The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. The members of the band were: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The Band became very famous, because of their inovative style of music, the way that they dressed and especially their hair cuts. But most probably the main reason why they became so famous, was that they were able to comprehend the spirit of their generation. Teenagers of those years, were very different from the teenagers of the 50’s. They were more rebelious and wanted to change social customs, fashion and the political ideas of their time.
The Early Days
At the beginning of their career, the band played in local pubs and copied rock ‘n’ roll songs from America. This style of music was very popular with young musicians and was played in many clubs and bars across the city. Liverpool at the time, was a busy port city and many sailors returned from America with the latest hit records, needless to say the venues that catered to their tastes of music, drew great crowds. During the next three years the Beatles slowly built their reputation playing in clubs between Liverpool and Hamburg, strangely another port city in Germany. They soon acquired the nickname “the Fab Four”. Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following years and by early 1964, the band had become international stars.
They led the “British Invasion” of the United States pop market. It is said around 74 million viewers watched their first performance on TV. They were an istant success, the four boys from Liverpool, filled the first 5 places of the American top 40 with their music, a feat which to this day hasn’t been matched. In 1966 the band stopped touring, after having performed non-stop for four years, accomplishing an incredible 1400 international appearances. In the following months, the four musicians freed from the burden of touring, started to embrace experimental music and try out new genres. The final result, which many consider to be their master piece, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released on the 1st of June 1967. In the subsequent years, which are often reffered to as the studio years, many more albums were recorded at the leggendary Abbey Road Studios in St John’s Wood in London, these being: Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album and Yellow Submarine.
The Break Up
The bands last live performance, over the years has come to be known as one of the most iconic and original in the history of rock. The band played a live 42 minute unanounced concert on the roof top of the record company Apple Corps in Savile Row, in central London. Soon after the police were called, because neighbours had complained about the loud music. Curiously the closing remarks of John Lennon were “I’d like to say thank you, on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we’ve passed the audition.” Unfortunately these were to be his last words as a member of The Beatles. Over the years tension had been building up among the members of the band, these finally came to a breaking point in September 1969, when John Lennon anounced he was leaving the band, just a few days before the release of the bands album Abbey Road. The album anyhow, was a major success and sold over four million copies in just three months and was at the top of the UK charts for seventeen weeks. On the 31st of December 1970 Paul McCatney filed for the dissolution of ‘the Beatles’ contractual partnership, formalising the end of the band and thus the end of a legend.