The Beatles: A Brief Overview

To this date The Beatles remain an influential force over pop music. Their groundbreaking songwriting and production techniques paved the way for virtually every musician that followed them. Their own evolution is also quite remarkable, changing from traditional 1960s pop to rock, psychedelia and everything in between.

The Beatles formed in the early 1960s in Liverpool, England consisting of members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They gravitated towards the folk music of their time known as skiffle, and were heavily influenced by American rock and roll acts such as Little Richard and Elvis. This created their early famous tunes such as "Love Me Do", and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". They would be part of a wave of artists who took America by storm in a movement known as "The British Invasion". They would spend the early and part of their middle career touring heavily, but decided to stop due to, believe or not, the overwhelming amount of fans. In one of their last concerts at Shea Stadium the fans were so loud they couldn't even hear themselves play!

The middle part of their career saw them embrace Indian and psychedelic themes, found in albums Rubber Soul, Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour. They would still retain their pop songwriting sensibilities, but would take great leaps in recording techniques, using unconventional instrumentations, strange lyrics, interesting harmonies and new guitar effects such as reverse delay.

The later part of their career was rife with argument, which eventually led to their breaking up. Despite the bad blood between the group, their albums were amazing, if not some of the best, consisting of White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be. Again, lyrical content would be challenged in songs like "Come Together" but their genius ability to write a pop song remained in songs such as "Someday", "Let It Be" and many more. The Beatles disbanded in 1971 and all members went separate ways to record solo albums that were all critically acclaimed.

It is very hard to single out Beatles songs to listen to because they're all so good and so influential. I would suggest to listen to each album in chronological order so you can track and appreciate the outstanding evolution of this wonderful band!