Why The Beatles are the most influential band?
They not only revolutionized the standards of music, but have a substantial impact on the culture, politics, social movements, and so many things.
Why The Beatles became the most popular band in the world?
That is an interesting question, and there is no perfect answer. Sometimes, things happen without understanding how. And we want to say Let It Be.
Yesterday I thought about what makes the difference between the good and bad. If you search, you will see that things are never all white or black. Every action you do has advantages and drawbacks.
If Something must happen, it will happen. So yes, if Ivan Vaughan didn’t introduce Paul to John at a community event at St Peter’s Church, Woolton, on July 6th, 1957. Maybe The Beatles would not exist.
But a Nowhere Man or another band would have appeared. Here, there and everywhere things go on, and if you do nothing, someone else will do it.
A Beginning
It was The Long and Winding Road to success. In the 1950s, John was inspired by Lonnie Donegan (specialized in British skiffle/rock and roll music).
Lennon and Griffiths (a school mate) decided to form a skiffle group in November 1956, initially called the Blackjacks, then changed their name to the Quarrymen one week later.
Others joined, Shotton, Garry, Hanton, and Davis. It formed the first stable line-up of the band.
That’ll Be The Day
On July 6th, 1957, The Quarrymen played at the St. Peter’s Church Rose Queen garden fête in Woolton. A friend of Paul, Ivan Vaughan introduced him to John.
John invited Paul on stage. He played few songs, including: Twenty Flight Rock, Be-Bop-A-Lula, and a medley of Little Richard’s songs.
Two weeks later, John ended up offering Paul to join them in the group.
Because Lennon gradually lost his interest in the skiffle, banjo player Rod Davis left the group in February 1958. A friend of McCartney’s childhood, George Harrison, came to play with the Quarrymen for the first time on February 6th at Wilson Hall, and This Boy was integrated into the group two weeks later. Although Lennon initially considered him too young (he was three years older than him), but he had to admit that he was gifted.
John Lennon’s painter friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, joined the group in January 1960. Stuart, suggesting to adopt the name “Beatles” in tribute to the group The Crickets (“the locusts”). Inspired by the film The Wild One with Marlon Brando, dealing with a gang called “Beetles.”
In August 1960, before signing their first contract in a Hamburg club, they definitively adopted the name “Beatles”. Formed from The Word beat (“rhythm”) and beetle (“beetles”).
Other groups from Liverpool performed in Hamburg, including Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, whose drummer is called Ringo Starr. Ringo had the opportunity to play with the Beatles many times.
Every Little Thing can change everything, and It was at this time that The Beatles adopted a characteristic haircut, the moptop. Astrid Kirchherr would have been at the origin of this bowl haircut during their stay in Hamburg. She would have styled Sutcliffe, her lover, and young Harrison liked that. John Lennon and Paul McCartney then adopted it during a short stay in Paris in September 1961, carried out by Jürgen Vollmer, a photographer friend from Hamburg.
Brian Epstein was the manager of the North End Music Store (NEMS). Intrigued by this local group whose it had the 45 rpm in store, on November 9th, 1961, he came to see the Beatles at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
January 24th, Epstein became their mentor, and That Means A Lot.
The Beatlemania
In 1961, Brian Epstein began his tours of London record companies to get them to sign a recording contract, but he failed with many major record companies. But still managed to obtain for his group an audition with Decca which remained famous: on January 1st, 1962, the Beatles recorded 15 tracks in an hour for this label, but the director Artistic Dick Rowe rejected them, saying: “Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein” It is the reason Why Rowe will later be nicknamed “the man who refused the Beatles.”
But Some Other Guy, in April 1962, Syd Coleman, introduced them to George Martin, the artistic director of Parlophone. The latter, after an audition on June 6th, 1962, decided to become the producer of The Beatles. And sign a recording contract while suggesting that they should replace Pete Best. Brian Epstein himself was responsible for notifying Best’s dismissal.
On October 5th, 1962, Love Me Do release, which only reached 17th place on the British charts. It is not yet Beatlemania, but it was a great satisfaction for the group.
Then they released other popular songs, Please Please Me, Ask Me Why, on November 26th, 1962. Please Please Me released on March 22nd, 1963.
On October 13th, 1963, in the top-rated London tv show, Sunday Night at the Palladium marked the Beatlemania’s beginning. Record stores stormed, the press unleashed widespread fervor. The group will line up twelve consecutive numbers 1 in the British charts from 1963 to 1966. Revolution came up.
I Want to Hold Your Hand, is their first number 1 in the US and remained there from February 1st to March 14th, 1964. It will be dethroned by She Loves You from March 21st to 28, then by Can’t Buy Me Love from March 4th April to May 2nd. The Billboard Hot 100 chart of March 31st, 1964, in the US shows five Beatles titles in the first five places: the Beatlemania, which had started in the UK spread across the Atlantic and worldwide.
The Beatles records
- According to Rolling Stone magazine, they recorded four of the Top 10 Greatest Albums of All the Time, and three of the Top Five.
- They hold the largest number of disks sold, estimated by EMI, with more than one billion worldwide.
- They hold the most number 1 albums internationally, 37 albums.
- They achieved more number 1 in the world than any other band or artist.
- On the one hand, they hold the most significant number of songs reaching the international charts’ first place, on the other hand, the best average of number 1 songs per year.
- During the week of April 4th, 1964, the Beatles songs were in the top five spots on the United States’ Billboard charts. No one ever achieved such a feat before, and no one has done it since.
- The fastest-selling single of all time. 250,000 copies of I Want to Hold Your Hand sold in three days in the United States, a million in two weeks. 10,000 copies sold per hour during the first 20 days in New York City alone.
- Yesterday was the most covered song in the music industry in the 20th century. The Guinness Book of Records lists more than 3,000 recorded versions. It was also the most widely broadcast song in international radio history. It was aired around seven million times, from 1965 to 2000, according to BMI.
- They also set the record for television audiences in the United States, with over 70 million viewers attending their performance at the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS on February 9th, 1964.
- By performing at Shea Stadium in New York on August 15th, 1965, The Beatles set a new world attendance record (around 56,000 spectators) and profitability. It was the first time in the history of popular music that a group or artist performed in a stadium.
There are dozens or hundreds of other World Records. It’s even impossible to list all of them.
The Limitless Influence
Not only the Beatles revolutionized the music. But, their political vision, social influence, and atypical dress style modified the codes of the youth and popular culture of the 1960s around the world.
The Beatles, who strongly influenced the hippie movement, also influenced the movement against the Vietnam War. John Lennon formed a significant movement towards peace with the help of his wife, Yoko Ono.
There are hundreds of films and documentaries on their personal and professional lives.
The Beatles remain the favorite group of millions of people, from the youngest to the oldest, from various cultures and nationalities.
Here some other examples of what they brought:
- They revolutionized the science of recording, using multiple tracks instead of playing live.
- They were ground-breaking pioneers, being the first group to employ feedback in 1964’s “I Feel Fine.”
- They created unforgettable melodies.
- 21 of the top 50 most covered songs of all time are Beatles songs.
- “Helter Skelter” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” are considered as the two first heavy metal songs.
- They accomplished all that in just 10 years.
Before The Beatles, recording music was primarily delivered through the 45’s. Usually just containing two songs and some filler. The Beatles looked at the entire album as an opportunity to fill blank space and didn’t include singles on their albums. They also changed the way of looking at the album art, which inspired some of the most imitated album covers.
Because the Beatles radically changed music, they inspired many other artists.
They also changed fashion, consumerism, and stood up against the government. You now know why they are so special.
John had his thing, and Paul had his, and together there were two different things all together. But they fit. — Billy Preston
