There has been many rock and roll bands in the 20th century, but certainly there has been none like The Beatles. How four little young adolescents from Liverpool became the most influential songwriters in history? How they transformed from an underground rock and roll band to a worldwide sensation? While the Beatles only lasted eight years together as a group, it was enough to re-shape the history of “Rock and Roll” music. In a short period of time, in a remote city a few miles away from London called Liverpool was about to see the birth of one of the most influential rock and roll bands in history. Liverpool is consider a seaport city by Londoners. After London, Liverpool was one of the most diverse cities in the United Kingdom, they had a big Chinese population as well many Irish Catholic, escaping from religion persecution. In fact, John, Paul and George’s parent’s ancestries were from Ireland. During World War II, Liverpool went through rough times, the Nazi’s devastated must of the city. During the 1941’s they killed hundreds of people in less than one week and by 1942, around 75 percent of the city was destroyed. The end of the 1940’s was considered the reconstruction era.
On October 9 of 1940, John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool. He was raised in a working class family. His father was a seaman and during John’s infancy did no see very often. His mother Julia divorced him and sent John to live with his aunt “Mimi”. His mother Julia married again and visited John very often. During her visits she taught him how to play piano, later on she saw that John was very talented and bought him his first guitar. A shocking event that marked John’s life forever (reflected on his song “Mother”), was in 1958 when Julia was killed ...
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...nd the group’s closeness began to fade. During that year, Ringo and George went to America and for the first time John and Paul recorded by themselves - They composed songs like Julia and Blackbird. Even tough to the outside world they seem to be together inside it was a completely different story. During the beginning of 1969 they released an album called “Yellow Submarine” as well the cartoon. The Beatles could not agree to everything as it once did and the band came to an end very soon. The constant fights between John and Paul as well George started to become common ground. They were up to their last album called “Let it be” and even tough this album was recorded before the “Abbey Road”, it was the best recorded album that they released. At the end they decided to break apart and decided to do a final live performance on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building.
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...
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
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.
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...
Well if we are going to figure this out, why don't we start at the beginning? Well, One day in the year of 1955, one young man gets this crazy idea; his idea was to create a band that played music that was similar to what American’s Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly were making (The Beatles). That young man was John Lennon (Glassman). His group was named the Quarrymen (Glassman). The original members were John on the microphone, Rob Davis on the banjo, Eric Griffiths playing guitar, Pete Shotten playing the washboard(The Beatles), and Ivan Vaughan on the bass (Glassman).
A major person that the Beatles has influenced was an artist named Kurt Cobain (widely known as the singer of Nirvana). Another short example of someone that was influenced by the Beatles was Gene Simmons (singer and bassist of KISS). Not only Artists but people were influenced by the words in the Beatles music to start fighting for rights of people. During the Vietnam war John Lennon would talk about how the world should come together and fight for peace. This came up to the song (Imagine) sung by John Lennon. The Beatles had a popular hairstyle that young teen boys got called “Mop-top”. Usually young teens wore this style of hair and it was highly mocked by adults. Clothing they wore eventually became popular to both male and female listeners. An example where the highly known glasses that John Lennon would wear called teashade glasses but are known now from people as “John Lennon glasses”, these glasses were round shaped shades. The influence of The Beatles on the people may seem small but it created a huge effect on fashion now, and on how people view the
This essay is based on the biography of the life of John Lennon, life with Yoko Ono and the murderer Mark Chapman. It is an essay on based his way of life, and his achievements obtained til the day of his death.
Rock ‘n’ roll and 20th Century Culture According to Philip Ennis, rock ‘n’ roll emerged from the convergence of social transformations which resulted from World War II (Ryan 927). Despite its pop culture origins, rock music is arguably one of the strongest cultural factors to develop in this century. Artists such as Lennon, McCartney and Dylan defined the emotions of a generation and, in the last decade, it as even been acknowledged by members of the establishment which it hoped to change as a major influence in the country. In order to understand how rock went from a sign of rebellion to a cultural icon, it is necessary to understand where it came from.
...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)
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...
1980 Playboy Interview With John Lennon And Yoko Ono, John Lennon.com, Accessed March 5, 2014
...f fans worldwide mourned over his death, as record sales increased dramatically. New generations of fans began to like his music, even years after his death. Lennon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during 1987, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 (John Lennon Biography).
Even before first staring in the 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night (HDN), The Beatles had already become acclaimed on a global scale and it was this initial film, made purely for soundtrack marketability, which proved instrumental in evolving The Beatles from teen idols into more complex figures worthy of acceptance into “the pantheon of family favourites.” (Neaverson; 1997:11-12) Emulating aspects of The French New Wave, this kitchen sink, mock-documentary film revolted against the classic dramatized jukebox film which previously standardized the British pop film. (Medhurst; 1995: 61) The two main factors in this film which helped reinvent the band’s image were Alun Owen’s script and Richard Lester’s control over the bands reflective working-class provincial image. (Neaverson; 1997: 21-22) The script, which was infused with colloquialisms and Liverpool slang, not only rejected the overly paternalistic moral code evident in previous pop culture films, but also helped develop the individual personalitie...
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...
Sussman, Al. "Lennon's Legacy." Beatlefan Nov. - Dec. 1997: 12-13. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.