The Beatles- legendary British rock band from Liverpool, "Fantastic Four", based John Lennon in 1960. Recognized as one of the most successful rock bands in the history of music - both commercially and creatively.
History of the Beatles / The Beatles
In the spring of 1956, a 15-year-old school bully John Lennon, impressed by the performances Elvis Presley, created a musical group that performed newfangled skiffle. The participants in the project were - except for Lennon- V Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best And Stuart Sutcliffe, who soon left the group.
The name of the group changed several times: from "Quarrymen"- in honor of the school where the band members studied, before "The Silver Beatles", which later transformed into "The Beatles".
After several successful performances in Hamburg George Martin- head of the company "Parlaphone"- signed a contract with the group for a year. Gone Besta replaced Richard Starkey, to whom Martin advised me to take a more sonorous pseudonym and call myself Ringo Starr.
October 1963 is considered the birth of "Beatlemania"- a phenomenon for which it is difficult to find an analogue in terms of scale and speed of spread. On October 13, the group performed in "Palladium", and the concert was broadcast throughout the country. For musicians who released only one album, this was an unprecedented success.
On November 22 of the same year, the group recorded their second album. The record sold over a million copies. Everything you did "The Beatles", was perceived unambiguously by fans and admirers - they wanted to see their idols again and again.
In April 1964, the musicians took part in the filming of the film "A Hard Day's Night", who told the story with almost biographical precision Fab Four. Despite the simple plot, the film turned out to be so popular that it received two nominations for "Oscar".
Magazine "Rolling Stone 100" named "The Beatles" the greatest performers of all time.
On August 19, 1964, the group went on tour around North America. Returning "The Beatles" started recording a new album "Beatles For Sale", which has collected more than 750 thousand pre-orders. In November of the same year, the group went on tour to 27 cities. Great Britain.
August 6, 1965, after the film's release "Help", the musicians have released a new album of the same name. This album featured the song for the first time "Yesterday". The song forever became the band's calling card and became a classic of world music. composed Paul McCartney the composition was first recorded without the participation of John Lennon. The song was included in Guinness Book of Records, as the song that has been covered the most. In the 20th century alone, it was performed by musicians over 7 million times.
1965 was a turning point for "The Beatles". On October 12, the group began recording a new album. "Rubber Soul". New elements, unusual for the Beatles, appeared in the songs of this album - mysticism, surrealism. The observed changes in creativity were also reflected in the internal atmosphere of the group - since 1966, each of the group members began to create something of their own.
During its existence, the group won the prestigious award seven times. Grammy. Movie "Let it Be" to music "The Beatles" received an award Oscar. In 1988, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band became the group's last joint album "The Beatles". After the manager died "The Beatles" - Brian Epstein- group members gathered in the house Paula McCarthy, decided to discuss their future plans.
John Lennon: “We are now more popular than Jesus; I don’t know which will disappear first – rock and roll or Christianity.”
In 1968, a new double album without a title was released, the release of which caused the group to stop performing together. Each performed as a soloist, and the rest took part in the accompaniment. On February 3, 1969, the group got a new manager - Allen Klein. From that day on, the group began to break up because
The post on the Beatles will briefly talk about the popular British rock band that made a huge contribution to the popularization of rock culture as a whole. Also, a message about the Beatles can be used while preparing for classes.
Message about the Beatles
The Beatles- a British rock band, was the most striking phenomenon of world culture in the 60s of the 20th century. It was founded in the spring of 1956 by 15-year-old John Lenon. At first it was called "The Quarrymen".
The Beatles
The “golden” line-up of the British rock band included:
- John Lennon(piano, rhythm guitar, vocals),
- Paul McCartney(bass guitar, vocals, piano),
- Ringo Starr(drums and vocals),
- George Harrison(vocals and lead guitar).
Brief information about the Beatles
The Beatle group, or as it was first called “The Quarrymen,” consisted exclusively of amateur musicians. None of them played the instrument professionally. The founder of the group, John Lennon, sang in the church choir since childhood and knew how to play several melodies on the harmonica.
In 1957, Paul McCartney in the garden of St. Petra meets John Lennon in Liverpool. A week later he was already part of the group, playing guitar. On McCartney's advice, 15-year-old guitarist George Harrison joined them in 1958. The musical ensemble was renamed “Jonny and The Moondogs”. For the most part they played rock and roll, performing songs written by Lennon and McCartney, as well as American hits.
The band's line-up changed frequently, with the exception of Paul, John and George. Soon Stuart Sutcliffe joined them, taking over the bass guitar. In November 1959, the ensemble was again renamed “The Silver Beatles”, then simply “The Beatles”. A year later, the Beatles began searching for a new drummer, and Pete Best joined the band. This composition was more or less stable for some time. After a successful tour in Hamburg, the group recorded their first studio recording in 1961.
In May 1962, the team found a producer in George Martin, with whom they signed a contract. For unknown reasons, Pete Best left this year and was replaced by Ringo Starr.
The first successful and worthwhile record by a British rock band was the album “Love me do”. After its release, the Beatles were recognized as the best Liverpool group. After the record “Please, please me”, in October 1963, a real mania began - “Beatlemania”. But the ensemble began conquering the musical peak in Sweden. In January 1964, the Beatles tour in Paris. The world was conquered and “Beatlemania” often developed into popular hysteria.
The group last performed on August 29, 1966. Later there was only studio work. The last record was the “Let it be” record. The Beatles broke up in 1970. Each participant in the musical project began their solo career. All hopes for a reunion of the legendary four were finally destroyed by the death of John Lenon in 1980, or rather his murder. But, despite all this, the group does not lose its popularity and the love of its listeners.
The Beatles albums
During their existence, the Beatles sold more than 1 billion discs and cassettes, they were the authors 18 albums(13 official studio albums). The most popular of them: “Revolver”, “Magical Mystery Tour”, “Let It Be”, “Help!” ", "With The Beatles", "Yellow Submarine", "Beatles for Sale".
- John Lennon's father worked as a merchant ship, Paul McCartney's father worked as a clerk, Ringo Starr's father worked as a baker, and George Harrison's father worked as a sailor.
- The phrase “The Beatles” is a mixture of the words “beat” and “beetles”.
- The Beatles were awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1965. However, John Lennon in 1969, as a sign of protest (he opposed England's support for US aggression in Vietnam), returned his order.
- The Beatles were the first group to have their performance broadcast worldwide via satellite by the BBC on June 25, 1967.
- During the band's 1961 tour in Hamburg, band member Stuart Sutcliffe fell in love with photographer and artist Astrid Kirchherr. She came up with the idea of creating the legendary Beatles haircuts. She also suggested that the guys wear jackets without collars instead of worn leather jackets. Astrid Kirchherr conducted a professional photo shoot for the Beatles in their new image. For her sake, Stuart Sutcliffe leaves the group and stays with her in Hamburg.
- Even before the birth of the popular brainchild
The work of the Beatles - one of the greatest groups in the history of modern music - and the personal lives of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison in the years since the group's triumphant march around the world has been thoroughly explored. The gigantic array of materials about the Beatles can safely be called, by analogy with Beatlemania, “Beatlology” - the science of the Beatles.
And yet, in the biography of the group and its members, you can still find interesting, funny, and sometimes tragic facts that have not been widely replicated.
1. From February 1961 to August 1963, the Beatles played on stage in one of the Liverpool clubs 262 times. The dynamics of the foursome's fees at that time are impressive - from 5 pounds for the first concert to 300 for the last.
2. In 1962, Decca Records refused to sign a contract with the group, telling the musicians that guitar groups had already gone out of fashion.
3. The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was recorded in 10 hours of studio time. Nowadays, with powerful electronics and computers, it takes months to record an album. The Beatles themselves, in 1966, only recorded the song “Strawberry Fields Forever” in exactly 30 days.
4. It's very hard to imagine now, but in the era of Beatlemania there were no stage monitors. Performing in a large hall or stadium, the Beatles simply could not hear themselves in the screaming and singing of the crowd of thousands. As one of the musicians aptly put it, the organizers could easily have carried wax figures on tours instead of living people.
5. For the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the Nippon Budokan sports complex was built, which became a Mecca for Japanese fans of sumo and martial arts. In 1966, one Beatles concert was enough to transform the Budokan from a martial arts center into the main concert venue in Japan.
The Beatles concert at Nippon Budokan
6. The final chord of the song “A Day in the Life” was performed by Lennon, McCartney and 8 other musicians on one piano with 10 hands. The chord lasted 42 seconds.
7. Almost all the drum parts in the Beatles songs were performed by Ringo Starr. But there are also exceptions. Paul McCartney played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R", "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" and "Dear Prudence".
8. The song “All You Need is Love,” first performed as the closing track of the world’s first worldwide satellite television show, “Our World,” features bars from the song “La Marseillaise,” which was the unofficial anthem of Russia for a time in 1917.
9. Asteroids with numbers 4147 - 4150 are named by the full names of the members of the Fab Four. And Lennon also has a personal lunar crater.
10. This is nothing more than an accident, but by the time the Beatles broke up, they had recorded 13 albums. However, in what is considered the most complete collection of the group’s albums, there are 15 of them - “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Past Masters”, a collection of unreleased songs, are added to the authentic ones.
11. In fact, the Beatles can be considered the inventors of the music video. During the group's most fruitful period in 1965, the musicians began to feel sorry for the time spent on traditional weekly television shows. On the other hand, participation in these shows was a necessary element of promoting singles and albums. The Beatles began recording performances in their own studio and sending the resulting videos to the offices of television companies. Of course, not for free.
12. By Steven Spielberg’s own admission, one of his guides to editing everyday films is the Beatles’ “Magic Mystery Tour.” Having watched a very weak film, it is difficult to understand what its editing could teach the future master of cinema.
Young Steven Spielberg
13. In 1989, a high-profile trial between the former Beatles and EMI ended. The musicians accused the music label of selling Beatles songs intended for non-commercial distribution for charity. EMI's lack of attention to charity brought $100 million into the pockets of McCartney, Starr, Harrison and Yoko Ono. Three years earlier, unpaid royalties for the musical “Beatlemania” brought the band members only 10 million between them.
14. According to a fairly popular legend, Paul McCartney died in a car accident back in 1967, and former police officer Bill Campbell took his place in the group. Supporters of the version found a lot of evidence of its truth in the design of album covers and the lyrics of the Beatles songs.
15. The first to set foot on the soil of the countries that were part of the USSR during the heyday of the Beatles was Ringo Starr. The drummer and his All-Starr Band gave concerts in both capitals of Russia in 1998.
16. At the instigation of home-grown rock stars, Western music critics write seriously about the Beatles’ contribution to the destruction of the communist system. The “Great Four,” in their opinion, influenced Makarevich, Grebenshchikov, Gradsky and other rock musicians so much that the USSR was simply doomed. However, back in the 1970s, journalists put Lennon on a par with Mao Zedong and John Kennedy
17. The rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones existed and exists exclusively in the minds of the group's managers and their fans. There were friendly relations between the musicians. In 1963, John and Paul went to a Stones concert. After the performance, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger complained to them that it was time to release a single, but they didn't have enough songs. McCartney had a melody for a song that Starr was supposed to sing as part of the Beatles. After some minor modifications, right on the sidelines of the concert, the Rolling Stones received the missing song. It was called "I Wanna Be Your Man".
18. John Lennon's mother was special, far from Christian virtues. From the age of four, John lived and was raised in his aunt's house. The sisters did not break off their relationship, and John often met with his mother. After one of the meetings, a drunk driver hit and killed Julia Lennon, which was a very difficult blow for 18-year-old Lennon.
At Clapton's wedding
19. Eric Clapton secretly met with George Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd for a long time. This love triangle could well have revived the Beatles in 1979. Harrison was so grateful to Clapton, who saved him from the tedious divorce from Patti and the “breaking of plates, squabbles and division of property,” that he decided to gather the whole four at Eric and Patti’s wedding. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney came and played a few songs, but Lennon ignored the invitation. There was one year left before John died.
50 years ago, on October 5, 1962, the Beatles' first record, Love Me Do, went on sale.
The Beatles ("The Beatles") are a British rock band that made a huge contribution to the development and popularization of both rock music and rock culture in general. The ensemble became one of the brightest phenomena of world culture in the 60s of the 20th century.
On June 20, 2004, as part of the European tour 04 Summer Tour, Paul McCartney's only concert took place in St. Petersburg on Palace Square.
On April 4, 2009, a concert by former members of The Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took place in New York. The concert featured both solo songs by musicians and several Beatles hits. The money from their joint concert went to promote spiritual values among young people.
The last time they performed together was at the George Harrison Tribute Concert in 2002.
In February 2012, it became known that the houses in Liverpool where members of the legendary group The Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney spent their childhood. The Organization for the Preservation of Historic Monuments, Landmarks and Scenic Sites previously carried out restoration of both buildings so that they looked the same as when the musicians were children.
Since 2001, according to the decision of UNESCO, January 16 is celebrated annually as World Beatles Day. Music lovers around the world are celebrating the best band of the bygone 20th century.
In the USSR, from 1964 to 1992, the Krugozor magazine and the Melodiya Company released recordings in the form of flexible gramophone records, including music by Western musicians; during 1974, five Beatles records were released.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Beatles (« The Beatles"; separately, members of the ensemble in Russia are called “Beatles”) - an iconic British rock band from Liverpool:
John Lennon (rhythm guitar, lead guitar, keyboards, tambourine, maracas, bass guitar, harmonica, vocals),
Paul McCartney (bass, keyboards, drums, guitar, vocals),
George Harrison (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, sitar, tambourine, keyboards, vocals),
Ringo Starr (drums, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, bongos, keyboards, vocals).
Also at various times, the group included Pete Best (drums, vocals) and Stuart Sutcliffe (bass guitar, vocals), Jimmy Nicol (drums). The group made an invaluable contribution to the development of rock music. The ensemble not only changed it, but also achieved unprecedented popularity, thanks to which Beatles became one of the most striking phenomena of world culture of the 20th century, selling more than 1 billion records worldwide. The appearance, demeanor and beliefs of the musicians made them trendsetters, which, coupled with their enormous popularity, led to the group's significant influence on the cultural and social revolution of the 1960s. After the group disbanded in 1970, each of its members began a solo career. " The Beatles"is considered the greatest group of all time.
Origins (1956-1960)
The roots of the ensemble go back to the mid-1950s, the era of rock and roll, which shaped the worldview and musical tastes of the future members of the group. In the spring of 1956, John Lennon (1940-1980) first heard the song “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley, which, according to him, meant the end of his entire previous life (it is interesting to note that Bill Haley, who he heard before, is the most popular rock and -roll to Presley - made less of an impression on him). By then John was playing harmonica and banjo. Now he began to master the guitar. Soon, together with his schoolmates, he founded the group “The Blackjacks”, a week later renamed The Quarrymen, named after their school, Quarry Bank. The Quarrymen played skiffle, a British form of amateur rock and roll, and tried to sound like teddy boys. In the summer of 1957, Lennon, during one of Quarryman's first concerts, met 15-year-old Paul McCartney, who impressed John with his knowledge of the chords and words of the latest rock and roll (in particular the song "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran) and the fact that he was clearly more developed musically (Paul also played trumpet and piano). In the spring of 1958, for occasional performances, and in the fall, Paul's friend, George Harrison (1943-2001), joined them permanently. It was these three who became the main backbone of the group; for the remaining members of Quarryman, rock and roll was a temporary hobby, and they soon fell away from the group.
Quarrymen occasionally played at various parties, weddings, and social events, but they never got to the point of real concerts and recordings (however, in 1958, out of curiosity, they recorded a record with two songs out of curiosity); several times the participants dispersed (for example, Harrison had his own group for some time). Lennon and McCartney, inspired by the example of Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran (they not only sang, but also played guitars and wrote songs themselves, which was not a common practice in the music industry at that time), began to write their own songs together, and they decided to give they have dual authorship, similar to American writing groups like Leiber and Stoller. At the end of 1959, the group included aspiring artist Stuart Sutcliffe, whom Lennon met at his art college. Sutcliffe's playing was not distinguished by great skill, which repeatedly irritated the demanding McCartney. In this form, the composition of the ensemble was almost complete: John Lennon (vocals, rhythm guitar), Paul McCartney (vocals, piano, rhythm guitar), George Harrison (lead guitar), Stuart Sutcliffe (bass guitar). However, there was a problem - the lack of a permanent drummer, which prompted the musicians to even organize comic competitions, inviting spectators to the stage as drummers.
Name
By that time, the group was actively trying to integrate into the concert and club life of Liverpool and its outskirts. Talent competitions followed one after another, but the group was constantly unlucky. Such more serious events made the musicians think about a suitable stage name - none of the participants had anything to do with Quarry Bank. For example, at a local television competition in December 1959, the group performed under the name "Johnny and the Moondogs", which was replaced by others at subsequent concerts. The name "The Beatles" appeared a few months later, in April 1960. There is still no clear answer as to who exactly coined this word. According to the recollections of the band members, the authors of the neologism are considered to be Sutcliffe and Lennon, who were keen on the idea of coming up with a name that simultaneously had different meanings. Buddy Holly's group The Crickets was taken as an example ("crickets", but for the British there was a second meaning - "cricket"). Lennon stated that he came up with the name in a dream: "I saw a flaming man who said, 'Let there be beetles.'" However, simply the word Beetles did not have any double meaning; Only with the replacement of “e” with “a” did the original word appear: if you pronounced it, you heard “beetles”, but if you saw it in print, then the root “beat” (like beat music) immediately caught your eye. Promoters found the name too short and “inconspicuous”, so the musicians were initially forced to change their name on the posters to a more advertising one - “Johnny and the Moondogs”, “Long John and the Beetles” or “The Silver Beatles”. The band received more and more offers to perform - usually in pubs and small clubs. In April 1960, The Beatles embarked on their first small tour of Scotland as a backing band. Their prowess as musicians grew steadily, although they continued to be one of Liverpool's many obscure rock 'n' roll bands.
Hamburg (1960-1962)
Summer 1960 Beatles received an invitation to play in Hamburg, where club owners were interested in real English-language rock and roll ensembles; The fact that several Liverpool bands were already playing in Hamburg worked to the advantage of the Beatles. However, this also forced them to urgently look for a drummer in order to comply with a professional contract. So they recruited Pete Best, who was a drummer in the Liverpool rock band “The Blackjacks”, who played at the Casbah club. On August 16, the Beatles left England, and the very next day their first concert took place at the Hamburg club Indra, where the group played until October. From October until the end of November, The Beatles played at the Kaiserkeller club.
The performance schedule was extremely strict: as a rule, one group played in the club for one hour, another for another hour, for 12 hours. The Beatles lived in one cramped room located in a cinema building. On stage, the musicians had to play a huge amount of material, so in addition to rock and rolls (they performed almost all the recordings in a row from the albums of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and others), they played blues, rhythm and blues, folk songs, old pop and jazz numbers, modifying them in the style of rock and roll. Sometimes ordinary songs in the rock and roll format turned into half-hour improvisations; in doing so, the group discovered that the Germans liked particularly loud and assertive playing. Your own songs Beatles did not perform because, according to them, there was no incentive for the same reason - there was too much suitable material in the surrounding modern music. It was this kind of daily work and the ability to play music of any genre that became one of the determining factors in the development of The Beatles' talent.
In Hamburg, the ensemble members met a group of students from the local art college - Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Foorman, who played a significant role in the biography of the group. Kirchherr soon became Sutcliffe's friend and it was she who suggested, however, on the next visit of The Beatles to Hamburg, in the spring of 1961, new hairstyles - hair combed over the forehead and ears, and a little later - jackets without collars and lapels in the fashion of Pierre Cardin. All these innovations were first tested by Sutcliffe, and only then were they adopted by the whole group (although Best never agreed to long bangs).
On his return to Liverpool in December 1960 Beatles found themselves among the most active and ambitious local groups who competed in repertoire, sound and number of fans. It is interesting that all Liverpool groups played almost the same (American) songs, but competition was also based on the principle of who would be the first to “discover” which song and make it “their own”. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were considered the leaders, they played in the best clubs in Liverpool, as well as Hamburg - it was there that the Beatles met their drummer, Ringo Starr (real name Richard Starkey), with whom they quickly became friends and began to spend time together.
In April 1961, the group went on a second tour to Hamburg, where they performed for three months at the Top Ten club. It was in Hamburg that the Beatles' first professional recording took place - as an accompanying ensemble for singer Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was positioned as a rock and roll singer for the domestic West German market. The recording took place under the direction of Bert Kaempfert, who selected the Beatles. During recording, the band was allowed to record several of their own compositions (Lennon also sang "Ain't She Sweet"). The first result of the recordings was the single “My Bonnie / The Saints” released in August 1961 in Germany, indicating the performers - Tony Sheridan and ... “The Beat Brothers”. So for the German market, for reasons of euphony, The Beatles were named. At the end of the tour, Sutcliffe decided to stay in Hamburg with Kirchherr and thus give up his musical activities in the group. Bass guitar went to McCartney. A year later, on April 10, 1962, Sutcliffe died in Hamburg from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Since the spring of 1961, occasionally, and since August - regularly, The Beatles began performing at the Cavern club in Liverpool. In total, The Beatles performed there 262 times in 1961-1962, with their last performance taking place on August 3, 1962. On July 27, a concert took place in Liverpool's Litherland Town Hall, which became the first truly major success - the local press called Beatles Liverpool's best rock 'n' roll band.
In November 1961, Brian Epstein became the first manager of the Beatles (Allan Williams, who had previously helped the group, was not a manager, he only performed the duties of a concert promoter and tour agent, with no obligations to the group).
First contract (1962)
Over time, Brian Epstein met with producer George Martin from the Parlophone label, which belonged to EMI. George showed interest in the group and wanted to see them perform in the studio; he invited the quartet to audition at London's Abbey Road Studios on June 6. It should be noted that in the end, George Martin was not particularly impressed with the band's first demos, but immediately fell in love with the Beatles as ordinary people. Recognizing that they had talent, Martin later said in interviews that it was not the Beatles' talent that impressed him that day, but that they themselves were attractive, cheerful and slightly cheeky young people. When Martin asked if there was anything they didn't like about the studio, Harrison replied, "I don't like your tie." Fortunately for " Beatles", George Martin appreciated the joke: the group was asked to sign a long-awaited recording contract, and direct and witty answers to questions became the Beatles' signature style of conversation at various press conferences and interviews.
George Martin only had problems with Pete Best - he believed that Pete did not reach the overall level of the group. As a result, Martin personally suggested to Brian Epstein that he change the band's drummer. However, despite his not very good drumming, Best was very popular among fans, which slightly angered the other three members of the group. Moreover, Pete did not get along with the rest of the Beatles because of his individuality - Epstein was generally angry (which rarely happened to him) when Best refused to give himself the signature “Beatles” hairstyle and fit into the general style of the group. As a result, on August 16, 1962, Brian announced that Pete Best was leaving the group. Beatles. His place was immediately taken by drummer from the group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Ringo Starr, with whom the Beatles had long been familiar. Having first met Ringo in Hamburg, the Beatles, ironically, recorded their first record with him. In mid-August 1960, in the private Akustik studio, The Beatles participated in the recording of the first record in their lives - a demonstration record, then printed in only four copies and designed to be played at a speed of 78 rpm. In fact, it was not their record, but the bass guitarist and vocalist of "Rory Storm and The Hurricanes" Lou Walters, who decided to record the songs "Fever", "Summertime", "September Song" and asked The Beatles " help him. Sutcliffe and Best were simply present in the studio, as Walters preferred Ringo to do the drums.
Soon, The Beatles began working in the studio. Their first recording session at EMI produced no results, but during the September sessions, The Beatles recorded and released their first single, “Love Me Do,” which was released on October 5, 1962, and reached number 17 on the music magazine chart. Record Retailer" is a pretty good result for young musicians. In America, where it was released in May 1964 (right at the height of Beatlemania in Britain), the song stayed at the top of the charts for 18 months. A well-known role here was played by the commercial cunning of Brian Epstein, who, at his own peril and risk, bought 10 thousand copies of the record, which significantly increased its sales index and attracted new buyers. The Beatles made their first televised appearance on October 17, 1962, on People and Places, which broadcast their concert in Manchester, filmed by Granada Television. Soon the group recorded the single “Please Please Me,” which, according to various magazines, took first and second places in their charts (Britain did not have an official national chart at the beginning of 1963).
On February 11, 1963, the Beatles recorded all the material for their debut album, Please Please Me, in just 12 hours. Three months after the release of the single of the same name (March 22), the Beatles finally released their first album, which on April 12 topped the national hit parade for 6 months (finally appearing). The album was mixed from the group's own songs with the authorship of Lennon - McCartney and cover versions of their favorite hit songs belonging to famous performers at that time.
October 13, 1963 is considered to be the birthday of “Beatlemania” - a phenomenon of deafening popularity that has not yet been repeated by any group in the world. The Beatles then performed at the London Palladium, from where their concert was broadcast on the Sunday Night At The London Palladium program throughout the country. The program attracted 15 million television viewers, but thousands of young fans chose to skip the program and filled the streets adjacent to the concert hall building in the hope of seeing the musicians not on the screen, but in life. After the concert, the quartet had to make their way to the car surrounded by police. On November 4, The Beatles headlined the Royal Variety Show at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon were present at the concert, and the Queen did not hide her admiration for the Beatles' performance of the song "Till There Was You" from the popular musical "The Music Man".
On November 22, the quartet’s second album, “With The Beatles,” was released. Of the fourteen songs on the record, eight are the musicians’ own works, including George Harrison’s song, “Don’t Bother Me,” for the first time on the band’s official albums. The album set a world record for the number of advance trade requests - 300 thousand, and by 1965 over a million copies of the record were sold.
Trip to America and the height of Beatlemania (1963-1964)
Despite the group's growing popularity in Britain and its high chart positions since early 1963, Parlophone's American counterpart, Capitol Records (which was also owned by EMI), was hesitant to release The Beatles singles in the United States, partly because because no English group has ever had lasting success in America. Brian Epstein, however, managed to sign a contract with a small Chicago company “Vee Jay”, and it released the singles “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You”, as well as the album “Introducing The Beatles”, but they were not successful and even hit the regional charts.
The situation changed after the release of the single “I Want To Hold Your Hand” in the United States at the end of 1963. It appeared in England a little earlier and immediately took first place. Inspired by this song, The Sunday Times music critic Richard Buccle called Lennon and McCartney “the greatest composers since Beethoven” in the December 29, 1963 issue. On January 18, 1964, it became known that the single “I Want To Hold Your Hand” took first place in the Cash Box magazine chart in the United States and third place in the Billboard weekly chart. On January 20, the American company 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 in the United States on February 3. By the beginning of April, only Beatles songs appeared in the top five songs of the US national hit parade, and in total there were 14 of them in the hit parade.
“Beatlemania” stepped overseas. The musicians were convinced of this as soon as they landed on February 7, 1964 at New York's Kennedy Airport - more than four thousand fans came to greet them. At that time, the quartet gave three concerts in the United States: one at the Washington Coliseum and two at New York's Carnegie Hall. In addition, The Beatles appeared twice on the Ed Sullivan Show, attracting a record 73 million viewers in television history (40% of the US population at the time!). Almost the rest of the time they met with journalists and American art colleagues, and on the morning of February 22 they returned to England.
On March 2, the Beatles began filming and recording songs for their first musical film, A Hard Day's Night, and the album of the same name. The work was not yet completed when the British press reported a new sensation: the single “Can’t Buy Me Love” / “You Can’t Do That”, which appeared on March 20, collected an unprecedented number of preliminary applications in England and the United States - 3 million. No work of art or literature has ever had such a first edition.
On June 4, the quartet set off on their first major overseas tour. His route ran through Denmark, Holland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Australia again. On the eve of the trip, Ringo was admitted to hospital with acute tonsillitis and appeared on stage only on June 16 in Melbourne. Previously, The Beatles performed with session drummer Jimmy Nicol. The tour was a truly triumphant success. In Adelaide, for example, the musicians were met at the airport by a crowd of 300,000(!).
The quartet returned to London on July 2, and three days later the premiere of the film “A Hard Day’s Night” (directed by Richard Lester) took place at the capital’s Pavilion cinema. Soon after the premiere, the group's self-titled album was released, which for the first time did not contain a single borrowed song. Both the film and the album received rave reviews from the press, and the outstanding American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, after listening to the album “A Hard Day’s Night,” called Lennon and McCartney “the best songwriters since Schubert.”
On August 19, 1964, the first full-fledged tour began Beatles across North America (the previous trip in February was more of a promotional and excursion nature). In 32 days, the quartet traveled 35,906 kilometers and gave 31 concerts in 24 cities (including three in Canada). For each concert the ensemble received 25-30 thousand dollars. Initially, the tour route included not 24, but 23 cities. A performance in Kansas City was not planned, but the owner of the local professional basketball club, Charles Finley, clearly determined to make history, offered the Beatles $150,000 for one half-hour concert, and Brian Epstein agreed.
But the musicians themselves in those days were more worried about the other, downside of success. During the tour they felt like prisoners because they were completely isolated from the world. The hotels they stayed in were besieged by crowds around the clock. Incredible, but true: the equipment with which The Beatles performed in huge stadiums in 1964 would not satisfy even the most seedy restaurant ensemble today - the power and sound quality were so low. The technology was hopelessly behind the pace of show business development set by the quartet. There were not even monitors (control speakers), and behind the deafening roar of the stands, the musicians often did not hear not only each other, but also themselves, lost their rhythm, and lost the tonality in their vocal parts. But the audience did not notice this, they also heard almost nothing, and did not really see anything: for safety reasons, the stage was installed either in the center of the football field or on the back line of the baseball field.
In such conditions, there could be no talk of any creative development or progress. Unlike the Hamburg concerts, the quartet now had to perform a limited number of the same songs day after day. Changes to the program were not allowed. The stage was no longer a laboratory or a testing ground for musicians. From now on, they could create something new, create, develop only outside its borders.
"Beatles For Sale" and "Help!" (1964-1965)
Returning to London on September 21, The Beatles began recording their next album, Beatles For Sale, on the same day. Of the 14 selected songs, six were borrowed and have appeared in the quartet’s repertoire for more than one year (“Rock And Roll Music”, “Mr. Moonlight”, “Kansas City”, “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby”)). In general, the record was a bizarre bouquet of styles from rock and roll to country and western with a predominance of intonations in the spirit of Buddy Holly records. On the very first day (December 4), the disc sold 700 thousand copies and within a week topped the British charts. In February 1965, filming began on the second full-length film Help!, directed by Richard Lester, already known for The Beatles' previous film A Hard Day's Night. The film premiered in London on July 29, and the album of the same name was released on August 6.
Every song on the album is good, but one of them, without exaggeration, can be called an outstanding piece of music, a classic not only for popular music, but for music in general. This is the song "Yesterday". Paul McCartney composed its melody at the beginning of the year, but the lyrics appeared much later. He called it “Scrambled Eggs” because he sang the tune with the first words that came to mind: “Scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs...” (“Scrambled eggs, oh my baby, how I love your legs...”) . George Martin liked the melody, but he suggested recording it as a song using a string quartet accompaniment that was completely unexpected for The Beatles. This was the first time that neither John, George, nor Ringo participated in the recording. The song was clearly “doomed” to great success, but The Beatles did not release it independently, as a single, but immediately included it in the album. With their creativity, they could afford it. Shortly after the release of the album "Help!" The song “Yesterday” began to be performed by many soloists and ensembles one after another, and its instrumental versions entered the repertoire of symphony orchestras. Today, about two thousand interpretations of this composition are known - more than any other in history.
On August 13, The Beatles embarked on their second American tour. Exactly two weeks later, an event occurred that to this day haunts show businessmen and music lovers: the Beatles visited Elvis Presley, with whom they not only talked, but also played music, and several compositions were recorded on a tape recorder. Neither during Elvis's lifetime, nor after his death in 1977, the recordings were released. Despite the best efforts of agents hired by American, British, West German and Japanese record companies, the whereabouts of the tapes could not be determined. Their cost amounts to millions of dollars.
New directions in creativity and the end of concert activity (1965-1966)
The summer of 1965 was a turning point in the history of rock music. From dance and entertainment, it became a serious art. New rock groups appeared, and such ensembles and performers as The Byrds, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan began to compete with The Beatles, who, of course, could not stay away from these changes. On October 12 in London they began recording the album “Rubber Soul”, which marked the beginning of a new phase not only in their work, but also in rock music culture in general. All competing authors and performers were again left far behind. “It was the first album that introduced the new, maturing Beatles to the world,” George Martin recalled years later. “It was the first time we began to think in terms of the album as an independent and valuable work of art.” All the more surprising is the fact that Beatles They started recording this record with an almost empty “portfolio”: by October 12, they didn’t even have three songs completely ready for recording. And on December 3, 1965, the album was already on the shelves of music stores. For the first time, elements of mysticism and surrealism, so characteristic of The Beatles in the future, appeared in the songs of the album.
October 26, 1965 - the members of the group at Buckingham Palace were awarded (Labour Prime Minister Wilson announced this on June 12) state awards - the Order of the British Empire, MBE. For the first time, the UK's highest award was given to pop musicians "for their contribution to the development of British culture and its popularization throughout the world." The three of them took it with delight. And John later admitted: “If the court had bothered to read what I think about the royal family, they would never have allowed this.” The presentation of the award to members of the Beatles caused outrage among some of its recipients, including military heroes. They returned their orders in protest because, in their opinion, these awards were now simply worthless. “The British royal house has equated me with a handful of vulgar fools,” wrote one of these gentlemen.
In 1966, the Beatles first began to have real problems. In July, while on tour in the Philippines, due to their accidental conflict with the first lady of this country (they refused an official reception at the presidential palace), the Beatles were almost torn apart by an angry crowd, and they barely escaped from this state. On the way to board a plane from the Philippines, their tour manager Mal Evans was horribly beaten at the airport, the band members were pushed and literally “kicked” out onto the plane. After returning to his homeland overseas, in America, a fuss arose because of Lennon’s carelessly said phrase back in March that “Christianity is dying, and, for example, now Beatles more popular than Jesus." In England they read this phrase, had a fight and immediately forgot about it. In cities in the United States and, oddly enough, in South Africa, protests against “The Beatles” took place, their records, portraits, clothes were burned, on every alley there were buckets with the inscription: “For garbage from ... the Beatles,” and in One fine day, the priests built stuffed musicians, and everyone could come up to them and do whatever they wanted. However, the Beatles themselves reacted to this with humor: “ha, before they burn these records, they have to buy them.” But under Pressed by the American press, Lennon officially apologized for his statements at a press conference on August 11 in Chicago (USA).
However, despite all the failures, one of the best albums was released on August 5, 1966 Beatles- "Revolver". The album was distinguished primarily by the fact that most of its songs did not involve stage performance - the studio effects used here were so complex. And “The Beatles” were henceforth a purely studio group. They were so tired of the exhausting world tour that they decided to stop their concert activities. In their home country, their last performance took place on May 1, 1966 at the Empire Pool at London's Wembley Stadium, where they took part in a gala concert, performing 5 compositions in a 15-minute performance: “I Feel Fine”, “Nowhere Man” ", "Day Tripper", "If I Needed Someone" and "I'm Down". The last tour was an American tour of the same year, ending with a concert in San Francisco on August 29. This is where the stage biography of the quartet ended. The album "Revolver", meanwhile, topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Critics praised it as the culmination of The Beatles' creativity. It seemed that it was basically impossible to create a better record than this one, and many newspapers seriously suggested that the quartet would stop on this incredibly high note. From the outside, such a decision would seem quite logical, but it never occurred to the musicians themselves.
“Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967)
At the end of 1966 Beatles gathered in the studio again. The result of the recording sessions that began on November 24 was the single "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever", which appeared on February 17, 1967. A characteristic feature of the single was that instead of the usual first and second sides, it had two first sides. This emphasized that both songs included in the album are the main ones. The composition “Strawberry Fields Forever” seemed to contain all the experience of studio work accumulated by the quartet. The musicians began recording it on November 24, 1966, and the final version that we hear on the record appeared only on January 2. Innovative techniques in arrangement, a huge number of studio instrumentalists participating in the recording at that time, the very view of the studio as a musical instrument with almost unlimited possibilities, all this, characteristic of the single “Penny Lane” / “Strawberry Fields Forever”, as it were prepared listeners (and the musicians themselves!) for the metamorphosis, embodied in the album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The start date for recording "Sgt. Pepper" is considered to be November 24, when Beatles started working on "Strawberry Fields Forever". Over a 129-day period (in comparison, the album “Please Please Me” took 12 hours to record), the musicians, as it turned out, recorded the greatest album in the history of rock music. On the days the record was recorded, almost all of the studio's full-time workers did not go home until late at night, even those who had the day off. The camera room was crowded with fellow musicians and producers of other groups. Eyewitnesses said that Ron Richard, who at that time was the producer of the recordings of The Hollies, was literally panicked by the song “A Day In The Life” (as some critics admit, the best song on the album). Sitting in the corner of the control room and holding his head in his hands, he repeated as if wound up: “This is incredible... I give up.” Meanwhile, the Beatles created the album playfully. They took pleasure in saturating it with unheard of, unexpected musical and sound effects in general. And as a result, the album, released on May 26, received phenomenal success and stayed at the top of the charts for 88 (!) weeks.
The Death of Brian Epstein and the White Album (1967-1968)
June 25, 1967 Beatles became the first ensemble whose performance was broadcast throughout the world - almost 400 million people in all countries could see them. Their performance became part of the world's first global television program, Our World. The performance was broadcast live from the Beatles' main Abbey Road studio in London and featured a video version of the song "All You Need Is Love".
But after this triumph, the group’s business began to decline, and the tragic death of The Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who died on August 27, 1967 as a result of an overdose of sleeping pills, played a significant role in this. “The fifth Beatle,” as the group members themselves called him, who was in charge of all financial affairs and devoted all his time to the group, passed away. He was only 32.
At the end of 1967, The Beatles received the first negative press reviews about their work - the film Magical Mystery Tour became the object of criticism. The main complaint about the film was that it was only released in color, and few Britons had color televisions at the time. The soundtrack to the film (which, by the way, did not receive any complaints) was released in the UK as a mini-album.
The group spent early 1968 in Rishikesh, India, studying meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yoga. After returning home, Lennon and McCartney announced the birth of the Apple corporation, under whose label The Beatles now began releasing their records. Meanwhile, the quartet was carrying out two major projects at once: preparing material for the next album and participating in the work on the full-length animated film “Yellow Submarine,” which was released in January 1969 along with a soundtrack album. In addition, on August 30, The Beatles released one of the best songs in the group’s history, “Hey Jude,” as a single. By the end of the year, the album had sold 6 million copies worldwide, topping the charts almost all over the world.
On November 22, 1968, the group released their new recording - a double album Beatles, which is known among the masses simply as the "white album", due to its stark white cover, which only had the band's name stamped on it. Critics gave the album mixed reviews. Many reviewers were of the opinion that the musicians should have been more demanding and compiled one disc. However, the audience was delighted - everyone liked the album. Well, it occupies a special place in the biography of the Beatles, since it is the first clear evidence of the impending collapse of the Beatles. The days of working on the “white album” showed the barriers that arose between the group members, their relationships deteriorated, and Ringo Starr even left the ensemble for a while. As a result, the songs "Martha My Dear", "Wild Honey Pie", "Dear Prudence" and "Back in the USSR" feature McCartney's drumming. However, the same album featured a song written by Ringo, "Don't Pass Me By". The atmosphere in the group was also tense because of Lennon's new wife, Yoko Ono, who was present at every sound session of the group and very annoyed all its members (except, of course, Lennon). In addition, Lennon and Harrison began to release solo records, which also did not greatly improve the group’s fortunes. All these nuances inexorably led to disintegration.
Last albums and breakup (1969-1970)
Reunion attempt, death of John Lennon
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was assassinated in New York by mentally unstable US citizen Mark Chapman. On the day of his death, Lennon gave his last interview to American journalists, and at 22:50, when John and Yoko were entering the arch of their house, returning from the Hit Factory recording studio, Chapman, who had earlier that day taken Lennon’s autograph for the cover of the new album "Double Fantasy", fired five shots into his back. In a police car called by the gatekeeper of the Dakota, Lennon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in just a few minutes. But the doctors’ attempts to save Lennon were in vain - due to heavy blood loss, he died, the official time of death was 23 hours 15 minutes. Lennon was cremated in New York and his ashes were given to Yoko Ono.
Mark Chapman is serving a life sentence for his crime in a New York prison. He applied for early release five times, but each time his requests were rejected.
Paul McCartney was planning a reunion Beatles a year before John Lennon was killed. In his 1979 contract with CBS Records, McCartney claimed that he would be able to record music again with Lennon, Harrison and Starr under the Beatles name.
Details of the $10.8 million contract were made public on the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death. A representative from the record company commented: " This is the earliest evidence that any of the Beatles made a formal attempt to revive the group.».
This is also proof that Paul did not initiate the breakup, as was believed up to that point.
Free As A Bird, Real Love, Now And Then
When McCartney, Starr and Harrison compiled the anthology in 1994 Beatles, John's widow Yoko Ono gave them tapes with unfinished versions of three songs, two of which - "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" - the musicians finalized. The third had to be abandoned, since the colleagues of the late Lennon did not dare to add stanzas of the verse, so as not to misinterpret John’s thought. According to other sources, the reason for the failure was strong noise on the recording.
« The song existed in the form of a fragmentary chorus, it had nothing else, - Jeff Lynne, a famous musician and close friend of the Beatles, who produced the recording, shares his memories. - We recorded the backing track, but things didn’t go further - then “Now And Then” remained unfinished. It's kind of a blues ballad, a very light song. I really like it, and I hope that it will still reach listeners».
However, more than 10 years later, Paul McCartney decided to take a bold step: he composed the missing lines and recorded them in his own performance, leaving the author’s voice in the chorus. Ringo Starr provided the drums, and the musicians took the guitar from archival recordings of George Harrison.
