Meaning of the Beatles in English. History of the BeatlesDiscography of The Beatles The Beatles history of creation

At the end of 1961, Brian Epstein became the band's manager, who changed the image of the musicians: instead of black leather jackets in the style of teddy boys, the musicians put on collarless jackets from Pierre Cardin (called "Beatles"), and whipped "cokes" a la Elvis Presley changed to long bangs. When virtually all European record labels rejected The Beatles' music, Epstein secured a contract with Parlophone. In the studio, it turned out that Pete Best was not suitable for studio work. Another drummer was urgently needed. Then Lennon and McCartney remembered Ringo Starr e, with whom they became friends during the Hamburg concerts. In September 1962, The Beatles released their first single, which included the songs Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You, which made it to the national Top 20 in October. In early 1963, the composition Please Please Me took second place in the UK hit parade, at the same time, the debut album Please Please Me was recorded in record time (in 13 hours). On the wave of success, the third single From Me To You took first place in the charts.

In the summer of 1963, The Beatles, who were supposed to open the British concerts of the American singer Roy Orbison, were rated an order of magnitude higher than the American - it was then that the first signs of a phenomenon called "Beatlemania" appeared. The term was officially coined by the press on October 14, 1963, the day after the band's triumphant appearance on the TV show Sunday Night At The London Palladium. In October 1963, at the end of their first European tour, The Beatles moved to London. Pursued by crowds of fans, The Beatles appeared in public only under police protection. At the end of October of the same year, the single She Loves You becomes the most replicated record in the history of the UK gramophone industry, and in November 1963 the group performs in front of the Queen Mother and high society at the Prince of Wales Theater in London. At the same time, the second LP, With The Beatles, was released.

Despite the resounding success in Europe, Capitol Records, the American branch of EMI, was wary of the group and did not release a single record dated 1963, risking reprinting only the fourth single I Want To Hold Your Hand, and also releasing Meet The in January 1964. Beatles (heavily altered version of With The Beatles). Contrary to all the expectations of critics, the success was overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands of American teenagers demanded to "bring the Fab Four" to the United States. The Beatles' triumphant tour began on the other side of the Atlantic.

In August 1964, the premiere of the first film with the participation of The Beatles (A Hard Day "s Night -" A Hard Day's Evening, directed by Richard Lester) took place. The Beatles were at the head of the so-called "British invasion" in the United States, paving the way for such English groups , like Dave Dark Five, Rolling Stones and Kinks.The songs used in the film formed the self-titled album.The same year, The Beatles recorded another LP - Beatles For Sale, half composed of popular rock and roll hits from other artists. 1965 Lennon and McCartney no longer wrote songs together, although under the terms of the contract (and by mutual agreement) the song of each of them was considered a joint work.In 1965, The Beatles toured Europe, North America, Australia and Southeast Asia.Second film Help! (also by Richard Lester) was filmed in the spring of 1965 and premiered in the United States in August of that year. There was a grandiose performance by The Beatles in front of 55,000 spectators at New York's Shea Stadium. Paul McCartney's Yesterday, written at that time, is still the most popular song in the repertoire of more than 500 performers.

In June 1965, the Queen of England awarded the musicians the Order of the British Empire "for their outstanding contribution to the prosperity of Great Britain". The award ceremony took place on October 26 at Buckingham Palace (in 1969, John Lennon returned his order in protest against Britain's approval of the Vietnam War). The release of the album Rubber Soul (1965) marked new stage in the work of the group and going beyond the pop formula. The Beatles and Bob Dylan attracted an adult audience to rock music; they became a kind of mouthpiece for the post-war generation, the group's lyrics became more and more poetically mature and sometimes even socially oriented.

The post about the Beatles will briefly talk about the popular British rock band, which has made a huge contribution to the popularization of rock culture in general. Also, a message about the Beatles can be used during preparation for classes.

Message about the Beatles

The Beatles- British rock band, was the most striking phenomenon of world culture of the 60s of the XX century. It was founded in the spring of 1956 by 15-year-old John Lennon. At first it was called "The Quarrymen".

Members of the Beatles

The "gold" composition of the British rock band included:

• John Lennon(piano, rhythm guitar, vocals)
• Paul McCartney(bass guitar, vocals, piano)
• Ringo Starr(drums and vocals)
• George Harrison(vocals and lead guitar).

Brief information about the Beatles

The Beatle, or as it was first called "The Quarrymen", consisted entirely of amateur musicians. None of them professionally owned the instrument. The founder of the group, John Lennon, sang in the church choir from childhood and knew how to play several tunes on the harmonica.

In 1957, Paul McCartney in the garden of St. Petra meets John Lennon in Liverpool. A week later, he was already in the group, playing the guitar. On McCartney's advice, 15-year-old guitarist George Harrison joined in 1958. The musical ensemble was renamed "Jonny and The Moondogs". For the most part, they played rock and roll, playing songs composed by Lennon and McCartney, as well as American hits.

The line-up changed frequently, except for Paul, John and George. Soon they were joined by Stuart Sutcliffe, standing behind the bass guitar. In November 1959, the ensemble was again renamed The Silver Beatles, after simply The Beatles. A year later, the Beatles began looking for a new drummer, and Pete Best joined the band. This composition was more or less stable for some time. After a successful tour in Hamburg, in 1961 the band recorded their first studio recording.

In May 1962, the team finds a producer in the person of George Martin, with whom they sign a contract. For unknown reasons, Pete Best leaves this year, and Ringo Starr takes his place.

The first successful and standing record of the British rock band was the record "Love me do". After its release, the Beatles were recognized as the best Liverpool group. After the disc "Please, please me", in October 1963, a real mania began - "Beatlemania". But the ensemble began its conquest of the musical pinnacle from Sweden. In January 1964, the Beatles went on tour in Paris. The world was conquered and "Beatlemania" often developed into popular hysteria.

The band performed for the last time on August 29, 1966. In the future, there was only studio work. The last record was the record "Let it be". The Beatles disbanded in 1970. Each member musical project started his solo career. The death of John Lennon in 1980, or rather his murder, finally destroyed all hopes for the reunion of the legendary four. But, despite all this, the group does not lose its popularity and love of the audience.

Albums of the Beatles

During the existence of the Beatles, they sold more than 1 billion discs and cassettes, they were the authors 18 albums(13 official studio albums). The most popular of them: "Revolver", "Magical Mystery Tour", "Let It Be", "Help!" "," With The Beatles", "Yellow Submarine", "Beatles for Sale".

• John Lennon's father worked as a merchant ship, Paul McCartney as an employee, Ringo Starr as a baker, and George Harrison as a sailor.
• The phrase "The Beatles" is a mixture of the words "beat" (beat) and "beetles" (beetle).
• The Beatles were awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1965. However, John Lennon in 1969, in protest (he opposed the support of England in the US aggression in Vietnam), returned his order.
• The Beatles were the first group to have their performance on June 25, 1967 broadcast worldwide via satellite by the BBC.
• While on tour in 1961 in Hamburg, band member Stuart Sutcliffe fell in love with photographer and artist Astrid Kirchherr. She owns the idea of ​​​​creating the legendary Beatle haircuts. She also suggested that the guys wear jackets without collars instead of frayed leather jackets. Astrid Kirchherr held a professional photo shoot of the Beatles in a new image. For her sake, Stuart Sutcliffe leaves the group and stays with her in Hamburg.
• Even before the birth of the popular offspring

Today, the Beatles are known to contemporaries as the author of popular retro songs such as Yesterday, Let It Be, Help, Yellow Submarine and others. However, few people know that this group had the loudest success in the history of show business, which has never been repeated. What was this success and what are its reasons I will try to state in this article.

Describing the success of the Beatles

The Beatles (The Beatles) in the final composition was formed in 1962 and existed for 7 years - until 1970. During this short time, by the standards of show business, the group released 13 albums, shot 4 feature films and achieved success that no other group could achieve before or after this group.

The idea for the band's name came to John Lennon in a dream, and is a play on the words "beetle" (beetle) and "beat" (beat, beat, rhythm). At first the group was called "Long John And The Silver Beatles", then the name was decided to be shortened to "The Beatles".

It is immediately worth noting the fact that this group has a large number of generally accepted terms related to it. Among them are the "Famous Four" ("The fab four"), "Liverpool Four". The term "Beatlemania" is also used to describe the band's unique success. This term is unique in its kind and is not found in other groups. In addition, there is the concept of "The Beatles movie" (The Beatles movie), used to analyze the contribution of the group in the field of cinema.

The speed with which fame and success came to the group is also interesting. Until 1960, the group was known only in Liverpool, and played basically the same as everyone else - arrangements of popular American songs. Even during their first tour of Scotland as an accompanying band in April 1960, they continued to be one of Liverpool's many obscure rock and roll bands.

Then in August 1960 the band made a 5 month trip to Hamburg (where they played in the clubs "Indra" and then "Kaiserkeller") after which the band became one of the most successful and ambitious Liverpool bands. By the beginning of 1961, the Beatles were at the top of the list of the top 350 beat bands in Liverpool. The quartet performs almost daily, gathering a large number of listeners.

4 months later, in April 1961, during the second tour in Hamburg, the Beatles recorded their first single together with Tony Sheridan "My Bonnie / The Saints". While in the studio, Lennon recorded one of his first songs, "Ain't She Sweet".

The first major musical success came to the Beatles after a tour to Hamburg, namely on July 27, 1961, when, after a concert in Liverpool's Litherland Town Hall, the local press called The Beatles the best rock and roll ensemble in Liverpool.

Then, starting in August 1961, the Beatles began to perform regularly at the Liverpool Cavern club, where after 262 concerts (until August 1962) the group became the best in the city and it already had real fans.

Then, shortly after the release of their debut album in February 1963, the group's success quickly escalated into national hysteria. The beginning of such a craze, which received the term “Beatlomania” (“Beatlomania”), is considered to be the summer of 1963, when the Beatles were supposed to open the British concerts of Roy Orbison, but turned out to be an order of magnitude more popular than the American.

In October, the Beatles begin to set records for popularity in the ratings and charts, when the single "She Loves You" becomes the most replicated record in the history of the UK gramophone industry. And a month later, in November 1963, The Beatles perform at the Royal Variety Show at the Prince of Wales Theater in front of the Queen and the English aristocracy. Thus, 2 years after the first musical success, the group becomes recognized throughout the country. Further, their success grew like a snowball, and her fame breaks out of the country.

The Beatles are listened to not only by the English-speaking audience, but also by the whole of Europe, Japan and even Asia (for example, the Philippines). The United States was conquered in early 1964, a year after the release of the first album in their homeland, whereas before the Beatles, English artists were not very popular in America. After the Beatles, a wave of “English invaders” emerges in the USA, that is, the Beatles paved the way for successful tours of such English groups as “ The Rolling Stones", "The Kniks", "The Hermits" and "The Searchers".

The band during the Beatlemania period becomes more than a musical group, it becomes an idol, a style model, a trendsetter, a source of answers to all questions, hopes are pinned on them, etc. Their whole concept and "philosophy" begin to feel cramped within the musical framework and enter neighboring areas of art, such as cinema, and later - socio-political movements. In the genre of cinematography, the group made their debut by filming the film "A Hard Day's Night" in the spring and summer of 1964. The plot of the film is based on the events of one day of the band's life, and the Beatles' third album of the same name became the musical accompaniment to it.

By their example, the group demonstrated that a successful musical concept successfully exists not only in standard form, but can be successfully projected onto adjacent areas, such as cinema.

The purpose of the Beatles

By the phenomenon of the Beatles group, we mean the kind of success of a musical group that has grown into a real national mania. So, what is the reason that four people have had such phenomenal success when no one else had such success before them? Maybe in luck, maybe in genius, maybe in a combination of circumstances or something else?

In order to understand the nature of the band's success, you first need to understand what the Beatles wanted, what they aspired to. In such a case, we can view their success as a consequence of achieving their goal.

The goal of the Beatles from the very beginning of their existence was very simple - to become the best group of all times and peoples. John Lennon said after the breakup of the band that it was the belief that the Beatles were the best band in the world that made them who they were, be it the best rock and roll band, pop band or whatever.

I believe this goal came about when Lennon and McCartney started writing together. They felt and saw that they could create something in the future that no one had been able to do before. They intuitively understood that at that time it was impossible to create such “magic”, great things in any other way. A great desire to bring to life the musical ideas of the Lennon-McCartney duet formed a clear need for the creation of such a group. It was their author's duet that became the starting point in the creation of the Beatles.

Analysis of the initial conditions for the birth of a group

To achieve any goal, certain conditions and opportunities are required, so let's consider what conditions and opportunities for the Beatles to gain success existed in the late 50s. These possibilities can be divided into two groups. The first of them is external or exogenous, that is, not dependent on the members of the group, and the second is internal, endogenous, that is, which they can influence on their own. Consider first all the necessary external conditions at the end of the 50s in England, which contributed to the birth of the group.

Time and society

Inexperienced listener of the 60s

Events unfold in the 60s of the 20th century. In the English-speaking environment, mass music is only developing, the genre of love lyrics is far from being saturated with masterful, skillfully performed compositions. Until the 60s, there was no technically perfect and professional musical offer of a mass nature for listeners. John Robertson notes that before the Beatles, music was in a state of lethargic sleep, and only after them did it become not only a multi-million dollar business, but also an art.

At the time of the birth of the group, there was no musical proposal striving for an ideal, to which the listener would have "nothing to answer and object to" and could only succumb to the moods that such music carries. The emotional messages that existed at that time were more calm and balanced. They were such that the author himself believed that they should be listened to calmly and not lose one’s head from them, because causing delight and euphoria, there is a so-called responsibility of the author to himself - why convey such strong feelings to the world that cause fanaticism and, possibly, breaking the fate of others.

Thus, until the 60s, there was no significant test for the "virgin" hearing of the English-speaking listener. The first significant attempts to step over this line were on the other side of the ocean with Elvis Presley and Little Richard. The Beatles were the first to shamelessly cross this line and the first to have the opportunity to professionally express these feelings in an optimal musical format.

Unsaturated information environment

The 60s didn't have the huge amount of infotainment distractions that came in the early 21st century. There was no colossal entertainment industry, ranging from computer games to social networks. The more infotainment resources there are, the more time they require from a person to use them. At the moment, if you use the most popular services and services, then there will be no time left for some serious creativity. Consequently, the unsaturated information environment of society in the 60s disposed young people to creative pursuits music, film, art, etc.

A minimum of alternatives for a quick "conquest of the world"

A young man in those days had not a difficult choice in order to succeed in life: work, study or art. Music was the most common among young people. And if a young man was full of energy and desire to realize himself, then more often he chose music to achieve his goal. Undoubtedly, such people were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who, as you know, chose music. In favor of the prevalence of music in the UK in the early 60s is the fact that John began his musical career back in early childhood in the church choir and then played the banjo, and Paul McCartney was introduced to music when his parents gave him a trumpet.

Scene

The process of the birth of the group, and then its success, takes place in the English city of Liverpool. In the capitalist England of the 60s, there were no ideological barriers and strict moral censorship, which also contributed to the study of music. However, the disadvantage was capitalism with its requirement to spend all working time on earning money to maintain one's lifestyle. For Paul McCartney, this was reflected in the fact that before the final decision to start playing in the group, he got a job as a janitor at the factory on the instructions of his father.

The need to spend most of the time making money was not so acute in the countries of the communist bloc. However, there was no way to achieve great success in music in principle, due to understandable ideological restrictions.

Also in Liverpool, teenage musical activity was widely developed, which was expressed in a large number of youth groups playing in the style of rock and roll and skiffle (350 beat groups in 1961). The most common instruments were banjo, electric and semi-acoustic guitar, bass guitar, simple drums with a barrel, harmonica. All these instruments were subsequently used by the Beatles. The relatively high standard of living in the UK made it easy to acquire these essential musical instruments.

Summarizing the analysis of the above conditions, we get that in the English-speaking world of the early 60s there was an inexperienced listener and a favorable environment for the debut of a masterly skillful team. Moreover, if this group conveyed a strong emotional charge through its music, then the listener, not knowing how to react to it, could respond with a real explosion, mania, fanaticism, thereby causing a public outcry. The more skillfully the band can convey its musical message to the listener, the stronger the amplitude of this resonance will be. It is also determined by the uniqueness of the emotional message, which is difficult to express in precise terms.

Members of the Beatles

Before analyzing the reasons for the success of the Beatles, consider the composition of the members of this group. The sound of a musical group is determined by the set of instruments that its members use, for example, piano, guitar, harmonica, singing voice.

For the early Beatles, the specialization on instruments looked like this: McCartney and Lennon were responsible for vocals, Harrison for guitar, McCartney again for bass, Ringo Starr for drums and partly McCartney (for example, in the song "A Day In The Life"). Lennon played rhythm guitar, but it was not his main instrument (the voice was the main one), since in most of the band's songs the guitar accompaniment is determined precisely by Harrison's guitar. In addition, Lennon almost never performed solo during the entire time he played in the group (especially on stage). However, his solo performance with the song “Baby It's you” can be cited as an exception. In addition to vocals and guitar, John Lennon mastered another accompanying instrument quite well - the harmonica (in “Love Me Do” he plays the chromatic harmonica of the Marine Band ), which also suggests that the guitar was not his specialty. John himself later admitted that he plays the guitar "averagely" All this confirms his specialization in songwriting and vocal performance.

Some instruments for the musician are the main ones, that is, which he skillfully owns, and is responsible for the use of this instrument in the team. For example, George Harrison focused on the guitar while moving away from other things such as songwriting and honing his vocal skills. Of course, Lennon and McCartney initially took him as a guitarist, since they themselves were completely absorbed in writing songs. As a result, Harrison was responsible for the professional, fast-paced and improvising guitar in the band. Therefore, in the formative period, the representative song of the group, in addition to the rhythm section, consists of the vocals of John and Paul and the guitar of George. By developing his guitar technique, Harrison had much less time for creativity, and given that his songwriting talent was not as bright as that of the Lennon-McCartney duo, explains his later emergence in the group as a songwriter (from the second album "With The Beatles ").

The Beatles - full cycle musical group

There are three main types of musical groups: those specializing in writing material, performing it, or creating and performing their own material at the same time. Of course, the probability of the formation of the latter is much less, since it requires the ability to do two fundamental things well.

In practice, usually a band is good at one thing, so it's more common for a band to either be good at composing music or perform well.

The Beatles wrote and performed themselves, which at one time was a precedent, since there was a practice when the music was composed by outside composers for performing groups. That is, in the early 60s, the separation of the author's and performing functions dominated, which, of course, complicated the process of the creative cycle - from composing a song, writing music, to recording in a studio and performing on stage. This happened as a result of the appearance of transaction costs in the transfer musical material between composer and performer. For example, the author has to spend time to convey to the performer the emotional nuances of his song, which is completely impossible to convey in the form of lyrics and scores. In addition, during such a "transfer" part of the author's intention may be lost due to the complexity of transferring such subjective information.

In the case of combining these two qualities in one person / team, this problem removed. By the time the first album was recorded, the Beatles had become full-cycle musicians - that is, they closed the entire process of creating songs on themselves, which gave them the opportunity to quickly and losslessly create their songs from idea to recording.

Necessary internal conditions for success

Let us now consider the possibilities and conditions necessary to achieve the goal, which could depend on the future members of the group. In order to become the best band in the world, oddly enough, this band must first be created, then get the opportunity to professionally perform ready-made material, and then professionally write your own.

The need for a group

The need for a musical group arose from John Lennon's desire to have the best rock and roll band in the world. This group was needed to fully express the thoughts of the author musical language. To do this, the author needs an ensemble of musicians who own a set of instruments necessary for the full expression of the author's thoughts.

John Lennon formed his first group, The Quaryymen, in the spring of 1956. However, until meeting Paul McCartney in the summer of 1957, it was a purely amateur game. When Lennon and McCartney met, then that powerful author's duet began to form, the musical ideas of which, no doubt, demanded worthy expression. Lennon-McCartney co-authorship developed gradually in practice - by the end of 1958, 4 years before the release of the first album, they already had about 50 songs in their assets. Thus, the Lennon-McCartney duo had an objective need to create a group.

In addition, the young Beatles already had an idea of ​​​​how large-scale success in the musical field can be, using the example of the king of rock and roll Elvis Presley. Elvis was the inspiration for Lennon-McCartney at the very beginning of their work, as the musicians themselves admitted that if there was no Elvis, then there would be no Beatles.

Creation of the Beatles

To create a viable group, the creator needs to find a sufficient number of like-minded musicians. The creative duo of John and Paul needed their own musical accompaniment as they both focused on songwriting and vocals.

The most common instrument at that time, as in other things, and in ours, was the guitar, and therefore it is not surprising that the duet's musical accompaniment was the guitar of George Harrison, whom Paul brought into the group in 1958. George's interests completely coincided with the interests of the duet: George wanted to play the guitar and had already played in The Rebels, and the place of the game was determined by the presence of George's friend Paul McCartney in it.

This trio formed the backbone of the band, while the members on the other instruments changed constantly until the group found its final line-up in August 1962, when the band changed drummers from Pete Best to Richard Starkey.

The short duration of the existence of a musical group

Musical creativity is always a collaborative process. One person can be orders of magnitude less than in the company of a person, even with less talent.

Joint creativity is possible with a fundamental coincidence of desires, goals, worldviews of co-authors, and this intersection exists for a relatively short time. And during this period, masterpieces of art are created. However, when co-creating, you have to compromise, taking into account the interests of the co-author, and there is always a temptation to separate and write your own things, having complete freedom of action. That is, in a team you always have to give up own opinion in favor of the common cause. Therefore, only those collectives continue to exist in which each participant can do orders of magnitude more than on their own.

The group consists of instruments playing together, the musician plays the instrument, the musician is a person. At each of the listed stages, a failure is possible and then the entire musical group cannot function fully. For example, a group member has a high-quality instrument, has an excellent command of it, but this moment he does not want to play in this band/this song/on this instrument and the whole team instantly falls into a non-working state. Here the human factor is manifested and the group is already under the threat of disintegration, although there are no objective reasons.

In the later Beatles, this manifests itself in the fact that, after writing the Beatles For Sale album in 1964, the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo stopped writing songs together. The last song together was "Baby's In Black", and starting with the album "Magical Mystery Tour", each of the quartet begins to use the others only as accompanying musicians to record their own songs.

The requirement that the interests of all participants coincide is clearly seen in the example of early bassist Stuart Sutcliffe. This is a clear example of a person who chose the wrong area of ​​activity for self-realization, because even before joining the group he wanted to become an artist. Sutcliffe agreed to be the bassist, most likely because his friend John asked for it. Another reason was the popularity of music among young people, which gave a chance to quickly become famous.

As a result, Stewart did not pay much attention to the skill of playing the bass, while continuing to paint at the same time, which caused discontent among the rest of the band. Being a musician was not his vocation, this is evidenced by the fact that after leaving the group he stayed in Hamburg and radically changed the type of activity, becoming an artist.

A similar situation was with the second drummer Pete Best. His interests differed from other members of the group, in particular, he did not fit with the rest physically, was taller and "more beautiful" than the rest. As the Beatles later said, almost all the girls preferred him, which also did not add stability to his position in the group.

Also, Best "wasn't actually a full member of the group because of his relationships with the other members." George Harrison later explains it this way: “There was one thing: Pete rarely spent time with us. When the show was over, Pete would leave, and we all stayed together, and then, when Ringo got close to us, it seemed to us that now there were as many of us as it should be, both on stage and off stage. When Ringo joined the four of us, everything fell into place.

In addition, Best did not recognize the general style of the group - he did not agree to do the same hairstyle as the other Beatles, did not wear the same clothes, which caused the real anger of the band's manager Brian Epstein. Pete did not get along with the other members of the group by nature, and therefore his departure was only a matter of time. As a consequence, he naturally and without scandal left the group in August 1962.

Until the final line-up, the group was formed gradually. For 6 years after the creation of the group in 1956, the Lennon-McCartney-Harrison trio continued to play together in part, while the rest of the musicians replaced each other constantly. And since they could not achieve a significant return on the game during this period, this is a confirmation of their great desire to play together, faith in themselves and the complete coincidence of their interests.

And finally, after the group found a decent drummer in 1962 (Starr played in the second most popular Liverpool band, Rory Storme And The Hurricanes), the band found a steady state. Now each instrument had a separate musician for whom it was the main one, and could exist for a sufficient amount of time to realize its potential.

The requirement for professional performance of the material

The transition to the level of professional performance of the material transfers the team from amateur to mature. Usually, this happens during the course of getting practical performance experience, and the Beatles were no exception. They made 2 trips to Hamburg - in the fall of 1960 and in the spring of 1961, where they forged their mastery of performance in a foreign land, working for pennies 8 hours a day, performing in the Hamburg clubs Indra, Kaiserkeller, Top Ten. Of course, the second trip to Hamburg was already on better terms for the group - after the first days of their stay, the aspiring Beatles were recognized as the best touring band in the city. Also, away from home, the guys had a special motivation for the development of performance techniques - the effect of a stranger - when a person in a new place feels like a stranger, so to speak, on "enemy land", and therefore wants to succeed, gain a foothold, prove his success more strongly. After trips to Hamburg, the Beatles finally moved into the category of professional beat groups after holding more than 260 concerts in the Liverpool Cavern club in 1961 - 1962.

The technical prowess made the band ready for the studio as it made it possible to record songs quickly as the minimum number of errors reduced the number of recording takes. In addition, there was the possibility of easy improvisation, which allowed the Beatles to quickly develop a musical theme to a finished composition. The excellent teamwork of the Lennon-McCartney-Harrisson trio helped to quickly achieve mastery of performance, which, after 5 years of acquaintance, understood each other in a musical sense from a half-word.

Requirement to develop writing skills

Band members acting as songwriters must develop and practice their creative writing function. That is, they must be able to quickly and accurately express their thoughts in a musical language, namely: to compose lyrics and come up with a main motive.

The main songwriters of the Beatles - John Lennon and Paul McCartney - began to practice composing at the age of 16. After they met and Paul entered the Lennon group, the future duo began to spend time together, making music. Usually, visiting one of them, they cooked scrambled eggs and composed simple songs. It was also during this time that Paul showed Lennon the basic chords on the guitar, which helped the latter transition from banjo to guitar. A year and a half after John and Paul met, they already had about fifty songs in their assets, on which they trained to compose, not only on their own, but also together. At this time, the poetic skills of the future authors of the Beatles were formed.

It is also interesting that a year before they met in 1956, John Lennon in his group "The Quarrymen" did not even try to write his own songs. His amateur band only performed songs in the style of skiffle, country and western and rock and roll. In my opinion, the need for my own songs arose after meeting McCartney. Then both talented authors had a desire to outdo the other, or at least look no worse, which stimulated them to constantly hone their skills.

As a result, Lennon's talent for writing hit songs developed through long and painstaking practice, while McCartney had a natural talent for writing beautiful melodies.

By 1963, the Beatles were able to skillfully perform other people's material and honed their writing skills, and were also ready to start realizing their huge accumulated creative potential in the studio. It is noteworthy that the Beatles were ready to work in the studio a year before their first recordings. However, it was precisely the fact that they were admitted to the studio later that provided a reserve of creative and technical potential, which made it possible, firstly, to release fundamental hit albums two per year, and, secondly, to create albums "playfully" easily. In other words, by the beginning of the recording of the first album, the musicians were already in a state of “permanent musical readiness”.

Permanent musical readiness

Each musician, if he is not engaged in music on an ongoing basis, needs time to tune in to the game, refresh the primary control of the instrument in his memory. For example, a guitarist needs to repeat basic playing techniques, move his fingers on special exercises, play scales, and so on.

The need to play each time before the game, significantly reduces the time of useful work, which reduces the number of games played. In addition, if the group is inexperienced, then all the fresh forces of the musicians, which could be spent on creative search, can go to the warm-up.

This problem is also relevant for experienced musicians. Even if the musician has a significant break between the game, the musician again “gets upset”, that is, he loses RAM and the feeling of controlling the instrument and will no longer be able to play the instrument “freely” right away.

Is there a solution to this problem that will save time and effort spent on such a "setup"? There is such a solution and it consists in not leaving the state of constant “tuning” and contact with a musical instrument.

This is possible if you make music the main activity, as well as through constant playing without significant interruptions, as well as using the tool to solve related problems (working with a vocal part, inventing melodies on the go). In this case, each time you can "not forget" all the subtleties and sensations of the game and be in a state of constant (permanent) musical readiness.

Having honed their performing and authoring skills by the time the debut album was recorded, the Beatles not only played together, but also entered the state described above. The Beatles' first such sensations were to come during their tour to Hamburg, where they were required to work on stage every day for 8 hours a day. Then, after holding over 260 concerts at the Cavern Club, the Beatles finally entered a state of permanent readiness by August 1962 and did not leave it until the breakup in 1970.

As a result, the constant "combat readiness" made it possible to fully realize the full potential of the joint Lennon-McCartney in a relatively short time: from 1963 to 1969. In addition, this gave an amazing speed with which the group's albums were released. The Beatles released an average of two albums a year, which in principle was not unusual for those times. For example, Elvis Presley recorded an average of 3 albums in the 60s, and The Rolling Stones released 4 albums in the first 2 years of work.

However, the speed with which the band's new albums are released is astonishing due not only to their complexity and level of elaboration, but also to the unsurpassed number of hits in each album. This speed with which so many hits came out also brought a sense of "impossibility", "wonder" to the Beatles' music. And the unprecedented level of recording and mixing in the best English studio Abbey Road also gave the sound a "superhuman" origin.

Such intensity of music lessons required a significant limitation of the personal life of musicians due to the lack of free time and energy. Members of the Beatles from 1963 to 1965 approached his extreme state - a complete renunciation of personal life. For example, in the midst of Beatlemania, the band members spent about 3 years without significant breaks on tour or working in the studio, living in hotels and not being at home for several months. It is also interesting that the rhythm of the Beatles' life during these years was so intense and tough that modern pop stars could not even dream of.

Musical success as society's response to the band's message

The last necessary condition for success is that the band's musical message is accepted by society. This process is largely subjective and largely determined by the nature of the group's message. However, indirectly it depends on such parameters as the novelty of the message, its relevance to society, depth, style and a kind of philosophy that it carries.

The Beatles' goal of becoming the best rock 'n' roll band of all time shaped the band's core idea of ​​"give what you want". Musical messages, like other details of their activities, were only an expression of this idea. The uniqueness of the message was achieved by the fact that the idea was expressed in the language of a specific creative duet Lennon-McCartney.

Of course, the Beatles met all the formal criteria for success. In particular, novelty was ensured, on the one hand, by a breakthrough in the genre of love lyrics, and on the other hand, by the original style of the game, which synthesized such styles as rock and roll, country, etc. The Beatles were also innovators in musical performance. For example, they had their own style - beat music - where the drum rhythm is transmitted by a fast constant beat, most often eighth notes, which gave the music significant expressiveness and emotional tension when changing the accents of the game.

As a result, as practice showed, their message was quickly accepted by the English, and then the American society of the 60s.

The Beatles Phenomenon

So, the Beatles had every opportunity to be successful. But why did her success turn into real national hysteria?

First, we note that the success of a creative team is a process of public reaction in time and space to information and emotional messages created by a creative team. If accepted, the nature of success is determined by the specifics of the message. If the message is calm, then the reaction in case of success will be calm, adequate, sustained. If the message conveys a cry, enthusiasm or a call to action, then the response, if successful, will be appropriate.

The desire to be the best made the Beatles' musical message to the outside world, the purpose of which was to make a splash.

Popularization of the Beatles

However, no matter how successful, explosive the musical message is, the depth and scale of success is largely determined by the efficiency and speed with which it is "presented" to the listener. Such a necessary component of success as “popularization” or advertising of the group is responsible for this.

Music group messages are transmitted in the form musical compositions, through sales of sound media (vinyl records), broadcasts on radio and television, as well as live performances of the band. In addition to primary musical recordings, the dialogue between the group and society takes place through all kinds of publications and mentions in the media.

A distinctive feature of the Beatles group was that for the first time mass popularization technologies were tried on it, when all of the above means of contact with the audience were used to the maximum.

It was first handled by Brian Epstein, who considered success in the four. When the group gained momentum, absolutely all the media took over the baton of advertising due to the specifics of their work (to keep the reader informed of what he is interested in). Then, given that the image of the Beatles was exploited by everyone who could, for commercial purposes, businessmen of all stripes were connected to advertising.

The start of Beatlemania in England is noteworthy. There is an opinion that the success of the Beatles was purely promotional. However, in reality, first the group gained fame, and then it spread through the media.

Indeed, until October 1963, the Beatles' fame was limited to Liverpool and Hamburg. However, in these cities, the group already had crowds of fans who made a stampede and did not allow the passage. However, not a single word was written about this phenomenon in any English newspaper. The media did not acknowledge this phenomenon until October 13, 1963. Although until that time all the signs of Beatlemania were already on the face - during 1963 the Beatles toured intensively, gradually becoming leaders of the programs, leaving behind their colleagues Helen Shapiro, Danny Williams and Kenny Lynch.

In November-December, the Beatles were the sole leaders of the concert programs, eclipsing the American star Roy Orbinson. Already at the time when the Beatles ran onto the stage, they were met by a deafening roar of the crowd, young fans rushed forward, creating a stampede, the girls threw themselves under the car, which was swiftly taking the Beatles away from the rampant fans. And all this was without any media support, all the popularity was won only thanks to word of mouth, live performances and 2 albums (the second was released just on November 22, 1963). For the same reason, their fame was limited to a greater extent by Liverpool and England.

Then, for unknown reasons, the go-ahead to popularize the Beatles comes from the very top of conservative England. First, on October 13, the Beatles performed at the London Palladium Sunday Afternoon concert, which brought the group a colossal success, marking the full involvement of the national print media in popularizing the group. The elite then make a sign to everyone by giving them the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Show in front of the elite of English society, including Queen Elizabeth II. Here comes a turning point in the effectiveness of the foursome's spin - the Beatles are shown for the first time to an audience of 26 million, as a result of which the heart of the nation was won, and success completely spread throughout the country.

The Beatles vs USA

Having won unconditional fame in their homeland, the Beatles set their sights on the last English-speaking outpost - the United States of America. Conquering America was especially flattering for the Beatles, given that they began by imitating its music, and their early inspiration was the king of American rock and roll, Elvis Presley.

In the US, the Beatles had to overcome the negative attitude of the American listener, and especially American producers, towards English pop music. This attitude has developed due to the fact that not a single English group in America has had lasting success.

Despite the rise of the Beatles in England, Capitol Records, the American division of EMI, did not agree to release records until January 1964. Epstein's first attempt to negotiate a U.S. release of the "Please Please Me" single ended in failure: "We don't think the Beatles can do anything in the U.S. market."

Not giving up, Brian Epstein signed a contract with other record companies: "Vee-Jay" from (Chicago) and "Swan Records" (Philadelphia). The former released limited edition singles "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" on February 25 and "From Me To You"/"Thank You Girl" on May 27, 1963, while the latter released the single "She Loves You"/"I 'll Get You" September 16th. However, all three times the compositions did not rise in the main rating list of the USA - the weekly Billboard.

In America, the single "Love Me Do" was released in May 1964 (just at the height of Beatlemania in Britain) and stayed at the top of the charts for 18 months. A well-known role here was played by the commercial cunning of Brian Epstein, who, at his own peril and risk, bought 10 thousand copies of the record, which significantly increased its buyout index and attracted new buyers.

Another strategic move for Brian was to travel to New York and meet November 11-12 with the host popular show in America - Ed Sullivan. At this meeting, he talked Sullivan into 3(!) consecutive performances of the Beatles at his show on February 9th, 16th and 23rd. Of course, Sullivan's decision was swayed by direct evidence of the extent of Beatlemania when his flight to London on October 31st was delayed by a crowd of screaming teenagers welcoming the Beatles from a tour of Sweden.

The US promotion situation changes towards the end of November 1963, when Epstein presses Capitol Records President Alan Livingston over the phone to listen to the band's English single "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and reminds them that the Beatles will be performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, which may be a great opportunity for Capitol Records. Livingston later agrees to spend $40,000 promoting the Beatles, the equivalent of $250,000 today.

After deciding to launch the Beatles campaign, Capitol Records released the single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in late 1963, which went to number one on the Cash Box chart on January 18, 1964 and number three on the Billboard weekly chart. On January 20, Capitol released the album "Meet the Beatles!", partly similar in content to the English "With The Beatles". Both the single and the album went gold on February 3 in the US. By the beginning of April, only The Beatles songs appeared in the top five songs of the US national hit parade, and in general there were 14 of them in the hit parade.

The fact that the United States was conquered by the group became obvious on February 7, 1964, when the musicians landed at New York's Kennedy Airport - more than four thousand fans came to meet them.

As a result, it took Beatlemania about a year after it began in the UK to make it across the ocean. The main reasons for the Beatles' success were their explosive message and phenomenal success in their home country. It was these factors that made it possible to break through the wall of distrust towards English music among representatives of the American show business. The first mentions of the group were in newspaper and television stories, just dedicated to the "squealing" England with might and main. The feature films "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help" also played a role, which also contributed to the growth of the group's popularity in the United States. The beginning of a humble advertising company Capitol Records (modest, because for each show during the group's second visit to the US they received 20 - 30 thousand dollars) was only a necessary technical step, which until the beginning of 1964 was an almost artificial barrier to the realization of the band's amazing potential in America.

Analysis of the possibility of repetition

Why didn’t it work for those who came before them

Analyzing the success of the four, one may wonder why such success did not exist before the Beatles. main reason, in my opinion, is just the lack of an artfully conveyed explosive message. That is, no one before the Beatles so fanatically sought to convey such strong emotions to the world. The only exception was the lone talent Elvis Presley, who worked on the other side of the ocean. Elvis's music was the first to show strong emotions, conducive to a vivid display of emotions, and therefore it is not surprising that he was an idol for the early Beatles.

As a second reason, it can be noted that before the Beatles, no one at the collective level tried so purposefully to convey such "uncompromising" emotions to the world. Before them, there was no ensemble in which almost all participants were equally involved, who strove for excellence in appearance, in performance, quality of recording, interviews, mixing songs, that is, to integrity in music and life. In those days, the musician, when he put the instrument into the case, became an “ordinary” person, while the Beatles remained one with the music always.

They made a choice in favor of the full realization of their creative potential to the detriment of, for example, their personal lives. Oddly enough, they succeeded quite well for 10 years and did not cause a particular crisis, which, for example, Elvis Presley experienced. George Harrison explained this by saying that Elvis was alone, while the Beatles were always together and could share their experiences with each other.

Why didn’t it work for those who came after them

I believe that a song can be "eternal" only in minor variations of the performance of the same theme. This is explained by the fact that all authors have the same basic, "immortal" themes. Therefore, after one author BEFORE another has said his word, the rest will have to talk about it in a different way, so as not to “repeat” and not become a plagiarist. And if this first author also said his word masterfully, then the next ones will have to try hard to look no worse.

The Beatles were the first to professionally reveal such topics as love, loneliness, romance, the philosophy of human life. This gave them the opportunity to act as freely as possible, and allowed them to remove the “cream of the genre”. After the Beatles idealized, simply and skillfully traversed the entire genre of love lyrics, other performers are faced with the so-called "follower complex" effect. A song that is destined to become a classic should have simplicity, a strict classical structure, be performed on basic instruments, and be distinguished by the skill of recording.

Post-Beatles performers essentially have the same themes for songs, but they no longer "can" express their feelings "straight and simple" (instrumental moves, arrangements, etc.). This restriction is imposed regardless of whether they have come to this on their own, not knowing about the pioneers, or not.

Therefore, subsequent authors have to deviate from the ideal, simple course and go sideways in order to remain at least "innovators." However, the further away from the topic and the simplicity of its presentation, the less universality of the work and, as a result, the potential for its success. Therefore, after the Beatles, a return to a simple expression of delight in musical language was difficult in terms of creating repetition / plagiarism. A typical example of such a follower group was the Rolling Stones. In particular, they started with the Beatles song "I Wanna Be Your Man", and then continued to compose in a similar style, but that had not yet been revealed by their predecessors. In favor of the version that the classical themes were already sufficiently developed is the fact that in 1964 a whole “bouquet” of groups arose that predetermined the emergence of a large variety of new trends in English rock music. Among them, first of all, we should mention "The Knicks", "Small Fanzie" and "The Who".

Thus, we can conclude that the Beatles occupied the best part of the love lyrics genre, and given that it makes sense not to sing about everything, then the subsequent authors had to either invent a new one, change the old one, or invent a Time Machine.

Generalization

So, let's sum up the reasons for the rise of the Beatles. External conditions and factors played an important role in the formation of this phenomenon. In a favorable environment, all the conditions arose for the formation of a skillful temptation for world hearing. That is, the genre niche was completely free, professionalism in which could lead to a social explosion, resonance.

The first to take this place was a talented and uncompromising duet of young co-authors, which caused an unprecedented enthusiasm of the public, which grew into a real mania.

Of course, before the Beatles there was already a similar success, but Elvis Presley in the USA had a slightly different character. However, Elvis was a solitary talent, and the Beatles became the first group of like-minded people in England who concentrated entirely on conveying the strongest emotions and emotional attraction to the world.

The Beatles phenomenon was defined by the unique intersection of a large number of rare events. To begin with, it is worth noting that in addition to talent, Lennon and McCartney were originally smart people. Music, as a way to quickly conquer the world, was determined for them by itself, firstly, due to the lack of alternatives, and secondly, the Beatles already had a common role model - the American pioneer of mass hysteria Elvis Presley.

Further, the likelihood of the formation of the Beatles is significantly reduced by the fact that two complementary young people, with the same interests and a thirst for universal love, met and became friends at such an early age (John was 16 and Paul 15). This helped them together to go through the path of becoming in the musical mainstream, as it gave the duo, and then the rest of the group, a strong motivation for development.

As a result, a collective author appeared with many times greater creative potential, compared to each of them individually. That is, the effect of multiplying the creative function from the union of two talented authors from an early age was observed. Also, this association gave both a strong motivation to develop in the mainstream of writing music due to rivalry, as well as the need to improve the technique in order to be able to perform composed songs.

Further, the two authors needed minimal musical accompaniment to perform their songs. Moreover, not just a good technique was required, but a full-fledged accompaniment of the musical idea of ​​a duet with an instrumental part (rapid improvisation, creation of riffs, solo). Of course, this refers to guitarist George Harrison, who met all these requirements. Indeed, firstly, he focused on the guitar, leaving songwriting behind the duet, and secondly, he was a friend of McCartney, which allowed him to quickly fit into the band.

The acquisition of Harrison added to the birth of the Beatles even more exclusivity and meant the formation of the core of the group.

Of course, the guitarist was not immediately found, which adds a little bit of realism to the story of the Beatles. But the trio could already calmly not only sing invented songs, but also listen to them with the main accompanying instrument, that is, vocals plus an independent guitar. Thus, the core of the Beatles was formed, which made it possible, from 1958, to gradually realize the existing potential of Lennon-McCartney.

Then follows a less significant event - the acquisition of the rest, more technical, musical accompaniment. Until August 1962, the rhythm section was McCartney's bass and Pete Best's drums. However, Pete Best was the last one on the team who was out of place. As a result, when Brian Epstein announced his departure, the Beatles gained last musician to form a decent rhythm section - drummer Ringo Starr. The latter came to the Beatles from the second most popular Liverpool band, Rory Storme And The Hurricanes.

The rhythm section did not require special creative talents, needed a sufficient level of play at that time. Therefore, an important condition was the compatibility of the new member with the main team. And this also showed the exclusivity of the birth of the Beatles - Ringo fit into the group like a glove.

With the addition of a drummer, the Beatles were unstoppable. The only question was the speed and scale of their success. The attraction to the essence of the Brian Epstein band certainly hastened and increased the band's success, providing a financial and promotional function. Also, their manager added the “fifth Beatle” to the group in the form of permanent sound engineer George Martin.

Martin provided amazing for those times recording and mixing of the band's compositions in the studio (especially noticeable from the second album). At that time, the infrastructure for the distribution of musical material was already relatively developed, which in the case of the Beatles ensured the mass character and speed of distribution of new signals to listeners in the form of released records, radio and television broadcasts, as well as promotional events. Of course, live performances were an integral part of the Beatles' activities, where the delight of the listeners was actually manifested directly.

Further, when a well-trained group had a way to transmit their works to the whole society as a whole, all obstacles to the realization of the original talent of the duet disappeared, and the matter took a technical, inertial course of development.

John Lennon said after the breakup of the group that it was the belief that the Beatles were the best group in the world that made them who they were, whether it was the best rock and roll group, pop group or whatever. The realization of his unprecedentedness came to him when he began to compose with Paul McCartney. Thus, the Beatles phenomenon is the success that naturally came to a group that had sufficient creative potential, and which went through all the necessary stages to achieve its goal of becoming the best band in the world. The nature of this success was determined by the group's message to the public, as well as by the receptivity of the public itself, which was extremely unsophisticated.

Conclusion

So, the Beatles phenomenon was the success of the musical group, which grew into a real sensation and went far beyond just popular music. The success of the group knew no bounds and was noted at various levels: from the orders of the Queen to a huge number of music awards and prizes.

If we consider the starting point of the development of the Beatles, which ensured the future explosion, then it was the beginning joint creativity Lennon and McCartney in 1957. Together they realized that they could do great things together through music. As a result, they created a creative idea, the essence of which, as a result, was attracted first by a capable guitarist, and then by a drummer of a decent level.

After the group is noticed by their future manager, the group has financial opportunities to start and develop. Finally, the last necessary like-minded person joins the group - sound director George Martin, who provided the recording process in the studio. He became the last link in the chain of transmission of the musical messages of the Beatles to the listener, and thus all the possibilities for achieving the goal were at the disposal of the group, and the Beatles successfully used them.

The Beatles' goal was to become the best musicians of all time. This desire to convey to the world their strong emotions through music formed the need to create a musical group of a decent level. In order to adequately convey their unique potential, an appropriate level of its demonstration was required, that is, the maximum possible, the best form of its presentation.

In accordance with the purpose of creating the group, the requirements that were imposed on all aspects of the group's activities become clear: from texts and repertoire to dress code and style of conversation. The group was required not only to be able to perform works, but to do it to the limit of the possible. Similar requirements were for the sound quality of the songs, and their emotional content.

The band's musical message was shaped by the personalities of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo, while the form of that message was a direct result of the desire to be the best. In particular, this means that tomorrow and 50 years from now, you need to remain the best. For the appearance, this means being above the current fashion, that is, more universal than the current phase of its development. Therefore, if you look at this group today, in general, they do not belong to any pronounced era, but their appearance is quite universal. In terms of music, the Beatles chose themes that are classic and still resonate to this day.

The Beatles are a phenomenon that turned out to be able to go beyond the musical framework into neighboring areas of art, such as cinema, social movements, the creation of an entire subculture. After the Beatles, the English-speaking world, in particular the cultural and entertainment areas, have irreversibly changed, having received a strong, all-overcoming impetus for development. The Beatles left behind a legacy that continues to give positive emotions listeners, as well as to inspire entire generations to creative achievements. The work of the Beatles does not lose its relevance to this day in the face of constantly emerging new fans who discover this group.

The Beatles are a phenomenal group without which modern music would be completely different. Every second musician today claims that he was influenced by the work of the Beatles, regardless of which country he lives in. The group's total sales of records, cassettes and discs exceeded 1 billion copies. The style of the Beatles cannot be confused with anyone - you can not listen to them, but it is impossible not to know.

History of creation and composition

The history of the team began in Britain in the 50s, during the era of the general boom musical groups. Anyone who could play the guitar, drums or banjo at least a little, aspired to get into the "band".

When school was left behind and it was necessary to decide what to do next, all three chose music without hesitation. The members agreed that the band needed a new name. There were a lot of options: "Rainbows", "Johnny and Moon Dogs"," Beetles "- The Beetles. The latter option formed the basis of the original name.

There is a legend that Lennon saw the word beatles in a dream - supposedly a man in flames appeared to him and dictated the name of the band. According to a simpler version, the word was chosen because it had the root beat, meaning a rhythmic beat or drum beat.

In January 1960, Stuart Sutcliffe joined the musicians, becoming a bass player, although he had to learn to play literally “on the go”. At this time, the group performed in their native Liverpool and occasionally toured the UK. In the summer, the Beatles were invited to concerts in Hamburg. To accept the invitation and appear on stage as a classic beat band, they had to urgently find a drummer. They became Pete Best, who had previously performed in the Liverpool ensemble The Blackjacks.

The first foreign tours took place in conditions close to extreme: they had to work a lot, the pay was low, there were problems with documents, because of which, as a result, the musicians were deported from the country. Despite this, a year later, the Beatles soloists, having received a second invitation to Hamburg, agreed, and this time everything went much calmer.

In Germany, the musicians met Astrid Kirchherr, an art student who began an affair with Sutcliffe. It was she who organized the first professional photo session for the group and came up with an original image for them: new hairstyles, instead of the previous concert leather jackets - jackets without collars and lapels.

Hairstyles and costumes of The Beatles

The Beatles returned home as a quartet: the bass player decided to stay in Germany with Astrid. There, Stewart became famous as a talented artist, but his creative biography turned out to be very short: at the age of 21, the young man died of a brain hemorrhage.

For the next 2 years, the musicians regularly performed in their hometown, at the Cavern Club. During 1961-1963 they played 262 concerts there. The group's popularity grew, although at that time their repertoire consisted mainly of other people's musical works. The author's duet of Paul and John created new songs, but preferred to put them "on the table", not hoping for success. The works saw the light only when the Beatles found a producer - Brian Epstein.

Prior to this, Epstein had no professional experience in promoting: before meeting the musicians, he traded records, but the work of the young Beatles seemed promising to Brian. Most labels did not share his enthusiasm, but he managed to get a contract with EMI on the condition that the guys write at least 4 more singles.

“He spelled out in the most accurate way what we were supposed to do, and it all seemed more real,” Lennon recalled. “Until Brian showed up, we were living in a dream.”

Before recording the first album, Pete Best left the band. The girl's favorite and the most attractive member, he did not cope with the studio work, which turned out to be much more difficult than the live one, and was forced to leave the group. On August 16, 1962, he joined The Beatles.

Music

In 1963, the Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, was released. The material was collected at an accelerated pace and managed in almost a day. In addition to other people's hits, it included author's songs by Lennon and McCartney. The musicians agreed in advance that they would sign the compositions with exactly two names, and kept this tradition to the end, even despite the fact that latest songs wrote separately.

Love Me Do by The Beatles

In the same year, the Beatles' discography was replenished with the second album With the Beatles, which became the beginning of the "Beatlemania" in the homeland of the musicians. The scale of the hobby, nicknamed the “national hysteria” by the media, turned out to be unusual: whole crowds came to the performances, the audience densely packed not only the halls, but also the surrounding streets, they were ready to stand on the street for hours to hear at least echoes of the concert. Applause and enthusiasm sometimes became so stormy that the musicians at the performance did not hear themselves.

She Loves You by The Beatles

In 1964, the Beatlemania epidemic took over the United States. For the next 2 years, the musicians live according to a schedule scheduled to the minute: tours, concerts, work from the studio, TV appearances, radio broadcasts and filming did not give the slightest respite. During this time, the British rock band from Liverpool recorded 5 albums and 2 videos - Paperback Writer and Rain.

Despite the crazy work schedule, the musicians found time for their personal lives, trying, however, to hide it from fans. John Lennon was the first to marry in 1962. The marriage, in which the son Julian was soon born, lasted 6 years and broke up when the musician met. An extravagant Japanese woman changed Lennon's whole life and actively interfered in the affairs of the group, for which the rest of the musicians disliked her. It was to her that Lennon dedicated the ballad Don't Let Me Down.

Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles

Ringo Starr was the second to marry - they lived with Maureen Cox for 10 years and gave birth to three children. George Harrison married Patti Boyd in 1966, but in 1974 his wife left him for. Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in 1968, with whom he lived until the end of her life.

In 1965, the group received the Order of the British Empire for their contribution to the development of culture, which caused a big scandal. Previously, musicians among the owners of such high award was not, and some gentlemen said they did not want to stand in the same row with pop idols. 4 years later, Lennon protested against the British intervention in the Biafro-Nigerian war and returned the Order.

Movie

For the first time, the Liverpool Four acted in films in 1964. A Hard Day's Evening was created in the feature film genre and produced in just 8 weeks. The musicians did not need any special acting work: it was a movie about the daily life of the group - concerts, fans, tours. The film was a success among fans and was twice nominated for an Oscar, and the soundtrack was released as a separate album.

Song Yesterday by The Beatles

IN next year the tape "Help!" featuring the Beatles. For the first time, the famous Yesterday appeared on the record with music for it, which entered the Guinness Book of Records in terms of the number of arrangements and interpretations (today more than 2 thousand are known)

Yellow Submarine song by The Beatles

In 1968, the musicians became the heroes of the Yellow Submarine cartoon. Prior to this, the band members tried to create their own movie, but the picture Magical Mystery Tour received rather low ratings from both the public and critics.

Decay

In 1966, the group ceased to give "live" concerts and went headlong into studio work. A year later, the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which many consider the best in the history of the band. Meanwhile, the musicians' relationship is cracking. The Beatles, tired of fame, announced their desire to do personal projects.

Song Come Together by The Beatles

In 1967, Brian Epstein suddenly died of an overdose of sleeping pills. They couldn’t find a full-fledged replacement for him, but, having joined forces, the Beatles recorded 3 more records: The White Album (1968), Abbey Road (1968) and Let it be (1970), as well as the single Come Together (1969).

Soon after, Paul McCartney's first solo album was released. In an interview, he actually draws a line under the history of The Beatles. The last photo of the band in full force was taken on August 22, 1969, near the estate of John Lennon, in Tittenhurst Park.

After the collapse, a series of lawsuits began over copyrights to the notes, lyrics and the band's logo, the results of which are still conflicting on the Web.

10 years later, the musicians began to think about the revival, but these plans were not destined to come true. In 1980, John Lennon was killed by a mentally unstable fan. Together with his death, the hope for the restoration of the group also died. So the great Beatles finally became a thing of the past.

George Harrison died in 2001 from a brain tumor.

The Beatles now

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney remain on stage. In January 2014, they received an honorary Grammy Award for their contribution to the development of the music of the 20th century.

The career of former drummer Pete Best was not easy. He changed several bands and tried to do solo work, but unsuccessfully.

In 1968, he decided to quit music and entered the civil service, but 20 years later he began to appear in public again and created his own group, The Pete Best Band, which now regularly performs with concerts in the United States.

Discography

• 1963 – Please Please Me
• 1963 - With The Beatles
• 1964 - A Hard Day's Night
• 1964 - The Beatles For Sale
• 1965 Help!
• 1965 - Rubber Soul
• 1966 - Revolver
• 1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• 1967 Magical Mystery Tour
• 1968 - The Beatles ("White Album")
• 1969 - Yellow Submarine
• 1969 Abbey Road
• 1970 - Let It Be

Clips

• 1963 – Please Please Me
• 1964 - I Should Have Known Better
• 1996 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand
• 1967 – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
• 1969 - Don't Let Me Down
• 1969 - Get Back
• 1968 - Glass Onion
• 1968 – All Together Now
• 1968 - Lady Madonna
• 1970 - The Long And Winding Road
• 1973 - You "ve Got To Hide Your Love Away

In 1961 they recorded their first studio recording.
In May 1962, George Martin signs a contract with them and becomes their producer. In the same year, for unknown reasons, Pete Best left the band, but was soon replaced by Ringo Starr.

The Beatles' first real record was "Love me do". They are recognized as the best Liverpool group. Next record “Please, please me”
And in October 1963 a wave of "Beatlemania" swept over the British Isles.

The conquest of the rest of the world they began with Sweden.
In January 1964, the composition “I want to hold your hand” in America goes from 83 to first place. The band itself was on tour in Paris.
After that came the furor. The world has been conquered! In some places, growing into popular hysteria.

For all the time of its existence, the group has sold more than 1 billion CDs and cassettes worldwide and became the authors of 18 albums!
Beatles last time spoke August 29, 1966 Further work was only studio.
In 1967 they released the record "Sgt. Pepper", and their last work was the record "Let it be".
In 1970 - "" disbanded. Each of the four members had their own project on the side and each started a solo career.
The assassination of John Lennon in 1980 finally destroys hopes for the reunion of the legendary four. But, despite this, they are loved, admired for many years. They are idolized!