Formed in Liverpool during 1960, The Beatles were an English rock band. The band consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, all of which are associated with the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. They often incorporated classical elements in innovative ways, even through their diverse range of music, including subgenres such as psychedelic rock all the way through to pop ballads.
Their enormous popularity emerged during the 60’s as ‘Beatlemania ‘, but as the bands song writing skills grew, they were more often referred to as cultural observers as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era’s sociocultural revolutions.
Playing in clubs in Liverpool, The Beatles built up their reputation over a three year period. They were moulded into a professional act by their manager Brian Epstein and their producer George Martin enhanced their musical potential. Their first hit ‘Love me do’, which was released in late 1962 gained them popularity within the UK. Over the following year, beatlemania grew, which led to the nickname of the ‘fab four’ and by early 1964, they had become international stars. After 1965, The Beatles produced many pieces of music, which critics claim to be their finest material. This includes their widely popular influential albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road.
The Beatles quickly embraced 1950’s rock and roll, after originating as a skiffle group, expanding their repertoire to include a broad variety of pop music.
Some of the bands earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. Lennon said ‘Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there had been no Elvis, there would have been no Beatles.’
The Beatles revolutionized the sound, style and attitude towards popular music and opened up rock and roll to a variety of future acts, including Nirvana. The bands initial impact was enough to establish The Beatles as one of their era’s most influential cultural forces. Although The Beatles initial style was a catchy synthesis of early American R&B and Rock and Roll, they spent the rest of their career during the 1960’s expanding rocks stylistic frontiers, consistently creating a new musical sound with each release. During their initial incarnation as cheerful moptops, their sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of musical genres, including country, folk-rock, psychedelic and baroque pop.
Walter Everett said ‘McCartney may have been said to consistently develop-as a means to entertain-a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of the craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed upon common language that he did much to enrich. Controversially, Lennon’s mature music is the best appreciated as the daring product of largely unconscious, but searching undisciplined artistic sensibility’.
Ian MacDonald, musicologist, describes Lennon as ‘a natural melodist-a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony.’
With 177million certified units, The Beatles are the best selling band in the Untied States, according to the RIAA. In addition to this, they have had more number one hits on the charts and sold more singles in Great Britain then any other band. They topped Billboard magazine all time top 100 most successful artists list in 2008, and as of this year, they hold the record for the most number one hits on the UK hot 100 chart, with 20. Furthermore, they have been awarded 15 Ivor Novello Awards, an Academy Award for Best Song Score and seven Grammy Awards. The Beatles are the best-selling band in history, according to Time magazines 20th century most influential people, as well as EMI records sales over 1billion units.
The band broke up in 1970, however each member had successful individual careers after this. McCartney and Starr are the only members still musically active, after Lennon was shot and killed in 1980 and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001.
At the side, you can see pictures of The Beatles last performance.
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Although it is claimed that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds isn't about LSD, but based on a painting, if you look at the lyrics they could be interpreted as being what effect LSD has on you, such as when it says 'The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.' If Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is about drugs, then it would fit with social issues raised by the rock and roll lifestyle at the time and how people, especially in psychedelic rock tried to keep as farm from the norm as possible. The instruments used in this song are the drums and electric guitar, which are the main foundations of what makes a song rock, something that is yet to change.
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www.thebeatles.com
