Beatlemania

 by Jami Morain

    We have all heard of the four British boys with ridiculous mop haircuts. They had this new sound, this unique look and they were equipped with cheeky comments. To this day they are still the best selling artists of all time. 

The Beatles' signatures at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May of 2021.

   

    In 1956, John Lennon was in a band called the Quarrymen, eventually Paul McCartney joined and invited George Harrison. Lennon wasn't exactly excited about Harrison because he thought 14 was too young to be in a band, let alone play lead. However, Harrison won him over. After the other original members left, the trio found Pete Best as their drummer and with a few name changes became The Beatles.

    In 1962, they hired Brian Epstein as their manager, he was the one to insist the boys clean up by wearing suits instead of their original rock attire with greasy hair and jeans. The group also decided Best's drumming wasn't working, luckily they found Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). 

    February of 1963 brought the release of their debut album, Please, Please Me. It was a smashing success and girls went crazy for them making it inevitable that Americans would discover and adore the band. By February of next year the boys were in America, opening the gate to the British Invasion, where they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, where 70 million Americans tuned in, and the rest is history. 

    The Liverpool Museum explained how including different cultures into their music made them standout, I would personally like to give George Harrison and his sitar a shoutout for that one. The band also didn't shy away from expanding themselves. The four of them started Apple, their own production company, and made movies about themselves. MAX, formally known as HBO Max, has the first one, A Hard Day's Night, streaming now and I highly recommend it. 

    The Sound of Life, a blog, talks about the Six Ways the Beatles Changed the World of Music Forever. Third on the list, the author explains how they took album covers to the next level. Surprise, surprise the band's album covers went against the grain. When Album covers were bright, they made theirs black and white, mostly to signify that their sound was changing. 

    Fame wasn't always exciting for the group. People started to become "anti-beatle." In 1966, Lennon made quite the mistake of saying that the belief in Christianity "will come and go" and how they are "more famous than Jesus now." He continued to say that Jesus was fine but his "thick and ordinary" followers twisting the truth ruined it for him. 

    This sparked the "Stamp Out the Beatles" campaign. People were cutting their hair, burning records, and the radio stopped broadcasting their music. Naturally, the Beatles stood by Lennon and what he said, so they simply enjoyed a sort of "time-out." Unfortunately, the group completely stopped touring by 1966. 

    After multiple fights the band called it quits in 1969 and went on to have solo careers. It makes me sad to write and read about, it always does. Their story starts out on a high of dreams coming true, but always crashes and burns. 

    The Beatles are my favorite band with Harrison as my favorite Beatle, so much so that I have "Here Comes the Sun" tattooed on my right bicep. I love them for their sarcastic comments, how they are unapologetically themselves (even when it gets them in trouble), their love for music and the stories behind the lyrics. 

With any luck, this has inspired you to discover what you can love about the Beatles.