The Beatles

Induction Year: 1988

Induction Category: Performer

(guitar, sitar, vocals), (guitar, keyboards, vocals), (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals), Ringo Starr (drums, percussion, vocals)

The impact of the Beatles has often been noted but cannot be overstated. The “Fab Four” from Liverpool, England, startled the ears and energized the lives of virtually all who heard them. Their arrival triggered the musical revolution of the Sixties, introducing a modern sound and viewpoint that parted ways with the world of the previous decade. The pleasurable jolt at hearing “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” - given the doldrums into which rock and roll had fallen in recent years - was comparable to the collective fever induced by Presley’s “That’s All Right (Mama)” and “Heartbreak Hotel” nearly ten years earlier.

The Beatles’ music - with its simultaneous refinement (crisp harmonies, solid musicianship, canny pop instincts) and abandon (energetic singing and playing, much screaming and shaking of mop-topped locks) – ignited the latent energy of youth on both sides of the Atlantic. They helped confer self-identity upon a youthful, music-based culture that flexed its muscle in myriad ways - not just as music consumers but also as a force for political expression, social commentary and contemporary lifestyles.

Landing on these shores on February 7, 1964, they literally stood the world of pop culture on its head, setting the musical agenda for the remainder of the decade. The Beatles’ buoyant melodies, playful personalities and mop-topped charisma were just the tonic needed by a nation left reeling by the senseless assassination of its young president, John F. Kennedy, two months earlier. Even adults typically given to dismissing rock and roll conceded that there was substance in their music and cleverness in their quick-witted repartee. Between the lines, and without obvious disrespect, the Beatles announced the ascendancy of youth - and the inevitable coming of a generation gap as a result.

The long journey resulting in the mob scene that greeted the Beatles’ arrival at Kennedy Airport began in Liverpool. In 1958, formed a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. Lennon was raised on Fifties rockabilly and was especially partial to and . He met a similarly rock-smitten schoolkid named . Impressed by McCartney’s knowledge of song lyrics and ability to tune a guitar, Lennon recruited him into the Quarrymen. A schoolmate of McCartney’s, , came next. The youthful Harrison’s mastery of guitar licks by impressed the skeptical Lennon.

With a rhythm section consisting of bassist Stu Sutcliffe (a sharp-looking art student with negligible musical ability) and drummer Pete Best, the group eventually settled on the Beatles as their name. They became a fixture on the rough-and-tumble club scene in Hamburg, Germany, where their five-set-a-night marathons helped mold them into a tight performing unit. Their repertoire comprised well-chosen rock and roll and rhythm & blues covers by such trailblazers as and . In April 1961, Sutcliffe left and McCartney switched from guitar to bass. On the local scene in their hometown of Liverpool, the group landed a lunchtime residency at a club called The Cavern, where they were discovered by a local record merchant and entrepreneur, Brian Epstein, who became their manager in December 1961. In January 1962, a fan poll in Mersey Beat declared them the top group in Liverpool.

Epstein helped polish the group’s appearance. He attired them in dapper collarless gray suits, which made them appear more accessible than the menacing leathers they’d worn in Hamburg. The Beatles signed with EMI-Parlophone in April 1962 after impressing producer . In August, fellow Liverpudlian Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey), then a member of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, replaced Pete Best. The group’s first single, “Love Me Do”/”P.S. I Love You,” briefly dented the U.K. Top Twenty in October 1962, but their next 45, “Please Please Me,” formally ignited Beatlemania in their homeland, reaching the Number Two spot. It was followed in 1963 by four consecutive chart-topping British singles: “From Me to You,” “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

They conquered the U.K., even inducing a classical music critic from the London Sunday Times to declare them “the greatest composers since Beethoven.” Moreover, they were the greatest rockers since the composer of “Roll Over, Beethoven” - i.e., . The freshness and immediacy of the Beatles’ sound stemmed from the fact they assimilated and synthesized the most vital sources for rock and roll that preceded them.

Writing in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, Greil Marcus observed that “the form of the Beatles contained the forms of rock and roll itself. The Beatles combined the harmonic range and implicit equality of the Fifties vocal groups with the flash of a rockabilly band (the Crickets or ’s Blue Caps) with the aggressive and unique personalities of the classic rock stars (Elvis, ) with the homey, this-could-be-you manner of later rock stars (Everly Brothers, , ) with the endlessly inventive songwriting touch of the Brill Building, and they delivered it all with the grace of the Miracles, the physicality of ‘Louie, Louie,’ and the absurd enthusiasm of Gary ‘U.S.’ Bonds.”

The Beatles’ success can be attributed to a combination of factors, including Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting genius, Harrison’s guitar-playing prowess, Starr’s artful simplicity as a drummer, and the solid group harmonies that were a hallmark of their recordings. Personally, they had youthful high spirits, good looks, quick wit and refreshingly down-to-earth dispositions to commend them. ’s production and Brian Epstein’s management were important elements as well.

The Beatles’ conquest of America early in 1964 launched “the British Invasion,” a torrent of rock & roll bands from Britain that overtook the pop charts. The Fab Four’s first #1 single in the U.S. was “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” released on Capitol Records, EMI’s American counterpart. This exuberant track was followed by 45 more Top Forty hits over the next half-dozen years. During the week of April 4, 1964, the Beatles set a record that is likely never to be broken when they occupied all five of the top positions on Billboard’s Top Forty, with “Can’t Buy Me Love” ensconced at #1. Their popularity soared still further with the release of their anarchic Marx Brothers-as-rock-stars documentary film, A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and its equally playful followup, Help! (1965).

When all was said and done, the Beatles charted twenty #1 singles in the States – three more than runner-up . It is estimated by EMI, their British record company, that the Beatles have sold over a billion records worldwide. For feats of sales and airplay alone, the Beatles are unquestionably the top group in rock and roll history. Yet their significance extends well beyond numbers to encompass their innovations in the recording studio. The Beatles’ legacy as a concert attraction, during their harried passage from nightclubs to baseball stadiums, is distinguished primarily by the deafening screams of female fans more overcome by their appearance than the music they played.
Consequently, the Beatles began to indulge their creative energies in the studio, layering sounds and crafting songs in a way that was experimental yet still accessible. This retreat from the ceaseless mayhem of pop celebrity yielded such musically expansive and lyrically sophisticated albums as Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966). The former, with its acoustic leanings and thoughtful lyrics, betrayed the influence of upon the band, while the latter stands as a tour de force of tuneful, concise pop psychedelia.

The Beatles retired from touring for good after a San Francisco concert on August 29, 1966. Like Brian Wilson of , who abandoned touring to focus on his music, the Beatles thereafter became creatures of the studio. Ten months later, they released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album that has almost universally been cited as the creative apotheosis of rock and roll, a watershed event in which rock became “serious art” without losing its sense of humor - or, in Lennon’s case, sense of the absurd. Realizing the band members’ collective ambitions took four months and all the technical wiles of producer could muster. A completely self-contained album meant to be played and experienced from start to finish, Sgt. Pepper broke the mold in that no singles were released.

The album’s artistic reach further cemented the notion of a viable counterculture in the minds of youthful dropouts everywhere. Anyone who was alive in the summer of 1967 can remember the pleasant shock of hearing it and the reverberations it sent outward into the world of rock and roll and beyond. As writer Langdon Winner observed, “For a brief moment, the irreparably fractured consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young.” Sgt. Pepper was followed by perhaps the greatest two-sided single in rock history, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” which exhibited the creative sensibilities of and , respectively, at their zenith.

In the wake of Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles began to splinter in ways that were initially subtle but gradually grew more pronounced. Subsequent events included the death of manager Epstein due to an overdose of sleeping pills; the release of the TV film Magical Mystery Tour, which earned the Beatles some of their first negative reviews; a trip to India to meditate with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, about whom Lennon wrote “Sexy Sadie”; and the launching in January 1968 of Apple Corps, Ltd., a well-intentioned but ultimately mismanaged entertainment empire that helped bring down the Beatles.

Through all the chaotic events of the late Sixties, however, the Beatles retained their ingenuity and focus as recording artists. Released in August 1968, the single “Hey Jude"/"Revolution" became their most popular single. The Beatles (1968), a double-LP popularly referred to as the White Album, found the group refracting into four estimably talented individuals. This 30-song tour de force included such Beatles classics as “Back in the U.S.S.R,” “”While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Blackbird,” “Birthday,” “Helter Skelter” and “Revolution.”

The album and film Let It Be, recorded in 1969 but shelved until 1970, documented the Beatles’ dissolution. Internal squabbles and the discomfiting presence of ’s new soulmate, Yoko Ono, revealed widening cracks within the group. Even in this tense atmosphere, the Beatles playfully harked back to their origins with impromptu performances of early rock and R&B classics in the studio.

The Beatles exited on a high note, coming together in the summer of 1969 to record a fitting swan song, Abbey Road. That album included numerous highlights: a playful pastiche of shorts songs, with as chief instigator, on the second side; a pair of ’s most emotionally unguarded songs ("Come Together,” “Don’t Let Me Down"); and impressive contributions from ("Here Comes the Sun,” “Something").
On April 10, 1970, announced his departure from the Beatles, and the group quietly came to an end. Throughout the Seventies, fans hoped for an eventual reunion, while the group members pursued solo careers with varying degrees of artistic and commercial success. Those hopes were dashed by the senseless murder of in New York City on December 8, 1980.

The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. did not attend the ceremony, leaving surviving Beatles Harrison and Starr and Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, to be inducted by fellow British Invasion legend Mick Jagger, of . McCartney released a brief statement that read: ‘’After 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven’t been, so I would feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.’’

In 1995, the three ex-Beatles regrouped harmoniously for The Beatles Anthology, which produced a six-hour video documentary aired over the course of three nights on ABC-TV; three double-disc anthologies of Beatles music, including much rare and unreleased material; and a massive coffee-table book with new and archival pictures and interviews. Yoko Ono provided home demos of two unreleased Lennon songs for the project, and McCartney, Harrison and Starr completed the recordings under the guiding hand of their longtime producer, . This resulted in the first new Beatles singles in 25 years: “Free as a Bird” (#6) and “Real Love” (#11). It was the closest the group came to a reunion since their breakup in 1970.

One of the latest eruptions of Beatlemania occurred in 2005 with the release of 1, a single-disc collection of 27 songs that topped the American and/or British charts. In July 2006, LOVE – an elaborate Cirque de Soleil production that pays tribute to the Beatles - opened at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

Though popular music has changed considerably in the decades since the Beatles’ demise, their music continues to reach and inspire new generations of listeners. Half a century after their humble origins in Liverpool, the Beatles remain the most enduring phenomenon in the history of popular music.

TIMELINE

July 7, 1940: Richard Starkey - a.k.a. Ringo Starr - is born in Liverpool, England.

October 9, 1940: John Winston Lennon is born at Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England, to Julia Stanley and Alfred Lennon.

June 18, 1942: James is born in Liverpool, England.

February 24, 1943: is born in Liverpool, England.

1956: ’s mother, Julia, buys him his first guitar through a mail-order ad.

July 6, 1957: meets at the Woolton Parish Church after a performance by Lennon’s skiffle group, the Quarrymen. McCartney is invited to join the group.

October 18, 1957: makes his performing debut as a member of the Quarry Men at a club in Liverpool.

February 1, 1958: introduces to the Quarrymen at the Morgue, a basement club in Liverpool. Harrison, a guitar-playing schoolmate of McCartney’s, joins the group.

1959: The Quarry Men change their name to Johnny and the Moondogs.

January 1960: Stuart Sutcliffe joins , and – a.k.a., Johnny and the Moondogs, the Silver Beatles and the Beatles - on bass guitar.

August 1, 1960: The Beatles debut in Hamburg, West Germany, with Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums.

January 1, 1961: The Beatles peform at Liverpool’s Cavern Club for the first time.

November 1, 1961: 1961: Brian Epstein becomes the Beatles’ manager, having checked out the band at the Cavern Club after receiving requests for their single “My Bonnie” at his Liverpool record shop.

January 1962: Decca Records passes on the Beatles after their audition, leaving A&R Dick Rowe with the unenviable reputation as “the man who gave away the Beatles.”

March 7, 1962: The Beatles debut on the BBC, performing Roy Orbison’s “Dream Baby” and two other songs.

April 10, 1962: Stu Sutcliffe, who’d played bass in the Beatles, dies of a brain tumor.

June 1, 1962: The Beatles audition for at Parlophone/EMI Records. He agrees to sign the group but insists that drummer Pete Best be replaced.

August 1962: Richard “Ringo” Starkey, the popular drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, joins the Beatles.

September 4-11, 1962: The Beatles hold their first recording sessions at EMI Studios in London, with as producer.

October 1962: “Love Me Do” becomes the Beatles’ first U.K. single for the Parlophone label, reaching #21.

March 22, 1963: The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me, is released in England.

November 22, 1963: The Beatles’ second album, With the Beatles, is issued in the U.K. on the same day President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

December 26, 1963: “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” by the Beatles, is released. It is their first release on Capitol Records.

February 1, 1964: “I Want to Hold Your Hand, by the Beatles, tops the Billboard singles chart for the first of seven weeks.

February 7, 1964: The Beatles arrive in America and hold a quip-filled press conference that sets the antic tone for their two-week stay.

February 9, 1964: The Beatles make the first of four appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their TV debut in the U.S. is viewed by a record-breaking audience of 75 million.

February 11, 1964: The Beatles kick off their first U.S. tour with a sold-out show at the Coliseum Theater in Washington, D.C.

February 15, 1964: Meet the Beatles!, the Fab Four’s first album on Capitol Records in the U.S., tops the charts for the first of 11 weeks.

April 4, 1964: “Can’t Buy Me Love,” by the Beatles, reaches #1. The next four positions on the singles chart are held down by the Fab Four as well. It is a feat that’s never been matched before or since.

July 6, 1964: The Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day’s Night, premieres in London.

August 19, 1964: The Beatles’ first American tour begins at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

September 20, 1964: The Beatles’ first American tour ends with a charity performance at Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater.

April 1, 1965: composes “Help!” the title song for the Beatles’ second film. He later reveals the lyrics were a cry for help and a clue to his confusion at the time.

July 29, 1965: The Beatles’ second film, Help!, premieres in London.

August 15, 1965: The Beatles play for nearly 60,000 fans at New York’s Shea Stadium.

August 27, 1965: The Beatles spend the evening talking and playing music with at Graceland, his Memphis estate.

October 9, 1965: “Yesterday,” by the Beatles, hits #1 for the first of four weeks. It is the most covered song in pop history, with more than recorded 2,500 versions.

October 26, 1965: The Beatles are awarded England’s prestigious MBE (Members of the Order of the British Empire). Lennon later returns his in opposition to Britain’s involvement in the Vietham War.

March 1, 1966: The London Evening Standard publishes an interview in which says the Beatles are “more popular than Jesus now.”

July 31, 1966: ’s controversial comments on Christianity – made in March, but only recently picked up in the U.S. - spark protests and record burnings on the eve of the Beatles’ 1966 American tour.

August 29, 1966: After performing at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the Beatles declare that their touring days are over.

March 18, 1967: “Penny Lane,” by the Beatles, reaches #1, and the flip side, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” peaks at #8.

June 1, 1967: The Beatles’ magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is released in Britain. It appears a day later in America.

July 1, 1967: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles, tops the U.S. charts for first of 15 weeks.

August 1, 1967: Beatle and his wife, Patti, stroll through the streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district at the height of the hippie movement.

August 19, 1967: The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” hits #1.

September 1, 1967: composes “I Am the Walrus” while under the influence of LSD. It will be one of six new Beatles songs included in their quixotic TV film, Magical Mystery Tour.

December 30, 1967: “Hello Goodbye,” by the Beatles, reaches #1 for the first of three weeks. The flip side, ’s experimental opus “I Am the Walrus,” peaks at #56.

February 15, 1968: The Beatles depart for Rishikesh, India, for an advanced course in transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They are joined by Donovan, Mike Love (of ), and sisters Mia and Priscilla Farrow.

May 1, 1968: The Beatles launch Apple Corps, Ltd., a business venture that includes Apple Records, in London.

September 28, 1968: The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” a seven-minute song highlighted by an extended singalong coda, tops the charts for the first of nine weeks. It holds the record among Beatles singles for most weeks at #1.

Novenber 22, 1968: The Beatles’ sprawling, self-titled double album – generally referred to as the White Album – is released. It tops the U.S. charts for nine weeks.

January 30, 1969: The Beatles make their final live performance with an impromptu, five-song set on the rooftop of Apple headquarters, on London’s Savile Row, during the filming of Let It Be.

May 24, 1969: The Beatles reach #1 with “Get Back,” which features Billy Preston on keyboards.

September 26, 1969: The Beatles release Abbey Road, which tops the American charts for 11 weeks.

November 29, 1969: The Beatles reach #1 with “Come Together.” Only four months later, the Beatles will come apart.

April 10, 1970: announces he is leaving the Beatles due to “personal, business and musical differences.”

May 8, 1970: Let It Be, by the Beatles, is released. It is followed five days later by the Let It Be documentary film.

June 13, 1970: “The Long and Winding Road” becomes the Beatles’ 20th and final #1 single.

April 14, 1973: Two simultaneously released double-album compilations – The Beatles/1962-1966 (“the Red Album”) and The Beatles/1967-1970 (“the Blue Album”) – enter the Billboard album chart. They will peak at #3 and #1, respectively.

January 2, 1975: The Beatles’ formal legal dissolution takes place in London.

June 19, 1976: The Beatles, now defunct for half a decade, have a Top Ten hit with “Got to Get You Into My Life,” a song that had been recorded a decade earlier.

December 8, 1980: is shot by a deranged assailant as he and Yoko return to the Dakota after a recording session. He is pronounced dead at New York’s Roosevelt Hospital.

April 10, 1982: “The Beatles’ Movie Medley,” a seven-song mashup, enters the Top Forty, where it will peak at #12.

March 7, 1987: The Beatles enter the digital age with an initial release of three albums in the compact disc format. The CDs are configured like the original British albums, not the altered American versions.

June 1, 1987: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles, is issued on compact disc exactly 20 years after its original release.

January 20, 1988: The Beatles are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 3rd annual induction dinner. Mick Jagger, of , is their presenter.

December 6, 1994: The Beatles’ Live at the BBC, a 56-song double-disc collection assembled by producer , is released.

November 19, 1995: “Free as a Bird,” a demo from 1977 that’s been newly overdubbed by the three surviving Beatles, enters the singles chart, where it will peak at #6.

November 19-23, 1995: The Beatles Anthology, a comprehensive documentary based on archival footage and fresh interviews, airs on ABC in three parts.

December 9, 1995: Anthology 1, the first of three archival double-disc releases by the Beatles, tops the Billboard 200 for the first of three weeks.

March 23, 1996: “Real Love,” the second “new” Beatles single based on a demo, enters the charts, where it will peak at #11.

Octobe 5, 2000: The Beatles Anthology, a 368-page coffeetable-book companion to the 1995 TV documentary and three double-CD sets, is published.

November 29, 2001: dies at age 58 after battling lung and brain cancer.

November 13,2000: 1, a collection of 27 Beatles songs that topped the U.S. and/or U.K. charts, is released. Demonstrating the Beatles’ undiminished appeal, it will top Billboard’s Top 200 album chart for eight weeks.

November 11, 2004: At a ceremony in London, the Beatles are inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in its first year. The other inductees, each representing a particular decade: , , Madonna and .

November 16, 2004: The first four Beatles albums that were issued in the U.S. by Capitol Records in 1964 are reissued on CD as the box set The Capitol Albums, Volume 1. All four albums appear in both mono and stereo mixes.

April 15, 2005: The Beatles’ 1 hits collection is certified diamond (10 million copies sold) by the RIAA.

July 1, 2006: Cirque du Soleil salutes the Beatles’ legacy with LOVE, a multimedia production featuring over 100 Beatles songs, collaged and remixed by .