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1、The BeatlesThe impact ofthe Beatlesupon popular music cannot be overstated; they revolutionized the music industry and touched the lives of all who heard them in deep and fundamental ways. Landing on these shores on February 7, 1964, they literally stood the world of pop culture on its head, setting
2、 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, barely two months earlier. Even adults typicall
3、y given to scorning rock and roll as worthless kids stuff were forced to concede that there was substance in their music and quick-witted cleverness in their repartee. Without exaggeration, they transfixed and transformed the world as we knew it, ushering in a demographic shift in which youth cultur
4、e assertively took over from its stodgy Eisenhower-era forbears.The long journey resulting in the mob scene that greetedthe Beatles arrival at Kennedy Airport began in Liverpool back in 1958. A series of groups, including the Quarrymen and the Johnny and the Moondogs, variously included Liverpool na
5、tivesJohn Lennon,Paul McCartneyandGeorge Harrison. With a rhythm section consisting of bassist Stu Sutcliffe (an art student with great looks and scant musical ability) and drummer Pete Best, the group assumed the name the Beatles. The group became a fixture on the rough-and-tumble bar scene in Hamb
6、urg, Germany, where their five-set-a-night marathons helped mold them into a tight performing unit. Their early repertoire consisted of well-chosen rock and roll and rhythm & blues covers, running the gamut fromChuck BerrytoLittle Richard. In April 1961, Sutcliffe left and McCartney switched from gu
7、itar 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.Epstein helped polish the groups appea
8、rance, dressing them in dapper collarless gray suits and making them appear more friendly than menacing. After being rejected by Decca Records following a January 1962 audition,the Beatlessigned with EMI-Parlophone that April, having impressed producerGeorge Martin. In August, Ringo Starr (born Rich
9、ard Starkey), whod been drumming with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, was brought into replace Pete Best. The groups 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, reach
10、ing the Number Two spot. It was followed by four consecutive chart-topping British singles, issued throughout 1963: From Me to You, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Cant Buy Me Love. They conquered the U.K., even inducing a classical music critic from the London Sunday Times to declare them
11、the greatest composers since Beethoven. The groups success was based around the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership, Harrisons guitar-playing prowess, and Starrs amiable disposition and artful simplicity as a drummer.The Beatles conquest of America early in 1964 launched the British Invasion, a
12、s a torrent of rock and roll bands from Britain overtook the pop charts. The Fab Fours first Number One single in the U.S. was I Want to Hold Your Hand, released on Capitol Records, EMIs American counterpart. This exuberant track was followed by 45 more Top Forty hits over the next half-dozen years.
13、 During the week of April 4, 1964,the Beatlesset a record that is likely never to be broken when they occupied all five of the top positions on Billboards Top Pop Singles chart, with Cant Buy Me Love ensconced at Number One. Their popularity soared still further with the release of their playfully a
14、narchic documentary film, A Hard Days Night, in August 1964.When all was said and done,the Beatlescharted 20 Number One singles in the States - a number even greater than runner-upElvis Presleys 17 chart-toppers. For such feats of sales and airplay alone,the Beatlescan unassailably be regarded as th
15、e top group in rock and roll history. Yet their significance as a band extends 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 deafe
16、ning screams of female fans overcome by the groups very appearance. Consequently,the Beatlesbegan to indulge their creative energies in the studio, layering sounds and crafting songs in a way no one had attempted before. The results included such musically expansive and lyrically sophisticated albums as Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966). For various reasons, ranging from safety concerns to frustration that no one could
