The Beatles are among the towering icons of rock and roll because of their pioneering and innovative music style. They also became the embodiment of the 1960s counterculture movement of the youth against the establishment.
Origin of Rock and Roll
The Beatles did not invent rock and roll music but they have great contributions in spreading it and making it part of the popular culture. Rock and roll music has originated in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was a merger between African music and European instrumentation. It is primarily characterized by its generally fast tempo, loud sound and the use of electric guitars and drum sets. It has evolved from and influenced by its music genre predecessors, namely, blues, boogie-woogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music.
Many details about the origin of rock and roll music are still hotly debated among music historians and commentators but it is undeniable that The Beatles is among the pioneers and most famous rock and roll acts in history. No rock band has surpassed the fame, prolificity in terms of music hits, and iconic cultural impact to the world. The band is a world record holder for the most #1 hits by any rock group in American history. It had 20 Billboard #1 singles.
The Precursor Groups and Names
Before The Beatles was formed in August 1960, there were several precursor groups led by John Lennon. The name of the band’s core group – Lennon, McCartney and Harrison – also evolved in the course of several months. The first group was formed by the sixteen-year-old John Lennon in 1957 and it was briefly called the Blackjacks but later changed the name to Quarrymen because they discovered that another local group was already using the name. The band was composed of several friends of Lennon from Quarry Bank school.
Paul McCartney, who was only fifteen years old then, joined the Quarry men as a rhythm guitarist after he and Lennon met in July 1957. About seven months had passed before McCartney invited his friend Georg Harrison to watch a performance of the band and also to audition. Harrison was only fourteen years old then. Although Lennon was impressed by the guitar skills of Harrison, the former thought that the latter was still very young to join the band. However, the latter was very persistent and he was eventually enlisted as the lead guitarist of the band.
Lennon’s Quarry Bank school friends eventually left the band in January 1959. Lennon started studying at the Liverpool College of Art. Only the three future Beatles were left. Whenever they could find a drummer, they called themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs in several of their gigs. Stuart Sutcliffe, a friend of Lennon from the art school, joined the group in January 1960 as a bass guitarist. He was the one who suggested to changing the name of the band to Beatals, as the group’s tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The name stuck until May of that year but was later changed to the Silver Beetles, which became the Silver Beatles. It was by the middle of August that the group was finally called the Beatles.
Brief History of the Band
Although The Beatles built their careers under American record labels, the band originated from the United Kingdom. The band was formed in 1960 in Liverpool, England. The iconic four members that we know today – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – were merely teenagers when they started their musical careers.
They earned their reputation by playing in various clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg for more than three years. However, drummer Ringo Starr only came a bit later. The band started with Stuart Sutcliffe as bass player and a succession of various drummers. The most notable of these drummers was Pete Best who was later succeeded by Ringo Starr.
The band later experimented on several musical genres and styles such as pop ballad, Indian music, psychedelia and hard rock. They typically incorporate classical elements in their compositions but in very innovative fashions.
As the music of the band became more sophisticated and mature, the group was seen as the epitome of the counterculture ideals of the 1960s. It was the hippie counterculture that advocated anti-authoritarian but nonviolent means of promoting social change. It was an era typified by the youth’s breakaway from ultraconservative and repressed culture. Aside from anti-war protests and civil rights advocacy, the era was also known for the sexual revolution and the proliferation of psychedelic drugs. Hence, the stereotypical combination of sex, drugs, and rock and roll was born.
After more than 10 years of performing in concerts and recording in studios, the band broke-up in 1970. In total, they had sold more than 600 million units of records worldwide. The band had the most number of albums topping the British charts and had the most number of best-selling singles. Several decades after the four members separated, the band was still topping the Billboard magazine’s list. The Beatles made it to the list of the all-time most successful “Hot 100” artists. As of 2016, the band still holds the record for most #1 hits on the Hot 100 chart.
Turning Points
Since the band became known as the Beatles, there were several key events or turning points that led to the global success of the group. The first of these key events was their two-year residency in Hamburg, Germany where club owner Bruno Koschmider contracted the band as regular performer. They were able to establish reputation in the local music scene. It was also during this time that the familiar “exi” (existentialist) was first adopted by a Beatle member. All band members later adopted the haircut.
The second turning point was the band’s encounter with Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist. The band met Epstein during one of their regular performances in the Cavern Club in November 1961. Epstein became the band’s long-term manager and he was largely responsible for negotiating recording contracts with record labels.
The so-called Beatlemania and touring years lasted from 1963 to 1966 but it was on February 9, 1964 that the band was introduced to the America Audience. It started the so-called British Invasion. It was in The Ed Sullivan Show that the band gained a lot of exposure. Their first appearance on the show was watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households. It was the equivalent of 34 per cent of the American population.
As the saying goes, the rest was history.
