The Evolution of The Beatles
In 1957 “The Beatles” first got together. Originally a trio of just high school kids who met at a party; “The Quarrymen”. John and Paul were very close friends.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets were the first to record the song “That’ll be the day”, released May 1957. This is also where the name “Beatles” came from.
One of the first big performances of this up and coming group was “Beatles Live! at The Star Club. They played sets for 8 hours or basically all Chuck Berry covers, and very little original material by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. They soon return to Liverpool, England and people refer to them as a ‘German band’.
The Beatles “home” or “birthplace” ends up being the Cavern Club where they perform often.
What is most commonly known as “The Beatles” consists of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Pete Best. With manager Brian Epstein (January 1962) and producer George Martin. They then get signed by Parlophone Records who said “no more Pete Best”. So they then hire Ringo Starr to play the drums.
At this point in time there has not been a Rock n Roll band to last longer than one year. Therefore, Epstein began to schedule performances like crazy to make the most money possible. For 6 years straight they just kept on producing album after album. It was not normal for a non-US Rock n Roll band to become this popular.
In 1963 they were asked to perform for the queen. They thought it would break them since they were a working blue-collar band. “Til There Was You” from the Music Man made the set list, and they closed with “Twist and Shout”.
Epstein then tries to convince Capitol Records to sign the Beatles. They had a performance at Carnegie Hall and were on The Ed Sullivan show where they sang “I wanna hold your hand” live on February 9th, 1964. “Beatles Mania”!
After JFK’s assassination America was “shaken out of grief” by The Beatles who had 5 individual singles on the Top 100 chart in April. People always wanted more from them.
“A Hard Day’s Night” movie/film debuted in 1964, and “Help” their second movie/film in 1965. They both ultimately produced more fame. Their 4 piece band set the stage for fame, and rock n roll.
Paul McCartney then had a solo “Yesterday” with a spoken word intro live from Studio 50 in New York City, 1965. Some documentaries today have John Lennon on record saying that “Yesterday” is garbage and boring. This created a huge split between John and Paul at this time.
Epstein had great influence on the group of young boys who, when he met them, were dressed in old leather jackets with jeans and had an untidy stage presence. He had gotten them to dress nicer, all in matching suits and have a better stage presence as a band. George Martin did as well, he was the only man who could press “record” back in the day. The boys only had an hour and a half to record a song which really focused them and gave them great discipline.
They were such a close group of guys and before they made any decision, they all had to agree on it, which is something that just paid off. They were the first group to perform in venues as large as sports stadiums. Being so widely known and loved also became a safety hazard for the Beatles as they were exposed to their audience on nearly all sides. Fans rushed the stage at every concert, blocked roads, and swarmed their cars any chance they got. The last show of their 1966 US Tour was in Candlestick Park, san Franciso. They stopped touring after the summer of 1966 to focus on making records.
Although in their final years there was much tension and fighting amongst every member of the band, their albums “White Album”, “Abbey Road”, and “Let It Be” are all considered classics.
During the time of these albums, the group had many artistic differences, and John and Paul did not collaborate as closely as they once did. Paul was also working on a “solo” career as well. The unexpected death of their long-time manager Brian Epstein in 1967 certainly didn’t help either. He seemed to be the glue that help the entire group together.
In 1968 they founded Apple Corps which is a multimedia corporation that now continues to oversee projects related to the bands legacy.
Tension also arose when John Lennon wanted his future wife Yoko Ono to join in on the Beatles studio time. Since the group began, it was clearly stated that nobody could join during recording sessions.
John and Yoko later got married only a week after Paul and Linda were wed.
On April 10th, 1970 Paul McCartney announced his split from the band and The Beatles would never record together again after that.
Sprang on stage in 1964 and broke up in 1970: the end of an era.
After the split, each member enjoyed a solo career to a certain extent.
Lennon was shot and killed in December of 1980, George Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001, and Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still alive and successful today.
The Beatles still remain the best-selling group of all time selling 183 million records.
