The Beatles started out like most other rock and roll bands, employing a standard guitars/bass/drums instrumentation. As their touring days wound down, they became a full-time studio band. Their scope of experimentation grew, as did the palette of sounds. This article attempts to list the instruments used to achieve those results.

Not listed are instruments played by the Beatles’ session players such as cello, violin, saxophone, trumpet, French horn or the 41-piece orchestra heard on "A Day in the Life".

Guitars[link]

Both John Lennon and George Harrison used the Gibson J-160E, an acoustic guitar with an electric pickup at the base of the fretboard. The resonant character of the full acoustic body, combined with the electric pickup, meant that this guitar was susceptible to feedback, employed to great effect on the intro to "I Feel Fine". Lennon also used a Framus twelve-string acoustic, which can be seen in the movie Help! and heard on the title song and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away". This twelve-string guitar accounted for audibly richer rhythm guitar parts on songs like these, in comparison to the six-string Gibsons. After Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Lennon moved on to a D-28 from C. F. Martin & Company (alternating between the J-160E and the D-28 for The White Album) while Harrison upgraded to a Gibson J-200 Jumbo (which Lennon used on "Two of Us" and other acoustic tracks on Let It Be).

Lennon primarily used a Rickenbacker 325 Capri from 1960 until 1964. He purchased the guitar in Hamburg in its original natural finish and used the guitar extensively throughout the Cavern Club performances.^[1] In early 1963 he sent the guitar off to be refinished in its more popular black finish. This is the way the guitar appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show performance in February 1964. Shortly after, he switched to a brand new Rickenbacker 325, a much more improved version of his 325 Capri. During the sessions for Help!, Lennon and Harrison acquired matching 1961 Stratocasters. Lennon's was used on "Nowhere Man" and sparingly on the Sgt. Pepper album, when it disappeared from the group's guitar lineup, most likely stolen.

Harrison started off in the Cavern Club days playing a black Gretsch Duo Jet. The Duo Jet was refurbished many years later and featured on the cover and album Cloud Nine. Around 1962 he switched to a Gretsch Country Gentleman and a Gretsch Tennessean, both of which he played until around 1965. His second Country Gentleman was given away to a friend (Harrison was an avid sharer of instruments) and is now retained by Ringo Starr, while his first Country Gentleman fell off The Beatles' van in 1965 and was crushed by a lorry. In 1964 Harrison introduced the electric twelve-string guitar into mainstream pop. His Rickenbacker 360/12 twelve-string was a prototype. Only the second twelve-string guitar Rickenbacker ever made, it was delivered specially to him during their first visit to New York City. Harrison's use of the 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn of The Byrds to start using one too. Harrison used a Gibson SG around 1966; these can be seen in the promotional videos for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain", in addition to film of the recording session for "Hey Bulldog". He eventually gave this guitar to Pete Ham of Badfinger. Harrison's most prominent guitar from 1967 until early 1969 was a Fender Stratocaster. Obtained and used during the Help! sessions, first used on "You're Gonna Lose That Girl", it was originally Sonic Blue in colour until Harrison gave it a psychedelic paint job, using, among other substances, his wife's sparkly green nail polish. This psychedelic Strat, dubbed "Rocky", is seen in the "I Am the Walrus" segment of Magical Mystery Tour, and in the "All You Need Is Love" broadcast.^[2] Around this time Harrison also used a 1957 Les Paul model, which was given to him by Eric Clapton and was once in the possession of, among other musicians, John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful. Originally a "gold top" model, the guitar was refinished with a dark red stain before it got to Harrison. The guitar can be seen in the "Revolution" promo video and the Let It Be film—in addition to a rosewood Telecaster specially flown to him by Fender.

Lennon and Harrison both purchased Epiphone Casinos in 1965 after Paul McCartney acquired one. They were used extensively in the recording of the Revolver album. Though they purchased the guitars in a sunburst finish, both Harrison and Lennon later stripped the finishes off the guitars, claiming it allowed the guitars to "breathe" better. Lennon's stripped-down Casino can be seen in video footage of the famous "Rooftop Concert". Lennon used an Epiphone Casino almost exclusively from 1966 until the group's break-up and is even seen with it during the sessions for his Imagine album.

Paul McCartney's electric guitar parts (solos on "Ticket to Ride", "Another Girl", "Taxman", "Helter Skelter", "Drive My Car", "The End" and "Good Morning Good Morning"^[3] to name a few)^[4] were chiefly performed on his own Epiphone Casino or sunburst Fender Esquire. For recordings with acoustic parts played by McCartney ("Yesterday"), he favoured a 1964 Epiphone Texan FT-79.^[5] In 1968, he started using a D-28 from C. F. Martin & Company.

Basses[link]

McCartney custom-ordered a left-handed Höfner model 500/1 "violin" bass during one of the group's early residences in Hamburg. This model, with two pickups very close to the neck and almost touching each other, was replaced in 1963 by a newer model, whose pickups were spaced much broader apart, in a more conventional manner. McCartney continued to use his early model, although very rarely, until the Let It Be sessions, when it was stolen from Twickenham Film Studios; he continues to use his second Höfner today. In 1965 he switched to a Rickenbacker model 4001S, most likely during the recording of Rubber Soul (as seen in pictures from those sessions),^[6] but certainly by the recording of "Paperback Writer". It would be the principal choice for the remainder of The Beatles' career. He briefly used a left-handed Fender Jazz Bass during sessions for The Beatles (The White Album) and again for Abbey Road.^[7] He returned to the Höfner during rehearsals and recording of Let It Be and played it during the rooftop concert. He also used his original Höfner, refinished in three-tone sunburst and with upgraded electronics. It can be seen in footage from Let It Be and in the "Revolution" promo video.

George Harrison and John Lennon both played a Fender VI on some songs which McCartney played piano or guitar. George Harrison was photographed at Abbey Road in 1966 playing a right-handed Red Burns Nu-Sonic Bass during the "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" recording sessions. Harrison also played a right-handed Fender Jazz Bass on two songs from Abbey Road.

Keyboards[link]

All four Beatles contributed keyboard parts to their catalogue, supplemented by George Martin, Mal Evans, John Oedry, Chris Thomas, Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston.

• Hohner Pianet N and CH models
• Steinway Vertegrand upright piano
• Baldwin Combo harpsichord
• Baldwin Satin Ebony Grand
• Bechstein D-280 concert grand piano
• Blüthner Grand Piano
• Challen Piano
• Schiedmayer Celeste
• Mannborg Harmonium
• Moog Synthesizer III
• Fender Rhodes Suitcase
• Clavioline
• Hammond RT-3 organ with Leslie Model 122 cabinet
• Hammond C-3 organ
• Lowrey DSO Heritage Deluxe organ
• Mellotron MK II^[8]
• Vox Continental organ(s?) used on "I'm Down" and others
• Unidentified harpsichord(s?) used on "All You Need Is Love", "Fixing a Hole", "Piggies", "Not Guilty"
• Unidentified clavichord used on "For No One"

Microphones[link]

A Neumann U87

Although microphone usage varied somewhat according to the requirements of each song, the group's recordings at Abbey Road most often employed Neumann U47 or U67 microphones for electric guitars and one or more Neumann U47s (unidirectional); U48's "figure eight" (bidirectional) pickup pattern for vocals and most other instruments. The AKG C-12 was used as well, particularly on the bass (speaker) amplifier. Early in their recording career the drums usually were recorded with only two microphones: one overhead (an AKG D19 or STC 4038) and one for the bass drum (such as an AKG D20). Later, more microphones were used on the drums.

The AKG C28 is visible in the Let It Be film. Available studio documentation and interviews with their former recording engineers indicate that this microphone was not used for recording in the studio.^[9]

With the group's encouragement, recording engineer Geoff Emerick experimented with microphone placement and equalization.^[10] Many of his techniques were unusual for the time but have since become commonplace, such as "close miking" (physically placing the microphone very close to a sound source) of acoustic instruments or deliberately overloading the signal to produce distortion. For example, he obtained the biting string sound that characterises "Eleanor Rigby" by miking the instruments extremely closely—Emerick has related that the string players would instinctively back away from the microphones at the start of each take, and he would go back into the studio and move the microphones closer again.^[11] The recording of George Harrison's acoustic guitar in "Here Comes the Sun" was another incidence of close miking.

He also used a speaker as a microphone to increase the bass level whereas a microphone would overload from the air pressure.

Drums[link]

Ringo Starr bought a set of Premier drums in 1960, but in June 1963 made the switch to a two-tom Ludwig set. The American-made drums were newly available in England, but the clincher for Starr was the Black Oyster Pearl finish of the Ludwig kit. He had several similar kits, including two that he kept at Abbey Road. For the Let It Be and Abbey Road sessions, he obtained a natural-tone, three-tom Ludwig set, used on the "rooftop concert" and in his drum solo in "The End". Starr experimented with various muffling techniques. He used Ludwig and Remo drum heads. He started his career playing Paiste cymbals, but switched to Zildjian. He has used Paiste occasionally, most likely due to their easier availability in Europe.^[12]

Miscellaneous[link]

George Harrison owned many Indian instruments, including tambouras, a swarmandel (or Indian harp) and at least three sitars. All the Beatles kept pianos, guitars and other instruments at their homes to work on songs and demos. Most of these pieces never made their way into the studio with the well-known exception of Harrison's Moog synthesizer. John Lennon's home Mellotron was never brought into the studio, though a Mellotron was rented for use during the Sgt. Pepper sessions and an Abbey Road Studios-owned Mellotron was used for the White Album. Both George and John were given Coral electric sitars. Other instruments were recorder, harmonica, banjo, trumpet, saxophone, oboe, glockenspiel, vibraphone, accordion,^[13] kazoo (made out of comb and paper), and assorted percussion (congas, bongos, Arabian loose-skin bongo, African drum, timpani, anvil, package case, maracas, tambourine, zill, güiro).

Pop culture references[link]

The "Beatle" style instruments have been used many times in pop culture. In Agent Cody Banks 2 during the fight scene, there is a display of the original instruments and Agent Banks uses Paul McCartney's violin bass to hit the villain. The instruments have also been replicated into plastic game controllers for the game The Beatles Rock Band.

The Beatles as a four-piece live and in the studio, 1961–1966[link]

+ Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best in August 1962

The Beatles as a five-piece[link]

+ Chas Newby (December 1960 only), deputising for Sutcliffe ++ Tommy Moore (January-June 1960), Norman Chapman (July 1960), Pete Best (August 1960-)

See also[link]

• List of Gibson players
• John Lennon's musical instruments

Notes[link]

Look up list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

List or lists may refer to:

Enumerations[link]

• Any enumeration of a set of items
• A list of comma separated values, a common way of listing in everyday life and computing. (British usage: Comma-separated values)
• A mailing list
• An electronic mailing list
• An electoral list
• List (computing)
• Task lists, a list of tasks to be completed
• Listicle, an article in list format
• Watchlist
• Ranker

Other meanings[link]

• List (watercraft), the leaning to either port or starboard of a ship
• List, an alternative term for roll in flight dynamics
• Lists (jousting), a roped-off enclosure where medieval knights jousted
• SC Germania List, German rugby union club
• List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

People[link]

• Friedrich List, German economist
• Guido von List, Austrian Armanist
• John List, murderer
• Liesbeth List, Dutch singer
• Maximilian List, SS officer and Commandant of Lager Sylt, a labour camp on Alderney
• Paul List, chess player
• Peyton List, the name of two American actresses:
  • Peyton List (actress born 1986), American actress in the TV series Mad Men
  • Peyton List (actress born 1998), American actress in the Disney Channel TV series Jessie
• Siegmund Wilhelm List, WWII German field marshal

Places[link]

• List, Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost village in Germany, on the island Sylt

Work titles[link]

The List may refer to:

• The List (magazine), a Scottish magazine
• The List (South Park), an episode of the television show South Park
• The List (The X-Files), an episode of the television show The X-Files
• The List (2007 film), a film based on the novel by Robert Whitlow
• The List (album), an album by Rosanne Cash

See also[link]

• Liszt (surname)
• Listing (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

The Beatles
The Beatles in 1964 Top: John Lennon, Paul McCartney Bottom: George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Background information
Origin	Liverpool, England
Genres	Rock, pop
Years active	1960 (1960)–1970 (1970)
Labels	Parlophone, Swan, Vee-Jay, Capitol, United Artists, Apple
Associated acts	The Quarrymen, Plastic Ono Band
Website	thebeatles.com
Members
Principal John Lennon (1960–69) Paul McCartney (1960–70) George Harrison (1960–70) Ringo Starr (1962–70) Other Stuart Sutcliffe (1960–61) Pete Best (1960–62)

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music.^[1] The group's best-known lineup consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the group later worked in many genres ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. Their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania"; as their songwriting grew in sophistication, by the late 1960s they came to be perceived by many fans and cultural observers as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era's sociocultural revolutions.

As a five-piece line-up of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison on guitar and vocals, with Stuart Sutcliffe (bass) and Pete Best (drums), the band built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960. Sutcliffe left the group in 1961, and Best was replaced by Starr the following year. Moulded into a professional act by manager Brian Epstein, their musical potential was enhanced by the creativity of producer George Martin. They gained popularity in the United Kingdom after their first single, "Love Me Do", became a modest hit in late 1962, and they acquired the nickname the "Fab Four" as Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following year. By early 1964 they had become international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market. The band toured extensively around the world until August 1966, when they performed their final commercial concert. From 1966 they produced what many critics consider to be some of their finest material, including the innovative and widely influential albums Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (1968) and Abbey Road (1969). After their break-up in 1970, the ex-Beatles each found success in individual musical careers. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain active.

The Beatles are the best-selling band or musical act in history, with estimated sales of over one billion units according to Guinness World Records.^[2] They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts and have held the top spot longer than any other musical act. According to the RIAA, as of 2012 they have sold 177 million units in the US, more than any other artist, and in 2008 they topped Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists. As of 2012, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with 20. They have received 7 Grammy Awards from the American National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and 15 Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people.

[edit] Formation, Hamburg, and UK popularity (1957–1962)

In March 1957 John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to The Quarrymen after discovering that a respected local group was already using the name.^[3] Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a guitarist shortly after he and Lennon met that July.^[4] In February 1958 McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the group. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, who was impressed by his playing but initially thought him too young for the band. After a month of persistence, Harrison joined as lead guitarist.^[5][6] By January 1959 Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began studies at the Liverpool College of Art.^[7] The three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as "Johnny and the Moondogs",^[8] were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer.^[9] Lennon's art school friend Stu Sutcliffe, who had recently sold one of his paintings and purchased a bass guitar, joined in January 1960, and it was he who suggested changing the band's name to "Beatals" as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The Crickets.^[10] According to band historian Mark Lewisohn, they used the name through May, when they became "the Silver Beetles", before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle. By early July they changed their name to "the Silver Beatles", and by the middle of August to "the Beatles".^[11]

Their lack of a full-time drummer posed a problem when the group's unofficial manager, Allan Williams, arranged a resident band booking for them in Hamburg, Germany, so before the middle of August they auditioned and hired Pete Best. The five-piece band left four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3½-month residency.^[12] Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities".^[13]

Initially placing the group at the Indra Club, in October Koschmider moved them to the Kaiserkeller, after he closed the Indra due to noise complaints.^[14] When he learned they had been performing at The Top Ten Club, a rival venue and thus in breach of contract, Koschmider gave the band one month's termination notice,^[15] and reported the underage Harrison,^[16] who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age, causing his deportation in late-November.^[17] A week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a tapestry on the wall in their room; they were also deported.^[18] Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while the newly engaged Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg through late-February, staying with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr.^[19] Kirchherr took the first semi-professional photos of the group,^[20] and she encouraged Sutcliffe to comb his hair forward in the pilzkopf or "mushroom head" style popular among university students in Germany and France at the time.^[21] In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, she cut his hair^[22] in the "exi", or existentialist style that was later adopted by the other Beatles.^[23] When he decided to leave the band in early 1961 and resume his art studies in Germany, McCartney took up the bass.^[24] Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group through June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings.^[25] Credited to "Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart, and was group's first worldwide release.^[26]

After completing their second Hamburg stint the group enjoyed increasing popularity back home in Liverpool, particularly in Merseyside, where the Merseybeat movement was gaining popularity. However, the band were also growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.^[27] In November, during one of the band's frequent appearances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record store owner and music columnist.^[28] Epstein later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence and ... star quality."^[29] Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months and was appointed manager in January 1962.^[30] He made efforts throughout the winter and spring to get them released from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions, and he negotiated for the band to provide one last recording session, at the end of May, during their next visit to Hamburg, to secure an early release from the contract.^[31] Tragedy greeted them upon their return there in April, when a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage.^[32] After Decca Records rejected the band in early February with the comment "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein",^[33] George Martin signed the group to EMI's Parlophone label in May.^[32]

Abbey Road Studios main entrance

The Beatles' first recording session under Martin's direction took place at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London on 6 June 1962.^[34] He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's poor drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his stead.^[35] The band, already contemplating his dismissal,^[36] replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them.^[34] A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of "Love Me Do" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session on 11 September, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You".^[34] Initially, Martin selected the 4 September version of "Love Me Do" with Starr on drums for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings included the White version, with Starr on tambourine.^[34] Released in early October, "Love Me Do" was a top twenty UK hit, peaking at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart.^[37] In mid-October, they made their television début with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places,^[38] and a late-November studio session yielded their second single, "Please Please Me",^[39] after which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No.1."^[40]

In December 1962 the band concluded their fifth and final Hamburg stint.^[41] By 1963 it was agreed that all four members should contribute vocals to Beatle albums despite Starr's restricted vocal range, to "affirm his status as a full-fledged member".^[42] Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist.^[43] Epstein, wanting to maximize their commercial potential, encouraged the group to adopt a professional attitude to performing.^[44] Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change—stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking".^[45] Lennon said, "We used to dress how we liked, on and off stage. He'd tell us that jeans were not particularly smart and could we possibly manage to wear proper trousers, but he didn't want us suddenly looking square. He'd let us have our own sense of individuality".^[45]

Beatlemania and touring years (1963–1966)[link]

[edit] Please Please Me and With The Beatles

After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" met with a more emphatic reception. Released in January 1963, it reached number one on every national chart except Record Retailer, where it stalled at number two.^[46] Martin originally considered recording their debut LP live at the Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road".^[47] Ten songs were recorded for Please Please Me, accompanied by the four tracks already released on their two singles.^[47] Recalling how the band "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine comments, "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins."^[48] Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers, à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that—to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant."^[49]

Their logo was based on an impromptu sketch by instrument retailer and designer Ivor Arbiter.^[50]

Released in March 1963, the album reached number one on the top four British charts, initiating a run during which eleven of their twelve studio albums released in the United Kingdom through 1970 reached number one.^[51] The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and was also a chart-topping hit, starting an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number one singles for the band, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.^[52] Released in August, the band's fourth single, "She Loves You", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks.^[53] It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978 when it was surpassed by "Mull of Kintyre", by McCartney's post-Beatles band, Wings.^[54] Their popularity brought increasing press attention, to which the band members responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied what was expected of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.^[55]

The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week stint that began in February, the band's first nationwide tour, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.^[56] As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold; they were greeted with riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans—a phenomenon dubbed "Beatlemania".^[57] Although not billed as tour leaders, they overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US.^[58] A similar situation arose during the band's May–June tour with Roy Orbison.^[59]

McCartney, Harrison, Swedish pop singer Lill-Babs and Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In, 30 October 1963^[60]

In late October the band began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.^[61] Upon their return to the UK on the 31st, they were greeted in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport by "several hundred screaming fans", and fifty to a hundred journalists and photographers as well as representatives from the BBC, "the first of a hundred so-called 'airport receptions'".^[62] The next day, they began their fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.^[63] As Beatlemania intensified, police found it necessary to use high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth in mid–November.^[64]

Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for thirty weeks, only to be displaced by their follow-up, With The Beatles, which EMI delayed the release of until sales of Please Please Me had subsided.^[65] With The Beatles was released in late-November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies, topping the half-million mark in one week.^[66] It held the top spot for twenty-one weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks.^[67] Recorded between July and October, the album made better use of studio production techniques than its "deliberately primitive" predecessor.^[68] Erlewine describes With The Beatles as "a sequel of the highest order—one that betters the original".^[69] In a reversal of then standard practice, the album was released ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded in order to maximize the single's sales.^[70] With The Beatles caught the attention of The Times' music critic William Mann, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963".^[68] The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.^[71] With The Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack.^[72] In writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer Tony Barrow used the superlative "the fabulous foursome", which the media widely adopted as "the Fab Four".^[73]

"British Invasion"[link]

	"I Want to Hold Your Hand" noicon Sample of the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1963) which secured the band's international success when it achieved enormous US popularity a few weeks before their debut in the country
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The Beatles' releases in the United States were hindered for over a year by EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, who initially declined to issue their music, including the first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US labels Vee Jay and Swan led to the release of the songs in 1963,^[74] but legal issues with royalties and publishing rights proved an obstacle to the successful marketing of the group in the US.^[75] Exercising complete control over format, Capitol began to issue the material in December 1963,^[74] compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.^[76] American chart success began after Epstein arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign and secured the support of disk jockey Carrol James, who first played the band's records in mid-December 1963, initiating their music's spread across US radio. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to rush-release "I Want to Hold Your Hand" later that month.^[77] Released 26 December 1963, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies and was a number one hit in the US by mid-January, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away.^[78]

The Beatles arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 7 February 1964

The Beatles left the United Kingdom on 7 February 1964, with an estimated four thousand fans gathered at Heathrow, waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.^[79] At New York's John F. Kennedy Airport they were greeted by another uproarious crowd estimated at three thousand.^[80] They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households,^[81] or 34 percent of the American population. According to the Nielsen rating service writes Gould, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program."^[82] The next morning critical consensus in the US was generally against the group,^[83] but a day later their first US concert saw Beatlemania erupt at Washington Coliseum.^[84] Back in New York the following day, they met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall.^[81] The band then flew to Florida and appeared on the weekly Ed Sullivan Show a second time, before another 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February.^[85]

[edit] A Hard Day's Night

Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 had not gone unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged their film division to offer the group a three motion picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks.^[86] Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night had the group's involvement for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a mock-documentary.^[87] The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing comparison with the Marx Brothers.^[88] According to Erlewine, the accompanying soundtrack album, A Hard Day's Night, saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums had coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies."^[89] That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. Harrison's ringing 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn, who obtained his own Rickenbacker and used it to craft the trademark sound of The Byrds.^[90]

The Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart during the week of 4 April, including the top five.^[91] That same week, a third American LP joined the two already in circulation; two of the three reached the first spot on the Billboard album chart, the third peaked at number two.^[92] The band's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and a number of other UK acts subsequently made their own American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion.^[93] The Beatles' hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, was widely adopted and became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.^[94]

McCartney, Harrison and Lennon perform on Dutch television in 1964

The Beatles toured internationally in June and July. Staging thirty-seven shows over twenty-seven days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.^[95] Starr was briefly hospitalised after a tonsillectomy, and Jimmie Nicol sat in on drums for the first five dates.^[96] In August they returned to the US, with a thirty-concert tour of twenty-three cities.^[97] Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between ten and twenty thousand fans to each thirty-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York.^[97]

In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group to meet Bob Dylan.^[98] Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis.^[99] Beatles biographer Jonathan Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style" contrasted with their fans, "veritable 'teenyboppers'—kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialized popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. They were seen as idolaters, not idealists."^[100] Within six months of the meeting writes Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona."^[100] Within a year, Dylan would "proceed, with the help of a five-piece group and a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, to shake the monkey of folk authenticity permanently off his back ... the distinctions between the folk and rock audiences would have nearly evaporated [and the group's] audience ... [was] showing signs of growing up."^[100] In September they refused to play a show in Florida until the local promoter assured them that the audience would not be racially segregated.^[101]

[edit] Beatles for Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul

According to Gould, the band's fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale, indicates an emerging conflict between the "intense commercial pressures" of global success, and the group's "creative aspirations".^[102] Recorded between August and October 1964,^[103] they had intended the album to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike the band's first two LPs, contained only original songs.^[104] However, having nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, and the challenges posed by constant international touring to the band's songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem", and as such six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album.^[102] Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating a growing maturity in the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.^[102]

In early 1965, while they were his guests for dinner, Lennon and Harrison's dentist secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two."^[105] He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion.^[106] McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in the fall of 1966.^[106] He later became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society."^[107]

Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award.^[108] In protest—the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders—some conservative MBE recipients returned their own insignia.^[109]

The US trailer for Help! with (from the rear) Harrison, McCartney, Lennon and (largely obscured) Starr

The Beatles' second film, Help!, again directed by Lester, was released in July. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond",^[110] it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said, "Help! was great but it wasn't our film—we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong."^[111] The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: "Help!" and "Ticket to Ride".^[112] The accompanying album, the group's fifth studio LP, contained all original material save for two covers, including the LP's closing track, "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", which became the last cover the band would include on an album, with the exception of Let It Be's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae".^[113] Help! reflects the band's increased use of vocal overdubs and the incorporation of classical instruments into their arrangements, notably the string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday".^[114] Composed by McCartney, "Yesterday" would inspire the most recorded cover versions of any song ever written.^[115]

The band's third US tour opened with, "[p]erhaps the most famous of all Beatles concerts", when they performed before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August 1965.^[116] A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. On this tour they were credited with being the first artists to use on stage or foldback monitors, at their Atlanta show. Towards the end of the tour they were granted an audience with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills, where they discussed the music business and exchanged anecdotes.^[117][118]

	"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" noicon Sample of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" from Rubber Soul (1965). The use of a sitar on this song saw the band "beginning to expand the conventional instrumental parameters of the rock group".[119]
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Released in December 1965, Rubber Soul has been hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.^[119] Musicologist Ian MacDonald observes that with the album they "recovered the sense of direction that had begun to elude them during the later stages of work on Beatles for Sale".^[120] Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced more complex aspects of romance and philosophy.^[121] Biographers Peter Brown and Steven Gaines attribute the new musical direction to "the Beatles' now habitual use of marijuana",^[122] an assertion confirmed by the band—Lennon referred to it as "the pot album",^[123] and Starr said, "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently."^[123] After Help!'s foray into the world of classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As their lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. There was speculation that "Norwegian Wood" might refer to cannabis, a claim Lennon refuted: "I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair ... but in such a smokescreen way that you couldn't tell."^[124]

While many of Rubber Soul's more notable songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,^[125] it also featured distinct compositions from each,^[126] though they continued to share official credit. The song "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalog.^[127] Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favorite album"^[123] and Starr referred to it as "the departure record".^[128] McCartney said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand."^[129] However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group—"the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right".^[130] In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Rubber Soul fifth among "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time",^[131] and Allmusic's Richie Unterberger describes it as "one of the classic folk-rock records."^[1]

Controversy, studio years and break-up (1966–1970)[link]

Events leading up to final tour[link]

In June 1966, Yesterday and Today—a compilation album created by Capitol Records for the US market—caused an uproar over its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. It has been suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of their albums.^[132] Thousands of copies of the album had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.^[133] In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument.^[134]

During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, they unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace.^[135] 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.^[136] The group soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking "no" for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the band and they escaped the country with difficulty.^[137] Immediately afterward, they made their first visit to India.^[138]

Almost as soon as they returned home, they faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave:^[139] "Christianity will go," Lennon said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."^[140] The comment went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed it five months later—on the eve of the group's final US tour—it created a controversy with Christians in the American "Bible Belt".^[139] Epstein publicly criticised Datebook, saying they had taken Lennon's words out of context, and at a press conference Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it."^[141] Lennon claimed he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but when prompted by reporters he concluded by saying, "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."^[141]

The nature of their modest on-stage amplification meant their music could hardly be heard. Originally using the Vox AC30 amplifiers, the Beatles later received more powerful 100 watt amplifiers, specially developed by Vox for the band as they moved into larger stadiums in 1964, but these were still inadequate. The group's amplifiers struggled to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, and the band grew increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.^[142] Realizing that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to put an end to concert touring.^[143]

[edit] Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

	"Eleanor Rigby" noicon Sample of "Eleanor Rigby" from Revolver (1966). The album involves innovative compositional approaches, arrangements and recording techniques. This song prominently features classical strings as part of a novel musical style.
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Rubber Soul marked a major step forward; Revolver, released in August 1966 a week before the band's final tour, marked another.^[144] Lewisohn identifies it as, "The vital plateau between their "touring years" and "studio years" ... the album which ... shows the Beatles at the peak of their creativity ... a masterpiece born out of a sudden artistic and creative freedom, and the remarkable maturation of [the band]".^[145] Described by Gould as "woven with motifs of circularity, reversal, and inversion", Revolver featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelic rock.^[146] Abandoning the customary group photograph, its cover–design by Klaus Voormann "was a stark, arty, black-and-white collage that caricatured the Beatles in a pen-and-ink style beholden to Aubrey Beardsley."^[146] The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain".^[147] The Beatles made short promotional films for both songs, which Harrison described as "the forerunner of videos."^[148] They aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June 1966.^[149]

Among Revolver's experimental songs was "Tomorrow Never Knows", for whose lyrics Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The track's creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each manned by an engineer or a Beatle, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.^[150] McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould described it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognizable style or genre of song."^[151] Harrison was developing as a songwriter, and three of his compositions earned a place on the record. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Revolver as the third greatest album of all time.^[131] During the US tour that followed its release however, the band performed none of its songs.^[152] As Chris Ingham explains, they were very much "studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts."^[153] The final show, at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August, was their last commercial concert.^[154] It marked the end of a four-year period dominated by touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.^[155]

	"Within You Without You" noicon Sample of "Within You Without You" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). This raga rock song demonstrates the influence of Indian classical music on the band. "Strawberry Fields Forever" noicon Sample of "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967), recorded at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions.
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Freed from the burden of touring, the band embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late-November 1966.^[156] According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over seven hundred hours.^[157] Emerick recalls the band's insistence "that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different ... [w]e had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins ... [w]e used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around."^[158] Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a forty-piece orchestra.^[158] The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967;^[159] the LP Sgt. Pepper followed in June.^[160] The musical complexity of the record, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists,^[161] and was met with wide critical acclaim.^[162] Gould writes,

The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception, Sgt. Pepper became the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionize both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business".^[163]

Sgt. Pepper was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics.^[164] In late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly analysis by American literary critic and professor of English Richard Poirier, who observed that his students were "listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy."^[165] Poirier identified what he termed the "mixed allusiveness" of the material: "It's unwise ever to assume that they're doing only one thing or expressing themselves in only one style ... one kind of feeling about a subject isn't enough ... any single induced feeling must often exist within the context of seemingly contradictory alternatives."^[165] McCartney said at the time, "We write songs. We know what we mean by them. But ... [y]ou put your own meaning at your own level to our songs".^[165]

Sgt. Pepper's elaborate album cover also attracted interest and study.^[166] A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track and reprise,^[167] standing in front of a crowd of famous people.^[168] The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of hippie style,^[169] while their clothing "spoofed the vogue in Britain for military fashions".^[170] In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it number one on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".^[131]

On 25 June the band performed their forthcoming single, "All You Need Is Love", to an estimated 350 million viewers during Our World, the first live global television link.^[171] Released a week later during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem.^[172] Two months later the group suffered a loss that threw their career into turmoil. Having only been introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the previous night in London, on 25 August they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. Two days later, their manager's assistant Peter Brown phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.^[173] The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, though publicly it was widely rumoured a suicide.^[174] He had been in a fragile emotional state, stressed by personal issues and his working relationship with the band: worried they might not renew his management contract, due to expire in October, based on discontent with his supervision of business matters, particularly the Seltaeb fiasco.^[175] His death left the group disorientated and fearful about the future. Lennon recalled: "We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music and I was scared. I thought, we've had it now."^[176]

[edit] Magical Mystery Tour, White Album and Yellow Submarine

The soundtrack to a Beatles television film, Magical Mystery Tour was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play disc (EP) in early December 1967.^[177][74] In the United States, the six songs were issued on an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.^[92] Unterberger says of the US Magical Mystery Tour, "The psychedelic sound is very much in the vein of Sgt. Pepper, and even spacier in parts (especially the sound collages of 'I Am the Walrus')", and calls its five songs culled from the band's 1967 singles "huge, glorious, and innovative".^[178] In its first three weeks, it set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums.^[179] First aired on Boxing Day, the Magical Mystery Tour film brought the group their first major negative UK press. It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the Daily Express, and The Daily Mail called it "a colossal conceit", while The Guardian labelled it "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience".^[180] Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus".^[180] Although TV viewership was respectable, broad critical consensus in the UK caused US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting it.^[181]

In January the group filmed a cameo for the animated movie Yellow Submarine, which featured a cartoon version of the band and a soundtrack with eleven of the group's songs, including four unreleased studio recordings which made their debut in the film.^[183] Released in June 1968, it was well received by many critics for its music, humour, and innovative visual style.^[184] A soundtrack album followed seven months later.^[185]

In the interim came The Beatles, a double LP commonly known as the White Album due to its virtually featureless cover.^[186] Without Epstein's guiding presence, the group briefly turned to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as their guru.^[187] At his ashram in Rishikesh, India, a "Guide Course" became one of their most creative periods, yielding numerous songs including a majority of the thirty included on the album.^[188] However, Starr left after only ten days, likening it to Butlins, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.^[189] For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to questioning when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.^[187] When he alleged that the Yogi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him, just two months into the three-month course.^[189] In anger Lennon wrote a scathing song entitled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues.^[187] McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."^[187]

	"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" noicon Sample of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from The Beatles (1968). A rock ballad among songs of a variety of other genres on the album. "Helter Skelter" noicon Sample of "Helter Skelter" from The Beatles (1968). The album's music ranges from the musique concrète composition "Revolution 9" to the "proto-metal roar" of this song.
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The album's recording spanned nearly six months, from late May to mid-October 1968, during which time relations within the band grew openly divisive.^[190] Starr quit for a period,^[191] and Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono contributed tension, as he lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,^[192] and insisted on bringing Ono to the sessions, breaching the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.^[193] He was openly contemptuous of McCartney's contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", identifying it as "granny music shit."^[194] Describing the White Album, Lennon said, "Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. [It's] John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band."^[195] McCartney recalled, "it was a very good album ... but it wasn't a pleasant one to make."^[196] Martin argued that a condensed single album would have been "fantastically good".^[197]

Issued in November, the White Album "sold faster than any of their previous records",^[198] and was the band's first release on their new label Apple Records, though EMI continued to own their recordings.^[199] The label was a subsidiary of Apple Corps, formed as part of Epstein's plan to create a tax-effective business structure.^[200] The record attracted more than two million advance orders, selling nearly four million copies in the US in five weeks, its tracks dominating the playlists of American radio stations.^[201] Despite its popularity, it did not receive flattering reviews at the time; according to Gould:

The Beatles, known as the White Album for its minimalist cover, conceived by pop artist Richard Hamilton "in direct contrast to Sgt. Pepper, while also suggesting a "clean slate."^[202]

The critical response ... ranged from mixed to flat. In marked contrast to Sgt. Pepper, which had helped to establish an entire genre of literate rock criticism, the White Album inspired no critical writing of any note. Even the most sympathetic reviewers ... clearly didn't know what to make of this shapeless outpouring of songs. Newsweek's Hubert Saal, citing the high proportion of parodies, accused the group of getting their tongues caught in their cheeks.^[201]

General critical opinion eventually turned in favour of the White Album, and in 2003 Rolling Stone ranked it as the tenth greatest album of all time.^[131] Pitchfork's Mark Richardson describes it as "large and sprawling, overflowing with ideas but also with indulgences, and filled with a hugely variable array of material ... its failings are as essential to its character as its triumphs."^[203] Erlewine comments, "The [band's] two main songwriting forces were no longer on the same page, but neither were George and Ringo", yet "Lennon turns in two of his best ballads", McCartney's songs are "stunning", Harrison had become "a songwriter who deserved wider exposure" and Starr's composition was "a delight".^[204]

The Yellow Submarine LP, issued in January 1969, contained only four previously unreleased Beatles songs, along with the title track, "All You Need Is Love", and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin.^[185] Because of the paucity of new Beatles music, Allmusic's Unterberger and Bruce Eder suggest the album might be "inessential" but for Harrison's "It's All Too Much", "the jewel of the new songs ... resplendent in swirling Mellotron, larger-than-life percussion, and tidal waves of feedback guitar ... a virtuoso excursion into otherwise hazy psychedelia".^[205]

[edit] Abbey Road, Let It Be and break-up

Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, site of the Let It Be rooftop concert

Although Let It Be was the band's final album release, most of the material on it was recorded before Abbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they "record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film."^[206] Originally intended for a one-hour television programme called "Beatles at Work", much of the album's content came from the extensive studio rehearsals filmed by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.^[206][207] Uncharacteristically, work began at Twickenham Film Studios in January 1969, not EMI or Apple.^[208] Martin said the project, was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest".^[206] Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as, "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time".^[209] Aggravated by both McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon all talk of live performance" and instead focus on finishing a new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.^[207] He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham and instead commence at a newly-finished Apple Studios, the band agreed, and at this point the idea came about to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.^[210]

In an effort to alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardist Billy Preston to participate in the last nine days of sessions,^[211] and he received "label billing" on the "Get Back" single—the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles' release.^[212] At the conclusion of the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including; a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Tunisian desert, and the Colosseum.^[206] Ultimately, what would be their final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969.^[213] Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as Get Back's "uncredited producer" began work assembling an album, having been given "free rein" while the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project."^[214]

Conflict arose regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, when Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed The Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke, while McCartney wanted John Eastman, brother of his soon to be wife Linda Eastman.^[215] Agreement could not be reached, so both were temporarily appointed, but further conflict ensued and important financial opportunities were lost.^[215] On 8 May, Klein was appointed manager of the band by three signatures.^[216]

Martin said he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the Get Back sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he "thought it was the end of the road",^[217] nevertheless, recording sessions for Abbey Road began in July.^[218] Lennon rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", and wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.^[219] The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.^[220] The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August 1969 was the last occasion on which, "All four Beatles ... were together inside the recording studio from where they had changed the face of popular music."^[221] Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September, but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.^[222]

	"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" noicon Sample of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" from Abbey Road (1969). The completion and mixing of this song on 20 August 1969 marked the last time all four Beatles were together in a studio.
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Released six days after Lennon's declaration, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.^[223] Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single—the only Harrison composition ever to appear as a Beatles A-side.^[224] Abbey Road received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.^[223] Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group" containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record".^[225] MacDonald calls it "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley.^[226] Martin singled it out as his personal favourite of all the band's albums; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it". Recording engineer Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's valve mixing console with a transistorized one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its "kinder, gentler" feel relative to their previous albums.^[227]

For the still unfinished Get Back album, one last song, Harrison's "I Me Mine", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate.^[228] In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitled Let It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producer Phil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single "Instant Karma!".^[229] McCartney was unhappy with the producer's treatment of the material and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which included a fourteen-voice choir and a thirty-six-piece instrumental ensemble.^[230] McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted went ignored,^[231] and he publicly announced his departure from the band nine days later on 10 April 1970.^[230]

On 8 May the Spector-produced Let It Be was released. The LP and its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", were the band's last.^[147] The Let It Be documentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award for the Best Original Song Score.^[232] Film critic Penelope Gilliatt calls it, "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings."^[233] It was the opinion of several reviewers that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their equivalent album tracks.^[234] According to Unterberger, Let It Be is the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", though he describes it as "on the whole underrated", praising in particular the McCartney contributions "Let It Be", "Get Back", and "The Long and Winding Road", calling "Two of Us" a "highlight" and adding that "there are some good moments of straight hard rock in "I've Got a Feeling" and "Dig a Pony."^[235] McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the band on 31 December 1970, and the partnership legally ended on 9 January 1975.^[236]

After the break-up (1970–present)[link]

1970s[link]

Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr all released albums in 1970, beginning solo careers for each that sometimes involved one or more of the others.^[237] Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's collaboration, Harrison staged The Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971.^[238] 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.^[239]

Two double-LP sets of the band's greatest hits, compiled by Klein, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.^[240] Commonly known as the Red Album and Blue Album respectively, each earned a Multi-Platinum certification in the United States and a Platinum certification in the United Kingdom.^[241][242] Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilation Rock 'n' Roll Music.^[243] The only one to feature previously unreleased material was The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours. The band unsuccessfully attempted to block the 1977 release of Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962. The independently issued album compiled recordings made during the group's Hamburg residency, taped on a basic recording machine using only one microphone.^[244]

In April 1974, the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo...& Bert, written by Willy Russell, and featuring singer Barbara Dickson opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon-McCartney and one Harrison composition, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison later withdrew his permission to use it.^[245] The Broadway musical Beatlemania, a nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.^[246] In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. "People were just thinking The Beatles were like public domain", said Harrison. "You can't just go around pilfering The Beatles' material."^[246] Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and "artistic fiasco".^[247]

1980s[link]

In December 1980 Lennon was murdered. In a personal tribute, Harrison re-wrote a new but yet to be issued song "All Those Years Ago" in his honour. With new lyrics, McCartney and his wife Linda contributing backing vocals, and Starr on drums, the song was released as a single in May 1981.^[248] McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his Tug of War album in April 1982.^[249] In 1987 Harrison's Cloud Nine album included "When We Was Fab", a song inspired by the Beatles era.^[250]

When the band's studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardized throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the United Kingdom, as well as the US LP version of Magical Mystery Tour (1967), which had been released as a shorter double EP in the UK.^[251] EMI also deleted all but the Red and Blue compilations from its catalogue. The remaining material from singles and EPs not issued on these albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation Past Masters (1988).^[252]

The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, their first year of eligibility.^[253] Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean.^[254] McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved "business differences" that would make him "feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion."^[254] The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material.^[255][256]

1990s[link]

Live at the BBC, the first official release of previously unissued Beatles performances in 17 years, appeared in 1994.^[257] That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the Anthology project, the culmination of work begun in 1970 by Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall. Their former road manager and personal assistant, Aspinall had started then to gather material for a documentary, originally called The Long and Winding Road.^[258] Documenting their history in the band's own words, the Anthology project saw the release of many previously unissued Beatles recordings; McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to two demo songs recorded by Lennon in the late 1970s, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love"; both were released as new Beatles singles.^[259]

During 1995 and 1996 the project yielded a five-part television series, an eight-volume video set and three two-CD box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. The releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people worldwide.^[260] In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, a new soundtrack compilation CD called Yellow Submarine Songtrack was issued.^[261]

2000s[link]

1, a compilation album of every UK and US number one Beatles hit, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time with 3.6 million sold in its first week,^[262] 13 million within a month,^[263] and it was a number one in 28 countries.^[264] As of April 2009 it had sold 31 million copies globally,^[265] and was the best selling album of the decade in the United States.^[266]

Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer on 29 November 2001.^[267][268] McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organized by Eric Clapton and Harrison's widow, Olivia. The tribute event took place at the Royal Albert Hall on the first anniversary of Harrison's death. As well as songs he composed for the group and his own solo career, the concert included a celebration of Indian classical music, which had influenced the band through Harrison's interest.^[269]

In 2003, Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of the album with McCartney supervising production, was released to mixed reviews. One of the main differences with the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements. It was a top-ten hit in both the UK and the US. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 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 the music's original American release.^[270]

As a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas Beatles stage revue Love, George Martin and his son Giles remixed and blended 130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called "a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period".^[271] The show premiered in June 2006, and the Love album was released that November. Attending the show's first anniversary, McCartney and Starr were interviewed on Larry King Live along with Ono and Olivia Harrison.^[272] Also in 2007, reports circulated that McCartney was hoping to complete "Now and Then", a third Lennon demo worked on during the Anthology sessions. It would be credited as a Lennon–McCartney composition with the addition of new verses, and feature a new drum track by Starr and archival recordings of Harrison playing guitar.^[273] In 2008 McCartney discussed his hope that "Carnival of Light", a 14-minute experimental recording made at Abbey Road Studios in 1967, would receive an official release.^[274]

The Beatles were among the few major artists whose recorded catalogue was not available through online music services such as iTunes or Napster during the first decade of the 2000s.^[275] Residual disagreement stemming from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc. (owners and creators of iTunes) over the use of the name "Apple" was partly responsible, although in November 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle was that EMI "want something we're not prepared to give them."^[276]

On 9 September 2009, the band's entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.^[251] Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with Magical Mystery Tour and the compilation Past Masters, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set. A second collection, The Beatles in Mono, included all mono titles along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul (the 1987 CD issues of these two albums had been remixed by George Martin).^[277] For a limited time, a brief video documentary about the remastering was included on each stereo CD.^[278] The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in the Rock Band series, was also released on this day.^[279]