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 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
To understand how The Beatles got so big, you have to trace back their roots and see where it all began. Going back to the birth of the band members, we are taken to Liverpool in England. Liverpool was regarded as a very dirty and low place by many of the people that liv...
Here comes the sun du-du-du-du! Here comes the sun, and i say… hey, what do you think happened on February 9th, 1964? Well if you don’t know, the worlds most popular band became strangely the most popular band in the world (Glassman). They are a band from Liverpool, England together during the 60s’, are known as one of the best pop groups of all time (The Beatles). Come on, you know who I'm talking about. It’s The Beatles (The Beatles)! My question is, why? Why are they still popular today in the eyes of many Americans? Yes, that’s right. Americans (The Beatles).
It seems as though it’s impossible to provide an analogy to a group today that accurately expresses what the Beatles were to their hayday. I guess that the closest thing to the Beatles of 2014 is One Direction, British and super popular, but the Beatles were obviously much bigger and much more influential than any other pop culture icon in recorded history. The question is though, why were the Beatles so popular that they defined a genre and generation of music? Why did they have such a strong influence on pop culture that they still remain popular today? The Beatles have a distinct sound, but they also didn’t stick to this image that seems to be so popular in bands of today. They let their music change with their mood, and the mood of the time they wrote the song in. This, instead of causing them to seem instable and fragmented, made them even more defined. Their songs are different from each other in a way that keeps it exciting. Hearing the same song over and over again from one artist causes their fame to die out quickly, in the same way that no matter how much you like a song, i...
The Beatles were more than their music. They influenced the lives of millions of people unlike any musicians before them. They were the first and most popular band in one of the most important music movements in American history, the British Invasion. The year 1964 was the year both the British Invasion and “Beatlemania” came to America and forever changed the landscape of music in the United States by introducing the genre of pop, as it is today. The Beatles changed the rules of music. Many things that are considered normal now were pioneered by the Beatles such as: creating compilation albums, expressing their views on world happenings through the media, musicians in movies, and even mass media advertising. The beatles influenced American culture more than any other musical artist in history (Holmes, 2012).
Of course, this was yet another reason for the conservative public to despise the Beatles. Ian Inglis, a visiting fellow in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Northumbria, covers this in his book, The Beatles, Popular Music and Society. A disapproving view of rock and roll wasn’t held by most in the band’s religiously ambiguous home country of England, but it was adopted by much of America, especially in the South, who considered rock music to be sacrilegious
In the summer of 1956 he met Paul McCartney, and then they began writing songs together and the two of them eventually formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in the history of music (John Lennon Biography). In all, The Beatles made over 240 songs, and they recorded many singles and albums (Paul McCartney Biography). They formed groups, and the last of which was the Beatles. With John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, they became widely known as the greatest and most influential act of the era of rock (Hendersonville Lightning). The Beatles were formed in Liverpool, England in the year 1960 (John Lennon Biography). John Lennon played rhythm guitar and keyboard, and sang. From 1956 until 1962 they took pieces of popular American music to form into dance music (Grove, 321). John Lennon was also said to be the leader of the Beatles (Spangler).
The Beatles were originally from Liverpool, England. When I first saw Liverpool, I was thinking about the town here in the United States right next to Alvin. George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr changed the expected course of music for their decade. Instead of following the already paved road, the Beatles insisted on creating their own pathway. On February 7th, 1964 they traveled to the United States. The Beatles had a persona to them in my opinion that made them mellow and loving people. The Beatles were exactly what American people needed after the assassination of their president John F. Kennedy. The fact that the Beatles set a record that has yet to be broken ...
The Beatles were first introduced live on the television to Americans on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964. They became a very popular band in the sixties, and even after the band split, John Lennon still continued to write and play songs that influenced the world and became one of the world's very important histories.
The end of the Beatles rose as tensions built up during the 1970’s. Paul and John were simply too different in their styles of music writing, and both started to branch their separate ways and create solo albums. It was in the year 1971 that the Beatles officially broke up. The last time the Beatles had played as a full band was in 1971, on top of their recording studio. The band realized that they couldn’t perform any concerts any more, due to their mass popularity, so in a final act of musical talent, they simply went on top of their building without telling anyone, and played music until the police shut them down. And with that, you now understand how the Beatles came to be, and how the legendary quartet rose to what they are today. (“Beatlemania”)
The Beatles’ changed popular music forever; there are few people who will argue with this statement. Before The Beatles, only solo artists like Elvis Presley were popular. They were the first band to have huge mainstream success, and thus, after Beatlemania, musicians began to preform in groups more often, instead of trying to “make it on their own” (Lulu). The Beatles also changed the conditions that musicians would come to record under. Prior to The Beatles, record companies held great power over musicians; musicians were told when and where to record by their record labels. As The Beatles became megastars, they re...
The Beatles were a boy band formed in Liverpool England (1963 A New Civil War Raging); the band was made up of John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. The Beatles were a pop rock band formed in the year 1960. Their music has influenced many people all over the world, having multiple number one singles to selling many number one albums. The Beatles influenced people like Oasis, Pink Floyd, The Byrds and many other artists and bands to name. The Beatles were together for a short time when they had broken up only 10 years of being together. Although The Beatles broke up they had come over to America in the year 1964, only 11 weeks after America’s President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. On February 9th, 1964 The Beatles had made their first American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. This episode of The Ed Sullivan Show had an audience of 73 million views (Wikipedia). The Beatles they were very unpopular with adults and newspapers (1963 A New Civil War Raging). Although adults and newspapers hated The Beatles, teens and young adults were very popular and had already had concerts lined up for a tour in America....
The Beatles are known, respectively, as the fathers of modern pop music. After their first #1 hit “Please Please Me” was released in 1963 the Beatles were set in motion to become one of the most influential groups of musicians to ever rock our world. With over forty-nine records, 37 #1’s, and thirty- four number one albums (the highest amount of any band in history), there is no denying that they made a monumental ripple in the musical world. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr surprisingly all come from humble beginnings in a town that, until their superstardom, was barely noticed on the map. Liverpool, being kn...
Before the Beatles were the Beatles, they were just normal musicians. John Lennon the person in charge of the band in the 50’s called the Quarry Men met Paul McCartney on July 6, 1957, where both musicians are performing in Skiffle Groups. After hearing Paul play at the concert John’s manager asked Paul if he would like to join the Quarry Men, Paul accepted his offer. Many musicians tried out to join the Quarry Men, however none of them made it. On February 6, 1958 George Harrison tried out by playing Raunchy and John made him become the newest member of the group. The members of the Quarry Men are; “John, Paul and George, with the addition of Johns Friend from art college, Stu Sutcliffe and a guitarist named Pete Best” (The Beatles pg. 1). They went off to Germany to get a better chance to become known and famous. While they are in Germany, Stu Sutcliffe decides to go back to college to get back into art which he is in love with and be with Astrid which he met in Germany. The members remaining in the Quarry Men group renamed their group and now their group calling it Silver Beatles and returned to Liverpool. As the group thought their luck was terrible, a young record storeowner in the late 1961, with the name of Brian Epstein, noticed the Beatles with their great musicians skills, he thought they have something unique to them (History of The Beatles pg. 1). The Silver Beatles held a tough ima...
The Beatles are an English rock band who originated in Liverpool, England in 1960. They were a huge success locally even before they began to make records in the United Kingdom. The band was comprised of four members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They owe much of their early, quick success to manager Brian Epstein who molded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin who enhanced their musical potential. Early in the 1960’s, their widespread fame in the United Kingdom was first referred to as “Beatlemania”. Eventually, they acquired the nickname “the Fab Four” as Beatlemania grew rapidly in Britain. By 1964, the Fab Four made their way overseas and officially became international pop stars. The Beatles were the leading factor in the “British Invasion” of the United States pop market.