The Beatles’ Legacy
Many know The Beatles as the most popular and influential music group of the 20th century. In the early 1960’s, their popularity grew rather rapidly. They continued gaining popularity well through the 1960’s. Although their popularity has decreased somewhat over time, the influences they have contributed during their career have remained apparent even today.
The Beatles originated from the UK in the early 1960’s. Before becoming known as the “Fab Four” the Beatles had multiple band member alterations. In August 1960, after settling on the name the Beatles the band had 5 members. Two years following the official band naming the number of members decreased to four. The front-line guitarists John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, and the bands drummer, Ringo Star, became the permanent members of the Beatles in 1962.
In England, by the end of 1963 the band had become well known and highly adored musical artists. However despite their popularity in the UK, the company who held American rights to the Beatles, Capitol, did not believe they were capable of breaking out onto the American pop charts. As stated by Capitol “ We don’t think the Beatles will do anything in this market”. It wasn’t until November of late 1963 that Capitol agreed to release the first Beatles single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. The song shot up to number one in America only one month after it had been played on the radio for the first time.
The Beatles had just made history. They were the first British band to ever rank so high on the American charts. What made this accomplishment even more amazing was the time frame in which they achieved it. The Beatles arrived in America for the first time on February 7, 1964 to make their American television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. Awaiting them at John F. Kennedy airport was a mob of fanatic fans that were eagerly anticipating their arrival. The night of the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show attracted the largest television audience ever recorded in history. The following day “ 74 million people—40 percent of the entire U.S. population watched The Beatles of London…a CBS press release report”(Harrington, pg 3). Just two years after they first formed the Beatles were becoming international icons. What made them so successful so soon?
During the 1960’s, turmoil and change gripp...
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...Some argue they had perfect timing. Timing is everything. Others say it was their outstanding musical talent. Whatever the reason may be, the Beatles began a revolution in 1962 and never quite finished it.
They withstood the test of time. Something very few music groups have ever done. They set records and enlightened fans. Without them, who knows where the 1960’s would have taken us. They were our rock. The Beatles made the feelings of depression and confusion during that time disappear. The fact is as much as they needed their public their public needed them more.
The band officially split up publicly on May, 8th 1970. The last album released by the Beatles was “Let It Be”. The contributing factors to their break up vary. The death of their manager Brien Epstien due to a drug overdose, the groups introduction to drugs, and John Lennon’s love for Yoko Ono are a few of those factors. After the break up some members went on to pursue a solo career.
Even though the band no longer is together, they will always remain known as the Beatles. To many people of that time, these four guys from Liverpool, England were not just a band they were beacons of change and progression.
The Beatles were formed in London and consisted of four prime members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. When they first came out from Liverpool to America, they gave a clean look toward people by wearing suits and trimmed haircuts. The Rolling Stones, also formed in London later on, also consisted of four prime members in the beginning: Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts. Throughout their career, they let they hair grow long and wear whatever they wanted including concerts, giving off the “I don’t care” look. The Beatles gave a clean impression, perceived as perfect school boys while The Rolling Stones gave a dirty image to the public and didn’t care about other’s opinion and rebelled against “the man”. As t...
The Beatles consisted of four talented men: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Richard Starkey. They had met at all different times and had one thing in common. They all loved music. McCartney, Lennon and Harrison all played guitar and Starkey, also known as Ringo Starr, played the drums. They started out as The Quarry Men, but eventually they changed the name to The Beatles. They played a lot together over the years and at many different places. They started out as a “teenybopper” band, as Russell Gibb put it. They were like the Jonas Brothers of the fifties. When they made their way to America, they became more popular. Gibb also noted that they grew up with their fans. They did well all through the sixties, but around 1965 tension gre...
Who is better: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? This is quite possibly the most debated question in the history of rock music. Unfortunately, many debaters don’t learn the facts about these two legendary bands before plunging into heated arguments about this topic. What is surprising about these two groups is that they are exceptionally alike. Though they are minuscule, there are distinctions that set The Beatles and The Rolling Stones apart.
The Beatles are an iconic English rock band and are widely regarded as the “foremost and most influential act of the rock era” (Unterberg). Formed in Liverpool in 1960, the Beatles were comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, with Stuart Sutcliffe on bass guitar in January and Pete
Somewhat a mysterious band, Led Zeppelin rarely did interviews and did not talk much to the press. For these reasons much of the press did not like them. However, their fans loved them. Led Zeppelin established a strong fan base by means of intense touring from the start of the group’s formation. With this intense touring came a lot of temptation. Led Zeppelin indulged in heavy drug and alcohol abuse as well as a lot of sex with groupies, especially American groupies. Their regimen of intense partying would eventually cause the band problems and inevitably lead to the bands undoing with the death of drummer John Bonham. I feel that Led Zeppelin could have been much more. To many Led Zeppelin fans that might sound crazy, but I truly feel that they had much more to offer the world than they ever got to give. The reason I say this is because they really didn’t have a long career and within a 5 or 6 years of forming the band they started having misfortune and tragedy such as the death of Robert Plants son, Roberts car accident (which interfered with his touring and ability to perform for a few years), John Bonham’s excessive alcohol use, and Jimmy Pages’ heroin addiction that obviously interfered with their touring and songwriting.
From 1957 to 1960, The Beatles appeared to have a hierarchy structure, led by John Lennon. Lennon finalized many decision making issues such as new outfits for the band, who was able to participate in the band, and even what the band would be named. For example, Lennon quickly realized over the years that by working together, and sharing with one another as a group, their band would be at its best. Thus, transformation of a collaboration cycle or group dynamics began. The Beatles clearly demonstrated team work and group cohesion by presenting strong ties they develop over many years. This also included Brian Epstein (dutiful manager) and George Martin (trailblazing producer) (www.danpontefract.com). The group clearly showed consistent feedback and ideas as well as motivating one another. For example, in the September issue of “Innovation in Practice” it is stated, “One would sketch an idea or a song fragment and take it to the other to finish or improve; in some cases, two incomplete songs or song ideas that each had and worked on individually would be combined into a complete song.” Each individual member of The Beatles knew their role in the group. Their interactions, structured re...
...on April tenth, 1970. The official break up of the band was in court and it was a sad day for Beatles fans across the world (Glassman).
As the guys were just starting to find their sense of direction with their new band they began to blow up. By creating a new style of rock existing with complex chord progression, soft melodies and even, more meaningful lyrics (World Book Online Reference Center) . Songs like, “Let It Be” and “With A Little Help From My Friends” show examples of this. The band’s new direction was so popular that on February 7th, 1964 the Beatles took a plane from London all the way to New York City, according to beatlesbible.com. The need to go to the United States was the great success of their albums. The four went on numerous television shows like The Ed Sullivan show, a late night show like Jimmy Fallon. All great things must come to an end. The Beatles went their separate ways and about 10 years after the split in 1980 John Lennon got shot by Mark David Chapman. Later in 2001 George Harrison died from cancer. The two other members of the band are still alive. Ringo Starr at age 77 and Paul McCartney at age 75. The so called “fifth” Beatles member, Pete Best is still alive also at age 75. The career of the band was very successful making great achievements and leaving forever lasting
The Beatles were a legendary rock and pop group that formed in Liverpool, England in 1960. John Lennon met Paul McCartney in 1957. He invited John to join his music group. George Harrison met Paul in grammar school.Later, they discovered George’s talent of the electric guitar, and he was invited to join Lennon's group, The Quarrymen (News, CBS). George Harrison joined them in February of 1958. Later in time, they started experimenting with different type of music styles. The Beatles became the most popular band of all time (A&E Networks Television).
On the evening of February 9, 1964, The Beatles made their American television debut and shook Americans by storm. The four lads from Liverpool redefined American culture, popular music, and traditional standards of living. After The Ed Sullivan show, The Beatles became a worldwide household name, and millions of people around the world began to get sucked into a world where The Beatles were like royalty. For the ten years The Beatles were collectively together as a group, they changed the way people dressed, thought of music, changed cultural views of sex, and race, and ultimately changed music and culture permanently. The Beatles never realized the effect that their influence would have on the public, they just wanted to play music in America. As an avid Beatles fan, I have always been intrigued about The Beatles influence on the world, especially in America. I pondered different issues within The Beatles change, and I found myself asking: how did the Beatles’ dependence on counter-culture change and image change music industry and The American public? Although The Beatles did not intend to change American culture, The Beatles changed America by helping bridge the gap between set gender roles, helping shift public opinion towards the civil rights and anti-war movements, and their devilishly good looks and marketing team were able to transform The Beatles into a band everyone knew and loved.
...album they had; “The Beatles”. Most of the songs on the album were individuals, accompanied and sung by just one person. After a long time of inactivity and a bad album, the group went their seperate ways. After the group parted, Paul McCartney recorded with the successful group, the Wings. Lennon wrote and recorded in the United States with his wife Yoko Ono, and was later murdered in New York in 1980. George Harrison stopped recording but he became a film producer. He then died in 2001 of lung cancer. (Ebsco Host)
The Liverpool rock group known as the Beatles began to form during the year of 1960. The band was made up of four members which included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Although the Beatles are known as a major influential part of music today, the early years of their career were a difficult. They suffered the struggles of discouragement, being rejected by labels, and changing band members throughout the beginning. However, things began to change during the Beatlemania period. The Tipping Point is described by Malcolm Gladwell as a time of “critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point. This theory can be applied to the Beatles during their rise to fame period known as Beatlemania. There
These bands never saw any sort of real success but he did meet Paul McCartney during these early days. They were only fifteen and sixteen at the time. Both were inspired by Buddy Holly and early American rock groups. Lennon would settle on the name Beatals as a name for his band as a tribute to Holly’s Crickets. Soon thereafter he changed the name once more to the now infamous Beatles.
... Linda Eastman” (History of The Beatles pg. 6). One year later, on August 27, 1967, when the Beatles were in India trying to seek enlightenment, their friend and manager Brain Epstein was found dead in his own house, due to a overdoes of the drug Carbitrol. Two years later, in August 1969, Lennon came to the conclusion that it was time that he needs to depart from the group, after he left it was official, the group has become to an end. The band’s breaking up was a secret until April 10, 1970 when McCartney came to the conclusion to separate the group.
The popularity of the Beatles proves time and time again to be nothing short of eternal. Like any great works of art, the Beatles’ records carried and still do carry an ageless brilliance that continues to captivate new generations of listeners. Their records are still heard heavily today on the radio, continue to sell in immense quantities, and are forever remembered through the covers done by pop and rock artists in present day.