The Beatles are the greatest band of all time. Musicologists talk about it, numerous fans of the ensemble are sure of it.
And indeed it is. No other performer of the XNUMXth century achieved such success on both sides of the ocean and did not have a similar impact on the development of modern art.
Not a single musical group had such a number of followers and outright imitators as the Beatles. This is a kind of icon of modern pop music.
The phenomenon of the Beatles' success has not been fully studied so far. It would seem that four ordinary guys with not the most outstanding vocal abilities, with not the most virtuoso possession of instruments, but how magically they sang and played! In the sixties of the last century, their melodic songs drove millions of listeners crazy.
The origins of the Beatles
The group was formed in 1960 in Liverpool on the initiative of the talented guy John Lennon. The forerunner of the Beatles was a school band called The Quarrymen, which appeared in 1957 and performed primitive rock and roll and skiffle.
The original line-up included Lennon and his schoolmates. A little later, John was introduced to Paul McCartney, who owned the guitar more confidently than all the band members and knew how to tune the instrument. John and Paul became friends and decided to write songs together.
About a year later, Paul's friend George Harrison joined the ensemble. The boy at that time was only 15 years old, but he mastered the guitar well for his age, besides, his parents were not against the band's rehearsals right in the Harrisons' house.
The group changed several names before TheBeatles (derived from the words "bugs" and "beat") appeared. The guys gave a lot of concerts in England (in particular, in the Cavern and Casbah clubs) and performed for a long time in Hamburg (Germany).
At that time, they were noticed by Brian Epstein, who became the manager and, in fact, the fifth member of the group. Through the efforts of Brian, the Beatles signed a contract with the record company EMI.
Drummer Ringo Starr joined the Beatles last. Before him, Pete Best worked on drums, but his skill did not suit sound engineer George Martin, and the choice fell on a musician from Rory Storm and The Hurricanes.
The striking debut of the Beatles
The first places in the charts of the Beatles were brought by the work of the tandem of composers Lennon-McCartney, over time, the group began to include opuses in their repertoire and two other members of the band - George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
True, the debut album of the Beatles called “Please Please Me” (“Please make me happy”, 1963) did not yet have songs by George and Ringo. Of the 14 songs on the album, 8 belonged to the authorship of Lennon-McCartney, the rest of the songs were borrowed.
The timing of the recording of the record is amazing. The Liverpool Four did the job in one day! And she did great. Even today the album sounds fresh, direct and interesting.
Sound engineer George Martin originally intended to record the album live during the Beatles' performance at the Cavern Club, but subsequently abandoned the idea.
The session was held at the now legendary Abbey Road Studios. They wrote tracks with almost no overdubs and doubles. The more amazing the result! Before the world fame remained quite a bit ...
World Beatlemania
In the summer of 1963, the Bugs recorded the forty-five She Loves You / I'll Get You. With the release of the disc, a cultural phenomenon began, which is accepted in encyclopedias as Beatlemania. Great Britain fell to the mercy of the winners, later all of Europe, and by 1964 America was conquered. Overseas it was called the "British invasion".
Everyone imitated the Beatles, even refined jazzmen considered it their duty to improvise on the Beatles' incorruptibles.
Not only music publications began to write about the group, but also most of the central newspapers of different countries. Teenagers all over the world had their hair and costumes inspired by the Beatles.
In the fall of 1963, the band's second album, With The Beatles, was released. Starting with this disc, all subsequent discs were pre-ordered by millions of fans. Everyone seemed to know in advance that they would definitely like the new songs.
And the performers lived up to expectations with a vengeance. With each new work, the musicians found fresh ways in creativity, honed their skills and revealed the facets of their talent.
The next disc A Hard Day's Night was released not only on vinyl. The Liverpool Four decided to make a comedy film of the same name, which tells about the fate of musicians from an ensemble that has become popular and unsuccessfully trying to hide from annoying fans.
Both the record and the film had a huge response. It is noteworthy that "Evening ..." became the first work of the team, where all the works belonged to the authorship of the group members, not a single cover was included.
The unprecedented success of the Beatles was accompanied by endless tours. Everywhere the group was met by crowds of fans.
After the album Beatles for Sale (1964), the Beatles once again tried to release a music disc and make a movie at the same time. This project was called Help and was also doomed to success. Standing apart here is the song Yesterday ("Yesterday").
It was performed with acoustic guitar and string orchestra, earning the title of one of the most popular in the ensemble's repertoire. According to the number of covers, the work got into the Guinness Book of Records. The group's fame spread around the world more and more quickly.
Pure studio band
The milestone work of the Beatles was the disc Rubber Soul (“Rubber Soul”). On it, the performers moved away from classic rock and roll and turned to music with elements of psychedelia that was fashionable at that time. Due to the complexity of the material, it was decided to refuse concert performances.
In the same vein, the next creation was made - Revolver. It also included compositions not intended for stage performance. For example, in the dramatic composition Eleanor Rigby, the guys perform only vocal parts, and the music of two string quartets accompanies them.
If it took only one day to record an entire album in 1963, then it took exactly the same time to work on just one song. The Beatles' music became more complex and sophisticated.
One of the group's most significant works was the concept album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ("Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", 1967). All compositions in it were united by a single idea: the listener learned about the history of a fictitious orchestra of a certain Pepper and, as it were, was present at his concert. John, Paul, George, Ringo and George Martin enjoyed experimenting with sounds, musical forms and ideas.
The album received positive reviews from critics and the love of listeners, becoming, according to many experts, the greatest achievement in the history of world pop music.
Breakup of the Beatles
In August 1967, Brian Epstein died, and most of the band's fans attribute this loss to the further collapse of the greatest group. One way or another, she had about two years to exist. During this time, the Beatles released as many as 5 discs:
- Magical Mystery Tour (1967);
- The Beatles (White Album, White Album, 1968) - double;
- Yellow Submarine (1969) - cartoon soundtrack;
- Abbey Road (1969);
- Let It Be (1970).
All of the above creations were full of innovative finds and simply wonderful melodic songs.
The last time the Beatles worked in the studio together was in July-August 1969. The Let It Be disc, released in 1970, is significant in that at that time the group as such no longer existed ...
