Rishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation "Guide Course". Their
time in India
The Republic of India uses only one time zone (even though it spans across two geographical time zones) across the whole nation and all its territories, called Indian Standard Time (IST), which equates to UTC+05:30, i.e. five and a half hours ...
marked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album. However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later. For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known as
Magic Alex
Yannis (later John) Alexis Mardas ( el, Αλέξης Μάρδας; 2 May 1942 – 13 January 2017), also known as Magic Alex, was a Greek electronics engineer who was closely associated with the Beatles. His nickname was given to him by John Le ...
suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them. When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him. In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "
Sexy Sadie
Sexy is an adjective to describe a sexually appealing person (or thing), primarily referring to physical attractiveness. It may also refer to:
* Sexual arousal, the arousal of sexual desire, during or in anticipation of sexual activity
* Sexual at ...
" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."
In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture,
Apple Corps
Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pro ...
. It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education. McCartney described Apple as "rather like a Western communism". The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects handled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience. Among its numerous subsidiaries were
Apple Electronics
Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pr ...
, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-lived
Apple Boutique
The Apple Boutique was a retail store located in a building on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street, Marylebone, London. It opened on 7 December 1967 and closed on 31 July 1968. The shop was one of the first business ventures by th ...
in London. Harrison later said, "Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it."
From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what became ''
The Beatles'', a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover. During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive. Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record "
Back in the U.S.S.R.
"Back in the U.S.S.R." is a song by the English rock band the Beatles and the first track of the 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as the "White Album"). Written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, ...
" and "
Dear Prudence" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums. Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney, whose contribution "
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Following th ...
" he scorned as "granny music shit". Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...
artist
Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio. McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make". He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.
With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical styles and broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre. During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort. Describing the double album, Lennon later said: "Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it.
t'sJohn and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band." The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, "
Hey Jude", released in August as a non-album single with "
Revolution".
Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...
album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings. The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations. Its lyric content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture. Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing that ''Sgt. Pepper'' had. General critical opinion eventually turned in favour of the White Album, and in 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it as the tenth greatest album of all time.
''Abbey Road'', ''Let It Be'' and separation
Although ''
Let It Be'' was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before ''
Abbey Road
''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly re ...
''. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they "record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film". Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called ''Beatles at Work'', in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director
Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Martin said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb." Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time". Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon
dall talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled ''Get Back'', using songs recorded for the TV special. He also demanded they cease work at
Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished
Apple Studio
Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pr ...
. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.
To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardist
Billy Preston
William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he bac ...
to participate in the last nine days of sessions. Preston received label billing on the "
Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release. After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Tunisian desert, and the
Colosseum. Ultimately, what would be their
final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3
Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. Five weeks later, engineer
Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as ''Get Back''s "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project".
New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...
, who had managed
the Rolling Stones and
Sam Cooke; McCartney wanted
Lee
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of
Linda Eastman
Linda Anne Eastman (July 7, 1867 – April 5, 1963) was an American librarian. She was selected by the American Library Association (ALA) as one of the 100 most important librarians of the 20th century.
Eastman served as the head Librarian of ...
, whom McCartney married on 12 March. Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers. Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost. On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band, the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles.
Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the ''Get Back'' sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us". The primary recording sessions for ''Abbey Road'' began on 2 July. Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album. The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a
medley
Medley or Medleys may refer to:
Sports
*Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles
* Medley relay races at track meets
Music
* Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together
People
* Medley (surname), list of people with this n ...
, was McCartney's suggested compromise. Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's
valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its "kinder, gentler" feel relative to their previous albums.
On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "
Give Peace a Chance", credited to the
Plastic Ono Band
The Plastic Ono Band was a rock band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 for their collaborative and solo projects based on their 1968 Fluxus conceptual art project of the same name.
Lennon and Ono began a personal and artistic relati ...
. The completion and mixing of "
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney). The song closes side one of their 1969 album ''Abbey Road'' and features Billy Preston playing the organ. It w ...
" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio. On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the
Lennon–McCartney
Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is the best-known and most successful musical collaboration ever by records sold, with the ...
pretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.
On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.
Released on 26 September, ''Abbey Road'' sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks. Its second track, the ballad "
Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side. ''Abbey Road'' received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim. Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record".
Musicologist and author
Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley. Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it".
For the still unfinished ''Get Back'' album, one last song, Harrison's "
I Me Mine
"I Me Mine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album ''Let It Be''. Written by George Harrison, it was the last new track recorded by the band before their break-up in April 1970. The song originated from their Janua ...
", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate. In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitled ''Let It Be'', Klein gave the session tapes to American producer
Phil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single "
Instant Karma!
"Instant Karma!" (also titled "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)") is a song by English rock musician John Lennon, released as a single on Apple Records in February 1970. The lyrics focus on a concept in which the consequences of one's actions ...
" In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "
The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble. McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored, and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first
self-titled solo album.
On 8 May 1970, ''Let It Be'' was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK. The ''
Let It Be'' documentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award for
Best Original Song Score. ''
Sunday Telegraph'' critic
Penelope Gilliatt
Penelope Gilliatt (; born Penelope Ann Douglass Conner; 25 March 1932 – 9 May 1993) was an English novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film critic. As one of the main film critics for ''The New Yorker'' magazine in the 1960s an ...
called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings". Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks. Describing ''Let It Be'' as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in '
I've Got a Feeling
"I've Got a Feeling" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album ''Let It Be''. It was recorded on 30 January 1969 during the Beatles' rooftop concert. It is a combination of two unfinished songs: Paul McCartney's "I've ...
' and '
Dig a Pony
"Dig a Pony" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album '' Let It Be''. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The band recorded the song on 30 January 1969, during their rooftop concert at ...
'", and praises "
Let It Be", "Get Back", and "the folky '
Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together".
McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970. Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974, when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at
Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
1970–present: After the break-up
1970s
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the others; Starr's ''
Ringo
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
'' (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison staged
the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, later
bootlegged as ''
A Toot and a Snore in '74
''A Toot and a Snore in '74'' is a bootleg album consisting of the only known recording session in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney played together after the break-up of the Beatles in 1970. First mentioned by Lennon in a 1975 interview, m ...
'', Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again.
Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, ''
1962–1966
''1962–1966'', also known as the Red Album, is a compilation album of hit songs by the English rock band the Beatles, spanning the years indicated in the title. Released with its counterpart '' 1967–1970'' (the "Blue Album") in 1973, the do ...
'' and ''
1967–1970
''1967–1970'', also known as the Blue Album, is a compilation album of songs by the English rock band the Beatles, spanning the years indicated in the title. A double LP, it was released with '' 1962–1966'' (the "Red Album") in April 1973. ...
'', were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint. Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a
Multi-Platinum certification in the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.
Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilation ''
Rock 'n' Roll Music''. The only one to feature previously unreleased material was ''
The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl
''The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl'' is a live album by the Beatles, released in May 1977, featuring songs compiled from three performances recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1964 and August 1965. The album was released by Capitol Records ...
'' (1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours.
The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical ''
John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert'', written by
Willy Russell
William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are '' Educating Rita'', '' Shirley Valentine'', '' Blood Brothers'' and '' Our Day Out''.
Early life
Russell was born in Whiston, Lanc ...
and featuring singer
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include ' I Know Him So Well', ' Answer Me' and ' January February'. Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had ...
, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon-McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "
Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it. Later that year, the off-Broadway musical ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road'' was a 1974 off-Broadway production directed by Tom O'Horgan. It opened at the Beacon Theatre in New York on November 17, 1974 and ran for a total of 66 performances.All This and World War II
''All This and World War II'' is a 1976 musical documentary directed by Susan Winslow. It juxtaposes Beatles songs covered by a variety of musicians with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films, in a manner meant by the filmma ...
'' (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from
Elton John and
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon (23 August 19467 September 1978) was an English drummer for the rock band the Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour and addiction to drugs and alcohol.
Moon grew ...
to the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
. The Broadway musical ''
Beatlemania
Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
'', an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions. In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...
'' (1978), a musical film starring the
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees
were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era i ...
and
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...
, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham.
Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert. Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month. On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of ''
Saturday Night Live'', producer
Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at
the Dakota
The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was constructed between 1880 and 1884 in the Renaissance ...
in New York, which was within driving distance of the
NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to.
1980s
In December 1980, Lennon was
shot and killed outside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "
All Those Years Ago
"All Those Years Ago" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in May 1981 as a single from his album ''Somewhere in England''. Having previously recorded the music for the song, Harrison tailored the lyrics to serve as a personal t ...
" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife,
Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981. McCartney's own tribute, "
Here Today", appeared on his ''
Tug of War'' album in April 1982.
In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's film ''
Give My Regards to Broad Street
''Give My Regards to Broad Street'' is the fifth solo studio album by Paul McCartney and the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The album reached number 1 on the UK chart. The lead single, " No More Lonely Nights", was BAFTA and Golden ...
'', and played with McCartney on several of the songs on the
soundtrack. In 1987, Harrison's ''
Cloud Nine'' album included "
When We Was Fab
"When We Was Fab" is a song by English musician George Harrison, which he released on his 1987 album '' Cloud Nine''. It was also issued as the second single from the album, in January 1988. The lyrics serve as a nostalgic reflection by Harrison ...
", a song about the Beatlemania era.
When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of ''Magical Mystery Tour''.
All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation ''
Past Masters
''Past Masters'' is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The set compiles ...
'' (1988). Except for the ''Red'' and ''Blue'' albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the ''Hollywood Bowl'' record – from its catalogue.
In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons,
Julian and
Sean
Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán ( anglicized as '' Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angl ...
.
McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved "business differences" that would make him "feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion". The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material.
1990s
''
Live at the BBC'', the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994. That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the ''
Anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...
'' project. ''Anthology'' was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall (13 October 1941 24 March 2008) was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head the Beatles' company Apple Corps.
The Beatles employed Aspinall first as t ...
, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title ''The Long and Winding Road''. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the ''Anthology'' project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s.
During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Two songs based on Lennon demos, "
Free as a Bird" and "
Real Love", were issued as new Beatles singles. The releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film ''Yellow Submarine'', an expanded soundtrack album, ''
Yellow Submarine Songtrack
''Yellow Submarine Songtrack'' is a compilation/soundtrack album by the English rock band the Beatles, released in 1999 to coincide with a re-release of the 1968 animated film '' Yellow Submarine'' that same year. The film was re-released on ...
'', was issued.
2000s
The Beatles' ''
1'', a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week and 13 million within a month. It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries. The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009.
Harrison died from
metastatic
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the
Concert for George
The Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 29 November 2002 as a memorial to George Harrison on the first anniversary of his death. The event was organised by Harrison's widow, Olivia, and his son, Dhani, and arrang ...
, organised by
Eric Clapton and Harrison's widow,
Olivia. The tribute event took place at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...
on the first anniversary of Harrison's death.
In 2003, ''
Let It Be... Naked'', a reconceived version of the ''Let It Be'' album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements. It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006; ''
The Capitol Albums, Volume 1
''The Capitol Albums, Volume 1'' is a boxed set compilation comprising the Beatles' 1964 American Capitol Records releases. The set, which features the first official stereo versions of a number of tracks on CD, was released in late 2004. Th ...
'' and ''
Volume 2'' included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release.
As a soundtrack for
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 J ...
's
Las Vegas Beatles stage revue, ''
Love'', George Martin and his son
Giles remixed and
blended 130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called "a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period". The show premiered in June 2006, and the ''
Love'' album was released that November. In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's
Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney.
On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.
Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with ''Magical Mystery Tour'' and the ''Past Masters'' compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and
as a box set. A second collection, ''
The Beatles in Mono
''The Beatles in Mono'' is a boxed set compilation comprising the remastered monaural recordings by the Beatles. The set was released on compact disc on 9 September 2009, the same day the remastered stereo recordings and companion '' The Beatl ...
'', included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of ''Help!'' and ''Rubber Soul'' (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions). ''
The Beatles: Rock Band'', a music video game in the ''
Rock Band'' series, was issued on the same day.
In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in
FLAC
FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...
and
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
format in
a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives.
2010s
Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services. Residual disagreement emanating from
Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc.,
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...
' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want
something we're not prepared to give them". In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, ''Past Masters'', and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes.
In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to
Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the
European Union, for
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
under its
Capitol Music Group
Capitol Music Group (CMG) is an American front line umbrella label distributed by Universal Music Group which oversees handling of record labels assigned to UMG's Capitol Records division. It was inherited from UMG's acquisition of EMI's catalog ( ...
division. The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set.
In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, ''
On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2'', was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled ''
The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963
''The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963'' is a compilation album of 59 previously unreleased recordings by English rock band the Beatles, released on 17 December 2013, exclusively through the iTunes Store. While it was initially only availab ...
'', had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these."
On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the
56th Annual Grammy Awards
The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid compe ...
, held at the
Staples Center in Los Angeles. The following day, ''
The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles'' television special was taped in the
Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of '' Late Night with David Letterman ...
at the
Ed Sullivan Theater. In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including
Spotify and
Apple Music
Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple Mu ...
.
In September 2016, the documentary film ''
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week'' was released. Directed by
Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming on
Hulu on 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. An expanded, remixed and remastered version of ''The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl'' was released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film.
On 18 May 2017,
Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary. Similar box sets were released for ''The Beatles'' in November 2018, and ''Abbey Road'' in September 2019. On the first week of October 2019, ''Abbey Road'' returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as ''Abbey Road'' hit the top spot 50 years after its original release.
2020s
In November 2021, ''
The Beatles: Get Back'', a documentary directed by
Peter Jackson using footage captured for the ''Let It Be'' film, was released on
Disney+ as a three-part
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. " Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries forma ...
. A book also titled ''The Beatles: Get Back'' was released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary. A
super deluxe version of the ''
Let It Be'' album was released on 15 October. In January 2022, an album titled ''Get Back (Rooftop Performance)'', consisting of newly mixed audio of the
Beatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services.
In October 2022, a
special edition of ''Revolver'' was released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix using de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's
WingNuts Films.
Musical style and development
In ''Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever'', Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution:
In ''The Beatles as Musicians'',
Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."
Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide,
consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own." MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts, and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".
Influences
The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley,
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...
,
Little Richard and
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined a ...
. During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on ...
in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles." Other early influences include Buddy Holly,
Eddie Cochran
Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire ...
,
Roy Orbison and
the Everly Brothers.
The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, including
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
the Who,
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
,
the Lovin' Spoonful,
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining th ...
and
the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album ''
Pet Sounds
''Pet Sounds'' is the 11th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966, by Capitol Records. It was initially met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States, peaking at number 10 on the ...
'' amazed and inspired McCartney. Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian
ilson
Ilson Wilians Rodrigues (born March 12, 1979) is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays for América Futebol Clube (SP). His previous clubs include FC Shinnik Yaroslavl
FC Shinnik Yaroslavl (russian: Футбольный клуб «Ш� ...
" Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years.
Genres
Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre, and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music. Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of ''Beatles for Sale'', "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP", while Gould credits ''Rubber Soul'' as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop".
Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes: "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars." They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; ''Sgt. Pepper''s "
She's Leaving Home
"She's Leaving Home" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and released on their 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Paul McCartney wrote and sang the verse and John Lennon ...
", for instance, is "cast in the of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama".
The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by
Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record". Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnersh ...
" and "
I Am the Walrus". The influence of
Indian classical music
Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...
was evident in Harrison's "
The Inner Light
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
", "
Love You To" and "
Within You Without You
"Within You Without You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Written by lead guitarist George Harrison, it was his second composition in the Indian classical style, af ...
" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the
raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...
form in miniature".
Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell: "'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively." Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "the Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way."
Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: "Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained ''in parallel'' their mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy." As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "
Revolution 9" (whose
musique concrète
Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...
approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's
country song "
Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's
rock ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cu ...
"
While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and the "
proto-metal
Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed ...
roar" of McCartney's "
Helter Skelter".
Contribution of George Martin
George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "
fifth Beatle". He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould. Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description. Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
" to a particular recording. In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
.
Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while
eworked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which "
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles for their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written and composed primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
...
" is an outstanding example." Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence:
Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: "I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape."
In the studio
Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music. Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith,
Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from ''Rubber Soul'' and, especially, ''Revolver'' onwards.
Along with innovative studio techniques such as
sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops,
double tracking and
vari-speed
A variable speed pitch control (or vari-speed) is a control on an audio device such as a turntable, tape recorder, or CD player that allows the operator to deviate from a standard speed (such as 33, 45 or even 78 rpm on a turntable), resulting i ...
recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the
swarmandal
The ''swarmandal'' ( hi, स्वरमण्डल ), ''surmandal,'' or Indian harp is a plucked box zither, originating from India, similar to the qanun that is today most commonly used as an accompanying instrument for vocal Indian classica ...
in "Strawberry Fields Forever". They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro, and the
clavioline
The clavioline is an electronic keyboard instrument, a forerunner to the analog synthesizer. It was invented by French engineer Constant Martin in 1947 in Versailles.
The instrument consists of a keyboard and a separate amplifier and speaker ...
, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "
Baby, You're a Rich Man
"Baby, You're a Rich Man" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the B-side of their "All You Need Is Love" single in July 1967. It originated from an unfinished song by John Lennon, titled "One of the Beautiful Peop ...
".
Legacy
Former ''Rolling Stone'' associate editor
Robert Greenfield
Robert Greenfield (born 1946) is an American author, journalist and screenwriter.
Career
Greenfield began his career as a sports writer. He has published book reviews in '' New West'' magazine and ''The New York Times Book Review''.
From 1970 t ...
compared the Beatles to
Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ...
the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..."
The British poet
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (1 ...
described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism", and "the first advance in popular music since the War".
The Beatles' 1964 arrival in the US is credited with initiating the
album era
The album era was a period in English-language popular music from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s in which the album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption. It was primarily driven by three successive music recording ...
; the music historian
Joel Whitburn says that LP sales soon "exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles" in the music industry. They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US, they became a globally influential phenomenon as well. From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
films,
jazz, the music of Broadway and
Tin Pan Alley and, later, the rock and roll that first emerged in
Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture.
Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with
covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's
WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered
oldies on American radio. They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "
filler", and they were primary innovators of the modern music video. The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their
1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business". Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.
According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the
1960s counterculture
The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights ...
, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for
bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people and with few permanent ties. It involves musical, artistic, literary, or spiritual pursuits. In this context, bohemians may be wanderers, a ...
and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as
women's liberation,
gay liberation
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...
and
environmentalism. According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".
Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness.
Referring to their appearance on ''the Ed Sullivan Show'' Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964."
According to Gilmore:
Established in 2009,
Global Beatles Day
Global Beatles Day (also known as World Beatles Day) is an annual holiday occurring June 25th each year that honors and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles. The date, June 25th, was chosen to commemorate the date that the Beatles participate ...
is an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles. The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
programme ''
Our World'' in 1967, performing "
All You Need Is Love
"All You Need Is Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in July 1967. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was Britain's contribution ...
" broadcast to an international audience.
Awards and achievements
In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the
Order of the British Empire (MBE). The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for
Best Original Song Score for the film ''Let It Be'' (1970). The recipients of seven Grammy Awards and fifteen
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...
, the Beatles have six
Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.
In the UK, the Beatles have four
Multi-Platinum albums, four
Platinum albums, eight
Gold albums
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
and one
Silver album.
They were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The
best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units .
From 1991 to 2009 The Beatles have sold 57 million albums in United States according to Nielsen Soundscan. They have had more
number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen, and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years. They ranked number one on ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary. , they hold the record for most number-one hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, with twenty.
The
Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.
They were collectively included in ''
Time'' magazine's compilation of the
20th century's 100 most influential people. In 2014, they received the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award that is awarded by The Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."
...
.
On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day under
UNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening of
the Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a nightclub on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England.
The Cavern Club opened in 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 50s and early 1960s. The club became closely asso ...
in 1957. In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on a
series of UK postage stamps issued by the
Royal Mail.
Personnel
Principal members
*
John Lennon – vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, bass
(1960–1969; died 1980)
*
Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, drums
(1960–1970)
*
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian ...
– guitars, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass
(1960–1970; died 2001)
*
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
– drums, percussion, vocals
(1962–1970)
Early members
*
Pete Best
Randolph Peter Best ( né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 196 ...
– drums, vocals
(1960–1962)
*
Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a Scottish painter and musician best known as the original bass guitarist of the English rock band the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a paint ...
– bass, vocals
(1960–1961; died 1962)
*
Chas Newby
Charles Newby (born 18 June 1941) is a British musician who was briefly the bassist for the Beatles for several gigs in December 1960, while Stuart Sutcliffe was still in Hamburg focusing on his art career.
Career
When the Beatles returned f ...
– bass
(1960–1961)
*
Norman Chapman
Norman Chapman (31 December 1937– July 1995) was an English drummer who played with the Beatles.
After Tommy Moore left the group in June 1960, Chapman joined the Silver Beatles. However, Chapman only played three shows with the group ...
– drums
(1960; died 1995)
*
Tommy Moore – drums
(1960; died 1981)
Touring musician
*
Jimmie Nicol – drums
(1964)
Timeline
Discography
The Beatles have a core catalogue consisting of 13 studio albums and one compilation.
* ''
Please Please Me'' (1963)
* ''
With the Beatles
''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band's debut ''Please Please Me''. Produced by George Marti ...
'' (1963)
* ''
A Hard Day's Night'' (1964)
* ''
Beatles for Sale
''Beatles for Sale'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised ...
'' (1964)
* ''
Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...
'' (1965)
* ''
Rubber Soul'' (1965)
* ''
Revolver'' (1966)
* ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...
'' (1967)
* ''
Magical Mystery Tour
''Magical Mystery Tour'' is a record by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. It includes the soundtrack to the 1967 television film of the same name. The EP ...
'' (1967)
* ''
The Beatles'' (1968) ("The White Album")
* ''
Yellow Submarine'' (1969)
* ''
Abbey Road
''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly re ...
'' (1969)
* ''
Let It Be'' (1970)
* ''
Past Masters
''Past Masters'' is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The set compiles ...
'' (1988, compilation)
Song catalogue
Through 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by
Northern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisher
Dick James
Dick James (born Leon Isaac Vapnick; 12 December 1920 – 1 February 1986) was a British music publisher and singer. He and Brian Epstein established the Beatles' publisher Northern Songs. Later, with his son Stephen, James founded the DJM re ...
specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee. In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000. At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973.
Harrison created
Harrisongs
Harrisongs Ltd is a music publishing company, founded in 1964 by English musician and songwriter George Harrison, then a member of the Beatles. On 11 September 1964, Harrison created Mornyork Ltd, which, by 7 December that year, had changed its n ...
to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included "
Taxman" and "
Within You Without You
"Within You Without You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Written by lead guitarist George Harrison, it was his second composition in the Indian classical style, af ...
". The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "
What Goes On" and "
Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights. Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with
Apple Publishing
Apple Corps Limited (informally known as Apple) is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of the Beatles to replace their earlier company (Beatles Ltd.) and to form a conglomerate. Its name (pr ...
while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owns the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "
While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created
Startling Music
Startling Music Ltd. is a music publishing company, founded in 1968 by singer, songwriter and musician Ringo Starr, drummer of the Beatles.
Starr had initially been signed to Northern Songs, the company set up by publisher Dick James and Beatl ...
, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "
Octopus's Garden".
In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company
Associated Television
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and t ...
(ATV), founded by impresario
Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding. The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in
the City." By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973. In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969.
In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company,
Associated Communications Corporation
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and t ...
(ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million. According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected. According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a
takeover by Australian business magnate
Robert Holmes à Court
Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court (27 July 1937 – 2 September 1990) was a South African-born Australian businessman who became Australia's first billionaire, before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 53.
A great- ...
for £60 million.
In 1985,
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...
purchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights. In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, creating a new company,
Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world. In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million.
Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 33% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%. Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore in 1978, and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications. On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the
United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years. McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.
Selected filmography
Fictionalised
* ''
A Hard Day's Night'' (1964)
* ''
Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...
'' (1965)
* ''
Magical Mystery Tour
''Magical Mystery Tour'' is a record by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. It includes the soundtrack to the 1967 television film of the same name. The EP ...
'' (1967)
* ''
Yellow Submarine'' (1968) (brief cameo)
Documentaries and filmed performances
* ''
The Beatles at Shea Stadium
''The Beatles at Shea Stadium'' is a fifty-minute-long documentary of the Beatles' concert at Shea Stadium in New York City on 15 August 1965, the highlight of the group's 1965 tour. The documentary was directed and produced by Bob Precht (unde ...
'' (1966)
* ''
Let It Be'' (1970)
* ''
The Compleat Beatles'' (1982)
* ''
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today'' (1987) (about ''Sgt. Pepper'')
* ''
The Beatles Anthology
''The Beatles Anthology'' is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and R ...
'' (1995)
* ''
The Beatles: 1+'' (2015) (collection of digitally restored music videos)
* ''
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week'' (2016) (about Beatlemania and touring years)
* ''
The Beatles: Get Back'' (2021)
Concert tours
Headlining
* 1963 UK tours (winter–autumn)
* Autumn 1963 Sweden tour
* Winter 1964 North American tour
* Spring 1964 UK tour
*
1964 world tour
*
1964 North American tour
*
1965 European tour
*
1965 US tour
*
1965 UK tour
*
1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines
*
1966 US tour
Co-headlining
*
Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour
* Spring 1963
Tommy Roe
Thomas David "Tommy" Roe (born May 9, 1942) is a retired American rock and pop singer-songwriter.
Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" (1962) and " Dizzy" (1969), Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late ...
/
Chris Montez
Chris Montez (born Ezekiel Christopher Montañez on January 17, 1943) is an American guitarist and vocalist, whose stylistic approach has ranged from rock & roll to pop standards and Latin music. His rock sound is exemplified in songs such as hi ...
UK tour
*
Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour
See also
*
Grammy Award records – Most Grammys won by a group
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
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The Beatles – FBI file
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatles, The
1960 establishments in England
1970 disestablishments in England
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George Harrison
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
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