Nephanie6

Nephanie's Life
2002-10-12 01:09:27 (UTC)

Fab Four Enjoyed Record Sucess

Fab Four Enjoyed Record Sucess

The Beatles were simply the most influential band of the
century. Pioneering the concept of the leaderless group
whose members write their own material, the Beatles
asserted the primacy of the quartet first and foremost.
Though millions would recite their names like a mantra —
John, Paul, George, and Ringo — their individual
personalities were less important than that of the whole.
The Beatles were one with many parts, and always the
Beatles.
In 1957, when he met Paul McCartney in the tough seaport
town of Liverpool, the moody and rebellious John Lennon
recognized the talent of the slick and charming left-handed
guitarist. The boys had similar backgrounds and their
musical partnership was cemented when John asked Paul to
join his band, the Quarry-men. Soon they invited George
Harrison to join them as well. When McCartney showed Lennon
a song he’d written, he aroused his friend’s competitive
instinct, and Lennon quickly produced one of his own. This
artistic rivalry would set the tone of their entire history
together.
With bassist Stu Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best, the
group now called the Silver Beatles — named with Lennon’s
intentional misspelling, after Buddy Holly’s Crickets —
played gigs in Hamburg, Germany, over several years. They
hammered out six sets of R&B a night for sailors and
slumming students, meeting with mixed success. Drawing
heavily on American influences such as Little Richard,
Chuck Berry, and numerous “girl groups” such as the
Chiffons, the Liverpudlians began to develop their own
recognizable sound.
With their teddy-boy curls now combed into the bangs that
were then the rage among European youth, the four re-turned
to their hometown in 1961 without Sutcliffe, who married in
Hamburg. They soon became the star attraction at the Cavern
Club. Despite their growing popularity, however, the
Beatles were still unable to interest London record
companies. Then Brian Epstein stepped in as their manager,
tossing out their black leather jackets in ex-change for
nattier suits and ties. Epstein also dumped drummer Pete
Best for the head-bobbing Ringo Starr. (In private the
group called him Richie; when the Beatles met Elvis, the
King kept calling him Bingo.) Though Starr’s beat was
uncertain, he would develop into a singular stylist much
imitated throughout the Beatles’ heyday.
Epstein talked the great EMI Records producer George
Martin into giving the Beatles a contract in 1962. That
same year the band broke into the British charts with the
bouncy “Love Me Do.” Then, in a rush, came the release of
the classics “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your
Hand,” and an appearance on the top American TV program
“The Ed Sullivan Show.” The latter transformed them
overnight into an international phenomenon. Never as “nice”
as their carefully constructed image, their appeal was all
the greater because their fans could divine the suggestive
subtext beneath the innocent lyrics. With Beatle wigs,
Beatle boots, Beatle movies, and even a Beatles cartoon
show featuring their latest hits, Beatlemania soon became a
worldwide phenomenon.
The secret of the group’s immense and long-lasting
popularity with a multigenerational audience was that all
of them except Starr were brilliant, innovative songwriters
whose individual specialties combined a finely balanced
repertoire. McCartney’s fondness for English music-hall
songs, Lennon’s acid word plays, and Harrison’s fascination
with Hindu melodies drove the Beatles beyond their pop
roots and into uncharted territory. Under Martin’s guiding
hand, they became the cleverest acoustic stylists, using at
one time or another everything from Indian sitars and music
played backward to string quartets and symphony orchestras
in the creation of a sound that was unmistakably their own.
Like other great collaborations, the Beatles had distinct
periods. Their middle period, when they abandoned the
rigors of touring for the limitless possibilities of the
studio, drew upon McCartney’s lyricism and Lennon’s
passionate surrealism, resulting in tour-de-force albums
such as “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967) and
“The Beatles” (aka “The White Album,” 1968), both filled
with clever commentary on modern life. The Beatles, it
seemed, could do anything — rock, ballads, reggae, rhythm
and blues — and often better than anyone else. At their
height, Lennon unguardedly claimed they were “bigger than
Jesus,” a boast that caused outrage and controversy in many
quarters.
It had to end, however, and when it did, the finish was
as rude as the ascent had been intoxicating, involving a
jostling clutch of lawyers, accountants, toadies, and ex-
mates. When the Beatles unraveled, so did the spell they
had cast over the world. Both John Lenon and Paul McCartney
continued to compose and perform, each evolving his own
style. Both were profoundly influenced by their respective
wives, Yoko Ono and Linda McCartney. Harrison and Starr
retired to far less public lives. In 1980, when Lennon was
shot dead at the age of 40 outside his New York apartment,
their old fans’ wistful dream that the Beatles would
reunite was ended forever.




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