The Beatles are considered by many to be one of the greatest musical groups of all time. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band is frequently credited as their best album, and is therefore often given the title of “Greatest Album of All Time” (500 Greatest Albums of All Time, n.d.). Despite the obvious merit of this album, much of the music found in it is rather similar to previous music written by the Beatles. Their later album Revolver, however, displays no such reliance on styles and sounds previously established in rock music, with Reising (Ed. 2002) calling the impact of the album “massive and transformative”. In the album Revolver, the Beatles make use wide, and largely novel, variety of instrumentations, time changes and technological parameters, as well as other musical tools. This incorporation of such a variety of sounds and styles not only influenced a change in the sound of rock, but also stimulated the creation of entirely new genres such as psychedelic rock, as well as others. …show more content…
Both the instrumentation and the lyrical narrative were so unique to rock and roll at the time, it is difficult to forget. The piece is arranged for a chamber group consisting entirely of bowed string instruments, with none of the Beatles members playing an instrument at any point in the song. This insertion of classical sound and style into a genre generally considered to be oriented towards the younger generations helped evolve rock and roll into a genre more accepting of older musical forms. The lyrics featured in the song were also a significant innovation for the band, in the form of the seriousness of the topic. The song, which is the first McCartney composition to leave the subject matter of a standard love song (Turner, 2016, p. 100), speaks of the eventual death of an aging woman, and a lonely priest who’s sermons go
The new sound that internationalized rock and roll crossed an ocean from Britain to the United States and changed the course of musical history. The highlighted moment of history in which the British Invasion was initiated was during the arrival of The Beatles and their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show for three consecutive Sundays. Neither the arrival nor impact of British rock on the musical development of post-1950s...
I’m here today to discuss, compare, and contrast the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, two of the best rock and roll bands from the 1960s. During the British Invasion, both of these bands had a lasting impression worldwide inspiring many of the current artists today. Although both bands are similar, they have many differences.
Their work encompasses many genres into one. The band’s musical influences are comprised of jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk, and country. Also, the band began to gain popularity during the movement of psychedelia. Psychedelic elements can be heard in almost all of their albums.
Abbey Road is heralded as one of the greatest rock ‘n roll albums ever. It grinds with hard rock and sways with soft guitar. The variety of the tracks provides something for everyone. It was created in 1969 at the famous Abbey Road studios. George Martin and Geoff Emerick, who had produced many other Beatles’ albums, contributed to this work. This album is one of the more famous albums of the Beatles, who are one of the most popular bands ever. Almost every piece of this album, even the cover, is art works in themselves.
Joe Cocker’s cover of a not as well known song by a mega popular band (popularity and well known status of the Beatles), combined with the timing of the world (counterculture, experimentation, not so rigid roles) and his own talent and personal twist on “With a Little Help from My Friends” (everything he changed about the song), helped Joe Cocker rise to success that he might otherwise not have found without the indirect help from the Beatles.
The Beatles and the Beach Boys are two of the most recognized, well-known and most popular musical acts of the 1960’s right through to the 1970’s. I will be focusing on the group acts rather than solo performers such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison of the Beatles, who took their own stylistic approach to their music after the Beatles’ separation. Each group’s arrangement and use of instruments classify them as part of the overall associated sound and typical subject matter of songs in the 1960’s, yet remain different enough to distinguish between each group’s desired sound.
“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, a ballad composed by John Lennon in 1965, juxtaposes the new and old Beatles in a thrilling manner. This song represents the Beatles’ returning to their instrumental roots from The Quarrymen with Paul’s bass, George and Lennon’s acoustic guitars, and Ringo’s percussion forming the main instruments throughout the piece. This song comes at a time when Lennon lyrics and tonal timbre proved susceptible to Bob Dylan’s influence , causing Lennon to impersonate Dylan’s vocal style as he searched for his own. This side of the album also illustrates the huge collaborative effort that George Martin and the Beatles put into creating our listening experience, as the lyrics and song titles of the first side of the album present the background for this piece. Lennon builds on this background by detailing how he feels that he must conceal his emotions from the world, especially after his mother’s death. “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” demonstrates the beginning of an introspective, yet simpler Lennon who begins to reveal his emotions through his songs, and the album’s structure serves as a base for the story of Lennon’s piece.
Before we explore The Birth of rock ‘n’ Roll, we must first reflect on other sounds that influence this genre of music. Sounds from blues, country, jazz, and gospel music all played a huge role in the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. The creation of different genres of music mixed together created a loud, fast, liberating sound that primarily a...
Martin, Marvin. The Beatles: The Music Was Never the Same. New York: F. Watts, 1996. Print.
Through Elvis Presley, rock ‘n’ roll changed the face of American music, and influenced a whole generation’s political philosophy. Composer Leonard Berstein once said, “He introduced the beat to everything and changed everything-music, language, clothes; it’s a whole new social revolution-the 60s come from it” (Wattenberg 6B). To his credit, Elvis embraced rhythm and blues not as a from to be imitated, but as a form to honored and interprete... ...
...rickson, Steve. "No Ordinary Fad: Making Sense of the Beatles, Whose Music Has Been Digitally Remastered and Featured in a New Video Game." Los Angeles Magazine 1 Sept. 2009: n. pag. Print.
The 1960s and 1970s was an influential time in history, especially in the music industry. Between these two decades many new music genres were created and legends that are still praised today were born. There are many similarities in the type of music that was listened to at these times but each decade is different and unique in their own way.
When people think about the 60’s the majority of them all think about the Beatles. The Beatles is a band that made Rock and Roll a totally, different type of music. Even though The Beatles were such a hit, as time went on they started to fall apart. Over 50 years later, the Beatles are still classified as one of the best band of all time.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, The Beatles were asked to take part in a new exciting world project, which would be broadcast live on television. With the task of writing a new song to play to the world in limited time, they quickly got to work producing one of the most memorable Beatles songs ever. The best thing about this however is not how swiftly they penned the record or how brilliantly they performed it live, but in fact the use of the French national anthem. Yes, the ingenious use of the ‘La Marseillaise’ means that any time a French athlete wins gold at the Olympics it will forever sound like a mini Beatles revival.
I personally have always enjoyed the different and unique sounds of the instruments that the musicians in rock & roll bands could make using the synthesizer, their electric guitars, th...