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The Beatles were a rock and pop group formed in Liverpool, England in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music. During their years of stardom, the band consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals), and were managed by Brian Epstein until his death in 1967. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and skiffle, the group worked with different musical genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, style and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.

Returning to Liverpool following periods of Hamburg residency during 1960, 1961 and 1962, the group appointed Epstein manager, and he negotiated a record contract with EMI. The single "Please Please Me" achieved UK chart success in late 1962, and they attracted fervent interest, termed "Beatlemania", during tours of the UK and Europe throughout the next year. The single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", finding U.S. chart success in late 1963, spearheaded the group's international popularity, and they toured the U.S. and other countries over the next three years. During this period, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were each honoured with an MBE. In 1966 the group found themselves mired in controversy, including widespread antipathy in the U.S. after a magazine published a quote from Lennon's remarks on Christianity. They ceased to perform commercial concerts after the 1966 U.S. tour, concentrating instead on studio work and enjoying continued international chart success. In 1967 the group met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced them to Transcendental Meditation. The same year, Epstein died from an overdose of a prescription drug. The group spent time in India, treating the Maharishi as their guru for a short time, but became disillusioned with him. Increasingly dominated by conflict, and further alienated from one another by a disagreement about the appointment of a new financial adviser, the group disintegrated in 1970. All four members embarked upon successful solo careers.

The Beatles have sold over one billion records internationally. In the United Kingdom they released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one, earning more number one albums (15) than any other group in UK chart history. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, they have sold more albums in the United States than any other band, and in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number one in its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. According to that same magazine, The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of top-selling Hot 100 artists to celebrate the chart's fiftieth anniversary, with The Beatles at #1. The Beatles were collectively included in Time in their list of The Most Important People of the 20th Century.

History

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Pre-1960

In March 1957, Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and agreed to join the group a few days later. On 6 February 1958, Harrison was invited to watch the group by McCartney and he joined The Quarrymen as lead guitarist after a rehearsal in March 1958. Drummer Colin Hanton left the group in 1959, after which they had a high turnover of drummers. Lennon's art college friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, joined on bass in January 1960.

From The Quarrymen, the group went through a progression of names, including "Johnny and the Moondogs" and "Long John and The Beetles". Sutcliffe had suggested the name "The Beetles" as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The Crickets, and the group changed their name to "The Beatles" in 1960. The band's lack of a drummer posed a serious problem, as the group's unofficial manager/concert promoter, Allan Williams, had arranged for them to perform at a club in Hamburg, West Germany.

1960

The group auditioned Pete Best on 12 August 1960. Four days after hiring Best, the group left for Hamburg, beginning a 48-night residency at Bruno Koschmider's Indra Club, but moved to the Kaiserkeller in October 1960, after the closure of the Indra. They later accepted an offer to play at the rival Top Ten Club, which broke their contract with Koschmider, who reported Harrison to the German authorities for being under-age, leading to Harrison's deportation on 21 November 1960. McCartney and Best were arrested for arson a week later, after setting fire to a condom which they had hung on a nail in their room. They were also deported. Lennon returned to Liverpool in mid-December while Sutcliffe stayed behind in Hamburg with his new German fiancée, Astrid Kirchherr. The reunited group played an engagement on 17 December 1960 at The Casbah Coffee Club, with Chas Newby substituting for Sutcliffe.

1961–1962

On Tuesday, 21 February 1961, The Beatles made their first lunchtime appearance at The Cavern Club. From 1961 to 1962, they made 292 appearances at the club, culminating in a final appearance there on 3 August 1963. On 9 November 1961, Epstein saw The Beatles for the first time in the club.

The Beatles returned to Hamburg in April 1961, performing at the Top Ten Club again. They were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan (who also had a residency at the club) to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label, produced by famed bandleader Bert Kaempfert. Kaempfert signed the group to a Polydor contract at the first session on 22 June 1961, and on 31 October Polydor released the recording "My Bonnie (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur)"—lead vocals by Sheridan—which appeared on the German charts. A few copies were also pressed under the American Decca Records label. When the group returned to Liverpool, Sutcliffe stayed in Hamburg with Kirchherr, so McCartney, unwillingly, took over bass duties.

The Beatles signed a five-year contract with Epstein on 24 January 1962. Kaempfert agreed to release The Beatles from their Polydor contract, but Decca Records A&R executive, Dick Rowe, turned Epstein down, informing him that "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein." (See The Decca audition.) Epstein then approached an EMI marketing executive, Ron White, who contacted EMI producers Norrie Paramor, Walter Ridley, and Norman Newell, all of whom declined to record the band. White could not contact EMI's fourth staff producer, George Martin, as he was on holiday at the time. The Beatles returned to Hamburg from 13 April to 31 May 1962, where they performed at the opening of The Star Club. Upon their arrival, they were informed of Sutcliffe's death from a brain haemorrhage.

Epstein went to the HMV store on Oxford Street in London to transfer the songs recorded at Decca's studio to discs. He was referred to Sid Coleman, who ran EMI's publishing department. Epstein eventually met with Martin, who signed the group to EMI's Parlophone label on a one-year renewable contract.

After the first recordings with Martin, he complained to Epstein that he had a problem with Best's drumming, and suggested that the band use a session drummer in the studio. In addition to Martin's comments, Epstein had become became exasperated with Best's refusal to adopt the groups's unified look onstage. After The individual Beatles heard about Martin's feelings they asked Epstein to dismiss Best, which he did on 16 August 1962, although he had already asked Starr to join the band. Starr was the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and had performed occasionally with The Beatles in Hamburg, when Best was too ill to play. Starr played on The Beatles' second EMI recording session on 4 September 1962, but Martin hired session drummer Andy White for their next session on 11 September. White's only released performances were recordings of "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", found on The Beatles' first album.

The Beatles' first EMI session, on 6 June 1962, did not yield any recordings considered worthy of release, but the September sessions produced a minor UK hit, "Love Me Do", which peaked on the charts at number seventeen. "Love Me Do" would reach the top of the U.S. singles chart in May 1964.

On 26 November 1962, the band recorded their second single, "Please Please Me", which reached number two on the official UK charts, and number one on the NME chart. Three months later they recorded their first album, also titled Please Please Me. The follow up single, "From Me to You", became their first #1 song. The group's first TV performance was on the People and Places programme, transmitted live from Manchester by Granada Television, on 17 October 1962. As The Beatles' fame spread, the frenzied adulation of the group was dubbed "Beatlemania".

1963

In 1963, The Beatles' iconic logo (referred to as the "drop-T" logo) was first used on the front of Starr's bass drum.

On 11 February 1963, The Beatles' first UK tour began. The month-long tour was followed by three-week tours in March and May 1963, and a six-week tour in November 1963. As well as the four nationwide tours, The Beatles gave numerous one-off shows across the UK during 1963. The band's performances were attended everywhere with riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans. To control the crowds, police found it necessary to use high-pressure water hoses; the safety of the police at Beatles concerts became a matter of national concern. Other acts appearing on tour bills with The Beatles included the U.S. artists Tommy Roe, Chris Montez and Roy Orbison. All three had established great popularity in the UK; all three were overshadowed by The Beatles during the 1963 tours.

Record companies in the USA did not immediately follow up the UK successes with releases of their own, and even once they began to do so, The Beatles' commercial success in the USA was hampered by obstacles including issues with royalties, and derision for the Beatle haircut.

It was nearly a year before a 5-minute news shot about Beatlemania in the UK was shown on the CBS Evening News on 10 December 1963, which led to a teenaged girl making an airplay request to a local radio station, which in turn sparked a sequence of events leading to the rush-release of the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and the long-awaited commercial breakthrough.

1964

On 7 February 1964, a crowd of four thousand fans at Heathrow Airport waved and screamed at The Beatles as they took off from the UK for their first trip to the United States as a group. After failures with earlier releases, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold 2.6 million copies over the previous 2 weeks, but The Beatles were still nervous about how they would be received in the United States. Their arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport was greeted by another large vociferous crowd of people, estimated at about three thousand fans.

Two days after arriving in the USA, they made their first live American television performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was watched by (approximately) seventy-four million viewers; a number representing about half of the American population at the time. The morning after the show, one newspaper wrote that The Beatles "could not carry a tune across the Atlantic", but the next day, 11 February 1964, at Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C., Beatlemania also reached the USA.

The Beatles’ success in America launched the "British Invasion"; a collection of British bands that became popular in the United States after The Beatles' arrival.

In mid-1964 the band undertook their first appearances outside of Europe and North America, to promote their first motion picture A Hard Day's Night. By the time they reached Australia, Starr had tonsillitis, and was temporarily replaced by session drummer Jimmy Nicol. In Adelaide, The Beatles were greeted by over 300,000 people at Adelaide Town Hall. Starr rejoined by the time they had arrived in New Zealand, on 21 June 1964.

1965

In June 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles "Members of the Order of the British Empire", MBE. They were nominated by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. The appointment—at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders—sparked some conservative MBE recipients to return their insignia in protest.

On 15 August 1965, The Beatles performed the first major stadium concert in the history of rock 'n' roll at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of 55,600. On 27 August 1965, the group arrived at a Bel Air mansion to meet Elvis Presley. Biographer Peter Guralnick maintains that Presley was at best "lukewarm" about playing host to people he did not really know. McCartney later said: "It was one of the great meetings of my life ... I only met him that once, and then I think the success of our career started to push him out a little, which we were very sad about, because we wanted to co-exist with him." Marty Lacker, a friend of Presley's, recalls the singer saying, "'Quite frankly, if you guys are going to stare at me all night, I'm going to bed. I thought we'd talk a while and maybe jam a little.' And when he said that, they went nuts." The group and Presley told stories, joked and listened to records, and had an impromptu jam session: "They all went to the piano," says Lacker, "and Elvis handed out a couple of guitars. And they started singing Elvis songs, Beatle songs, Chuck Berry songs. Elvis played Paul's bass part on "I Feel Fine", and Paul said something like, 'You're coming along quite promising on the bass there, Elvis.' I remember thinking later, 'Man, if we'd only had a tape recorder.'"

The Beatles' sixth album, Rubber Soul, was released in early December 1965, and was critically hailed as a major leap forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.

1966

In July 1966, during a tour of the Philippines, they unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace. When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on behalf of the group, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. The group soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to accepting "no" for an answer; the resulting riots endangered the group which managed to escape the country with difficulty.

Almost as soon as they returned from the Philippines, an earlier comment made by Lennon in March of that year launched a backlash against The Beatles from religious and social conservatives in the USA. In an interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon had offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus now". When the interview was reprinted in a teenage fan magazine in the USA, a backlash developed in the American South's "Bible belt." Lennon apologised, but South Africa banned airplay of their records until 1971.

Capitol Records' release of the Beatles album Yesterday and Today (which used a publicity shot also used in a poster promoting the UK release of "Paperback Writer") created an uproar, as the cover featured the group dressed in butcher's overalls, with raw meat, and mutilated plastic dolls. A popular, though apocryphal, rumour was that this was meant as a response to the way Capitol had "butchered" their albums. Thousands of copies of the album had a new cover pasted over the original. Uncensored copies of Yesterday and Today command a high price today, with one copy selling for $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.

Presley apparently disapproved of The Beatles's anti-war activism and use of drugs, later asking President Richard Nixon to ban all four members of the group from entering the United States. Peter Guralnick writes, "'The Beatles', Elvis said, 'had been a focal point for anti-Americanism. They had come to this country, made their money, then gone back to England where they fomented anti-American feeling.'" Guralnick added: "Presley indicated that he is of the opinion that The Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music while entertaining in this country during the early and middle 1960s." McCartney later remarked that he "felt a bit betrayed ... The great joke was that we were taking drugs, and look what happened to . ... It was sad, but I still love him. ..." Bob Dylan, however, recognised The Beatles' contribution, stating: "America should put up statues to The Beatles. They helped give this country's pride back to it."

In August 1966, at the end of the last U.S. tour, The Beatles had performed their final commercial concert at Candlestick Park, San Francisco. In November they began recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Nearly seven hundred hours of studio time were devoted to recording the album, and the elaborate musical complexity of the result, created using only four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists seeking to outdo The Beatles. After hearing "Strawberry Fields Forever", Beach Boys' leader Brian Wilson felt he had been usurped and spent years in bed.

1967

Sgt. Pepper was released in June 1967, and the same month, the group performed "All You Need Is Love" to TV viewers worldwide using the first live global television link. In August 1967, The Beatles met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the first time.

While The Beatles were at a weekend Transcendental Meditation retreat with the Maharishi in Bangor, Epstein's assistant Peter Brown called to tell them that Epstein had died. The coroner ruled Epstein's death an accidental overdose, but the press speculated it was a suicide at least in part because of a rumour that a suicide note was discovered among Epstein's possessions.

Lennon said that Epstein's death marked the beginning of the end for the group: "I knew that we were in trouble then ... I thought, We've fuckin' had it now". Epstein had been in a fragile emotional state due to issues surrounding his personal life, and stress related to his business relationship with The Beatles, as his management contract with them was due to expire in the fall of 1967, and he worried that The Beatles might not renew his contract, based on their discontent with his handling of business matters, including Seltaeb; the company that handled Beatle merchandising rights in the United States. Epstein's death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future. Lennon said later, "I didn't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music and I was scared".

In the winter of 1967-1968, The Beatles received their first major negative reviews for the Magical Mystery Tour TV film.

1968

After relying on Epstein since the start of their success, the group turned to the Maharishi as their guru. They arranged to spend three months in India with him at his ashram in Rishikesh. Although Starr returned to England after ten weeks, the time the remaining members spent in India was one of their most creative periods. During February, March and April 1968, they composed dozens of songs, seventeen of which were recorded for The Beatles, popularly known as The White Album.

Yanni Alexis Mardas, The Beatles' electronics technician referred to as Magic Alex or "the Greek wizard", had accompanied the group to the ashram. Mardas expressed the view that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them. Near the end of the three-month visit he convinced the group that the Maharishi was not all he had seemed. Lennon's anger led him to write a song called "Maharishi" to make his opinion known, but the title was changed to avoid a legal suit, becoming "Sexy Sadie". McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was".

On returning from India The Beatles formed Apple Corps, which Epstein had planned to do, as a way of creating a tax-effective company structure. The album Magical Mystery Tour proved popular in the U.S., setting a new record in its first three weeks for highest initial sales of any Capitol album. The Beatles, the first Apple Records album release, was also popular, reaching #1 in the UK and the U.S. among other countries. But during recording sessions for the album, divisions and dissent had started to drive the group apart, and Starr had quit the band for a period, leaving McCartney to perform drums on several tracks. Template:Sound sample box align right

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1969–1970

In January 1969, The Beatles began a film project documenting the making of their next record, which was originally titled Get Back. During the recording, the band played their final live performance on the rooftop of the Apple building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. Most of the performance was filmed and later included in the film Let It Be. The project was put aside, but was later mixed and orchestrated by the American producer, Phil Spector. Conflict arose within the band regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon favoured Allen Klein, who had negotiated contracts for several UK bands including The Rolling Stones during the British Invasion, but McCartney's choice was John Eastman. Agreement could not be reached, so both were appointed, but further conflict ensued and financial opportunities were lost. The Beatles recorded their final album, Abbey Road, in the summer of 1969. The completion of the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" for the album, on 20 August 1969, was the last time all four Beatles were together in the same studio. Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September 1969, but agreed that no public announcement would be made until a number of legal matters were resolved. Their final new song was Harrison's "I Me Mine", recorded 3 January 1970 and released on the Let It Be album. It was recorded without Lennon, who was in Denmark at the time.

In March 1970, the Get Back session tapes were given to Spector, who had previously produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!". Spector's Wall of Sound production values went against the original intent of the record, which had been to record a stripped-down live performance. McCartney was deeply dissatisfied with Spector's treatment of "The Long and Winding Road", and attempted (unsuccessfully) to halt the release of Spector's version.

McCartney publicly announced that he had left The Beatles on 10 April 1970, a week before releasing his first solo album, McCartney. Pre-release copies of McCartney's album included a press release with a self-written interview, explaining the end of his involvement with The Beatles and his hopes for the future. On 8 May 1970, the Spector-produced version of Get Back was released as Let It Be, followed by the documentary film of the same name. The Beatles' partnership was not dissolved until 1975, even though McCartney had filed a suit for the dissolution on 31 December 1970.

Post-breakup

1970s

Shortly before and in the years immediately following the official dissolution of the group, all four Beatles released solo albums. Some of their albums featured contributions by other former Beatles; Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only one to include compositions and performances by all four, albeit on separate songs. Harrison arranged the Concert For Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971, along with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974 (later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74), Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again.

In the wake of the expiration (in 1975) of The Beatles' contract with EMI-Capitol, the American Capitol label, rushing to cash in on its vast Beatles' holdings and freed from the group's creative control, released five LPs: Rock 'n' Roll Music (a compilation of their more uptempo numbers) The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (containing portions of two unreleased shows at the Hollywood Bowl), Love Songs (a compilation of their slower numbers) Rarities (a compilation of tracks that either had never been released in the U.S. or had gone out of print) and Reel Music (a compilation of songs from their films). There was also a non-Capitol-EMI release entitled Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962, which was a recording of a show from the group's early days at the Star Club in Hamburg, which had been taped on a basic recording machine with one microphone. Of all these post-breakup LPs, only the Hollywood Bowl LP had the approval of the group members. Upon the American release of the original British CDs in 1986, these post-breakup Capitol American compilation LPs were deleted from the Capitol catalogue.

1980s

Lennon was shot and killed on 8 December 1980, in New York City. In May 1981, Harrison released "All Those Years Ago"; a single written about his time with The Beatles. It had been recorded the month before Lennon's death, with Starr on drums, but was later overdubbed with new lyrics as a tribute to Lennon. McCartney and his wife, Linda McCartney, contributed backing vocals to the track. In April 1982, McCartney released his Tug of War album, containing his tribute song to Lennon, titled "Here Today".

In 1988, The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during their first year of eligibility. On the night of their induction, Harrison and Starr appeared to accept the award along with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian Lennon, and Sean Lennon. McCartney did not attend, issuing a press release saying, "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." The following year, EMI-Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit by The Beatles concerning royalties; this cleared the way to commercially package previously unreleased material, leading to the Live at the BBC album and the Anthology project.

1990s

In 1994 McCartney, Harrison and Starr reunited for the Anthology project, the culmination of a work begun in the late 1960s by Neil Aspinall. Initially The Beatles' road manager, and then their personal assistant, Aspinall began to gather material for a documentary after he became director of Apple Corps in 1968. The Long and Winding Road, as Aspinall provisionally titled his Beatles history, was shelved, but as executive producer for the Anthology project Aspinall was able to complete his work. Documenting the history of The Beatles in the band's own words, the project saw the issue of previously unreleased Beatles recordings, and McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to two demo songs recorded by Lennon in the late 1970s. During 1995 and 1996 the project yielded a five-part television series, an eight-volume video set, three two-CD box sets and two singles. The CD box sets featured artwork by Klaus Voorman, known by The Beatles since their Hamburg days and creator of the Revolver album cover in 1966. The releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people worldwide.

2000s

Harrison died on 29 November 2001 after being diagnosed with lung cancer in the late 1990s.

Martin and his son, Giles Martin, remixed original Beatles recordings to create a soundtrack to accompany Cirque du Soleil's theatrical production Love. The soundtrack album Love was released in 2006. In 2007, McCartney and Starr reunited for an interview on Larry King Live to discuss their thoughts on the show. Beatles widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison also appeared with McCartney and Starr in Las Vegas for the one-year anniversary of Love. Also in 2007, reports circulated that McCartney was hoping to complete "Now and Then", the third Lennon track the band worked on during the Anthology sessions, which would be credited as a "Lennon/McCartney composition" by writing new verses, and reworked by laying down a new drum track recorded by Starr and utilising archival recordings of Harrison's guitar work.

Lawyers for The Beatles sued on 21 March 2008 to prevent the distribution of unreleased recordings purportedly made during Starr's first performance with the group in 1962. The dispute between Apple Corps Ltd. and Fuego Entertainment Inc. of Miami Lakes stems from recordings apparently made during a performance at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. In November 2008, McCartney revealed the existence of a 14-minute experimental recording The Beatles made called "Carnival of Light", which he would like to see released but would require approval from Starr and Beatle widows, Ono and Olivia Harrison.

The Beatles: Rock Band, a video game in the style of Rock Band and based solely on The Beatles, is currently in development and scheduled for a release of 9 September 2009. On the same day, remastered CDs of the twelve original albums (from Please Please Me to Abbey Road, plus Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters) will be released in two versions, original Mono or Stereo. On 4 March 2009, the BBC reported that McCartney would headline a charity concert with one of the special guests listed as Starr. The concert took place on 4 April 2009 at Radio City Music Hall. On 14 April 2009, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Eric Idle, Jim Keltner, McCartney, and Joe Walsh joined Harrison's wife, Olivia, and his son, Dhani, for the Hollywood Walk of Fame star dedication for Harrison in Los Angeles.

Influences

When the group were still called The Quarrymen and were making the transition from skiffle, among the rock and roll songs they began to incorporate into their act were those of Elvis Presley and Little Richard, and from 1957 until their last commercial concert in 1966, the group performed more covers by Chuck Berry than by any other artist. The Beatles appeared with Little Richard at the Star Club in Hamburg from April to May 1962, and during the residency friendships were formed and the singer gave advice regarding techniques for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been The Beatles":

It was Elvis who really got me buying records. I thought that early stuff of his was great. The Bill Haley era passed me by, in a way. When his records came on the wireless, my mother used to hear them, but they didn’t do anything for me. It was Elvis who got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel', I thought ‘this is it’ and I started to grow sideboards and all that gear....

Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison.

Among inspirations for the Beatles' music may have been the music in the Black clubs of Liverpool in the late 1950s, which in turn may have drawn partly on Irish and Welsh singers. Liverpool-born Black men to a large extent are descended from African seafarers who worked in the Africa-U.S. slave trade about a century earlier and married local Irish and English white women as well as Afro-Caribbean immigrants after World War II. Their work and their relationships with other people in Liverpool and England likely influenced their music, thence the Beatles' music.

The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, including Bob Dylan Frank Zappa (Freak Out), the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose album Pet Sounds was a favourite of McCartney's. Beatles producer, Martin, stated that "Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds."

Musical evolution

See also: The Beatles' influence on music recording

The Beatles' constant demands to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers such as Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all played significant parts in the innovative sounds of the albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

Along with studio tricks such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, The Beatles began to augment their recordings with instruments that were unconventional for rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and the swarmandel in "Strawberry Fields Forever". They also used early electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the intro to "Strawberry Fields Forever", and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby You're a Rich Man".

Beginning with the use of a string quartet (arranged by Martin with input from McCartney) on "Yesterday" in 1965, The Beatles pioneered a modern form of art song, exemplified by the double-quartet string arrangement on "Eleanor Rigby" (1966) and "She's Leaving Home" (1967). A televised performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 directly inspired McCartney's idea to include a piccolo trumpet on the arrangement of "Penny Lane". The Beatles moved towards psychedelia with "Rain" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" from 1966, and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus" from 1967.

Films

The Beatles appeared in five motion pictures, all of which featured associated soundtrack albums. The band played themselves in two films directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The group produced, directed, and starred in the hour-long television movie Magical Mystery Tour (1967). The psychedelic animated film Yellow Submarine (1968) followed the adventures of a cartoon version of the band; the members did not provide their own voices, appearing only in a brief live-action epilogue. Their final film, the documentary Let It Be, released in 1970, followed the rehearsals and recording sessions for the early 1969 Get Back project and won the Academy Award in 1971 for Best Original Song Score.

From 1965 until 1969, The Beatles were the subject of their own Saturday morning cartoon series, which loosely continued the kind of slapstick antics of A Hard Day's Night. Two Beatles songs were played in each half-hour show, with The Beatles' cartoon counterparts "lip-synching" the actual Beatles recordings. Some of the song performances, such as those from A Hard Day's Night, appeared to have been rotoscoped. The regular speaking voices of the characters were not supplied by The Beatles themselves, but rather by voice artists Paul Frees and Lance Percival.

Legacy

Influence on popular culture

The Beatles' influence on rock music and popular culture was—and remains—immense. They affected attitudes to fashion worldwide when in the 1960s there was widespread imitation of their haircuts and clothing. In the recording studio The Beatles took innovative approaches to the use of technology, treating the studio as an instrument in itself and working closely with recording engineers, urging experimentation and regularly demanding, "Just try it it might just sound good". At the same time they constantly sought ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, the examples being accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle or a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards, and incorporated the resulting sounds into their music.

The Beatles redefined the album as something more than just a small number of hits padded out with "filler" tracks, and they were the originators in the United Kingdom of the now common practice of releasing video clips to accompany singles. The Beatles became the first entertainment act to stage a large stadium concert when they opened their 1965 North American tour at Shea Stadium. A large number of artists have acknowledged The Beatles as a musical influence or have had chart successes with covers of Beatles songs.

Radio

The arrival of The Beatles is seen in radio as a touchstone in music signalling an end to the rock-and-roll era of the 1950s. Program Directors like Rick Sklar of WABC in New York went as far as forbidding DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music.

Recreational drug use

In Hamburg, The Beatles used "prellies" (Preludin) both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. McCartney would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five. Bob Dylan introduced them to cannabis during a 1964 visit to New York, and McCartney remembered them all getting "very high" and giggling. The Beatles occasionally smoked a joint in the car on the way to the studio during the filming of Help!, which often made them forget their lines.

In April 1965, Lennon and Harrison were unknowingly introduced to LSD by an acquaintance, dentist John Riley, who slipped some into their coffees. McCartney was more reluctant to try the drug, but finally did so in 1966, and was the first Beatle to talk about it in the press, saying in June 1967 that he had taken it four times. The Beatles added their names to an advertisement in The Times, on 24 July 1967, which asked for the legalisation of cannabis, the release of all prisoners imprisoned because of possession, and research into marijuana's medical uses. The advertisement was sponsored by a group called Soma, and was signed by 65 people, including Epstein, Graham Greene, R.D. Laing, 15 doctors, and two MPs.

Discography

Song catalogue

In 1963 Lennon and McCartney agreed to assign their song publishing rights to Northern Songs, a company created by music publisher Dick James. The company was administered by James' own company Dick James Music. Northern Songs went public in 1965, with Lennon and McCartney each holding 15% of the company's shares Dick James and the company's chairman, Charles Silver, held a controlling 37.5%. In 1969, following a failed attempt by Lennon and McCartney to buy the company, James and Silver sold Northern Songs to British TV company Associated TeleVision (ATV), from which Lennon and McCartney received stock.

In 1985, after a short period in which the parent company was owned by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court, ATV Music was sold to Michael Jackson for a reported $47 million (trumping a joint bid by McCartney and Yoko Ono), including the publishing rights to over 200 songs composed by Lennon and McCartney.

In 1995, Jackson and Sony merged its music publishing businesses. Since then Jackson and Sony have jointly owned most of the Lennon-McCartney songs recorded by The Beatles, although Lennon's estate and McCartney still receive their respective shares of the royalties. Despite his ownership of most of the Lennon-McCartney publishing, Jackson only recorded one Lennon-McCartney composition himself, "Come Together", which was featured in his film Moonwalker, and HIStory album.

Although the Jackson-Sony catalogue includes most of The Beatles' greatest hits, four of their earliest songs had been published by one of EMI's publishing companies (Ardmore and Beechwood) prior to Lennon and McCartney signing with Dick James – and McCartney later succeeded in personally acquiring the publishing rights to "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "P.S. I Love You", and "Ask Me Why" from EMI.

Harrison and Starr did not renew their songwriting contracts with Northern Songs in 1968, signing with Apple Publishing instead. Harrison later created Harrisongs, which still owns the rights to his post-1967 songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". Starr also created his own company, called Startling Music. It holds the rights to his two post-1967 songs recorded by The Beatles, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".

Studio albums

• Please Please Me (Parlophone, 1963)
• With The Beatles (Parlophone, 1963)
• A Hard Day's Night (Parlophone, 1964)
• Beatles for Sale (Parlophone, 1964)
• Help! (Parlophone, 1965)
• Rubber Soul (Parlophone, 1965)
• Revolver (Parlophone, 1966)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone, 1967)
• Magical Mystery Tour (U.S./Canada only. Released as a Double EP in the UK) (Capitol, 1967)
• The Beatles ("The White Album") (Apple, 1968)
• Yellow Submarine (Apple, 1969)
• Abbey Road (Apple, 1969)
• Let It Be (Apple, 1970)

US charting singles

CD releases

In 1987, EMI released all of The Beatles' studio albums on CD worldwide, and Apple Corps decided to standardise The Beatles catalogue throughout the world, choosing to release the twelve original studio albums as released in the United Kingdom, as well as the Magical Mystery Tour U.S. album, which had been released as a shorter Double EP in the UK. All of the remaining Beatles material from the singles and EPs from 1962–1970 which had not been issued on the original British studio albums were gathered on the Past Masters double album compilation:

• Past Masters, Volume One (1988)
• Past Masters, Volume Two (1988)

The U.S. album configurations from 1964-65 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006 (The Capitol Albums Volume 1 and Volume 2 respectively); these included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of their original 1960s releases in the United States.

2009 CD remasters

On 7 April 2009, it was announced through The Beatles website and email newsletter that their entire back catalog is to be re-released in digitally remastered form for the first time on 9 September 2009, following an extensive remastering process that lasted four years. All 12 original UK studio albums by The Beatles are currently expected to be released on Compact Disc in newly remastered versions, along with Magical Mystery Tour and a combined two-CD set of Past Masters plus stereo and mono box set collections. The digital remasters will replace the outdated 1987 remasters. Mojo magazine's Mat Snow was invited to hear 10 remastered tracks from the 1968 album The Beatles and stated that they were "better even than we'd hoped." The stereo versions have been treated with gentle peak limiting, to keep the overall volume of each track consistent with that of the other tracks, but not to make the tracks louder. The mono versions, to be collected on The Beatles in Mono, have not been treated with peak limiting.

Digital music licensing

The Beatles are one of the few major artists who have not released their recorded catalogue through online music services like Napster. Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc. (the owners of iTunes) over the use of the name "Apple" has played a particular part in this. An uneasy truce between the two companies broke when Apple Computers opened the iTunes Store, after which Apple Corps sued Apple, Inc.

Dhani Harrison recently stated that The Beatles are losing money every day by not having a digital outlet for sales and that he does not feel that the iTunes Store's 99 cent charge is a fair price for The Beatles songs. He was an integral part in pushing for The Beatles: Rock Band video game, also announcing that the remaining members of The Beatles are looking into creating their own website for digital downloads of The Beatles remastered catalogue, and expects it to be available in the near future.

See also

Template:The Beatles portal

• The Beatles' line-ups
• Lennon/McCartney
• The Beatles' instrumentation
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of artists who have covered the Beatles
• Lists of solo albums by The Beatles
• Abbey Road on the River – largest Beatles festival in the United States
• The Beatles: Rock Band – video game

Notes

1. The Beatles, Allmusic
2. "1960-1969". EMI Group Ltd. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
3. "The American Recording Industry Announces its Artists of the Century". Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 10 November 1999. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
4. "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone Issue 946. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
5. "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists (20-01)". 11 September 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
6. "The Time 100". time.com. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
7. Unterberger, Richard. "The Beatles Overview". Macrovision Corp. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
8. Spitz (2005), p.93
9. O'Brien (2001), p.12
10. Miles (1998), p.47
11. Spitz (2005), pp.126–127
12. Coleman (1984), p.212
13. Lennon (2006), p.66
14. Lewisohn (1992), p.215
15. "From Blackjacks to Beatles: How the Fab Four Evolved". Retrieved 21 June 2006.
16. Lennon (2006), p.93
17. Lewisohn (1992), p.24
18. Spitz (2005), pp.4–5
19. Coleman (1984), p.720
20. Miles 1997 p88
21. Lennon (2006), p.97
22. Lewisohn (1996), p.42
23. Spitz (2005), p.250
24. Palowski (1989), p.64
25. Lewisohn (1992), p.25
26. Miles (1998), p.74 (Kirchherr took the first professional photos of the group, and cut Sutcliffe's hair in the German style of the time).
27. Miles (1998), p.88
28. The Beatles (2000), p.68
29. Coleman (1989), pp.88–89
30. Coleman (1989), pp.93–94
31. Lewisohn (1996), p.69
32. Lennon (2006), p.109
33. Miles (1997), p.90
34. Spitz (2005), p.318
35. Spitz (2005), p.322
36. Spitz (2005), p.330
37. Spitz (2005), p.328
38. Spitz (2005), p.353
39. "Love Me Do". Retrieved 29 January 2007.
40. Harry (2000), p.854
41. "The Beatles' 'drop-T' logo". The Beatles Bible.
42. "Ivor Arbiter - Obituary". The Independent.
43. Pawlowski, pp.117-185
44. "The Beatles on Tour 1963 to 1966". Retrieved 30 May 2009.
45. Pawlowski, p.153
46. Pawlowski, pp.125-32
47. "From Me To You b/w Thank You Girl". JPGR. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
48. "The Beatles on Vee Jay Records". Retrieved 29 January 2007.
49. Spitz (2005), p.461
50. "I Want to Hold Your Hand". About.com. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
51. Spitz (2005), p.457
52. Spitz (2005), pp.457–459
53. Spitz (2005), p.459
54. Kozinn, Alan (6 February 2004). "Critic's Notebook; They Came, They Sang, They Conquered". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
55. Spitz (2005), p.473
56. Harry (2000), pp.1134–1135
57. ^ "Inductees: The Beatles". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
58. Ficher, P. and Seamark, K. H. (2005). Vintage Adelaide. East Street Publications. pp. 70–71. ISBN 1-921037-06-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
59. "Beatles in New Zealand". Retrieved 11 July 2007.
60. Spitz (2005), p.556
61. Spitz (2005), p.557
62. The Beatles Off The Record. London: Omnibus Press, p.193. ISBN 0-7119-798-5-5
63. ^ Guralnick (1999), p.211
64. ^ "Elvis Presley News".
65. ^ Nash, Smith, Lacker and Fike (2005), Elvis and the Memphis Mafia, p359-360
66. "Allmusic Rubber Soul review". Retrieved 14 June 2007.
67. Spitz (2005), p.619
68. Spitz (2005), p.620
69. Spitz (2005), p.623
70. ""The John Lennon I Knew"". The Telegraph. 5 October 2006. Archived from the original on 14 December 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
71. Cleave, Maureen (1966). "How Does a Beatle Live? John Lennon Lives Like This". London Evening Standard 4 March 1966.
72. Blecha, Peter (2004). Taboo Tunes: A History of Banned Bands & Censored Songs. Backbeat. p. 181. ISBN 00879307927. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
73. ^ Miles (1998), pp.293–295
74. "Beatles Browser Three (p3)". Bill Harry/Mersey Beat Ltd. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
75. "The Beatles Story, Liverpool"., but see also "Who Butchered The Beatles?".
76. Gaffney, Dennis, The Beatles' "Butcher" Cover, retrieved 6 September 2007
77. Peter Guralnick, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, p.420
78. Guralnick, Careless Love, p.426 (On Presley badmouthing The Beatles to President Nixon, see also Geoffrey Giuliano and Vmda Devi, Glass Onion: The Beatles in Their Own Words-Exclusive Interviews With John, Paul, George, Ringo and Their Inner Circle) (1999)
79. The Beatles (2000), p.192
80. Sounes, Howard (2001). Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. Doubleday. p. 203. ISBN 0-55299929-6.
81. Harry, p.970
82. "Faces of the Week: Brian Wilson". BBC News. 3 December 2004. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
83. Miles (1998), p.54
84. "Beatles in Bangor". BBC. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
85. Spitz (2005), pp.713–719
86. ^ Brown (2002), p.249
87. The Beatles (2000), p.268
88. Brown (2002), p.227
89. ^ <Gould, p.437
90. "Magical Mystery Tour". Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
91. ^ Harry, pp.705–6
92. Miles (1998), p.397
93. Roy, Amit (27 March 2005). "Long and Winding Road to Rishikesh". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
94. Gould, p. 470
95. Harry, p.699
96. Harry, pp.107-109
97. Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. p. 151.
98. ^ Harry, p.612
99. Mark Lewisohn. The Beatles Box Set booklet
100. Spitz (2005), p.853
101. "Beatles 'split letter' auctioned". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2007.
102. "Straight Dope Staff Report: Why did the Beatles break up?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
103. Sandford (2006). McCartney, pp.227–229
104. Traiman, Stephen (11 December 1976). "Reconstruct Old Beatles Tape". Billboard. p. 8. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
105. Ingham (2006). The Rough Guide to the Beatles, p.71
106. Badman, Keith (1999). The Beatles After the Breakup 1970-2000: A day-by-day diary. London: Omnibus Press. p. 284. ISBN 0-7119-7520-5.
107. "Inductee List". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
108. Kozinn, Allan (10 November 1989). "Beatles and Record Label Reach Pact and End Suit". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
109. ^ Harry, pp.111–12
110. Harry, pp.428,908
111. "George Harrison Dies". British Broadcasting Company. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
112. "Beatles to release new album". NME. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2006-10-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
113. "CNN LARRY KING LIVE: The Beatles (Aired June 26, 2007 - 21:00 ET)". CNN. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
114. "McCartney plans last "great" song".
115. "Beatles Back To Where They Once Belonged". Daily Express. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
116. "Apple Corps Limited et al v. Fuego Entertainment, Inc. et al :: Justia News". Justia. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
117. "McCartney hints at mythical Beatles track release". Reuters. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
118. Beatles edition of `Rock Band' video game planned
119. "Beatles stars to play charity gig". BBC.
120. "George Harrison receives Walk of Fame star".
121. ^ Harry, p.881
122. ^ Harry, p.660
123. Harry, p.140
124. "Ze King and I: John Lennon and Elvis Presley". Retrieved 21 April 2008.
125. Harry, p.526
126. Harry, p.289
127. Harry, p.856
128. Harry, p.830
129. Brown, Jacqueline Nassy, Dropping Anchor, Setting Sail: Geographies of Race in Black Liverpool, 2005, Princeton, N.J., U.S.A.: Princeton University Press (Princeton Paperbacks series), pbk. , pp. 44 & 155-156. ISBN 0-691-11563-X. This book in turn cites an original interview; plus, respecting Black music, Ferdinand Dennis, Behind the Frontlines: Journey into Afro-Britain, 1988, London: Victor Gollancz, pp. 57-58; and, respecting Irish and Welsh music, Frank Shaw, My Liverpool, 1971, Liverpool: Gallery Press, p. 63.
130. Dropping Anchor, Setting Sail, supra, p. 5.
131. Dropping Anchor, Setting Sail, supra, pp. 2 & 232-233.
132. Harry, p.357
133. Harry, p.1195
134. Harry, p.217
135. Harry, p.99
136. "Sgt. Pepper - Its Influence - The First Concept Album?".
137. Miles (1998), pp.280–281
138. "Brian Wilson :: Official Web Site - Quotes". Archived from the original on 6 February 2008.
139. ^ Emerick (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles.
140. MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head:The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (2nd Revised Edition). Pimlico. ISBN 1-8441-3828-3.
141. MacDonald (2005), p.219
142. MacDonald (2005), p.259
143. MacDonald (2005), p.223
144. "British Successes in the Academy Awards 1927 to date (43rd) 1970 held in 1971". BFI. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
145. McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television. Penguin Books. p. 82.
146. Lewisohn - ‘Complete Beatles Recording Sessions’ p13.
147. "BBC Radio 2 – 60s Season – Documentaries". BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
148. Fisher, Marc. Something in the Air. Random House. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-375-50907-0.
149. ^ Miles (1998), pp.66–67
150. Miles (1998), p.185
151. Miles (1998), pp.188–189
152. Miles (1998), p.198
153. Herbert, Ian (9 September 2006). "Revealed: Dentist who introduced Beatles to LSD". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 March 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2007. Internet Archive copy.
154. Peter Brown and Steven Gaines (1983). The Love You Make An Insider’s Story of The Beatles. London: Macmillan. p. 218. ISBN 0-333-36134-2.
155. "Paul's Pot-Bust Shocker Makes Him A Jailhouse Rocker". Retrieved 29 January 2007.
156. "The Beatles' Companies". Rockmine Archives. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
157. Guest, p. 8
158. ^ "Michael Jackson Sells Rights to Beatles Songs to Sony". Associated Press. 8 November 1995. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
159. "Moonwalker". Variety. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
160. Miles (1992), p. 37.
161. MacDonald (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, p.351
162. "The Beatles' entire original recorded catalogue remastered by Apple Corps Ltd". EMI. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
163. "Capitol Albums Finally Coming Out on CD". Bruce Spizer. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
164. "The Beatles' entire original recorded catalogue remastered for release 09-09-09". TheBeatles.com. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
165. "Original Beatles digitally remastered". Reuters.
166. "Interview with Yoko Ono".
167. Reuters and Simon Aughton. "Remastered Beatles on iTunes in 2008". Pcpro.co.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2008. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
168. "Will Apple confirm digital Beatles in 2009 at Tuesday event? - WhatGoesOn.com". Whatgoeson.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
169. "Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue".
170. "Hey iTunes, don't make it bad..." CNN. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
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References

• The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-811-82684-8.
• Brown, Peter (2002). The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-20735-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Coleman, Ray (1989). Brian Epstein: The Man Who Made The Beatles. Viking. ISBN 0-670-81474-1.
• Coleman, Ray (1984). Lennon: The Definitive Biography. New York: Pan Books. ISBN 0-060-98608-5.
• Emerick, Geoff (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles. Gotham. ISBN 978-1592401796.
• Guest, Lynton (2006). The Trials of Michael Jackson. Aureus Publishing. ISBN 1899750401.
• Gould, Jonathan (2008). Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America. Piatkus Books. ISBN 978-0-7499-2988-6.
• Harry, Bill (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2.
• Ingham, Chris (2006). The Rough Guide to the Beatles. Rough Guides. ISBN 1843537206.
• Lennon, Cynthia (2006). John. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-89828-3.
• Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-681-03189-1.
• Lewisohn, Mark (1996). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Chronicle Press. ISBN 1-85152-975-6.
• MacDonald, Ian (1995). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. Vintage. ISBN 0-7126-6697-4.
• Miles, Barry (1998). Many Years from Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 0-749-38658-4.
• O'Brien, Ray (2001). There are Places I'll Remember. Vol. 1. London: Ray O'Brien. ISBN 0-954-44730-1.
• Pawlowski, Gareth L (1990). How They Became The Beatles. McDonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 0-356-19052-8.
• Pedler, Dominic (2003). The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-8167-1.
• Sandford, Christopher (2006). McCartney. Random house. ISBN 978-0786716142.
• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-80352-9.
• Kevin Godley (director). The Beatles Anthology (DVD). Apple Records. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)

Further reading

• Astley, John (2006). Why Don't We Do It In The Road? The Beatles Phenomenon. The Company of Writers. ISBN 0-9551834-7-2.
• Bramwell, Tony (2005). Magical Mystery Tours. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-33043-X.
• Braun, Michael (1964). Love Me Do: The Beatles' Progress (1995 Reprint ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-002278-3.
• Carr, Roy (1975). The Beatles: An Illustrated Record. Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-52045-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day by Day, Song by Song, Record by Record. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-34663-4.
• Dimery, Martin (2002). Being John Lennon. SAF books. ISBN 0-946719-43-8.
• Harry, Bill (1985). The Book Of Beatle Lists. Javelin. ISBN 0-7137-1521-9.
• Kirchherr, Astrid (1999). Hamburg Days. Genesis Publications. ISBN 0-904351-73-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Chronicles The Beatles early years spent performing at Hamburg's Kaiserkeller, Top Ten Club, and the Star Club, 1960-1962. With Foreword by George Harrison and Afterword by Paul McCartney.
• Mansfield, Ken (2007). The White Book. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 1595551016. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
• Martin, George (1994). Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-60398-2.
• Norman, Philip (1997). Shout: The Beatles in Their Generation. MJF Books. ISBN 1-56731-087-7.
• Palowski, Gareth (1989). How They Became the Beatles. Plume. ISBN 9780-45226506-6.
• Porter, Alan J (2003). Before They Were Beatles: The Early Years 1956–1960. Xlibris. ISBN 1-4134-3056-2.
• Ryan, Kevin (2006). Recording The Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums. Houston: Curvebender Publishing. ISBN 0-9785200-0-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Schaffner, Nicholas (1977). The Beatles Forever. Cameron House. ISBN 0-8117-0225-1.
• Trynka, Paul (2004). The Beatles 10 Years That Shook The World. Dorling Kindersley/Mojo. ISBN 0-7566-0670-5.
• Turner, Steve (2005). A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-084409-4. Discusses the inspiration for or interprets every Beatles song.

External links

Template:Misplaced Pages-Books

• The Beatles Official site

Template:Link FA Template:Link FA

Template:Link FA

• Articles with dead external links from October 2008
• The Beatles
• 1960s music groups
• 1990s music groups
• English musical groups
• Apple Corps
• Apple Records artists
• Beat groups
• BRIT Award winners
• Capitol Records artists
• English rock music groups
• George Harrison
• Grammy Award winners
• Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
• John Lennon
• Music from Liverpool
• Musical groups established in 1960
• Musical groups disestablished in 1970
• Parlophone artists
• Paul McCartney
• Musical quartets
• Ringo Starr
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
• MTV Video Vanguard Award winners