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The Beatles is renowned as a legendary band that has been successful in making a remarkable name in the history of music in the United States (Davies). This paper intends to not only introduce this famous band and discuss its achievements, it also endeavors to describe the band and analyze its developmental history. It first provides the basic information about the band and then addresses the reasons it became so popular all over the world.
Without a doubt, the Beatles has turned out to be one of the most popular bands in the United States with innumerable successful songs and distinctive music. The Americans regard the Beatles as legends. The band has an extremely interesting history and a glance on it would enable the readers to understand their popularity. Even after decades since the band’s inception, it is still widely acknowledged as one of the bests due to the amazing songs and music. It needs to be mentioned here that despite of their success, the Beatles disbanded leaving the fans disheartened (Davies).
The Beatles enjoys a great position as the most popular and influential rock band of all times. It was founded in 1960 as a Liverpool-based rock band. For the same reason, many consider it to be a synonym for rock & roll; changing the popular music culture permanently with their songs and sparkling personalities. John Lennon, McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr were the members wherein Lennon and McCartney were the main songwriters with Harrison as their brilliant guitarist. When Starr joined up, the group began rocking with the songs like “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me,” and “From Me to You”. The first single, "Love Me Do" was produced in the band’s first album “Please Please Me" in 1963 and remained on the top number on the British pop music album list record for 30 weeks (Rosenberg).
Set on April 4, 1964, it won the billboard Hot 100 singles chart of the top five records. In the same year, "A Hard Day's Night" won the 7th Annual Grammy Award for the Best Band. Launched in 1965, the song "Yesterday" became a nationwide hit. Later, the band also won the award for the Best Album at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards. The song, "Hey Jude" that came out in 1968 remained at the top of the billboard for 9 consecutive weeks (Rosenberg).
However, the breakup of the band took place in 1970. Still, it entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1996, the single "Free as a Bird" won the Award for the Best Song at the 39th Annual Grammy Award. In the Rolling Stone Magazine 2004 issue, the Beatles were ranked as the first in the list of History's Greatest 50 Pop Musicians. In 2008, the bulletin board in the United States ranked Beatles at the first position in “The Most Outstanding Musicians - Hot 100 List" (Rosenberg). In 2012, it was also ranked at the top in the official charts company list and the Britain's Most Popular Band.
All four Beatles were born in Liverpool, England. Originally Lennon and McCartney had played together in a group, The Quarry Men (named after its high school named Quarry) (Rosenberg). Afterwards, they formed their own group named 'The Silver Beatles' before Starr joined them in July 1962 to form the Beatles as we know them today.
In 1962, EMI's Palo wind record company manager, George Martin, signed a contract with the Beatles. On June 2nd, the first album recording work began at the Abbey Road Studios. On October 5th, the Beatles released their first British single, "Love Me Do/P.S.I Love You." Later, they started their UK tour. In late November, they recorded another version of their single, “Please Do Me". By the end of the year, they had successfully concluded their fifth and final trip to Hamburg. It is worth-mentioning that their music first reflected romance in simple love. However, the lyrics and tones later became serious influenced by the constant changes in the 1960s society. Consequently, their remarkable albums, “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” were considered musical breakthroughs (Davies).
In early 1964, "Meet the Beatles" was issued in the United States debut album. On February 7th, the band made its first public appearance in the United States. After two days, the band was invited on "The Ed Sullivan Show" telecasted on The CBS Television. Their appearance in the program attracted more than 73 million American viewers ultimately triggering the American interest in British music. In the same year, the Beatles got themselves busy in a series of successful tours leading the “British Invasion” in the United States. On February 22nd, the band produced "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which later topped the billboard album chart title. At the same time, it became the first single on the list. Their second single, "She Loves You" climbed to second place from the third place. In July 1964, "A Hard Day's Night”, their famous album came out (Rosenberg).
The song, “Can't Buy Me Love”, became a British first number whereby more than 1 million copies were sold in advance. In addition, it also became the first in Britain and the United States at the same time. In December, "the Beatles for Sale" was launched in the UK as their fourth studio album. The album showed their talent of the fusion of different music styles. The band member, George Harrison, who was deeply influenced by Bob Dylan, became the second pick up for playing guitar. This move also affected the development of the rock 'n' roll in the music industry (Davies).
After their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, screaming fans followed the Beatles everywhere and bought their records (Rosenberg). On June 20th, 1966, they issued another album named "Yesterday and Today". On February 13th, 1967, they were successful in issuing the double a-side single, "Strawberry Fields Forever". From February to April 1968, a member of The Beatles wrote many songs, including the 17 songs in their album, "The White Album". In the same year, the band started to personalize the phenomenon whereby the front men, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, started creating their own music.
In1970, the Beatles announced their breakup after the release of their final album, “Let it Be”. The purpose of this decision was to pursue individual careers. The Beatles were at their peak at the same. The world was amazed at the decision but what was the reason? If considered carefully, there were lots of interesting things that were going on.
The Beatles disbanded due to the increasing age of McCartney who wanted to be the leader of the band. Harrison was perplexed, Lennon felt uncomfortable, and McCartney insisted. The lack of cooperation and mutual decision-making made the band breakup. Their different perspectives on music also affected the band whereby the ideas presented by Harrison were never employed by the Beatles. He knew that the controlling of the "company" had to be in his own hands. One of the other reasons was the financial crisis faced by the band as McCartney employed many cronies to manage the company. Problems pooled in together and the band finally disbanded. As for the emergence of Yoko Ono, she just left Lennon earlier and their marriage dissolved (Rosenberg).
Each of the Beatles went on to pursue a solo career. However, the fans always hoped the group would get back together. This hope ended when Lennon was murdered by an obsessed fan in1980. In 2001, Harrison died of cancer (Rosenberg). But fans know that the Beatles will somehow never really die.
There is no doubt that the Beatles is a legendary band. From the establishment to the dissolution, they only existed for a decade. However, as a music culture of revolutionaries, its cultural influence has more than its art itself. Their songs influenced a generation of artistic taste, clothes, hair style, life style and attitude. Their high society aura, the orthodox art style, sharp and daring attitudes, the raising of social sensitive issues on the stage conquered the world’s youth. Furthermore, they enriched and developed the rock in the spirit of innovation and brought rock and roll to other historical stages.
In 1964, the British Invasion movement changed the definition of rock n roll in the United States. The image of the four white guys bobbing here and there was implanted in the heart of every music lover. Their styles revolutionized the industry completely. In almost 10 years, The Beatles were successful in changing the music of the world. Afterwards, they elevated as the protagonists in the rock n roll industry.
Works Cited
Rosenberg, J. "The Beatles: From Formation to Break-Up." About.com Education. About, Inc., 31 July 2016. http://history1900s.about.com/od/entertainers/p/beatles.htm Accessed 30 Jan. 2017.
Davies, Hunter. The Beatles. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2014. Print.
