The Beatles are a British rock band. She is originally from Liverpool. The Beatles existed from 1960 to 1970. Its composition was not formed immediately; the name also changed several times. All this, as well as the success story of this greatest musical group in the world, we will tell you in detail below.

The emergence of The Blackjack and The Quarrymen

John Lennon (1940-1980), having learned to play the guitar, founded a group with his fellows, which they called The Blackjack. A week later, however, the name changed to The Quarrymen (the school they attended was called Quarry Bank). The band performed skiffle - a special British style of rock and roll.

Formation of The Quarrymen

John Lennon (pictured below) in the summer of 1957, after performing at a concert, met another future member of the band - Paul McCartney.

He surprised John with his knowledge of the words and chords of the latest innovations in the world of music. They were joined in the fall of 1958 by George Harrison, a friend of Paul. George, Paul and John became the main ones in the group, for the other members of The Quarrymen this group was only a temporary hobby, and they soon left the group. The musicians played in episodes at various events, weddings, parties, but it did not come to recordings and concerts.

The group broke up several times. George Harrison had his own group. And Paul McCartney and Lennon began writing, singing and acting together, inspired by Buddy Holly, who was his own producer and played his own songs. Stuart Sutcliffe joined the group at the end of 1959. John Lennon knew him in college. His playing was not very skillful, which often irritated Paul McCartney, a demanding musician. The group in this composition was practically formed: vocals and rhythm guitar - Lennon, vocals, rhythm guitar and piano - McCartney (his photo is presented below), lead guitar - George Harrison, bass guitar - Stuart Sutcliffe. However, the musicians' problem was their lack of a permanent drummer.

Some other group names

The Quarrymen actively tried to fit into the club and concert life of Liverpool. The talent contests were held one after the other, but the group had no luck. She needed to think about changing her name. No one was involved with the Quarry Bank school anymore. At a local television competition held in December 1959, this group performed under a different name - Johnny and the Moondogs.

The history of the name The Beatles

In 1960, in April, the members came up with this name. Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon are considered its authors, according to the recollections of the members of the group. They dreamed of a name that had a double meaning. For example, B. Holly's band was called The Crickets. However, for the British there is another meaning - "the game of cricket". As John Lennon said, this name came to him during his sleep. He saw a man engulfed in flames, advising him to name the group Beetles (beetles). However, this word has only one meaning. Therefore, it was decided to replace the letter "e" with "a". A second meaning appeared - "beat", for example, in rock and roll music. This is how the Beatles were born. At first, the musicians were forced to change the name somewhat, since the promoters considered it very short. At various times, the group performed under such names as The Silver Beatles, Long John and The Beatles.

First tour

The musical skill of the band members grew very quickly. They were increasingly invited to perform in small clubs and pubs. The Beatles embarked on their first tour in 1960, in April. It was a tour of Scotland and they performed as an accompanying band. At this time, they had not yet gained much fame.

Group play in Hamburg

The Beatles, whose roster had not yet been finalized, were invited to play in Hamburg in mid-1960. Several professional rock and roll bands from Liverpool were already playing here. Therefore, the musicians from the "Beatles" decided to urgently look for a drummer. The composition of the group needed to be replenished by them in order to comply with the contract and be at the professional level. They chose Pete Best, who played very well. The history of the Beatles continued with the fact that in 1960, on August 17, the first concert took place in Hamburg, at the Indra club. The band played here until October under a contract, and then, until the end of November, played at the Kaiserkeller. The schedule of performances was very tough, the participants had to be crowded in one room. A lot of material had to be played on stage besides rock and roll: rhythm and blues, blues, old jazz and pop numbers, folk songs. The Beatles did not yet perform their own songs, as they believed that there was a lot of material suitable for them in the surrounding modern music, and also there was no necessary incentive for this. It was daily hard work and the ability to perform different styles of music, mixing them, that became one of the main factors in the formation of the group.

The Beatles are getting famous in Liverpool

The Beatles returned to Liverpool in December 1960. Here they turned out to be one of the most active groups, competing with each other in terms of the number of fans, repertoire and sound. The leaders among them were Rory Storm, who played in the best clubs in Hamburg and Liverpool. At this time, they met and quickly became friends with the drummer of this group, R. Starr, the musicians from the Beatles. The group will be replenished with them a little later.

Second tour in Hamburg

In April 1960, the group went back to Hamburg for a second tour. Now they already played in the Top Ten. It was in this city that The Beatles made their first professional recording, performing as an accompanying ensemble for the singer T. Sheridan. The Beatles were also allowed to do some of their own compositions. At the end of the tour, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band and stay in Hamburg. Paul McCartney had to play bass. A year later, in 1962 (April 10), Sutcliffe (pictured below) died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Performances in Liverpool in 1961

The Beatles in August 1961 began performing at the Liverpool club (the name of the club is Cavern). They performed 262 times in a year. The following year, on July 27, the musicians gave their concert at Litherland Town Hall. The concert in this hall was a great success, after which the press dubbed this group the best in Liverpool.

Meet George Martin

The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, met with George Martin, a producer at Parlophone. George became interested in the young band and wanted to see her performance at the Abbey Road studio (London). The band's recordings did not impress George Martin, but he fell in love with the musicians themselves, attractive, cheerful and a little arrogant guys. When J. Martin asked if they liked everything in the studio, Harrison replied that he didn’t like Martin’s tie. The producer appreciated this joke and invited the group to sign a contract. It was from the tie story that the Beatles' direct, harsh and witty responses to interviews and press conferences became their signature style.

Ringo Starr becomes a drummer

Only Pete Best did not like George Martin. He believed that Best did not reach the level of the group, and offered Epstein to replace the drummer. In addition, Pete defended his own individuality and did not want, like the other members of the "Beatles", to make a signature hairstyle to match the general style of the group. As a result, in 1962, on August 16, Pete Best left the group, which was officially announced by Brian Epstein. Starr (pictured below), who played in the group Rory Storm, is taken in his place without hesitation.

First singles and first album

Soon the Beatles began their studio work. The first entry did not bring any results. The Beatles released their first single, Love Me Do, in October 1962, reaching # 17 on the charts. It was a pretty good result for the young Beatles. In the same year, on October 17, the band's first televised concert took place on a Manchester broadcast (People and Places program). Then the Beatles recorded a new single, Please Please Me, which took first places in the charts. In 1963, on March 22, the band finally released their first album with the same name. In just 12 hours, the material was created for him. This album topped the national charts for a full six months, bringing great success to the "Beatles." The hits of this group became popular throughout the country.

Deafening success

Beatlemania's birthday is October 3, 1963. The group was waiting for deafening popularity. Its members gave a concert at the Palladium in London, from where the Beatles were broadcast throughout the UK. The group's hits were listened to by about 15 million viewers. Many fans filled the streets outside the concert hall, eager to see the Beatles live. The band played a concert at the Prince of Wales Theater on November 4, 1963. The Queen herself, Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret attended, and the Queen admired the game. The Beatles released their second album, With The Beatles, on November 22. More than a million copies of this disc were sold by 1965.

Brian Epstein signed a contract in the United States with Vee Jay, which released the singles From Me To You and Please Please Me, as well as the album Introducing The Beatles. However, they did not bring success in the United States and did not even make the regional charts. In the United States at the end of 1963, the single I Want To Hold Your Hand appeared, which changed the situation. The very next year, on January 18, he was in first place in the table of the American magazine Cash Box and in third - in the table of the weekly Billboard. US-based label Capitol released the Gold album Meet the Beatles on February 3.

Thus, Beatlemania crossed the ocean. In 1964, on February 7, the band members landed at the New York airport. They were greeted by about 4 thousand fans. The band played three shows: one at the Colosseum (Washington) and two at Carnegie Hall (New York). The Beatles also appeared twice on television in The Ed Sullivan Show, which was watched by 73 million viewers - a record in the history of television! The Beatles spent their free time interacting with journalists and various music groups. They returned home on 22 February.

After a trip to the United States, the group began recording new songs, as well as filming the first musical film (A Hard Day’s Night). The single, titled Can't Buy Me Love, garnered many preliminary applications on March 20 - about $ 3 million.

First major tour

The band embarked on their first major tour through Holland, Denmark, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia on June 4, 1964. The Beatles' tour was a resounding success. In Adelaide, for example, a crowd of 300,000 met musicians at the airport. The Beatles returned to London on 2 July. And three days later there was the premiere of A Hard Day’s Night, after which the album of the same name was released.

The difficulties that the group had to face

The North American tour kicked off on August 19 of the same year. The Beatles covered 36 thousand kilometers in 32 days and visited 24 cities, playing 31 concerts. They received about 30 thousand dollars (today it is equivalent to about 300 thousand dollars) for one concert. However, the musicians were not worried about money, but about the fact that they became prisoners, completely isolated from the rest of society. Around the clock, the hotels in which the group stayed were besieged by the crowd.

At that time, the equipment on which the musicians played in the huge stadiums would not satisfy even a seedy restaurant ensemble. Technique for a long time lagged behind the pace set by the Beatles. Because of the deafening roar of people in the stands, the musicians often did not hear themselves. They lost their rhythm, lost their tonality in the vocal parts, but the audience did not notice this, which also practically did not hear anything. The Beatles in such conditions could not progress and experiment on stage. Only behind the scenes in the studio could they create something new and develop.

Continued success

Returning to London on September 21st, the musicians immediately began recording a new album - Beatles For Sale. A variety of styles of music, from rock and roll to country and western, have been featured on this disc. Already on December 4, 1964, on the first day of its release, it sold 700 thousand copies and soon topped the English charts.

In 1965, on July 29, the film Help! in London, and an album of the same name was released in August. The Beatles toured the United States on August 13. They visited Elvis Presley himself, where they not only talked, but also played, having recorded several songs on tape recorders. Unfortunately, these recordings were never published, as they were not found, despite all the efforts made. Millions of dollars today are their value.

Rock and rock and roll in the middle of 1965 were transformed from entertainment and dance music into serious art. The multitude of bands that emerged at that time, such as the Rolling Stones and The Byrds, made The Beatles a serious competitor. The Beatles in October of the same year began recording a new album - Rubber Soul. He showed the whole world the maturing Beatles. All competitors were again far behind. On the day of the beginning of his recording, October 12, the musicians did not have a single finished song, and already on December 3, 1965, this album lay on store shelves. Elements of surrealism and mysticism appeared in the songs, which were later included in many of the Beatles' songs.

State awards

The members of the group in 1965, on October 26, were presented with state awards at Buckingham Palace. They received the Order of the British Empire. Some other holders of this order, military heroes, the presentation of the award to the musicians aroused indignation. In protest, they returned the orders, as they, in their opinion, had depreciated. However, no one paid much attention to the protesters.

Conflicts and proceedings

The Beatles began to have serious problems in 1966. Due to a conflict with the first lady of the Philippines during the tour, the musicians refused to attend an official reception at the presidential palace. The angry crowd nearly tore the Beatles to pieces, they barely managed to get their feet out of this country. After the band's return to England, there was a lot of hype in the United States because of Lennon's comments that the Beatles are now more popular than Jesus. In Great Britain this was soon forgotten, but in America protest actions raged against the musicians - their portraits, records on which the Beatles' songs were recorded ... The musicians themselves perceived it with humor. However, under pressure from the press, John Lennon was nevertheless forced to publicly apologize for his statements. This happened in Chicago in 1966, on August 11.

New breakthrough, termination of concert activities

The musicians, despite these trials, released at that time one of their best albums, called Revolver. Because very sophisticated studio effects were used, the Beatles' music did not involve stage performance.

The Beatles became a studio group. Tired of touring, the musicians decided to stop their concert performances. In 1966, on May 1, their last performance took place at Wembley Stadium (London). Here they participated in a gala concert and appeared for only 15 minutes. The last tour took place in the United States in the same year, where the Beatles last appeared on stage in San Francisco on August 29. Meanwhile, Revolver was leading the world charts. It was praised by critics as the culmination of the entire work of this group. Many newspapers thought that the band had decided to settle on this high note, but this did not occur to the musicians themselves.

Latest Albums

In the same year, on November 24, they began recording another album. It was recorded for 129 days and became the greatest album in the history of rock music. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967 on May 26. It was a phenomenal success and lasted 88 weeks at number one on various charts.

In the same year, on December 8, the band released their 9th album, Magical Mystery Tour. On June 25, 1967, the Beatles became the first band in history to broadcast their performance to the entire world. It was watched by 400 million people. However, despite this success, the Beatles' business began to decline. Brian Epstein died on August 27 from an overdose of sleeping pills. The Beatles in late 1967 began to receive negative reviews about their work.

The group spent early 1968 in Rishikesh, where they studied meditation. McCartney and Lennon, upon returning to the UK, announced the creation of a corporation called Apple. They started releasing records under this label. The Beatles in 1968, January, released the film Yellow Submarine. On August 30, the single Hey Jude went on sale, and by the end of the year the record had reached 6 million. The White Album is a double album released in 1968 on November 22. Relations between the musicians worsened greatly during his recording. Ringo Starr left the group for a while. McCartney sang the drums on several songs because of this. Harrison (his photo is presented below) and Lennon, in addition, began to release solo records. The imminent disintegration of the group was approaching. Later, the albums Abbey Road and Let it be appeared - the last one released in 1970.

Deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison

John Lennon was killed on December 8, 1980 by Mark Chapman, a US citizen, in New York. On the day of his death, he gave interviews to reporters, and then approached the house with his wife. Chapman fired 5 shots in his back. Now Mark Chapman is in prison, where he is serving a life sentence.

George Harrison died in 2001, November 29, from a brain tumor. He was treated for a long time, but it was not possible to save the musician. Paul McCartney is still alive, he is 73 years old today.

Today, the Beatles are known to contemporaries as the author of popular retro songs such as Yesterday, Let It Be, Help, Yellow Submarine and others. However, few people know that this group had the loudest success in the history of show business, which has never been repeated. What was this success and what are its reasons, I will try to set out in this article.

Description of the success of the Beatles

The Beatles in the final line-up was formed in 1962 and existed for 7 years - until 1970. During this short time, by the standards of show business, the group released 13 albums, shot 4 feature films and achieved success that no group could achieve either before or after this group.

The name of the band came to John Lennon in a dream, and is a play on the words "beetle" (beetle) and "beat" (beat, beat, rhythm). At first the group was called "Long John And The Silver Beatles", then they decided to shorten the name to "The Beatles".

It is immediately worth noting the fact that this group has a large number of generally accepted terms related to it. Among them are "The fab four", "Liverpool four". The term Beatlemania is also used to describe the unique success of this group. This term is unique in its kind and does not occur in other groups. In addition, there is the concept of The Beatles movie, which is used to analyze the group's contribution to the field of cinematography.

Also interesting is the speed with which fame and success came to the group. Until 1960, the group was known only in Liverpool, and played basically the same as everyone else - adaptations of popular American songs. Even during their first tour of Scotland as an accompanist in April 1960, they continued to be one of Liverpool's many obscure rock and roll bands.

Then in August 1960 the band made a 5 month trip to Hamburg (where they played in Indra clubs and then in Kaiserkeller) after which the group became one of the most successful and ambitious Liverpool bands. By early 1961, the Beatles were leading the list of Liverpool's Top 350 Beat Bands. The quartet performs almost daily, gathering a large audience.

4 months later, in April 1961, during the second tour in Hamburg, the Beatles recorded their first single with Tony Sheridan "My Bonnie / The Saints". While working in the studio, Lennon recorded one of his first songs "Ain't She Sweet".

The first major musical success came to the Beatles after their tour of Hamburg, namely on July 27, 1961, when, after a concert in Liverpool's Litherland Town Hall, the local press named The Beatles the best rock and roll ensemble in Liverpool.

Then, starting in August 1961, the Beatles began to perform regularly at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where after 262 concerts (until August 1962) the group became the best in the city and already had real fans.

Then, shortly after the release of their debut album in February 1963, the group's success quickly escalated into popular hysteria. The beginning of such a craze, which received the term "Beatlomania", is considered to be the summer of 1963, when the Beatles were supposed to open the British concerts of Roy Orbison, but turned out to be an order of magnitude more popular than the American.

In October, the Beatles begin to set records for popularity in ratings and charts, when the single "She Loves You" becomes the most replicated record in the history of the UK gramophone industry. And a month later, in November 1963, The Beatles performed at the Royal Variety Show at the Prince of Wales Theater in front of the Queen and the English aristocracy. Thus, in 2 years after the first musical success, the group becomes recognized throughout the country. Further, their success grew like a snowball, and her fame breaks out beyond the borders of the country.

The Beatles are listened to not only by the English-speaking audience, but throughout Europe, Japan and even Asia (for example, the Philippines). The United States was conquered in early 1964, a year after the release of the first album in their homeland, while before the Beatles, English performers were not very popular in America. After the Beatles, a wave of "English invaders" emerged in the United States, that is, the Beatles paved the way for successful tours of such English bands as The Rolling Stones, The Kniks, The Hermits and The Searchers.

The band in the period of Beatlemania becomes more than a musical group, it becomes an idol, a model of style, a trendsetter, a source of answers to all questions, hopes are pinned on them, etc. Their coherent concept and "philosophy" begin to feel tightly within the musical framework and expand into neighboring fields of art, such as cinema, and later - social and political movements. In the genre of cinema, the group made its debut with the filming of the film "A Hard Day's Night" in the spring and summer of 1964. The plot of the film is based on the events of one day in the life of the group, and the soundtrack to it was the third Beatles album with the same name.

By their example, the group demonstrated that a successful musical concept successfully exists not only in a standard form, but can be successfully projected onto adjacent areas, for example, cinema.

The goal of the Beatles

By the phenomenon of the Beatles, we mean the kind of success of a musical group that has grown into a real national mania. So what is the reason four people have had such phenomenal success when no one else has had such success before? Maybe in luck, maybe in genius, maybe in a coincidence, or something else?

In order to understand the nature of the group's success, you first need to understand what the Beatles members wanted, what they were striving for. In this case, we can view their success as a consequence of achieving their goal.

The goal of the Beatles from the very beginning of their existence was very simple - to become the best band of all time. John Lennon said after the breakup of the group that it was the belief that the Beatles were the best band in the world that made them who they were, be it the best rock and roll band, pop band or whatever.

I believe this goal came about when Lennon and McCartney started writing together. They felt and saw that they could create something in the future that no one had been able to do before. They intuitively understood that at that time it was impossible to create such "magical", great things in any other way. The great desire to bring to life the musical ideas of the Lennon-McCartney duo formed a clear need to create such a group. It was their author's duo that became the starting point in the creation of the Beatles.

Analysis of the initial conditions for the birth of a group

To achieve any goal requires the presence of certain conditions and opportunities, so let's consider what conditions and opportunities for the Beatles to find success existed in the late 50s. These possibilities can be divided into two groups. The first of them is external or exogenous, that is, independent of the group members, and the second is internal, endogenous, that is, which they can influence independently. Let us first consider all the necessary external conditions at the end of the 50s in England, which contributed to the birth of the group.

Time and society

Inexperienced listener of the 60s

Events unfold in the 60s of the 20th century. In the English-speaking environment, music in a mass form is only developing, the genre of love lyrics is far from being saturated with masterful, skillfully performed compositions. Until the 60s, there was no technically perfect and professional musical offer of a mass character for listeners. John Robertson notes that music before the Beatles was in a state of lethargic sleep, and only after them it turned not only into a multimillion-dollar business, but also into art.

At the time of the band's birth, there was no musical proposal striving for the ideal, to which the listener would have "nothing to answer and object" and could only succumb to the moods that such music carries. The emotional messages that existed at that time were calmer and more balanced. They were such that the author himself believed that he should listen to them calmly and not lose his head, because causing delight and euphoria, there is a so-called responsibility of the author to himself - why transfer to the world such strong feelings that cause fanaticism and, possibly, breaking the fate of other people.

Thus, until the 60s, there was no significant test for the "virgin" hearing of the English-speaking listener. The first significant attempts to cross this line were on the other side of the ocean by Elvis Presley and Little Richard. The Beatles were the first to shamelessly stepped over this line and the first to have the opportunity to professionally express these feelings in an optimal musical format.

Unsaturated information environment

The 1960s lacked the many infotainment distractions that emerged in the early 21st century. There was no colossal entertainment industry ranging from computer games to social media. The more infotainment resources there are, the more time they take from a person to use them. At the moment, if you use the most popular services and services, you will not have time for some serious creativity. Consequently, the not saturated information environment of society in the 60s disposed young people to creative music, cinema, painting, etc.

A minimum of alternatives for a quick "conquest of the world"

A young man in those days had not a difficult choice in order to achieve success in life: work, study or art. Music was the most widespread among young people. And if a young man was full of energy and desire to realize himself, then more often he chose music to achieve his goal. Undoubtedly, such people were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who are known to have opted for music. In favor of the prevalence of music in Great Britain in the early 60s, it is said that John began his musical career in early childhood in a church choir and then played the banjo, and Paul McCartney got acquainted with music when his parents gave him a trumpet.

Scene

The process of the birth of the group, and then its success, takes place in the English city of Liverpool. In capitalist England in the 60s, there were no ideological barriers and strict moral censorship, which also contributed to the study of music. However, the downside was capitalism, with its requirement to spend all working time earning money to maintain its lifestyle. For Paul McCartney, this was expressed in the fact that before the final decision to start playing in the group, he got a job as a janitor at a factory on the instructions of his father.

The need to spend most of the time making money was less acute in the countries of the communist bloc. However, it was not possible to achieve great success in music in principle, due to understandable ideological constraints.

Also in Liverpool, teenage musical activity was widely developed, which was expressed in a large number of youth groups playing in the style of rock and roll and skiffle (350 beat groups in 1961). The most common instruments were the banjo, electric and semi-acoustic guitar, bass guitar, simple drums with kick drum, and harmonica. All of these instruments were subsequently used by the Beatles' members. The relatively high standard of living in Great Britain made it easy to acquire these essential musical instruments.

Summarizing the analysis of the above conditions, we find that in the English-speaking world at the beginning of the 60s there was an inexperienced listener and a favorable environment for the debut of a masterly skillful team. Moreover, if this collective transmitted a strong emotional charge through its music, then the listener, not knowing how to react to it, could respond with a real explosion, mania, fanaticism, thereby causing a public outcry. The more skillfully the band can convey their musical message to the listener, the stronger the amplitude of this resonance will be. It is also determined by the uniqueness of the emotional message, which is difficult to express in precise terms.

The composition of the Beatles

Before analyzing the reasons for the success of the Beatles, let's look at the composition of this group. The sound of a musical group is determined by the set of instruments that its members use, for example - piano, guitar, harmonica, singing voice.

For the early Beatles, the specialization in instruments looked like this: McCartney and Lennon were responsible for vocals, Harrison for guitar, McCartney for bass, Ringo Starr for drums and partly for McCartney (for example, in the song "A Day In The Life"). Lennon played rhythm guitar, but it was not his main instrument (voice was the main one), since in most of the band's songs, the guitar accompaniment is determined by Harrison's guitar. In addition, Lennon almost never played solos during his time in the band (especially on stage). However, as an exception, his solo performance with the song "Baby It" s you can be cited. In addition to vocals and guitar, John Lennon has mastered quite well another accompanying instrument - the harmonica (in "Love Me Do" he plays the chromatic harmonica of the Marine Band ), which also suggests that guitar was not his specialty. ”John himself later admitted to playing guitar“ average. ”All this confirms his specialization in songwriting and vocal performance.

Some instruments for a musician are the main ones, that is, which he skillfully owns, and is responsible for the use of this instrument in a team. For example, George Harrison focused on the guitar, moving away from other things like writing songs and honing vocal skills. Of course, Lennon and McCartney initially took him exactly as a guitarist, since they themselves were completely absorbed in writing songs. As a result, Harrison was in charge of the band for a professional, quick-grasping and improvising guitar. Therefore, during the formative period, the representative song of the group, in addition to the rhythm section, consists of vocals by John and Paul and George's guitar. Developing guitar technique, Harrison had much less time for creativity, and considering that his songwriting talent was not as bright as that of the Lennon-McCartney duo, explains his later manifestation in the group as a songwriter (from the second album With The Beatles ").

The Beatles is a full cycle music group

There are three main types of musical groups: specializing in writing material, performing it, or creating and performing their own material at the same time. Of course, the likelihood of the formation of the latter is significantly less, since it requires the ability to do two fundamental things well.

In practice, the collective is usually good at one thing, therefore, the case is more common when the collective is able to either compose music well or perform it well.

The Beatles wrote and performed themselves, which at one time was a precedent, since there was a practice where performing bands were composed by third-party composers. That is, in the early 60s, the separation of the author's and performing functions prevailed, which, of course, complicated the process of the creative cycle - from composing a song, writing music, to recording in the studio and performing on stage. This was due to the emergence of transaction costs in the transfer of musical material between the composer and the performer. For example, the author has to spend time to convey to the performer the emotional nuances of his song, which is completely impossible to convey in the form of song lyrics and scores. In addition, in the course of such a "transfer" part of the author's intention may be lost due to the complexity of the transfer of such subjective information.

In the case of combining these two qualities in one person / team, this problem is removed. By the time the first album was recorded, the Beatles had become full-cycle musicians - that is, they closed the entire process of creating songs on themselves, which gave them the opportunity to quickly and without loss create their songs from idea to recording.

Internal Necessary Conditions for Success

Let us now consider the possibilities and conditions necessary to achieve the goal, which could depend on the future members of the group. In order to become the best group in the world, oddly enough, this group must first be created, then get the opportunity to professionally perform the finished material, and then professionally write your own.

The need to create a group

The need for a musical group arose out of John Lennon's desire to have the world's best rock 'n' roll band. This group was needed for the full expression of the author's thoughts in musical language. For this, the author needs an ensemble of musicians who own a set of instruments necessary for the full expression of the author's thoughts.

John Lennon formed his first band, The Quaryymen, in the spring of 1956. However, before meeting Paul McCartney in the summer of 1957, it was a purely amateur game. When Lennon and McCartney met, then that powerful author's duet began to form, whose musical ideas, no doubt, demanded worthy expression. Lennon-McCartney's co-authorship developed gradually in practice - by the end of 1958, 4 years before the release of the first album, they already had about 50 songs in their credit. Thus, the Lennon-McCartney duo had an objective need to create a group.

In addition, the young Beatles already had an idea of ​​how large-scale success in the musical field can be, as exemplified by the king of rock and roll Elvis Presley. Elvis was the inspiration of Lennon-McCartney at the very beginning of their work, as the musicians themselves admitted that if there was no Elvis, then there would be no Beatles.

Creation of the Beatles

To create a viable band, the creator needs to find a sufficient number of like-minded musicians. The creative duo of John and Paul needed their own musical accompaniment as they both focused on songwriting and vocals.

The most common instrument at the time, as well as in ours, was the guitar, and therefore it is not surprising that this musical accompaniment of the duet was the guitar of George Harrison, whom Paul brought to the group in 1958. George's interests completely coincided with the interests of the duo: George wanted to play the guitar and had already played in the band "The Rebels", and the place of the game was determined by the presence of George's friend, Paul McCartney.

This trio formed the backbone of the group, while the rest of the instruments were constantly changing until the group acquired its final line-up in August 1962, when the group changed drummer from Pete Best to Richard Starkey.

The short-term existence of a musical group

Musical creativity is always a joint process. One person can be orders of magnitude less than in a company with a person, even with less talent.

Joint creativity is possible with a fundamental coincidence of desires, goals, worldview of co-authors, and this intersection exists for a relatively short time. And it is during this period that masterpieces of art are created. However, in co-creation, you have to compromise, taking into account the interests of the co-author, and there is always a temptation to separate and write your own things, having complete freedom of action. That is, in a team you always have to give up your own opinion in favor of a common cause. Therefore, only those collectives continue to exist in which each participant can do orders of magnitude more than independently.

The group consists of instruments playing together, a musician is playing an instrument, a person is a musician. At each of these stages, a failure is possible, and then the entire musical group cannot function fully. For example, a member of a group has a high-quality instrument, is fluent in it, but at the moment he does not want to play in this group / this song / on this instrument and the whole team instantly becomes inoperative. Here the human factor manifests itself and the group is already under the threat of disintegration, although there are no objective reasons.

In the later Beatles, this is manifested in the fact that after writing the album "Beatles For Sale" in 1964, the authoring duo Lennon-McCartney stopped writing songs together. The last song together was "Baby's In Black", and starting with the album "Magical Mystery Tour", each of the quartet begins to use the rest only as accompanying musicians to record their own songs.

The requirement for all participants to converge on the interests of all is clearly seen in the example of early bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. This is a clear example of a person who chose the wrong field of activity for self-realization, because even before participating in a group, he wanted to become an artist. Sutcliffe agreed to be the bassist, most likely because his friend John asked him to. Another reason was the popularity of music among young people, which gave a chance to quickly become famous.

As a result, Stewart did not pay much attention to the skill of playing the bass, while continuing to paint in parallel, which caused the discontent of the rest of the group. Being a musician was not his vocation, this is evidenced by the fact that after leaving the group he remained in Hamburg and radically changed his type of activity, becoming an artist.

A similar situation was with the group's second drummer, Pete Best. His interests were different from other members of the group, in particular, he did not fit with the rest physically, was taller and "more beautiful" than the rest. As the Beatles later said, almost all the girls preferred him, which also did not add stability to his position in the group.

Also Best "was not actually a full member of the group because of his relationships with other members." George Harrison later explains it this way: “There was one thing: Pete rarely spent time with us. When the show ended, Pete left, and we all held together, and then, when Ringo got close to us, we began to feel that now there are as many of us as we should, both on stage and off stage. When Ringo joined the four of us, everything fell into place. "

In addition, Best did not recognize the general style of the group - he did not agree to do the same hairstyle as other Beatles, did not wear the same clothes, which caused the real anger of the group's manager Brian Epstein. Pete did not get along with the other members of the group in character, and therefore his departure was only a matter of time. As a result, he naturally and without scandals left the group in August 1962.

Until the final line-up, the group was formed gradually. For 6 years after the formation of the group in 1956, the Lennon-McCartney-Harrison trio continued to play together in an incomplete composition, while the rest of the musicians replaced each other constantly. And since they could not achieve a significant return from the game during this period, this is a confirmation of their great desire to play together, faith in themselves and the complete coincidence of their interests.

And finally, after the group acquired a drummer of a decent level in 1962 (Starr played in the second most popular Liverpool band "Rory Storme And The Hurricanes"), the band found a stable state. Now each instrument had a separate musician for whom it was the main one, and was able to exist for a sufficient amount of time to realize its potential.

The requirement for the professional execution of the material

The transition to the level of professional performance of the material transfers the team from amateur to mature. This usually happens in the course of getting hands-on performance experience, and the Beatles were no exception. They made 2 trips to Hamburg - in the fall of 1960 and in the spring of 1961, where on a foreign land they forged their mastery of performance, working for a pittance 8 hours a day, performing in the Hamburg clubs "Indra", "Kaiserkeller", "Top Ten". Of course, the second trip to Hamburg was already on the best terms for the group - after the first days of their stay, the Beatles beginners were recognized as the best touring group in the city. Also, far from home, the guys had a special motivation for the development of the performance technique - the alien effect - when a person in a new place feels like a stranger, so to speak, on “enemy land”, and therefore more wants to succeed, gain a foothold, and prove his success. After trips to Hamburg, the Beatles finally moved into the category of professional beat groups after holding more than 260 concerts in the Liverpool Cavern club in 1961-1962.

The technical prowess made the band ready for the studio, as it made it possible to quickly record songs, as the minimum number of errors reduced the number of recording takes. In addition, the possibility of easy improvisation appeared, which allowed the Beatles to quickly develop the musical theme to a finished composition. The excellent teamwork of the Lennon-McCartney-Harrisson trio, who, after 5 years of acquaintance, understood each other in the musical sense perfectly at once, helped to achieve mastery of performance faster.

Requirement for the development of writing skills

The band members who act as songwriters must develop and practice their creative writing function. That is, they must be able to quickly and accurately express their thoughts in musical language, namely: write lyrics and come up with a basic motive.

The Beatles' main songwriters - John Lennon and Paul McCartney - began practicing composing at the age of 16. After they met and Paul entered Lennon's group, the future duo began to spend time together, making music. Usually, visiting one of them, they cooked eggs and composed simple songs. It was also during this time that Paul showed Lennon the basic guitar chords, which helped Lennon move from banjo to guitar. A year and a half after John and Paul met, they already had about fifty songs on which they trained to compose, not only independently, but together. During this time, the poetic skills of the future Beatles authors were being formed.

It is also interesting that a year before they met in 1956, John Lennon in his group "The Quarrymen" did not even try to write his own songs. His amateur band only performed skiffle, country and western and rock and roll songs. In my opinion, the need for their own songs arose after meeting McCartney. Then both talented authors had a desire to outdo the other, or at least look no worse, which stimulated them to constantly hone their skills.

As a result, Lennon developed a talent for writing hit songs through long and painstaking practice, while McCartney had a natural talent for composing beautiful melodies.

By 1963, the Beatles were able to skillfully perform other people's material and honed the skills of writing their own, and were also ready to begin to realize their enormous accumulated creative potential in the studio. It is noteworthy that the Beatles were ready to work in the studio a year before their first recordings. However, the fact that they were later admitted to the studio provided a reserve of creative and technical potential, which allowed, firstly, to release fundamental hit albums twice a year, and, secondly, to create albums “playfully” easily. In other words, the musicians were already in a state of "permanent musical readiness" by the beginning of the recording of the first album.

Permanent musical readiness

Every musician, if he does not make music on a regular basis, takes time to tune in to the game, to refresh the memory of the initial control of the instrument. For example, a guitarist needs to repeat the basic techniques of the game, stir his fingers on special exercises, play scales, and so on.

The need to play every time before the game, significantly reduces the time of useful work, which reduces the number of games played. In addition, if the group is inexperienced, then all the fresh forces of the musicians that could have been spent on creative searches can go to the opening act.

This problem is also relevant for experienced musicians. Even if a musician has a significant break between playing, the musician again “gets upset”, that is, he loses the operative memory and the feeling of controlling the instrument and will no longer be able to “freely” play the instrument right away.

Is there a solution to this problem that will save the time and effort involved in this “tune-up”? There is such a solution, and it consists in not leaving the state of constant "mood" and contact with a musical instrument.

This is possible if you make music the main activity, as well as through constant playing without significant interruptions, as well as using an instrument for solving related problems (working with a vocal part, coming up with melodies on the go). In this case, you can each time "not forget" all the subtleties and sensations of the game and be in a state of constant (permanent) musical readiness.

Having honed their performing and writing skills by the time of recording their debut album, the members of the Beatles were not only played together, but also entered the state described above. The first such sensations for the Beatles should have appeared during their tour in Hamburg, where they were required to work on stage every day for 8 hours a day. Then, after holding over 260 concerts at the Cavern club, the Beatles by August 1962 finally went into a state of permanent readiness and did not leave it until the collapse in 1970.

As a result, constant "combat readiness" made it possible to fully realize the entire joint potential of Lennon-McCartney in a relatively short time: from 1963 to 1969. In addition, it gave the tremendous speed with which the band's albums were released. The Beatles released an average of two albums a year, which, in principle, was not unusual at the time. For example, Elvis Presley in the 60s recorded an average of 3 albums, and the Roling Stones released 4 albums in the first 2 years of work.

However, the speed of the release of the new albums of the group is striking due to not only their complexity and level of elaboration, but also the not surpassed number of hits in each album. This speed with which so many hits were released also brought a sense of "impossibility", "miracle" to the music of the Beatles. And the unprecedented level of recording and mixing in the best English studio, Abbey Road, also gave the sound a "superhuman" origin.

Such an intensity of music lessons required a significant limitation of the personal life of musicians due to the lack of free time and energy. Members of the Beatles from 1963 to 1965 came close to his extreme state - a complete rejection of his personal life. For example, in the midst of Beatlemania, the band members spent about 3 years without significant interruptions on tour or working in the studio, living in hotels and not being at home for several months. It is also interesting that the rhythm of the Beatles' life during these years was so intense and tough that modern pop stars never dreamed of.

Musical success as society's response to the band's message

The last prerequisite for success is that the group's musical message is accepted by the public. This process is largely subjective and is largely determined by the nature of the group's message. However, indirectly, it depends on such parameters as the novelty of the message, its relevance to society, depth, style and a kind of philosophy that it carries.

The Beatles' goal of becoming the best rock 'n' roll band of all time has shaped the band's core idea of ​​"giving what you want." Musical messages, like other details of their activities, were just an expression of this idea. The uniqueness of the message was achieved by the fact that the idea was expressed in the language of a specific creative duo Lennon-McCartney.

Of course, the Beatles met all the formal criteria for success. In particular, the novelty was provided, on the one hand, due to a breakthrough in the genre of love lyrics, on the other hand, by the original style of play, synthesizing such styles as rock and roll, country, etc. The Beatles were also innovators in musical performance. For example, they had their own style - beat music - where the drum rhythm is transmitted by a fast constant beat, most often in eights, which gave the music a significant expressiveness and transfer of emotional tension when the accents of the game changed.

As a result, as practice has shown, their message was quickly accepted by English and then American society in the 60s.

The Beatles phenomenon

So the Beatles had every opportunity to be successful. But why did her success develop into real national hysteria?

First, we note that the success of a creative team is a process of social reaction in time and space to information-emotional messages created by the creative team. If accepted, the nature of the success is determined by the specifics of the message. If the message is calm, then the reaction, if successful, will be calm, adequate, and sustained. If the message conveys a cry, delight or a call to action, then the response, if successful, will be appropriate.

The desire to be the best is what made the Beatles' musical message to the outside world, whose goal was to make a splash.

Popularization of the Beatles

However, no matter how successful, explosive the musical message may be, the depth and scale of success is significantly determined by the effectiveness and speed with which it is "presented" to the listener. This is the responsibility of such a necessary component of success as "popularization" or advertising of the group.

The group's messages are transmitted in the form of musical compositions, through the sale of sound carriers (vinyl records), broadcasts on radio and television, as well as live performances of the group. In addition to the primary musical recordings, the dialogue between the group and society takes place through all kinds of publications and mentions in the media.

A distinctive feature of the Beatles group was that they first tried mass popularization technologies, when all of the above means of contact with the audience were maximally involved.

This was first handled by Brian Epstein, who considered success in the four. When the group gained momentum, absolutely all media took over the advertising relay due to the specifics of their work (to keep the reader informed of what interests him). Then, given that the image of the Beatles was exploited by everyone who could, merchants of all stripes joined in for commercial purposes.

The beginning of Beatlemania in England is remarkable. It is believed that the Beatles' success was purely advertising in nature. However, in fact, first the group became famous, and then it was spread through the media.

Indeed, until October 1963, the Beatles' fame was limited to Liverpool and Hamburg. However, in these cities, the group already had crowds of fans who stormed and did not allow passage. However, not a word has been written about this phenomenon in any English newspaper. The media did not recognize this phenomenon until October 13, 1963. Although until that time all the signs of Beatlemania were already on the face - during 1963 the Beatles toured intensively, gradually becoming the leaders of the programs, leaving behind their colleagues Helen Shapiro, Danny Williams and Kenny Lynch.

In November-December, the Beatles were the sole leaders in concert programs, eclipsing American star Roy Orbinson. Already at the time when the Beatles ran onto the stage, they were greeted by the deafening roar of the crowd, young fans rushed forward, creating a crush, the girls threw themselves under the car, which was swiftly taking the Beatles away from the raging fans. And all this was without any support from the media, all popularity was gained only thanks to word of mouth, live performances and 2 albums (the second was released on November 22, 1963). For the same reason, their prominence was limited to a greater extent by Liverpool and England.

Then, for unknown reasons, the go-ahead for the popularization of the Beatles comes from the very top of conservative England. First, on October 13, The Beatles performed at the "Sunday Afternoon at the London Palladium" concert, which brought the band a tremendous success, marking the full involvement of the national print media in promoting the band. The elite then makes a sign to everyone by allowing them to perform at the Royal Variety Show in front of the elite of English society, including Queen Elizabeth II. This is where the turning point in the effectiveness of the promotion of the quartet takes place - the Beatles are shown for the first time to an audience of 26 million, as a result of which the heart of the nation was conquered, and the success fully spread to the territory of the entire country.

Beatles vs USA

Having won unspoken glory in their homeland, the Beatles set their sights on the last English-speaking outpost - the United States of America. Conquering America was especially flattering for the Beatles, given that they began by imitating her music, and their early inspiration was the king of American rock and roll Elvis Presley.

In the United States, the Beatles had to overcome the negative attitude of the American listener, and especially American producers, towards English pop music. This attitude has developed due to the fact that not a single English group in America has had lasting success.

Despite the rise in popularity of the Beatles in England, the American division of EMI, Capitol Records, did not agree to release records until January 1964. Epstein's first attempt to negotiate the release of the single "Please Please Me" in the US ended in a rejection: "We don't think the Beatles can do anything in the US market."

Without giving up, Brian Epstein signed a contract with other record companies: "Vee-Jay" from (Chicago) and "Swan Records" (Philadelphia). The former released the limited edition singles Please Please Me / Ask Me Why on February 25 and From Me To You / Thank You Girl on May 27, 1963, while the latter released the single She Loves You / I 'll Get You "September 16th. However, all three times the songs did not climb in the main US rankings - Billboard Weekly.

In America, the single "Love Me Do" was released in May 1964 (just at the height of Beatlemania in Britain) and stayed at the top of the charts for 18 months. A well-known role here was played by the commercial trick of Brian Epstein, who at his own peril and risk bought 10 thousand copies of the disc, which significantly increased the index of its sell-out and attracted new buyers.

Another strategic move of Brian was a trip to New York and meeting on November 11-12 with the host of the most popular show in America - Ed Salivan. At this meeting, he persuaded Salivan about 3 (!) Consecutive Beatles performances on his show on February 9th, 16th and 23rd. Of course, Salivan's decision was influenced by direct evidence of the scale of Beatlemania, when his flight to London on October 31 was delayed by a crowd of screaming teenagers meeting the Beatles on a tour of Sweden.

The promotion situation in the US changes towards the end of November 1963, when Epstein forces Capitol Records President Alan Livingston to listen to the group's English single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by telephone and recalls that the Beatles will be performing on the Ed Sullivan Show, which may be a great opportunity for Capitol Records. Livingston later agrees to spend $ 40,000 promoting the Beatles, which is the equivalent of $ 250,000 today.

Following the decision to launch the Beatles' campaign, Capitol Records released the single I Want To Hold Your Hand in late 1963, which peaked at # 1 on the Cash Box chart on January 18, 1964 and # 3 on Billboard Weekly. On January 20, Capitol released the album "Meet the Beatles!", Partially similar in content to the English "With The Beatles". Both the single and the album went gold on February 3 in the United States. By the beginning of April, only The Beatles appeared in the top five songs of the US national hit parade, and in general there were 14 of them in the hit parade.

The fact that the United States was conquered by the group became obvious on February 7, 1964, when the musicians landed at New York's Kennedy Airport - more than four thousand fans came to meet them.

As a result, it took Beatlemania about a year after it began in Great Britain to get across the ocean. The main reasons for the Beatles' success were their explosive message and phenomenal success back home. It was these factors that made it possible to break through the wall of mistrust towards English music among the representatives of the American show business. The first mentions of the group were in newspaper and television plots, just about the "screeching" England. The feature films "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help" also played a role, which also contributed to the growth of the group's popularity in the United States. The start of a modest advertising campaign for Capitol Records (modest, because for each concert during the group's second visit to the United States, they received 20-30 thousand dollars) was only a necessary technical step, which until early 1964 was an almost artificial barrier to realizing the amazing potential of the group in America.

Analysis of the possibility of repetition

Why didn't it work for those who came before them

Analyzing the success of the four, one may wonder why there was no such success before the Beatles. The main reason, in my opinion, is precisely the lack of a skillfully conveyed explosive message. That is, no one before The Beatles so fanatically sought to convey such strong emotions to the world. The only exception was the lone talent Elvis Presley, who worked on the other side of the ocean. For the first time, strong emotions appeared in Elvis' music, conducive to a vivid expression of emotions and, therefore, it is not surprising that he was an idol for the early Beatles.

As a second reason, it can be noted that before the Beatles, nikton at the collective level tried so purposefully to convey such “uncompromising” emotions to the world. Before them, there was no ensemble in which almost all the participants were equally involved, who strove for excellence in appearance, performance, quality of recording, interviews, mixing of songs, that is, for integrity in music and life. In those days, a musician, when he put an instrument in a case, became an "ordinary" person, while the Beatles were always one with the music.

They made a choice in favor of the full realization of their creative potential at the expense of, for example, personal life. Oddly enough, they succeeded quite well for 10 years and did not cause a particular crisis, which, for example, was experienced by Elvis Presley. George Harrison explained this by the fact that Elvis was alone, while the Beatles were always together and could share their experiences with each other.

Why did not work for those who came after them

I believe that a song can be "eternal" only in minor variations of the performance of the same theme. This is due to the fact that all authors have the same basic, "immortal" themes. Therefore, after one author BEFORE the other said his word, the rest will have to talk about it in a different way, so as not to “repeat” and not become a plagiarist. And if this first author also spoke his word masterfully, then the next will need to try hard to look no worse.

The Beatles were the first to professionally reveal such topics as love, loneliness, romance, philosophy of human life. This gave them the opportunity to act as freely as possible, and allowed them to skim the genre cream. After the Beatles have idealized, simply and skillfully walked through the entire genre of love lyrics, other performers are faced with the so-called "follower complex" effect. A song that is destined to become a classic must have simplicity, a strict classical structure, be performed on basic instruments, and be distinguished by skill in recording.

Performers after the Beatles essentially have the same themes for songs, but they no longer “can” express their feelings “directly and simply” (instrumental moves, arrangement, etc.). This limitation is imposed regardless of whether they reached it themselves, not knowing about the pioneers, or not.

Therefore, subsequent authors have to deviate from the ideal, simple course and go to the side in order to remain, at least, "innovators." However, the further from the topic and the simplicity of its presentation, the less the versatility of the work and, as a consequence, the potential for its success. So after the Beatles, returning to simply expressing delight in musical language was difficult in terms of repetition / plagiarism. A typical example of such a follower group was The Rolling Stones. In particular, they started with the Beatles song “I Wanna Be Your Man”, and then continued to write in a similar style, but that had not yet been revealed by their predecessors. In favor of the version that the classical themes were already sufficiently developed, the fact that in 1964 a whole bunch of groups arose that predetermined the emergence of a large variety of new directions in English rock music. Among them, first of all, we should mention "The Knicks", "Small Fainzie" and "The Who".

Thus, we can conclude that the Beatles occupied the best part of the genre of love lyrics, and given that it makes sense to sing about not everything, then subsequent authors could either invent something new, change the old, or invent a Time Machine.

Generalization

So, to summarize the reasons for the rise of the Beatles. External conditions and factors have played an important role in the formation of this phenomenon. In a favorable environment, all conditions have arisen for the formation of a skillful temptation for the world's ear. That is, the genre niche was completely free, professionalism in which could lead to a social explosion, resonance.

The first to take this place was the talented and uncompromising duo of young co-authors, which caused an unprecedented admiration of the public, which grew into a real mania.

Of course, before the Beatles there was already a similar success, but Elvis Presley in the USA had a slightly different character. However, Elvis was a lone talent, and the Beatles became the first group of like-minded people in England to fully concentrate on transmitting the strongest emotions and emotional attraction to the world.

The Beatles phenomenon was defined by the unique intersection of a large number of rare events. For starters, it's worth noting that in addition to talent, Lennon and McCartney were initially smart people. Music, as a way to quickly conquer the world, was determined for them by itself, firstly, due to the lack of alternatives, and secondly, the Beatles already had a common example to follow - the American pioneer of mass hysteria Elvis Presley.

Further, the likelihood of the formation of the Beatles is significantly reduced by the fact that two complementary young people, with the same interests and thirst for universal love, met and became friends at such an early age (John was 16, and Paul was 15). This helped them to go along the path of formation in the musical mainstream, as it gave the duo, and then the rest of the group, the strongest motivation for development.

As a result, a collective author emerged with many times greater creative potential, in comparison with each of them individually. That is, the effect of multiplying the creative function was observed from the union of two talented authors from an early age. Also, this union gave both strong motivation to develop in the mainstream of writing music due to rivalry, as well as the need to improve the technique to be able to perform the songs composed.

Further, the two authors needed minimal musical accompaniment to perform their songs. Moreover, not only good technique was required, but a full-fledged accompaniment of the musical idea of ​​the duet with an instrumental part (fast improvisation, creation of riffs, solo). Of course, this is referring to guitarist George Harrison, who fulfilled all of these requirements. Indeed, firstly, he focused on the guitar, leaving the songwriting to the duo, and secondly, he was McCartney's friend, which allowed him to quickly fit into the team.

Harrison's acquisition added even more exclusivity to the Beatles' birth and marked the formation of the core of the group.

Of course, the guitarist was not found right away, which adds at least a little realism to the Beatles' story. But the trio could already calmly not only sing invented songs, but also listen to them with the main accompanying instrument, that is, vocals plus an independent guitar. Thus, the core of the Beatles was formed, which allowed, since 1958, to gradually realize the existing potential of Lennon-McCartney.

This is followed by a less significant event - the acquisition of the rest, more technical, musical accompaniment. Until August 1962, the rhythm section consisted of McCartney's bass and Pete Best's drums. However, Pete Best was the last in the team who was out of place. As a result, when Brian Epstein announced his departure, the Beatles found the last musician to form a decent rhythm section - drummer Ringo Starr. The latter came to the Beatles from the second most popular Liverpool band "Rory Storme And The Hurricanes".

Special creative talents were not required from the rhythm section, a sufficient level of playing was needed at that point in time. Therefore, the compatibility of the new participant with the main team became an important condition. And this also showed the uniqueness of the birth of the Beatles - Ringo, like a glove, fit into the group.

With the addition of a drummer, the Beatles were unstoppable. The only question was the speed and scale of their success. The attraction to Brian Epstein's group essence certainly accelerated and increased the group's success by providing a financial and promotional function. Also, their manager joined the "fifth Beatle" in the form of the permanent sound engineer George Martin.

Martin provided an amazing recording and mixing of the band's compositions in the studio for those times (especially from the second album). In those days, the infrastructure for the distribution of musical material was already relatively developed, which ensured, in the case of the Beatles, the mass and speed of distribution of new signals to listeners in the form of released records, radio and television broadcasts, as well as promotional events. Of course, live performances were an integral part of the Beatles' activities, where, in fact, the audience's delight was directly manifested.

Further, when the well-trained group had a way of transmitting their works to the whole society as a whole, all obstacles to the realization of the duo's original talent disappeared, and the matter took on a technical, inertial course of development.

John Lennon said after the breakup of the group that it was the belief that the Beatles were the best band in the world that made them who they were, be it the best rock and roll band, pop band or whatever. The realization of his unprecedentedness came to him when he began to compose with Paul McCartney. Thus, the Beatles phenomenon is the success that naturally came to a group that had sufficient creative potential and that went through all the necessary stages to achieve its goal of becoming the best band in the world. The nature of this success was determined by the message of the group, which it conveyed to society, as well as the receptivity of the society itself, which was extremely inexperienced.

Conclusion

So, the Beatles phenomenon was the success of the musical group, which grew into a real sensation and went far beyond just popular music. The group's success knew no bounds and was celebrated on all sorts of levels: from the Orders of the Queen to a huge number of musical awards and prizes.

If we consider the starting point of the Beatles' development, which ensured the future explosion, then it was the beginning of the joint work of Lennon and McCartney in 1957. Together, they realized that they could do great things together through music. As a result, they created a creative idea, the essence of which, as a result, attracted first a capable guitarist, and then a drummer of a decent level.

After the group is noticed by their future manager, the group has financial opportunities to start and develop. Finally, the last necessary associate joins the group - the sound director George Martin, who provided the recording process in the studio. He became the last link in the chain of transmission of the Beatles' musical messages to the listener, and thus all the possibilities to achieve the goal were at the disposal of the group, and the Beatles successfully used them.

The Beatles' goal was to be the best musician of all time. This desire to convey their strong emotions to the world through music has formed the need to create a musical group of a decent level. To adequately convey their unique potential, an appropriate level of its demonstration was required, that is, the maximum possible, best form of its presentation.

In accordance with the goal of creating a group, the requirements that were imposed on all aspects of the group's activities become clear: from texts and repertoire to uniforms and style of conversation. The group was required not only to be able to perform works, but to do it to the limit of the possible. There were similar requirements for the sound quality of the songs, and for their emotional content.

The band's musical message was determined by the personalities of the Lennon-McCartney writing duo, while the form of this message was a direct result of the desire to be the best. In particular, this means that we need to remain the best tomorrow and in 50 years from now. For the outward appearance, this means being higher than the current fashion, that is, more universal than the current phase of its development. Therefore, if you look at this group today, in general, they do not belong to any pronounced era, and their appearance is quite universal. Musically, the Beatles chose themes that are classic and still relevant to this day.

The Beatles are a phenomenon that has turned out to be able to go beyond the musical framework into neighboring areas of art, such as cinema, social movements, the creation of an entire subculture. After the Beatles, the English-speaking world, in particular the cultural and entertainment areas, has irreversibly changed, having received the strongest, overwhelming impetus to development. The Beatles left behind a legacy that continues to bring positive emotions to listeners and inspire generations of creativity. The Beatles' creativity does not lose its relevance to this day in the face of constantly appearing new fans who discover this group for themselves.

The Beatles are a British rock band. She is originally from Liverpool. The Beatles existed from 1960 to 1970. Its composition was not formed immediately; the name also changed several times. All this, as well as the success story of this greatest musical group in the world, we will tell you in detail below.

The emergence of The Blackjack and The Quarrymen

John Lennon (1940-1980), having learned to play the guitar, founded a group with his fellows, which they called The Blackjack. A week later, however, the name changed to The Quarrymen (the school they attended was called Quarry Bank). The band performed skiffle - a special British style of rock and roll.

Formation of The Quarrymen

John Lennon (pictured below) in the summer of 1957, after performing at a concert, met another future member of the band - Paul McCartney.

He surprised John with his knowledge of the words and chords of the latest innovations in the world of music. They were joined in the fall of 1958 by George Harrison, a friend of Paul. George, Paul and John became the main ones in the group, for the other members of The Quarrymen this group was only a temporary hobby, and they soon left the group. The musicians played in episodes at various events, weddings, parties, but it did not come to recordings and concerts.

The group broke up several times. George Harrison had his own group. And Paul McCartney and Lennon began writing, singing and acting together, inspired by Buddy Holly, who was his own producer and played his own songs. Stuart Sutcliffe joined the group at the end of 1959. John Lennon knew him in college. His playing was not very skillful, which often irritated Paul McCartney, a demanding musician. The group in this composition was practically formed: vocals and rhythm guitar - Lennon, vocals, rhythm guitar and piano - McCartney (his photo is presented below), lead guitar - George Harrison, bass guitar - Stuart Sutcliffe. However, the musicians' problem was their lack of a permanent drummer.

Some other group names

The Quarrymen actively tried to fit into the club and concert life of Liverpool. The talent contests were held one after the other, but the group had no luck. She needed to think about changing her name. No one was involved with the Quarry Bank school anymore. At a local television competition held in December 1959, this group performed under a different name - Johnny and the Moondogs.

The history of the name The Beatles

In 1960, in April, the members came up with this name. Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon are considered its authors, according to the recollections of the members of the group. They dreamed of a name that had a double meaning. For example, B. Holly's band was called The Crickets. However, for the British there is another meaning - "the game of cricket". As John Lennon said, this name came to him during his sleep. He saw a man engulfed in flames, advising him to name the group Beetles (beetles). However, this word has only one meaning. Therefore, it was decided to replace the letter "e" with "a". A second meaning appeared - "beat", for example, in rock and roll music. This is how the Beatles were born. At first, the musicians were forced to change the name somewhat, since the promoters considered it very short. At various times, the group performed under such names as The Silver Beatles, Long John and The Beatles.

First tour

The musical skill of the band members grew very quickly. They were increasingly invited to perform in small clubs and pubs. The Beatles embarked on their first tour in 1960, in April. It was a tour of Scotland and they performed as an accompanying band. At this time, they had not yet gained much fame.

Group play in Hamburg

The Beatles, whose roster had not yet been finalized, were invited to play in Hamburg in mid-1960. Several professional rock and roll bands from Liverpool were already playing here. Therefore, the musicians from the "Beatles" decided to urgently look for a drummer. The composition of the group needed to be replenished by them in order to comply with the contract and be at the professional level. They chose Pete Best, who played very well. The history of the Beatles continued with the fact that in 1960, on August 17, the first concert took place in Hamburg, at the Indra club. The band played here until October under a contract, and then, until the end of November, played at the Kaiserkeller. The schedule of performances was very tough, the participants had to be crowded in one room. A lot of material had to be played on stage besides rock and roll: rhythm and blues, blues, old jazz and pop numbers, folk songs. The Beatles did not yet perform their own songs, as they believed that there was a lot of material suitable for them in the surrounding modern music, and also there was no necessary incentive for this. It was daily hard work and the ability to perform different styles of music, mixing them, that became one of the main factors in the formation of the group.

The Beatles are getting famous in Liverpool

The Beatles returned to Liverpool in December 1960. Here they turned out to be one of the most active groups, competing with each other in terms of the number of fans, repertoire and sound. The leaders among them were Rory Storm, who played in the best clubs in Hamburg and Liverpool. At this time, they met and quickly became friends with the drummer of this group, R. Starr, the musicians from the Beatles. The group will be replenished with them a little later.

Second tour in Hamburg

In April 1960, the group went back to Hamburg for a second tour. Now they already played in the Top Ten. It was in this city that The Beatles made their first professional recording, performing as an accompanying ensemble for the singer T. Sheridan. The Beatles were also allowed to do some of their own compositions. At the end of the tour, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band and stay in Hamburg. Paul McCartney had to play bass. A year later, in 1962 (April 10), Sutcliffe (pictured below) died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Performances in Liverpool in 1961

The Beatles in August 1961 began performing at the Liverpool club (the name of the club is Cavern). They performed 262 times in a year. The following year, on July 27, the musicians gave their concert at Litherland Town Hall. The concert in this hall was a great success, after which the press dubbed this group the best in Liverpool.

Meet George Martin

The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, met with George Martin, a producer at Parlophone. George became interested in the young band and wanted to see her performance at the Abbey Road studio (London). The band's recordings did not impress George Martin, but he fell in love with the musicians themselves, attractive, cheerful and a little arrogant guys. When J. Martin asked if they liked everything in the studio, Harrison replied that he didn’t like Martin’s tie. The producer appreciated this joke and invited the group to sign a contract. It was from the tie story that the Beatles' direct, harsh and witty responses to interviews and press conferences became their signature style.

Ringo Starr becomes a drummer

Only Pete Best did not like George Martin. He believed that Best did not reach the level of the group, and offered Epstein to replace the drummer. In addition, Pete defended his own individuality and did not want, like the other members of the "Beatles", to make a signature hairstyle to match the general style of the group. As a result, in 1962, on August 16, Pete Best left the group, which was officially announced by Brian Epstein. Starr (pictured below), who played in the group Rory Storm, is taken in his place without hesitation.

First singles and first album

Soon the Beatles began their studio work. The first entry did not bring any results. The Beatles released their first single, Love Me Do, in October 1962, reaching # 17 on the charts. It was a pretty good result for the young Beatles. In the same year, on October 17, the band's first televised concert took place on a Manchester broadcast (People and Places program). Then the Beatles recorded a new single, Please Please Me, which took first places in the charts. In 1963, on March 22, the band finally released their first album with the same name. In just 12 hours, the material was created for him. This album topped the national charts for a full six months, bringing great success to the "Beatles." The hits of this group became popular throughout the country.

Deafening success

Beatlemania's birthday is October 3, 1963. The group was waiting for deafening popularity. Its members gave a concert at the Palladium in London, from where the Beatles were broadcast throughout the UK. The group's hits were listened to by about 15 million viewers. Many fans filled the streets outside the concert hall, eager to see the Beatles live. The band played a concert at the Prince of Wales Theater on November 4, 1963. The Queen herself, Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret attended, and the Queen admired the game. The Beatles released their second album, With The Beatles, on November 22. More than a million copies of this disc were sold by 1965.

Brian Epstein signed a contract in the United States with Vee Jay, which released the singles From Me To You and Please Please Me, as well as the album Introducing The Beatles. However, they did not bring success in the United States and did not even make the regional charts. In the United States at the end of 1963, the single I Want To Hold Your Hand appeared, which changed the situation. The very next year, on January 18, he was in first place in the table of the American magazine Cash Box and in third - in the table of the weekly Billboard. US-based label Capitol released the Gold album Meet the Beatles on February 3.

Thus, Beatlemania crossed the ocean. In 1964, on February 7, the band members landed at the New York airport. They were greeted by about 4 thousand fans. The band played three shows: one at the Colosseum (Washington) and two at Carnegie Hall (New York). The Beatles also appeared twice on television in The Ed Sullivan Show, which was watched by 73 million viewers - a record in the history of television! The Beatles spent their free time interacting with journalists and various music groups. They returned home on 22 February.

After a trip to the United States, the group began recording new songs, as well as filming the first musical film (A Hard Day’s Night). The single, titled Can't Buy Me Love, garnered many preliminary applications on March 20 - about $ 3 million.

First major tour

The band embarked on their first major tour through Holland, Denmark, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia on June 4, 1964. The Beatles' tour was a resounding success. In Adelaide, for example, a crowd of 300,000 met musicians at the airport. The Beatles returned to London on 2 July. And three days later there was the premiere of A Hard Day’s Night, after which the album of the same name was released.

The difficulties that the group had to face

The North American tour kicked off on August 19 of the same year. The Beatles covered 36 thousand kilometers in 32 days and visited 24 cities, playing 31 concerts. They received about 30 thousand dollars (today it is equivalent to about 300 thousand dollars) for one concert. However, the musicians were not worried about money, but about the fact that they became prisoners, completely isolated from the rest of society. Around the clock, the hotels in which the group stayed were besieged by the crowd.

At that time, the equipment on which the musicians played in the huge stadiums would not satisfy even a seedy restaurant ensemble. Technique for a long time lagged behind the pace set by the Beatles. Because of the deafening roar of people in the stands, the musicians often did not hear themselves. They lost their rhythm, lost their tonality in the vocal parts, but the audience did not notice this, which also practically did not hear anything. The Beatles in such conditions could not progress and experiment on stage. Only behind the scenes in the studio could they create something new and develop.

Continued success

Returning to London on September 21st, the musicians immediately began recording a new album - Beatles For Sale. A variety of styles of music, from rock and roll to country and western, have been featured on this disc. Already on December 4, 1964, on the first day of its release, it sold 700 thousand copies and soon topped the English charts.

In 1965, on July 29, the film Help! in London, and an album of the same name was released in August. The Beatles toured the United States on August 13. They visited Elvis Presley himself, where they not only talked, but also played, having recorded several songs on tape recorders. Unfortunately, these recordings were never published, as they were not found, despite all the efforts made. Millions of dollars today are their value.

Rock and rock and roll in the middle of 1965 were transformed from entertainment and dance music into serious art. The multitude of bands that emerged at that time, such as the Rolling Stones and The Byrds, made The Beatles a serious competitor. The Beatles in October of the same year began recording a new album - Rubber Soul. He showed the whole world the maturing Beatles. All competitors were again far behind. On the day of the beginning of his recording, October 12, the musicians did not have a single finished song, and already on December 3, 1965, this album lay on store shelves. Elements of surrealism and mysticism appeared in the songs, which were later included in many of the Beatles' songs.

State awards

The members of the group in 1965, on October 26, were presented with state awards at Buckingham Palace. They received the Order of the British Empire. Some other holders of this order, military heroes, the presentation of the award to the musicians aroused indignation. In protest, they returned the orders, as they, in their opinion, had depreciated. However, no one paid much attention to the protesters.

Conflicts and proceedings

The Beatles began to have serious problems in 1966. Due to a conflict with the first lady of the Philippines during the tour, the musicians refused to attend an official reception at the presidential palace. The angry crowd nearly tore the Beatles to pieces, they barely managed to get their feet out of this country. After the band's return to England, there was a lot of hype in the United States because of Lennon's comments that the Beatles are now more popular than Jesus. In Great Britain this was soon forgotten, but in America protest actions raged against the musicians - their portraits, records on which the Beatles' songs were recorded ... The musicians themselves perceived it with humor. However, under pressure from the press, John Lennon was nevertheless forced to publicly apologize for his statements. This happened in Chicago in 1966, on August 11.

New breakthrough, termination of concert activities

The musicians, despite these trials, released at that time one of their best albums, called Revolver. Because very sophisticated studio effects were used, the Beatles' music did not involve stage performance.

The Beatles became a studio group. Tired of touring, the musicians decided to stop their concert performances. In 1966, on May 1, their last performance took place at Wembley Stadium (London). Here they participated in a gala concert and appeared for only 15 minutes. The last tour took place in the United States in the same year, where the Beatles last appeared on stage in San Francisco on August 29. Meanwhile, Revolver was leading the world charts. It was praised by critics as the culmination of the entire work of this group. Many newspapers thought that the band had decided to settle on this high note, but this did not occur to the musicians themselves.

Latest Albums

In the same year, on November 24, they began recording another album. It was recorded for 129 days and became the greatest album in the history of rock music. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967 on May 26. It was a phenomenal success and lasted 88 weeks at number one on various charts.

In the same year, on December 8, the band released their 9th album, Magical Mystery Tour. On June 25, 1967, the Beatles became the first band in history to broadcast their performance to the entire world. It was watched by 400 million people. However, despite this success, the Beatles' business began to decline. Brian Epstein died on August 27 from an overdose of sleeping pills. The Beatles in late 1967 began to receive negative reviews about their work.

The group spent early 1968 in Rishikesh, where they studied meditation. McCartney and Lennon, upon returning to the UK, announced the creation of a corporation called Apple. They started releasing records under this label. The Beatles in 1968, January, released the film Yellow Submarine. On August 30, the single Hey Jude went on sale, and by the end of the year the record had reached 6 million. The White Album is a double album released in 1968 on November 22. Relations between the musicians worsened greatly during his recording. Ringo Starr left the group for a while. McCartney sang the drums on several songs because of this. Harrison (his photo is presented below) and Lennon, in addition, began to release solo records. The imminent disintegration of the group was approaching. Later, the albums Abbey Road and Let it be appeared - the last one released in 1970.

Deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison

John Lennon was killed on December 8, 1980 by Mark Chapman, a US citizen, in New York. On the day of his death, he gave interviews to reporters, and then approached the house with his wife. Chapman fired 5 shots in his back. Now Mark Chapman is in prison, where he is serving a life sentence.

George Harrison died in 2001, November 29, from a brain tumor. He was treated for a long time, but it was not possible to save the musician. Paul McCartney is still alive, he is 73 years old today.

At the end of 1961, Brian Epstein became the band's manager, who changed the image of the musicians: instead of black leather jackets in the style of teddy boys, the musicians dressed in collarless jackets from Pierre Cardin (called "Beatles"), and whipped "cocks" a la Elvis Presley replaced by long bangs. When almost all European record companies rejected the music of The Beatles, Epstein secured a contract with Parlophone. In the studio, it turned out that Pete Best was not suitable for studio work. Another drummer was urgently needed. Then Lennon and McCartney remembered Ringo Starr, with whom they became friends during the Hamburg concerts. In September 1962, The Beatles released their first single, which included the songs Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You, which were included in the national Top20 in October. At the beginning of 1963, the composition Please Please Me took second place in the UK charts, then in record time (in 13 hours) the debut album Please Please Me was recorded. In the wake of the success, the third single From Me To You took first place in the charts.

In the summer of 1963, The Beatles, which were supposed to open the British concerts of the American singer Roy Orbison, were ranked an order of magnitude higher than the American - it was then that the first signs of the phenomenon called "Beatlemania" appeared. The term was officially used in the press on October 14, 1963, the day after the band's triumphant performance on the Sunday Night At The London Palladium TV show. In October 1963, at the end of their first European tour, The Beatles moved to London. Pursued by crowds of fans, The Beatles appeared in public only under police protection. At the end of October of the same year, the single She Loves You became the most replicated disc in the history of the gramophone industry in Great Britain, and in November 1963 the group performed before the Queen Mother and high society at the Prince of Wales Theater in London. At the same time the second LP - With The Beatles was released.

Despite the resounding success in Europe, Capitol Records, the American arm of EMI, was wary of the group and did not release a single record dated 1963, risking reprinting only the fourth single I Want To Hold Your Hand, and also releasing the CD Meet The in January 1964. The Beatles (a heavily reworked version of With The Beatles). Contrary to all critics' expectations, the success was overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands of American teenagers demanded "bring the great four" to the United States. The Beatles began their triumphant tour across the Atlantic.

In August 1964 the premiere of the first film featuring The Beatles (A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester). The songs used in the film formed the album of the same name, the same year The Beatles recorded another LP - Beatles For Sale, half composed of popular rock 'n' roll hits by other artists. 1965 Lennon and McCartney no longer wrote songs together, although under the terms of the contract (and by mutual agreement) the song of each of them was considered a joint work.In 1965 The Beatles toured Europe, North America, Australia and Southeast Asia. with their participation Help! ("Help!" The Beatles performed in front of 55 thousand spectators at the Shea Stadium in New York. Paul McCartney's composition Yesterday, written at that time, is still the most popular song in the repertoire of more than 500 artists.

In June 1965 "for outstanding contribution to the prosperity of Great Britain" the Queen of England awarded the musicians the Order of the British Empire. The awards ceremony took place on October 26 at Buckingham Palace (in 1969, John Lennon returned his order in protest against Britain's approval of the Vietnam War). The release of the album Rubber Soul (1965) marked a new stage in the band's creativity and went beyond the pop formula. The Beatles and Bob Dylan attracted an adult audience to rock music; they became a kind of mouthpiece for the post-war generation, the group's texts became more poetically mature and sometimes even socially oriented.

The Beatles are a symbol of modern pop culture and the music industry, perhaps even more significant than such musical "monsters" as Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Madonna and Michael Jackson. And The Beatles - the best-selling music brand in history (with over 1 billion records sold worldwide) - changed the music world forever.

1. John Lennon originally named the band differently

John Lennon founded the band in 1957 and called it Quarry Men. Later he invited Paul McCartney to the group, who brought in George Harrison. Ringo Starr became the last of the Big Four after replacing Peter Best as drummer.

2. Quarry Men, Johnny and the Moondogs ...

The band changed their name many times before settling on a name
The Beatles. Besides Quarry Men, the group also went by the names Johnny and the Moondogs, Rainbows and British Everly Brothers.

3. "Beetles" (beetlles) and "Rhythm" (beat)

While no one can say for sure where the band's final name came from, most fans believe that John Lennon suggested the name after the American band Buddy Holly's Crickets. Other sources emphasize that the name deliberately combined two words - "beetles" (beetlles) and "rhythm" (beat).

4. "From Me To You"

The Beatles titled their first UK single "From Me To You", taking the idea from the British magazine NME's letter section, then titled "From You to Us". They wrote this song on the bus while on tour in support of Helen Shapiro.

5. Before Elvis there was nothing

John Lennon was very fond of cats. He had ten pets when he lived in Weybridge with his first wife, Cynthia. His mother had a cat named Elvis, as the woman was a big fan of Elvis Presley. Not surprisingly, Lennon later claimed that "there was nothing before Elvis."

6. "Abbey Road"

The band originally wanted to name the song "Abbey Road" Everest. But when their record company invited the group to visit the Himalayas to film a video there, the Beatles decided to rename the song after the street where the recording studio was located.

7. Hit for the main competitors

Very few people know the fact that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the first hit for their main competitors, the Rolling Stones. "I Wanna Be Your Man" was released in 1963 and peaked at number 12 on the UK charts.

8. "Good Morning Good Morning"

John Lennon wrote "Good Morning Good Morning" after getting pissed off by an ad for Kellogg cereals.

9. Billboard Hot record holders

During the week of April 4, 1964, as many as twelve Beatles songs were included in the top 100 Billboard Hot singles, including the songs of this group occupied the first five lines. This record has not been broken until now, for fifty-two years.

10. The Beatles have sold 178 million records

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Beatles have sold 178 million records in the United States. More than any other performer in US music history.

11. "Got to Get You into My Life"

1966 the song "Got to Get You into My Life" appeared. It was originally thought to be about the girl, but McCartney later claimed in interviews that the song was in fact written about marijuana.

12. "Hey Jude"

If you listen carefully to the words of the legendary song "Hey Jude", you can hear Paul cursing dirty, making a mistake during the recording of the song.

13. "New disease"

Many people mistakenly believe that the term "Beatlemania" first appeared in 1963 after a review in the Daily Mirror. However, the term was actually invented by Canadian Sandy Gardiner and first appeared in the Ottawa Journal in November 1963, where the word was used to describe a "new disease" sweeping across the globe.

14. ... well, if you ask for it yourself

Mae West initially turned down an offer to have her picture featured on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but changed her mind after receiving a personal letter from the group. Other famous women on the cover are Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple.

15. "Something" is the greatest love song ever

Frank Sinatra has often publicly expressed his admiration for the band, and once said that "Something" is the greatest love song ever written.

16. "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"

John Lennon said that the only real songs he ever wrote were "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". He claimed that these were the only songs that he wrote based on his own experience, and not just imagining himself in certain situations.

17. In the South, Beatles records were publicly burned

In March 1966, John Lennon noticed that Christianity was in decline and that the Beatles were becoming more popular than Jesus. His remarks led to protests in the American South, where the band's recordings began to be publicly burned. The protests even spread to other countries such as Mexico, South Africa and Spain.

18. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. All four of its members were also inducted into the Hall of Fame individually from 1994 to 2015.

19. The Beatles hold the record for hits ...

As of 2016, the Beatles still hold the record for the most hits (20) to climb to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Elvis Presley and Mariah Carey tied for number two with 18 songs each. The Beatles also hold the record for the most number of albums that have charted at # 1 in the US and UK.

20. Unfulfilled Dream

The Beatles were so passionate about Tolkien's work that they wanted to star in The Lord of the Rings, which was to be directed by Stanley Kubrick. Fortunately, Kubrick and his record company did not find the idea appealing, and a few decades later, Peter Jackson created his famous cinematic masterpieces.

21. The Beatles disbanded due to ...

No one is 100 percent sure why the Beatles broke up. When asked why the band broke up, Paul McCartney argued that the reason was "personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all, that he enjoys spending time with his family much more."

22. Missed Opportunity

The group's closest was to a reunion following its disbandment in 1970 at Eric Clapton's wedding, when he married Patti Boyd in 1979. George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr played together at the wedding, but John Lennon did not show up.

23. Bands with guitars are out of fashion

The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records on January 1, 1962, but were turned down because "guitar bands went out of style" and "the band members lacked talent." The Decca label instead chose a group called Tremeloes, which no one remembers today. This is widely considered to be the biggest mistake in the history of twentieth century music.

24. The Beatles bought the island ...

In 1967, when the Beatles were at the height of their drug addiction, they decided to buy their own island. Dumping money, the members of the group bought a beautiful private island in Greece, where they wanted to live together, away from the screaming fans. Unfortunately, when the group disbanded, the island was also sold.

25. Beatles songs heal

Some scientists have suggested that several Beatles songs may help children with autism and other disabilities. In particular, they cite the songs "Here Comes The Sun", "Octopus's Garden", "Yellow Submarine", "Hello Goodbye", "Blackbird" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

Based on materials from list25.com

Not so long ago, it appeared on the Web, which, of course, will be of interest to all fans of this group.