe
BeatleswouldbeawardedtheMBE(MemberoftheOrder
of the British Empire). The announcement sparked some
controversysomeMBEholdersreturnedtheirmedal
but on October 26, 1965, the ceremony took place at
BuckinghamPalace.(Lennonreturnedhismedalin1969as
anantiwargesture.Interestingly,eventhoughherejectedthe
medal, the honor itself cannot be returned; Lennon
technicallyremainedanMBE.)
With1965'sRubberSoul,theBeatles'ambitionsbegan
to extend beyond love songs and pop formulas. Their
successledadultstoconsiderthem,alongwithBobDylan,
spokesmen for youth culture, and their lyrics grew more
poeticandsomewhatmorepolitical.
Insummer1966controversyeruptedwhenaremark

LennonhadmadetoaBritishnewspaperreportermonths
before was widely reported in the U.S. The quote
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't
arguewiththat;I'mrightandwillbeprovedright.We're
morepopularthanJesusnow"inciteddenunciationsand
Beatles record bonfires. The antiBeatles backlash was
particularlyintenseintheU.S.,wherethegroupwassetto
beginatourjusttwoweeksafterthecontroversyerupted,
andincludeddeaththreatsagainstthegroup.Largelyoutof
concernforthesafetyofhisfellowbandmembers,Lennon
apologizedataChicagopressconference.
TheBeatlesgaveuptouringafteranAugust29,1966,
concertatSanFrancisco'sCandlestickParkandmadethe
restoftheirmusicinthestudio,wheretheyhadbegunto
experiment with exotic instrumentation ("Norwegian
Wood,"1965,hadfeaturedsitar)andtapeabstractionssuch
as the reversed tracks on "Rain." "Strawberry Fields
Forever,"partofadoublesidedsinglereleasedinFebruary
1967tofilltheunusuallylonggapbetweenalbums,featured
anastonishingdisplayofelectronicallyalteredsoundsand
hintedatwhatwastocome.With"Taxman"and"LoveYou
To"onRevolver,Harrisonbegantoemergeasasongwriter.
It took four months and $75,000 to record Sgt. Pepper's
LonelyHeartsClubBandusingathenstateoftheartfour
track tape recorder and building each cut layer by layer.
ReleasedinJune1967,itwashailedasseriousartforits
"concept"anditsrangeofstylesandsounds,alexiconof
popandelectronicnoises;suchsongsas"LucyintheSky
With Diamonds" and "A Day in the Life" were carefully
examinedforhiddenmeanings.Thealbumspent15weeks
atNumberOne(longerthananyoftheirothers)andhassold
over 8 million copies. On June 25, 1967, the Beatles
recordedtheirnewsingle,"AllYouNeedIsLove,"before
aninternationaltelevisionaudienceof400million,aspartof

abroadcastcalledOurWorld.
OnAugust27,1967whilethefourwereinWales
beginningtheirsixmonthinvolvementwithTranscendental
Meditation and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (which took
themtoIndiafortwomonthsinearly1968)Epsteindied
aloneinhisLondonflatfromanoverdoseofsleepingpills,
laterruledaccidental.ShakenbyEpstein'sdeath,theBeatles
retrenched under McCartney's leadership in the fall and
filmedMagicalMysteryTour,whichwasairedbyBBCTV
onDecember26,1967,andlaterreleasedintheU.S.asa
featurefilm.AlthoughthetelefilmwaspannedbyBritish
critics, fans, and Queen Elizabeth herself, the soundtrack
albumcontainedtheirmostcrypticworkyetin"IAmthe
Walrus,"aLennoncomposition.
AstheBeatles'late1967single"HelloGoodbye"went
to Number One in both the U.S. and Britain, the group
launchedtheAppleclothesboutiqueinLondon.McCartney
calledtheretaileffort"Westerncommunism";theboutique
closedinJuly1968.Liketheirnexteffort,AppleCorpsLtd.
(formed in January 1968 and including Apple Records,
whichsignedJamesTaylor,MaryHopkin,andBadfinger),it
wasplaguedbymismanagement.InJulythegroupfacedits
lasthystericalcrowdsatthepremiereofYellowSubmarine,
ananimatedfilmbyCzechavantgardedesignerandartist
HeinzEdelmannfeaturingfournewBeatlessongs;arevised
soundtrackfeaturingnineextrasongswasreleasedin1999
(Number15).
In August they released McCartney's "Hey Jude"
(NumberOne),backedbyLennon's"Revolution"(Number
12),whichsoldover6millioncopiesbeforetheendof1968
theirmostpopularsingle.Meanwhile,thegrouphadbeen
workingonthedoublealbumTheBeatles(frequentlycalled
theWhiteAlbum),whichshowedtheirdivergentdirections.
The rifts were artistic Lennon moving toward brutal

confessionals, McCartney leaning toward pop melodies,

HarrisonimmersedinEasternspiritualityandpersonal,
asLennondrewclosertohiswifetobe,YokoOno.Lennon
andOno's TwoVirgins (withitsfullfrontalandbacknude
coverphotos)wasreleasedthesamemonthas TheBeatles
andstirredupsomuchoutragethattheLPhadtobesold
wrapped in brown paper. (The Beatles, went to Number
One,TwoVirginspeakedatNumber124.)
TheBeatlesattemptedtosmoothovertheirdifferences
inearly1969atfilmedrecordingsessions.Whentheproject
fell apart hundreds of hours of studio time later, no one
couldfaceeditingthetapes(aprojectthateventuallyfellto
record producer Phil Spector), and "Get Back" (Number
One, 1969) was the only immediate release. Released in
spring1970, LetItBe isessentiallyadocumentaryoftheir
breakup,includinganimpromptuJanuary30,1969,rooftop
concert at Apple Corps headquarters, their last public
performanceastheBeatles.
Byspring1969Applewaslosingthousandsofpounds
each week. Over McCartney's objections, the other three
broughtinmanagerAllenKleintostraightenthingsout;one
ofhisfirstactionswastopackagenonalbumsinglesasHey
Jude.Withmoneymatterstemporarilyoutofmind,thefour
joinedforcesinJulyandAugust1969torecordAbbeyRoad,
featuringanextendedsuiteaswellasmorehits,including
Harrison's muchcovered "Something" (Number Three,
1969).Whileitsreleasethatfallspurreda"PaulIsDead"
rumorbasedoncluessupposedlyleftthroughouttheirwork,
Abbey Road became the Beatles' bestselling album, at 9
millioncopies.Meanwhile,internalbickeringpersisted.In
SeptemberLennontoldtheothers,"I'mleavingthegroup.
I'vehadenough.Iwantadivorce."Buthewaspersuadedto
keepquietwhiletheirbusinessaffairswereuntangled.On
April10,1970,McCartneyreleasedhisfirstsoloalbumand

publiclyannouncedtheendoftheBeatles.Atthesametime,
Let It Be finally surfaced, becoming the group's 14th
Number One album (a postbreakup compilation would
becometheir15thin1973)andyieldingtheBeatles'18th
and19thcharttoppingsingles,"LetItBe"and"TheLong
andWindingRoad."
Throughout the Seventies, as repackages of Beatles
musiccontinuedtosell,thefourwerehoundedbybidsand
pleasforareunion.Lennon'smurderbyamentallydisturbed
fanonDecember8,1980,endedthosespeculations.In1988
theBeatleswereinductedintotheRockandRollHallof
Fame. McCartney, citing business conflicts with the two
othersurvivingmembers,didnotattend.Relationsbetween
himandHarrison,inparticular,hadbeenstrainedforsome
time.
In January 1994 Goldmine magazine reported that
McCartney,Harrison,andStarrhadbegunrecordingmusic
for a longrumored Beatles documentary the previous
August, with more secret sessions scheduled. There were
othersignsthatthethreebandmemberswereonthemend
whenLennonwasinductedtotheRockandRollHallof
Fameasasoloartistin1994,forinstance,McCartneydid
thehonors(McCartneyhimselfwasinductedin1999).Later
in1994LiveattheBBCwasreleased,featuring56songsthe
BeatlesperformedontheBritishradiobetween1962and
1965.ItdebutedatNumberOneintheU.K.;intheU.S.,it
debutedandpeakedatNumberThree.
The Beatles Anthology, the longawaited sixhour
television special, was broadcast over three nights in
November1995,coincidingwiththereleaseoftheGeorge
Martincompiled doubleCD Anthology 1 (Number One),
whichfeaturedalternatetakes,demos,andraretracks,and
premiered the first new song by John, Paul, George, and
Ringosince1970."FreeasaBird"(NumberSix,1995),a

demorecordedbyLennonin1977,wascompletedbythe
other three and produced by Jeff Lynne; it became the
Beatles 34th Top 10 single. Lennon's lyrics didn't extend
much beyond the title, and so Harrison and McCartney
collaboratedonlyricsforanewbridge.
TwoadditionaldoubleCDs, Anthology2 and 3 (both
Number One), followed in 1996, as well as an extended
videotapeversionofthedocumentary. Anthology2's"Real
Love" (again a Lennon demo, from 1979, with modern
additionsbytheothers)reachedNumber11andbecamethe
group's23rdgoldsingle(themostofanygroup).
TheLiverpooljuggernautcontinuedtorollonin2000:
theBeatlesbecamethehighestcertifiedactofalltime,with
over113millionalbumssoldinAmerica(whichgrewto
170 million albums in 2008); a coffee table book, The
Beatles Anthology, topped the New York Times bestseller
list;and1,acollectionoftheband'sNumberOnehitsongs,
became the Beatles' 19th charttopping album, selling 25
millioncopiesby2005.
OnNovember29,2001,GeorgeHarrison,diagnosed
withlungcancerinthelate1990s,becamethesecondBeatle
topassaway.ThreeyearslaterCapitolRecordsreleasedall
of the Beatles' U.S. albums (in both stereo and original
monoversions)astwoboxsets,TheCapitolAlbums,Vols.1
and2.In2006,GeorgeMartinandhissonGilesproduceda
setofBeatlesremixes,Love,forthesoundtracktoCirquedu
Soleil'stheaterproductionofthesamename.Thefollowing
year,McCartneyandStarrappearedonCNN's LarryKing
Live totalkabouttheproject;theyjoinedBeatleswidows
OnoandOliviaHarrisoninLasVegastocelebratetheLove
production'sfirstanniversary.
Until2007,theBeatles'AppleCorp.wasinlegallimbo
with the Apple, Inc. computer company over use of the

name.AppleCorp.hadsuedApple,Inc.afterthecomputer
companyopeneditsonlineiTunesmusicstore;oneresultof
thesuitwasthattheBeatles'groupandsolomusicwasnot
madeavailablefordigitaldownload.InFebruary2007,the
twosidescametoanagreement.Apple,Inc.wouldretain
ownership of the name and license it back to the Apple
Corp.recordlabel.ByOctober,alloftheBeatles'soloworks
wereavailableoniTunes,butasofearly2010theBeatles
cataloguewasstillnotavailableoniTunes.
September 9, 2009 was a day of 21st century
Beatlemania:Apple/EMIreleasedremasteredversionsofthe
band's studio albums, with dramatically improved sound.
(Monoversionswerealsoavailable,thoughonlyasabox.)
Also that day, The Beatles Rock Band video game hit
shelves,featuring45Beatlesongs;bytheendof2009,ithad
soldmorethanonemillioncopiesworldwide.
McCartney and Starr continued to tour and record
throughout the 2000s. McCartney, who is reportedly a
billionaire,releasedthreesoloalbumsduringthedecadeas
well as three live albums, including Good Evening New
YorkCity,whichdocumentedtheinauguralconcertsatNew
York'sCitiFieldin2009.Starrreleasedthreealbumsinthe
2000s,aswellas2010'sYNot.HeappearedwithMcCartney
at several events, including 2002's Concert for George, a
charitableeventheldonthefirstanniversaryofHarrison's
death.
Portions of this biography appeared in The Rolling
Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster,
2001).
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/the
beatles/biography#ixzz3XUatiLlx
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