The Beatles History

Many people find it hard to realize that the Beatles existed as a band for only ten years, 1960 to 1970. During that decade, the band with humble Liverpool roots became the Universe's number one rock band and continues to affect the contemporary music scene. The groups final set of 1962 personnel selections included John Lennon on rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney on bass and piano, George Harrison on lead guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. All of the Fab Four also sang.

Not many know that the Beatles' musical roots lie with skiffle as much as with rock. Skiffle combines jazz, blues, roots, country and folk music on improvised instruments. It originated in the U.S. but was popularized by Lonnie Donegan in England, where the Beatles learned of it and incorporated it into their mix of rock, pop ballads, and, later on, psychedelic rock and Indian music.

The earliest incarnation of the Beatles featured Stuart Sutcliffe on bass (he left in 1961) and Peter Best on drums, replaced in 1962. The Beatles divided their time between concerts in Liverpool and in Hamburg Germany through 1963, with Brian Epstein at the reigns as manager and George Martin the producer. The song "Love Me Do" in late 1962 proved to be their big start, and was followed by several albums through 1966, the touring years that were capped off by their spectacular performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. After exhaustive world touring, the Beatles settled exclusively into studio recording for the final four years of their association. Studio work not only relieved the pressures of travel, but also provided a more controlled environment where the Fab Four could experiment with new sounds and new musicians.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967, is universally acclaimed as their masterpiece. The album mixes story-telling ("A Day in the Life"), transcendental rock with sitar ("Within You Without You"), psychedelics ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), interesting solos (clarinets on "When I'm Sixty-Four", strings in "She's Leaving Home") plus so much more. Many great albums followed, including Magical Mystery Tour, the White Album, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, and Let It Be.

Gossip accompanied their breakup in 1970, but by now seems irrelevant. With the murder of John Lennon in December 1980 and the death of George Harrison in November 2001 from lung cancer, the two living Beatles are now regarded as a human connection to a very important time in the lives of a certain generation. Many bands have come and gone since the Beatles, but, perhaps with the exception of the Rolling Stones, none have had such profound effect on modern musical genre.