Beatles Silver Coin Pop Music Rock n Roll Group Band Songs Cavern Club Yesterday • £0.55 (2025)

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Seller: anddownthewaterfall ✉️ (35,514) 99.8%, Location: Manchester, Take a Look at My Other Items, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 316508591960 Beatles Silver Coin Pop Music Rock n Roll Group Band Songs Cavern Club Yesterday. For their eponymous album, see The Beatles (album). For other uses, see Beatles (disambiguation). "Beatle" and "Fab Four" redirect here. For the insect, see Beetle. For other uses, see Fab Four (disambiguation). The Beatles Commemorative Coin This is a Silver Plated Commemorative Coin of the Pop Band "The Beatles" One Side has an image of all 4 Group Members with the words "The Beatles" The back has their first names - Ringo, John, George, Paul along with the words "The Beatles" and a Guitar The coin is 40mm in diameter and weighs an ounce Comes in air-tight acrylic Case. A Beautiful coin and Magnificent Keepsake Souvenir of anyone who love The Beatles In Excellent Condition Like all my items bidding starts at 1p with No Reserve! Grab a Bargain NOW! Sorry about the poor quality photos. They don't do the coin justice which looks a lot better in real life Would make an Excellent Gift or Collectable Keepsake Souvenir of very poignant I always combined postage on multiple items and I have a lot of Similar items to this on Ebay so why not > Check out my other items ! Bid with Confidence - Check My 100% Positive Feedback from over 30,000 Satisfied Customers Most of My Auctions Start at a Penny and I always combine postage so please check out my other items ! All Payment Methods in All Major Currencies Accepted. I Specialise in Unique Fun Items So For that Interesting Conversational Piece, A Birthday Present, Christmas Gift, A Comical Item to Cheer Someone Up or That Unique Perfect Gift for the Person Who has Everything....You Know Where to Look for a Bargain! ### PLEASE DO NOT CLICK HERE ### Be sure to add me to your favourites list ! If You Have any Questions Please Message me thru ebay and I Will Reply ASAP All Items Dispatched within 24 hours of Receiving Payment. Thanks for Looking and Best of Luck with the Bidding!! 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Tianjin, Kuala Lumpur, Toronto, Milan, Shenyang, Dallas, Fort Worth, Boston, Belo Horizonte, Khartoum, Riyadh, Singapore, Washington, Detroit, Barcelona,, Houston, Athens, Berlin, Sydney, Atlanta, Guadalajara, San Francisco, Oakland, Montreal, Monterey, Melbourne, Ankara, Recife, Phoenix/Mesa, Durban, Porto Alegre, Dalian, Jeddah, Seattle, Cape Town, San Diego, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Rome, Naples, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Tel Aviv, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Manchester, San Juan, Katowice, Tashkent, Fukuoka, Baku, Sumqayit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Sapporo, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Taichung, Warsaw, Denver, Cologne, Bonn, Hamburg, Dubai, Pretoria, Vancouver, Beirut, Budapest, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Campinas, Harare, Brasilia, Kuwait, Munich, Portland, Brussels, Vienna, San Jose, Damman , Copenhagen, Brisbane, Riverside, San Bernardino, Cincinnati and Accra The Beatles Article Talk Read View source View history Tools Appearance hide Text Small Standard Large Width Standard Wide Color (beta) Automatic Light Dark Featured article Page semi-protected Listen to this article From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the band. For their eponymous album, see The Beatles (album). For other uses, see Beatles (disambiguation). "Beatle" and "Fab Four" redirect here. For the insect, see Beetle. For other uses, see Fab Four (disambiguation). The Beatles A square quartered into four head shots of young men with moptop haircuts. All four wear white shirts and dark coats. The Beatles in 1964; clockwise from top left: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison Background information Origin Liverpool, England Genres Rockpopbeatpsychedelia Discography Albums and singlessongs Years active 1960–1970 Labels ParlophoneCapitolApple Spinoffs Plastic Ono Band Spinoff of The Quarrymen Past members John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr (see Personnel section for others) Website thebeatles.com The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time[1] and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form.[2] Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.[3] Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI Records and achieved their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a "fifth Beatle". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded the album era, as albums became the dominant form of record use over singles. These records also increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements in electronic music, album art and music videos. In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and some partial reunions occurred. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide.[4][5] They are the most successful act in the history of the US Billboard charts,[6] holding the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15), most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades, including seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest artists in history. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people. History History of the Beatles The Beatles logo The QuarrymenIn HamburgAt the Cavern ClubDecca auditionBeatlemaniaNorth American releases"More popular than Jesus"In BangorIn IndiaBreak-upThe Beatles AnthologyTimeline vte 1956–1963: Formation The Quarrymen and name changes Main article: The Quarrymen In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They were called the Quarrymen, a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth."[7] Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after.[8] In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus,[9] and they enlisted him as lead guitarist.[10][11] By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art.[12] The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs,[13] were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer.[14] They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later told New Musical Express that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!" [15] Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.[16][17] They used this name until 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 had refashioned themselves as the Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simply the Beatles.[18] Early residencies and UK popularity Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3+1⁄2-month residency.[19] Beatles historian Mark 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."[20] Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October.[21] When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice,[22] and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.[23] The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November.[24] One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them.[25] Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr,[26] who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles.[27] During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.[28] In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the "exi" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.[29][30] Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass.[31] Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records.[17][32] As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year.[33] Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart.[34] After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.[35] In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist.[36] He 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 ... [a] star quality."[37] First EMI recordings Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962.[38] Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg.[39] On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage.[40] Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan.[41] After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band, saying, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."[42] However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI's Parlophone label.[40] A flight of stone steps leads from an asphalt car park up to the main entrance of a white two-story building. The ground floor has two sash windows, the first floor has three shorter sash windows. Two more windows are visible at basement level. The decorative stonework around the doors and windows is painted grey. Main entrance at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios, pictured 2007) Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962.[43] He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place.[44] Already contemplating Best's dismissal,[45] the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them.[43] 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 a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You".[43] Martin initially selected the Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.[43] Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart.[46] Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places.[47] After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at a faster tempo,[48] a studio session in late November yielded that recording,[49] of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1."[50] In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.[51] By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.[52] 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.[53] Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.[54] 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 ...."[42][nb 1] 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years Main article: Beatlemania Please Please Me and With the Beatles The logo of the English rock band the Beatles The band's logo was designed by Ivor Arbiter.[55] On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the 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".[56] After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer, where it peaked at number two.[57] Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins."[58] 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."[59] "She Loves You" Duration: 13 seconds.0:13 Sample of "She Loves You". The song's repeated use of "yeah" exclamations became a signature phrase for the group at the time.[60][61] Problems playing this file? See media help. Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one.[62] The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.[63] Issued in August, their 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.[64] It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978.[65][nb 2] The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.[66] The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.[67] As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show.[68] Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck.[68][69] Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles 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.[70] A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison.[71] Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Swedish pop singer Lill-Babs and John Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In in 1963 McCartney, Harrison, Swedish pop singer Lill-Babs and Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In, 30 October 1963[72] In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.[73] On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from the BBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events.[74] The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.[75] In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.[76] On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre.[77] Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles,[78] which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week.[79] Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor.[80] It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks.[81] Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original".[82] In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales.[83] The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963".[80] The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.[84] 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.[85] When 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".[86] First visit to the United States and the British Invasion Main article: British Invasion A black-and-white image of four men standing in front of a crowd of people at the bottom of an aeroplane staircase The Beatles arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 7 February 1964 EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963.[87] Vee-Jay finished preparation for the album Introducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released.[nb 3] After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided.[89] A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in the Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally.[90] Epstein brought a demo copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to Capitol's Brown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air.[91] Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks.[92] Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January.[93] In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles[94] along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You".[95] The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 1964 On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.[96] Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them.[97] 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,[98] or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program".[99] The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US,[100] but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum.[101] Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall.[98] The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February.[102] The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November.[103] Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade.[104] Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults,[17] became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.[105] The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion.[106] The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Petula Clark, the Kinks, and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America.[107] During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five.[108][nb 4] A Hard Day's Night Main article: A Hard Day's Night (film) Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US.[110] Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy.[111] The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with the Marx Brothers.[112] United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two.[113] According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies."[114] That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record.[115][nb 5] 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon of the Beatles performing on Dutch TV in 1964 McCartney, Harrison and Lennon performing on Dutch TV in 1964 Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.[116][nb 6] In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities.[118] Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York.[118] In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan.[119] Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis.[120] 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 commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists."[121] Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band and electric instrumentation, and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion".[122] As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture.[122] During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with racial segregation in the country at the time.[123][124] When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.[125][123][124] Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money."[123] City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.[123] The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville.[124] For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.[124][126] Beatles for Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions.[127] They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964,[128] to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs.[127] They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem".[129] As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.[127] In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee.[130] Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two."[131] He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music."[132][133] McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966.[134] He 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".[135] The Beatles performing music in a field. In the foreground, the drums are played by Starr (only the top of his head is visible). Beyond him, the other three stand in a column with their guitars. In the rear, Harrison, head down, strikes a chord. In the front, Lennon smiles and gives a little wave toward camera, holding his pick. Between them, McCartney is jocularly about to choke Lennon. The US trailer for Help! with (from the rear) Harrison, McCartney, Lennon and (largely obscured) Starr Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award.[136] In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia.[137] In July, the Beatles' second film, Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond",[138] 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."[139] 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".[140] The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two.[141] The LP contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album until Let It Be's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae".[142] The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday".[143] Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording[144] – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written.[145] With Help!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[146] The Beatles at a press conference in August 1965 The Beatles at a press conference in Minnesota in August 1965, shortly after playing at Shea Stadium in New York The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description.[147] A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers.[148] Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills.[149][150] Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse.[151][152] September 1965 saw the launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles, that echoed A Hard Day's Night's slapstick antics over its two-year original run.[153] The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people.[154] In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments.[155] Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own."[156] Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.[157] Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to the band members' "now habitual use of marijuana".[158] Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album"[159] 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."[159] After Help!'s foray into 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 the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning.[160] "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" Duration: 15 seconds.0:15 Sample of "Norwegian Wood" from Rubber Soul (1965). Harrison's use of a sitar on this song is representative of the Beatles' incorporation of unconventional instrumentation into rock music.[157] Problems playing this file? See media help. While some of Rubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,[161] the album also included distinct compositions from each,[162] though they continued to share official credit. "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue.[163] Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album",[159] and Starr referred to it as "the departure record".[164] McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand."[165] 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".[166] Controversies, Revolver and final tour Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,[87] compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.[167][nb 7] In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums.[169] Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.[170] In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument.[171] During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace.[172] When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.[173] They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.[174] Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time.[175] We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966[176] Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles 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.[177] "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."[178] His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region.[177] The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service.[179] Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it."[180] He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."[180] "Eleanor Rigby" Duration: 13 seconds.0:13 Sample of "Eleanor Rigby" from Revolver (1966). The album involves innovative compositional approaches, arrangements and recording techniques. This song, primarily written by McCartney, prominently features classical strings in a novel fusion of musical styles. Problems playing this file? See media help. Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group.[181] The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia.[181] Abandoning the customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.[181] The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain".[182] Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos",[183] they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June.[184] Among the experimental songs on Revolver was "Tomorrow Never Knows", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.[185] McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song".[186] Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.[187] Among these, "Taxman", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music.[188] San Francisco's Candlestick Park in the 1960s San Francisco's Candlestick Park (pictured in the early 1960s) was the venue for the Beatles' final concert before a paying audience. As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used Vox AC30 amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them by Vox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.[189] Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last.[190] The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.[191] In Chris Ingham's description, 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."[192] The band's concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August was their last commercial concert.[193] It marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.[194] 1966–1970: Studio years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Main article: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The album artwork of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Front cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "the most famous cover of any music album, and one of the most imitated images in the world"[195] Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966.[196] According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours.[197] He recalled the band's insistence "that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We 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."[198] Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a 40-piece orchestra.[198] The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967;[199] the Sgt. Pepper LP followed with a rush-release in May.[200] The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists.[195] Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal.[201] 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 revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963.[202] In the wake of Sgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as "lifestyle revolutionaries".[3] The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover.[203][204] Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry 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".[205][nb 8] The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study.[206] A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track[207] standing in front of a crowd of famous people.[208] The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of the hippie movement,[209] while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their "brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms" as a knowingly "anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment" display.[210] Sgt. Pepper topped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.[211] With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release,[212] Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.[213] It was the first rock album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[214] It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records.[215] Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine Main articles: Magical Mystery Tour (film) and Yellow Submarine (film) Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completing Sgt. Pepper: Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, and Yellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced by United Artists.[216] The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter.[217] On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single "All You Need Is Love" to an estimated 350 million viewers on Our World, the first live global television link.[218] Released a week later, during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem.[219] The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer.[220] In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-based commune off the coast of Greece.[221][222] On 24 August, the group were introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London. The next day, they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.[223] The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide.[224][nb 9] His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future.[226] 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 f**kin' had it now.'"[227] Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd remembered that "Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead."[228] During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed with Magical Mystery Tour.[217] The Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play (EP) in early December 1967.[87][229] It was the first example of a double EP in the UK.[230][231] The record carried on the psychedelic vein of Sgt. Pepper,[232] though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up to Sgt. Pepper.[229] In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.[109] In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums.[233] Magical Mystery Tour first aired on Boxing Day to an audience of approximately 15 million.[234] Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK.[235] It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the Daily Express; the Daily Mail called it "a colossal conceit"; and The Guardian labelled the film "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience".[236] Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus".[236] Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film.[237] The group were less involved with Yellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment.[238] Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film.[239] Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style.[240] A soundtrack LP was issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued on Revolver), "All You Need Is Love" (already issued as a single and on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin.[241] India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album Main articles: Beatles in India, Apple Corps, and The Beatles (album) In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation "Guide Course". Their time in India marked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album.[242] However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.[243] For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.[244] When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him.[243] In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."[244] In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture, Apple Corps.[245] It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education.[246] McCartney described Apple as "rather like a Western communism".[247] The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects[248] handled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience.[249] Among its numerous subsidiaries were Apple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-lived Apple Boutique in London.[250] Harrison later said, "Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it."[247] The album artwork of the Beatles' self-titled 1968 album, also known as "the White Album" 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"[251] From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what became The Beatles, a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover.[252] During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive.[253] Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums.[254] Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,[255] whose contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" he scorned as "granny music shit".[256] Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.[257] McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make".[258] He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.[259][260] With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical styles[261] and broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre.[262] During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort.[263] Describing the double album, Lennon later 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."[264] The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, "Hey Jude", released in August as a non-album single with "Revolution".[265] Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first Apple Records album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings.[266] The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations.[267] Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture.[268] Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing that Sgt. Pepper had.[267] Abbey Road, Let It Be and separation See also: Break-up of the Beatles Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely 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".[269] Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called Beatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.[269][270] Martin said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb."[269] Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time".[271] Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon[ed] all talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.[272] He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished Apple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.[273] American musician Billy Preston in 1971 The American soul musician Billy Preston (pictured in 1971) was, for a short time, considered a fifth Beatle during the Get Back sessions. 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.[274] Preston received label billing on the "Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release.[275] After 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 Libyan desert, and the Colosseum.[269] 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.[276] Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as Get Back's "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project".[277] A terrace house with four floors and an attic. It is red brick, with a slate roof, and the ground floor rendered in imitation of stone and painted white. Each upper floor has four sash windows, divided into small panes. The door, with a canopy over it, occupies the place of the second window from the left on the ground floor. Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, site of the Let It Be rooftop concert New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke;[278] McCartney wanted Lee and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of Linda Eastman,[279] whom McCartney married on 12 March.[280] Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers.[281][282] Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost.[278] On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band,[283] the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles.[284] Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the Get Back sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us".[285] The primary recording sessions for Abbey Road began on 2 July.[286] Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.[287] The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.[287] Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's valve-based mixing console with a transistorised 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.[288] On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance", credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.[289] On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney pretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.[290] On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.[291] Released on 26 September, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.[292] Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side.[293] Abbey Road received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.[292] Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record".[294] Musicologist and author Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley.[295] Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it".[288] 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.[296] 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!"[297] In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble.[298] McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored,[299] and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first self-titled solo album.[298][300] On 8 May 1970, Let It Be was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK.[182] The Let It Be documentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.[301] Sunday Telegraph critic Penelope Gilliatt called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings".[302] Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks.[303] Describing Let It Be as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'" and praises "Let It Be", "Get Back", and "the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together".[304] McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970.[305] Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974,[306] when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.[307] After the breakup See also: Collaborations between ex-Beatles 1970s Lennon in 1974 and McCartney in 1976 Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members;[308] 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 participation, Harrison staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971.[309] Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded t ogether again.[310] Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.[311] Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a Multi-Platinum certification in the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.[312][313] 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.[314] 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.[315][nb 10] The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written by Willy Russell and featuring singer Barbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it.[317] Later that year, the off-Broadway musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road opened.[318] All This and World War II (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra.[319] The Broadway musical Beatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.[320] In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages.[320] Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham.[321] Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert.[322] Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month.[323][324] On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of Saturday Night Live, producer Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at the Dakota in New York, which was within driving distance of the NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to.[325] 1980s In December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "All Those Years Ago" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981.[326] McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his Tug of War album in April 1982.[327] In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street,[328] and played with McCartney on several of the songs on the soundtrack.[329] In 1987, Harrison's Cloud Nine album included "When We Was Fab", a song about the Beatlemania era.[330] When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of Magical Mystery Tour.[331] All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation Past Masters (1988). Except for the Red and Blue albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the Hollywood Bowl record – from its catalogue.[315] In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean.[332][333] 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".[333] 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.[334][335] 1990s Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994.[336] That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the Anthology project. Anthology was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title The Long and Winding Road.[337] During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the Anthology project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producer Jeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s,[338] resulting in the release of two "new" Beatles singles, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". A third Lennon demo, "Now and Then", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.[339] The Anthology releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people.[340] A book, The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued.[341] 2000s The Beatles' 1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week[342] and 13 million within a month.[343] It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries.[344] The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009.[345] Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer in November 2001.[346][347][348] McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organised 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.[349] In 2003, Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of the Let It Be album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements.[350] It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. 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 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.[351] 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".[352] The show premiered in June 2006, and the Love album was released that November.[353] In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney.[354] On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.[331] Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with Magical Mystery Tour and the Past Masters compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set.[355] A second collection, The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions).[356] The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in the Rock Band series, was issued on the same day.[357] In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in FLAC and MP3 format in a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives.[358] 2010s Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services.[359] Residual disagreement emanating from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc., iTunes' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want[s] something we're not prepared to give them".[360] In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, Past Masters, and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes.[361] In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the European Union, for antitrust reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by Capitol Records under its Capitol Music Group division.[362] The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set.[363] In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these."[364][365] On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[366] The following day, The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles television special was taped in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater.[367][368] In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including Spotify and Apple Music.[369] In September 2016, the documentary film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week was released. Directed by Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[370] An expanded, remixed and remastered version of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film.[371][372] On 18 May 2017, Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary.[373] Similar box sets were released for The Beatles in November 2018,[374] and Abbey Road in September 2019.[375] On the first week of October 2019, Abbey Road returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as Abbey Road hit the top spot 50 years after its original release.[376] 2020s In November 2021, The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed by Peter Jackson using footage captured for the Let It Be film, was released on Disney+ as a three-part miniseries.[377] A book also titled The Beatles: Get Back was released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary.[378] A super deluxe version of the Let It Be album was released on 15 October.[379] In January 2022, the album Get Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of the Beatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services.[380] In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of "Let It Be" with Dolly Parton, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's album Rockstar in November 2023.[381][382] In October, a special edition of Revolver was released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix using AI de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentary Get Back.[383] New music videos were produced for "Here, There and Everywhere" and "I'm Only Sleeping", the latter of which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.[384] In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release "the final Beatles record" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist.[339] In October 2023, the song was revealed to be "Now and Then", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023.[385][386] The official music video for "Now and Then" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its first 12 hours,[387] as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs.[386] "Now and Then" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track.[388] The song became their first UK number one single since 1969.[389] On 8 May 2024 the 1970 film Let It Be, digitally restored by Peter Jackson's Park Road Post, was released on Disney+, marking the first time it has been publicly screened since its original theatrical release.[390] Artistry See also: Lennon–McCartney Development In Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work.[391] In The Beatles as Musicians, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."[392] Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own."[393] MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".[394] Influences The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent.[395][396] During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.[397] 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."[398] Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, "He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him."[399] Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison,[400] the Everly Brothers[401] and Jerry Lee Lewis.[402] 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, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Who, Frank Zappa, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album Pet Sounds amazed and inspired McCartney.[403][404][405][406][407] Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [Wilson]."[408] Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years.[409] Genres Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre,[410] and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.[411] Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of Beatles for Sale, "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP",[412] while Gould credits Rubber Soul as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop".[413] Two electric guitars, a light brown violin-shaped bass and a darker brown guitar resting against a Vox amplifier A Höfner "violin" bass guitar and Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, models played by McCartney and Harrison, respectively; the Vox AC30 amplifier behind them is the model the Beatles used during performances in the early 1960s. Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars."[414] They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; Sgt. Pepper's "She's Leaving Home", for instance, is "cast in the mold of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama".[415] The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record".[416] Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and "I Am the Walrus". The influence of Indian classical music was evident in Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Love You To", and "Within You Without You" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the raga form in miniature".[417] Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell: "'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively."[418] Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way."[419] Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: "Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained in parallel their mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy."[420] As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "Revolution 9" (whose musique concrète approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's country song "Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's rock ballad "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and the "proto-metal roar" of McCartney's "Helter Skelter".[421] Contribution of George Martin The Beatles with George Martin in the studio in the mid-1960s George Martin (second from right) in the studio with the Beatles in the mid-1960s George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle".[422] He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould.[423] Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description.[424] Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording.[425] In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass.[426] Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is an outstanding example."[427] Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence: Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an aural Salvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope, Pepper would never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows?[428] Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: "I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape."[429] In the studio See also: Recording practices of the Beatles Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music.[430] Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from Rubber Soul and, especially, Revolver onwards.[430] Along with innovative studio techniques such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking, and vari-speed recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the swarmandal in "Strawberry Fields Forever".[431] They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro,[432] and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".[433] Legacy Main article: Cultural impact of the Beatles Statue in Liverpool The Beatles statue at Pier Head in Liverpool, their home city Road crossing in London Abbey Road crossing in London is a popular destination for Beatles fans. In December 2010 it was given grade II listed status for its "cultural and historical importance"; the Abbey Road studios themselves had been given similar status earlier in the year.[434] Former Rolling Stone magazine associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..."[357] The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism" and "the first advance in popular music since the War".[435] In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating the album era;[436] the music historian Joel Whitburn says that LP sales soon "exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles" in the music industry.[437] They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US,[438] they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.[439] From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee.[343] The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture.[440][441] Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide.[439][442] Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs.[443] On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio.[444] They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler",[445] and they were primary innovators of the modern music video.[446] The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people,[147] then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business".[447] Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.[105] According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism.[448] According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".[171] Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness.[103][449] Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964."[449] According to Gilmore: Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus.[103] Established in 2009, Global Beatles Day is an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles.[450] The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in the BBC programme Our World in 1967, performing "All You Need Is Love" broadcast to an international audience.[451] Awards and achievements See also: List of awards and nominations received by the Beatles In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[136] The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970).[301] The recipients of seven Grammy Awards[452] and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards,[453] the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.[312] In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album.[313] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.[332] The best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012.[454][nb 11] From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.[456] They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen,[457] and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act.[458] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years.[459] They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary.[460] As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty.[461] The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.[462] They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people.[463] In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[464] On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day under UNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening of the Cavern Club in 1957.[465][466] In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.[467] Earlier in 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles and Yellow Submarine.[468] In 2004 and 2011, Rolling Stone named them the greatest artist of all time.[469] Personnel Further information: List of members of bands featuring members of the Beatles Principal members John Lennon – vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, bass (1960–1969; died 1980) Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, drums (1960–1970) George Harrison – guitars, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass (1960–1970; died 2001) Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals (1962–1970) Early members Stuart Sutcliffe – bass, vocals (1960–1961; died 1962) Tommy Moore – drums (1960; died 1981) Norman Chapman – drums (1960; died 1995) Pete Best – drums, vocals (1960–1962) Chas Newby – bass (1960; died 2023) Touring musicians Jimmie Nicol – drums (1964) Timeline Discography Main articles: The Beatles discography and List of songs recorded by the Beatles The Beatles have a core catalogue consisting of thirteen studio albums and a compilation of UK singles and EP tracks:[470][nb 12] Please Please Me (1963) With the Beatles (1963) A Hard Day's Night (1964) Beatles for Sale (1964) Help! (1965) Rubber Soul (1965) Revolver (1966) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Magical Mystery Tour (1967) The Beatles ("The White Album") (1968) Yellow Submarine (1969) Abbey Road (1969) Let It Be (1970) Past Masters (1988, compilation) Song catalogue Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by Northern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisher Dick James specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee.[471][472][473] In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000.[474] At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973.[475] Harrison created Harrisongs to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included "Taxman" and "Within You Without You".[476] The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights.[477] Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with Apple Publishing while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created Startling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".[478][479] In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company Associated Television (ATV), founded by impresario Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding.[480] The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being f**ked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City."[481] By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973.[482] In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969.[483] In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company, Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million.[484] According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected.[485] According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a takeover by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court for £60 million.[486] In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights.[487] In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with Sony, creating a new company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world.[488] In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million.[489] Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.[490] Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore[491] in 1978,[492] and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications.[493] On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years.[494][495] McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.[496][497] Selected filmography Main article: The Beatles in film Fictionalised A Hard Day's Night (1964) Help! (1965) Magical Mystery Tour (1967) Yellow Submarine (1968) (brief cameo) Documentaries and filmed performances The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966) Let It Be (1970) The Compleat Beatles (1982) It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (1987) (about Sgt. Pepper) The Beatles Anthology (1995) The Beatles: 1+ (2015) (collection of digitally restored music videos) The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016) (about Beatlemania and touring years) The Beatles: Get Back (2021) Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song (2023) (short film about the creation of "Now and Then") Concert tours Main article: List of the Beatles' live performances Headlining 1963 UK tours (winter–autumn) Autumn 1963 Sweden tour Winter 1964 North American tour Spring 1964 UK tour 1964 world tour 1964 North American tour 1965 European tour 1965 US tour 1965 UK tour 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines 1966 US tour Co-headlining Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour Spring 1963 Tommy Roe/Chris Montez UK tour Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour See also Outline of the Beatles The Beatles timeline Grammy Award records – most Grammys won by a group List of songs recorded by the Beatles Notes Lennon said of Epstein, "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."[42] "She Loves You" was surpassed in sales by "Mull of Kintyre", by McCartney's post-Beatles band Wings.[65] Vee-Jay company president Ewart Abner resigned after it was disclosed he used company funds to cover gambling debts.[88] During the same week in April 1964, a third American Beatles LP joined the two already in circulation; two of the three reached the first spot on the Billboard albums chart, the third peaked at number two.[109] Harrison's ringing 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn, who obtained his own Rickenbacker and used it to craft the trademark sound of the Byrds.[115] Starr was briefly hospitalised after a tonsillectomy, and Jimmie Nicol sat in on drums for the first five dates.[117] It was not until Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 that a Beatles album was released with identical track listings in both the UK and the US.[168] Poirier identified what he termed its "mixed allusiveness": "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."[205] McCartney said at the time: "We write songs. We know what we mean by them. But in a week someone else says something about it, and you can't deny it. ... You put your own meaning at your own level to our songs."[205] Epstein had been in a fragile emotional state, stressed by personal troubles. It was speculated that he was concerned that the band might not renew his management contract, due to expire in October, over discontent with his supervision of business matters, particularly regarding Seltaeb, the company that handled their US merchandising rights.[225] 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.[316] Another estimate gives total international sales of over 1 billion units,[343] a figure based on EMI's statement and recognised by Guinness World Records.[455] According to Lewisohn on pg. 201, the Past Masters compilation of singles and EP tracks was originally released as two separate albums, Volumes One and Two in 1988. However, they were later merged into one compilation. References Citations Hasted 2017, p. 425. Frontani 2007, p. 125. Frontani 2007, p. 157. Siggins, Gerard (7 February 2016). "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Rare footage of the Beatles's Dublin performance". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2017. Hotten, Russell (4 October 2012). "The Beatles at 50: From Fab Four to fabulously wealthy". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013. ". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2012. Eccleston, Danny (9 September 2009). "Beatles Remasters Reviewed". Mojo. Archived from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2009. Collett-White, Mike (7 April 2009). "Original Beatles digitally remastered". Reuters. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2009. Gross, Doug (4 September 2009). "Still Relevant After Decades, The Beatles Set to Rock 9 September 2009". CNN. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2009. Martens, Todd (4 November 2009). "Meet the Beatles' USB Drive; EMI Files Suit Against BlueBeat for Selling Beatles Downloads". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 November 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2009. La Monica, Paul R. (7 September 2005). "Hey iTunes, Don't Make It BaElmer Bernstein / Alfred Newman and Ken Darby (1967)John Barry / Johnny Green (1968)Burt Bacharach / Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman (1969) 1970s Francis Lai / The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) (1970)Michel Legrand / John Williams (1971)Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell / Ralph Burns (1972)Marvin Hamlisch / Marvin Hamlisch (1973)Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola / Nelson Riddle (1974)John Williams / Leonard Rosenman (1975)Jerry Goldsmith / Leonard Rosenman (1976)John Williams / Jonathan Tunick (1977)Giorgio Moroder / Joe Renzetti (1978)Georges Delerue / Ralph Burns (1979) 1980s Michael Gore (1980)Vangelis (1981)John Williams / Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse (1982)Bill Conti / Michel Legrand, Alan and Marilyn Bergman (1983)Maurice Jarre / Prince (1984)John Barry (1985)Herbie Hancock (1986)Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su (1987)Dave Grusin (1988)Alan Menken (1989) 1990s John Barry (1990)Alan Menken (1991)Alan Menken (1992)John Williams (1993)Hans Zimmer (1994)Luis Bacalov / Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (1995)Gabriel Yared / Rachel Portman (1996)James Horner / Anne Dudley (1997)Nicola Piovani / Stephen Warbeck (1998)John Corigliano (1999) 2000s Tan Dun (2000)Howard Shore (2001)Elliot Goldenthal (2002)Howard Shore (2003)Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (2004)Gustavo Santaolalla (2005)Gustavo Santaolalla (2006)Dario Marianelli (2007)A. R. Rahman (2008)Michael Giacchino (2009) 2010s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (2010)Ludovic Bource (2011)Mychael Danna (2012)Steven Price (2013)Alexandre Desplat (2014)Ennio Morricone (2015)Justin Hurwitz (2016)Alexandre Desplat (2017)Ludwig Göransson (2018)Hildur Guðnadóttir (2019) 2020s Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (2020)Hans Zimmer (2021)Volker Bertelmann (2022)Ludwig Göransson (2023) vte Best-selling singles by year in the United Kingdom 1950s 1952: "Here in My Heart" – Al Martino1953: "I Believe" – Frankie Laine1954: "Secret Love" – Doris Day1955: "Rose Marie" – Slim Whitman1956: "I'll Be Home" – Pat Boone1957: "Diana" – Paul Anka1958: "Jailhouse Rock" – Elvis Presley1959: "Living Doll" – Cliff Richard (UK) 1960s 1960: "It's Now or Never" – Elvis Presley1961: "Wooden Heart" – Elvis Presley1962: "I Remember You" – Frank Ifield (UK)1963: "She Loves You" – The Beatles (UK)1964: "Can't Buy Me Love" – The Beatles (UK)1965: "Tears" – Ken Dodd (UK)1966: "Green, Green Grass of Home" – Tom Jones (UK)1967: "Release Me" – Engelbert Humperdinck (UK)1968: "Hey Jude" – The Beatles (UK)1969: "Sugar, Sugar" – The Archies 1970s 1970: "The Wonder of You" – Elvis Presley / "In the Summertime" – Mungo Jerry (UK)1971: "My Sweet Lord" – George Harrison (UK)1972: "Amazing Grace" – Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (UK)1973: "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" – Dawn featuring Tony Orlando1974: "Tiger Feet" – Mud (UK)1975: "Bye Bye Baby" – Bay City Rollers (UK)1976: "Save Your Kisses for Me" – Brotherhood of Man (UK)1977: "Mull of Kintyre" / "Girls' School" – Wings (UK)1978: "Rivers of Babylon" / "Brown Girl in the Ring" – Boney M.1979: "Bright Eyes" – Art Garfunkel 1980s 1980: "Don't Stand So Close to Me" – The Police (UK)1981: "Tainted Love" – Soft Cell (UK) / "Don't You Want Me" – The Human League (UK)1982: "Come On Eileen" – Dexys Midnight Runners (UK)1983: "Karma Chameleon" – Culture Club (UK)1984: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" – Band Aid (UK)1985: "The Power of Love" – Jennifer Rush1986: "Don't Leave Me This Way" – The Communards (UK)1987: "Never Gonna Give You Up" – Rick Astley (UK)1988: "Mistletoe and Wine" – Cliff Richard (UK)1989: "Ride on Time" – Black Box 1990s 1990: "Unchained Melody" – The Righteous Brothers1991: "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" – Bryan Adams1992: "I Will Always Love You" – Whitney Houston1993: "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" – Meat Loaf1994: "Love Is All Around" – Wet Wet Wet (UK)1995: "Unchained Melody" – Robson & Jerome (UK)1996: "Killing Me Softly" – Fugees1997: "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" / "Candle in the Wind 1997" – Elton John (UK)1998: "Believe" – Cher1999: "...Baby One More Time" – Britney Spears 2000s 2000: "Can We Fix It?" – Bob the Builder (UK)2001: "It Wasn't Me" – Shaggy featuring Rikrok (UK)2002: "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" – Will Young (UK)2003: "Where Is the Love?" – Black Eyed Peas2004: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" – Band Aid 20 (UK)2005: "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" – Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay (UK)2006: "Crazy" – Gnarls Barkley2007: "Bleeding Love" – Leona Lewis (UK)2008: "Hallelujah" – Alexandra Burke (UK)2009: "Poker Face" – Lady Gaga 2010s 2010: "Love the Way You Lie" – Eminem featuring Rihanna2011: "Someone like You" – Adele (UK)2012: "Somebody That I Used to Know" – Gotye featuring Kimbra2013: "Blurred Lines" – Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams2014: "Happy" – Pharrell Williams2015: "Uptown Funk" – Mark Ronson (UK) featuring Bruno Mars2016: "One Dance" – Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla (UK)2017: "Shape of You" – Ed Sheeran (UK)2018: "One Kiss" – Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa (UK)2019: "Someone You Loved" – Lewis Capaldi (UK) 2020s 2020: "Blinding Lights" – The Weeknd2021: "Bad Habits" – Ed Sheeran (UK)2022: "As It Was" – Harry Styles (UK)2023: "Flowers" – Miley Cyrus vte Billboard Year-End number one albums 1956–1975 1956: Calypso – Harry Belafonte1957: Music from My Fair Lady – Original Cast1958: Music from My Fair Lady – Original Cast1959: The Music from Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini1960: Music from The Sound of Music – Original Cast1961: Camelot – Original Cast1962: West Side Story – Soundtrack1963: West Side Story – Soundtrack1964: Music from Hello, Dolly! – Original Cast1965: Mary Poppins: Original Cast Soundtrack – Soundtrack1966: Whipped Cream & Other Delights – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass1967: More of the Monkees – The Monkees1968: Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience1969: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly1970: Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel1971: Jesus Christ Superstar – Soundtrack1972: Harvest – Neil Young1973: The World Is a Ghetto – War1974: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John1975: Greatest Hits – Elton John 1976–2000 1976: Frampton Comes Alive! – Peter Frampton1977: Rumours – Fleetwood Mac1978: Saturday Night Fever – Soundtrack1979: 52nd Street – Billy Joel1980: The Wall – Pink Floyd1981: Hi Infidelity – REO Speedwagon1982: Asia – Asia1983: Thriller – Michael Jackson1984: Thriller – Michael Jackson1985: Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen1986: Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston1987: Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi1988: Faith – George Michael1989: Don't Be Cruel – Bobby Brown1990: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson1991: Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey1992: Ropin' the Wind – Garth Brooks1993: The Bodyguard – Soundtrack1994: The Sign – Ace of Base1995: Cracked Rear View – Hootie & the Blowfish1996: Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette1997: Spice – Spice Girls1998: Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture – James Horner1999: Millennium – Backstreet Boys2000: No Strings Attached – NSYNC 2001–present 2001: 1 – The Beatles2002: The Eminem Show – Eminem2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin' – 50 Cent2004: Confessions – Usher2005: The Massacre – 50 Cent2006: Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood2007: Daughtry – Daughtry2008: As I Am – Alicia Keys2009: Fearless – Taylor Swift2010: I Dreamed a Dream – Susan Boyle2011: 21 – Adele2012: 21 – Adele2013: The 20/20 Experience – Justin Timberlake2014: Frozen – Soundtrack2015: 1989 – Taylor Swift2016: 25 – Adele2017: Damn – Kendrick Lamar2018: Reputation – Taylor Swift2019: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish2020: Hollywood's Bleeding – Post Malone2021: Dangerous: The Double Album – Morgan Wallen2022: Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny2023: One Thing at a Time – Morgan Wallen vte Brit Award for British Album of the Year 1977–2000 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1977)Kings of the Wild Frontier – Adam and the Ants (1982)Memories – Barbra Streisand (1983)Thriller – Michael Jackson (1984)Diamond Life – Sade (1985)No Jacket Required – Phil Collins (1986)Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits (1987)...Nothing Like the Sun – Sting (1988)The First of a Million Kisses – Fairground Attraction (1989)The Raw and the Cooked – Fine Young Cannibals (1990)Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 – George Michael (1991)Seal – Seal (1992)Diva – Annie Lennox (1993)Connected – Stereo MC's (1994)Parklife – Blur (1995)(What's the Story) Morning Glory? – Oasis (1996)Everything Must Go – Manic Street Preachers (1997)Urban Hymns – The Verve (1998)This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours – Manic Street Preachers (1999)The Man Who – Travis (2000) 2001–present Parachutes – Coldplay (2001)No Angel – Dido (2002)A Rush of Blood to the Head – Coldplay (2003)Permission to Land – The Darkness (2004)Hopes and Fears – Keane (2005)X&Y – Coldplay (2006)Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not – Arctic Monkeys (2007)Favourite Worst Nightmare – Arctic Monkeys (2008)Rockferry – Duffy (2009)Lungs – Florence and the Machine (2010)Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons (2011)21 – Adele (2012)Our Version of Events – Emeli Sandé (2013)AM – Arctic Monkeys (2014)x – Ed Sheeran (2015)25 – Adele (2016)Blackstar – David Bowie (2017)Gang Signs & Prayer – Stormzy (2018)A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships – The 1975 (2019)Psychodrama – Dave (2020)Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (2021)30 – Adele (2022)Harry's House – Harry Styles (2023)My 21st Century Blues – Raye (2024) vte Brit Award for British Group The Beatles (1977)The Police (1982)Dire Straits (1983)Culture Club (1984)Wham! (1985)Dire Straits (1986)Five Star (1987)Pet Shop Boys (1988)Erasure (1989)Fine Young Cannibals (1990)The Cure (1991)The KLF and Simply Red (1992)Simply Red (1993)Stereo MC's (1994)Blur (1995)Oasis (1996)Manic Street Preachers (1997)The Verve (1998)Manic Street Preachers (1999)Travis (2000)Coldplay (2001)Travis (2002)Coldplay (2003)The Darkness (2004)Franz Ferdinand (2005)Kaiser Chiefs (2006)Arctic Monkeys (2007)Arctic Monkeys (2008)Elbow (2009)Kasabian (2010)Take That (2011)Coldplay (2012)Mumford & Sons (2013)Arctic Monkeys (2014)Royal Blood (2015)Coldplay (2016)The 1975 (2017)Gorillaz (2018)The 1975 (2019)Foals (2020)Little Mix (2021)Wolf Alice (2022)Wet Leg (2023)Jungle (2024) vte Grammy Award for Album of the Year 1950s The Music from Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini (1958)Come Dance with Me! – Frank Sinatra (1959) 1960s The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart – Bob Newhart (1960)Judy at Carnegie Hall – Judy Garland (1961)The First Family – Vaughn Meader (1962)The Barbra Streisand Album – Barbra Streisand (1963)Getz/Gilberto – Stan Getz & João Gilberto (1964)September of My Years – Frank Sinatra (1965)A Man and His Music – Frank Sinatra (1966)Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967)By the Time I Get to Phoenix – Glen Campbell (1968)Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1969) 1970s Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (1970)Tapestry – Carole King (1971)The Concert for Bangladesh – George Harrison & Friends (1972)Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (1973)Fulfillingness' First Finale – Stevie Wonder (1974)Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon (1975)Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder (1976)Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (1977)Saturday Night Fever – Various Artists (1978)52nd Street – Billy Joel (1979) 1980s Christopher Cross – Christopher Cross (1980)Double Fantasy – John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1981)Toto IV – Toto (1982)Thriller – Michael Jackson (1983)Can't Slow Down – Lionel Richie (1984)No Jacket Required – Phil Collins (1985)Graceland – Paul Simon (1986)The Joshua Tree – U2 (1987)Faith – George Michael (1988)Nick of Time – Bonnie Raitt (1989) 1990s Back on the Block – Quincy Jones and Various Artists (1990)Unforgettable... with Love – Natalie Cole (1991)Unplugged – Eric Clapton (1992)The Bodyguard – Whitney Houston (1993)MTV Unplugged – Tony Bennett (1994)Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette (1995)Falling into You – Celine Dion (1996)Time Out of Mind – Bob Dylan (1997)The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill (1998)Supernatural – Santana (1999) 2000s Two Against Nature – Steely Dan (2000)O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Various Artists (2001)Come Away with Me – Norah Jones (2002)Speakerboxxx/The Love Below – Outkast (2003)Genius Loves Company – Ray Charles & Various Artists (2004)How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – U2 (2005)Taking the Long Way – Dixie Chicks (2006)River: The Joni Letters – Herbie Hancock (2007)Raising Sand – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (2008)Fearless – Taylor Swift (2009) 2010s The Suburbs – Arcade Fire (2010)21 – Adele (2011)Babel – Mumford & Sons (2012)Random Access Memories – Daft Punk (2013)Morning Phase – Beck (2014)1989 – Taylor Swift (2015)25 – Adele (2016)24K Magic – Bruno Mars (2017)Golden Hour – Kacey Musgraves (2018)When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (2019) 2020s Folklore – Taylor Swift (2020)We Are – Jon Batiste (2021) Harry's House – Harry Styles (2022)Midnights – Taylor Swift (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best New Artist 1950s No Award (1958)Bobby Darin (1959) 1960s Bob Newhart (1960)Peter Nero (1961)Robert Goulet (1962)The Swingle Singers (1963)The Beatles (1964)Tom Jones (1965)No Award (1966)Bobbie Gentry (1967)José Feliciano (1968)Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969) 1970s The Carpenters (1970)Carly Simon (1971)America (1972)Bette Midler (1973)Marvin Hamlisch (1974)Natalie Cole (1975)Starland Vocal Band (1976)Debby Boone (1977)A Taste of Honey (1978)Rickie Lee Jones (1979) 1980s Christopher Cross (1980)Sheena Easton (1981)Men at Work (1982)Culture Club (1983)Cyndi Lauper (1984)Sade (1985)Bruce Hornsby & The Range (1986)Jody Watley (1987)Tracy Chapman (1988)Milli Vanilli (1989) 1990s Mariah Carey (1990)Marc Cohn (1991)Arrested Development (1992)Toni Braxton (1993)Sheryl Crow (1994)Hootie & the Blowfish (1995)LeAnn Rimes (1996)Paula Cole (1997)Lauryn Hill (1998)Christina Aguilera (1999) 2000s Shelby Lynne (2000)Alicia Keys (2001)Norah Jones (2002)Evanescence (2003)Maroon 5 (2004)John Legend (2005)Carrie Underwood (2006)Amy Winehouse (2007)Adele (2008)Zac Brown Band (2009) 2010s Esperanza Spalding (2010)Bon Iver (2011)Fun (2012)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (2013)Sam Smith (2014)Meghan Trainor (2015)Chance the Rapper (2016)Alessia Cara (2017)Dua Lipa (2018)Billie Eilish (2019) 2020s Megan Thee Stallion (2020)Olivia Rodrigo (2021)Samara Joy (2022)Victoria Monét (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album 1960s Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967) 1990s Longing in Their Hearts – Bonnie Raitt (1994)Turbulent Indigo – Joni Mitchell (1995)Falling into You – Celine Dion (1996)Hourglass – James Taylor (1997)Ray of Light – Madonna (1998)Brand New Day – Sting (1999) 2000s Two Against Nature – Steely Dan (2000)Lovers Rock – Sade (2001)Come Away with Me – Norah Jones (2002)Justified – Justin Timberlake (2003)Genius Loves Company – Ray Charles and various artists (2004)Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson (2005)Continuum – John Mayer (2006)Back to Black – Amy Winehouse (2007)Rockferry – Duffy (2008)The E.N.D. – Black Eyed Peas (2009) 2010s The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga (2010)21 – Adele (2011)Stronger – Kelly Clarkson (2012)Unorthodox Jukebox – Bruno Mars (2013)In the Lonely Hour – Sam Smith (2014)1989 – Taylor Swift (2015)25 – Adele (2016)÷ – Ed Sheeran (2017)Sweetener – Ariana Grande (2018)When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (2019) 2020s Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (2020)Sour – Olivia Rodrigo (2021)Harry's House – Harry Styles (2022)Midnights – Taylor Swift (2023) From 1968–1993, the category was discontinued. vte Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media 1950s No Award (1958)Anatomy of a Murder – Duke Ellington (1959) 1960s Exodus – Ernest Gold (1960)Breakfast at Tiffany's – Henry Mancini (1961)No Award (1962)Tom Jones – John Addison (1963)Mary Poppins – Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman (1964)The Sandpiper – Johnny Mandel (1965)Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre (1966)Music from Mission: Impossible – Lalo Schifrin (1967)The Graduate – Dave Grusin & Paul Simon (1968)Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Burt Bacharach (1969) 1970s Let It Be – The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr) (1970)Shaft – Isaac Hayes (1971)The Godfather – Nino Rota (1972)Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Neil Diamond (1973)The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording – Alan and Marilyn Bergman & Marvin Hamlisch (1974)Jaws – John Williams (1975)Car Wash – Norman Whitfield (1976)Star Wars – John Williams (1977)Close Encounters of the Third Kind – John Williams (1978)Superman – John Williams (1979) 1980s The Empire Strikes Back – John Williams (1980)Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams (1981)E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – John Williams (1982)Flashdance – Michael Boddicker, Irene Cara, Kim Carnes, Doug Cotler, Keith Forsey, Richard Gilbert, Jerry Hey, Duane Hitchings, Craig Krampf, Ronald Magness, Dennis Matkosky, Giorgio Moroder, Phil Ramone, Michael Sembello & Shandi Sinnamon (1983)Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution (1984)Beverly Hills Cop – Marc Benno, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Micki Free, John Gilutin Hawk, Howard Hewett, Bunny Hull, Howie Rice, Sharon Robinson, Danny Sembello, Sue Sheridan, Richard Theisen & Allee Willis (1985)Out of Africa – John Barry (1986)The Untouchables – Ennio Morricone (1987)The Last Emperor – David Byrne, Cong Su & Ryuichi Sakamoto (1988)The Fabulous Baker Boys – Dave Grusin (1989) 1990s Glory – James Horner (1990)Dances with Wolves – John Barry (1991)Beauty and the Beast – Alan Menken (1992)Aladdin – Alan Menken (1993)Schindler's List – John Williams (1994)Crimson Tide – Hans Zimmer (1995)Independence Day – David Arnold (1996)The English Patient – Gabriel Yared (1997)Saving Private Ryan – John Williams (1998)A Bug's Life – Randy Newman (1999) 2000s American Beauty – Thomas Newman (2000)Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Tan Dun (2001)The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Howard Shore & John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) (2002)The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Howard Shore, John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) & Peter Cobbin (engineer/mixer) (2003)The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Howard Shore, John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) & Peter Cobbin (engineer/mixer) (2004)Ray – Craig Armstrong (2005)Memoirs of a Geisha – John Williams (2006)Ratatouille – Michael Giacchino (2007)The Dark Knight – Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard (2008)Up – Michael Giacchino (2009) 2010s Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman (2010)The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat (2011)The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2012)Skyfall – Thomas Newman (2013)The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat (2014)Birdman – Antonio Sánchez (2015)Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams (2016)La La Land – Justin Hurwitz (2017)Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson (2018)Chernobyl – Hildur Guðnadóttir (2019) 2020s Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir (2020)The Queen's Gambit – Carlos Rafael Rivera / Soul – Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2021)Encanto – Germaine Franco (2022)Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best Music Film 1983–1986 Duran Duran – Duran Duran (1983)Making Michael Jackson's Thriller – Michael Jackson (1984)Huey Lewis & The News: The Heart of Rock 'n Roll – Huey Lewis and the News (1985)Bring On the Night – Sting (1986) Best Performance Music Video (1987−1988) The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert – Various Artists (1987)"Where the Streets Have No Name" – U2 (1988) 1989–2009 Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson (1989)Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie – MC Hammer (1990)Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90 – Madonna (1991)Diva – Annie Lennox (1992)Ten Summoner's Tales – Sting (1993)Zoo TV: Live from Sydney – U2 (1994)Secret World Live – Peter Gabriel (1995)The Beatles Anthology – The Beatles (1996)Jagged Little Pill, Live – Alanis Morissette (1997)American Masters: Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Heart – Lou Reed (1998)Band of Gypsys: Live at Fillmore East – Jimi Hendrix (1999)Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album – John Lennon (2000)Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks – Mel Brooks (2001)Westway to the World – The Clash (2002)Legend – Sam Cooke (2003)Concert for George – Various Artists (2004)No Direction Home – Bob Dylan (2005)Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen (2006)The Confessions Tour – Madonna (2007)Runnin' Down a Dream – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (2008)The Beatles Love – All Together Now – The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil (2009) 2010–present When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors – The Doors (2010)Back and Forth – Foo Fighters (2011)Big Easy Express – Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show (2012)Live Kisses – Paul McCartney (2013)20 Feet from Stardom – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill (2014)Amy – Amy Winehouse (2015)The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years – The Beatles (2016)The Defiant Ones – Various Artists (2017)Quincy – Quincy Jones (2018)Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé – Beyoncé (2019)Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice – Linda Ronstadt (2020)Summer of Soul – Various Artists (2021)Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story – Various Artists (2022)Moonage Daydream – David Bowie (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best Music Video Video of the Year (1981−1982) Elephant Parts – Michael Nesmith (1981)Olivia Physical – Olivia Newton-John (1982) 1983–1986 "Girls on Film" / "Hungry Like the Wolf" – Duran Duran (1983)"Jazzin' for Blue Jean" – David Bowie (1984)"We Are the World" – USA for Africa (1985)"Brothers in Arms" – Dire Straits (1986) Best Concept Music Video (1987−1988) "Land of Confusion" – Genesis (1987)"Fat" – "Weird Al" Yankovic (1988) 1989–2009 "Leave Me Alone" – Michael Jackson (1989)"Opposites Attract" – Paula Abdul (1990)"Losing My Religion" – R.E.M. (1991)"Digging in the Dirt" – Peter Gabriel (1992)"Steam" – Peter Gabriel (1993)"Love Is Strong" – The Rolling Stones (1994)"Scream" – Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson (1995)"Free as a Bird" – The Beatles (1996)"Got 'til It's Gone" – Janet Jackson (1997)"Ray of Light" – Madonna (1998)"Freak on a Leash" – Korn (1999)"Learn to Fly" – Foo Fighters (2000)"Weapon of Choice" – Fatboy Slim featuring Bootsy Collins (2001)"Without Me" - Eminem (2002)"Hurt" – Johnny Cash (2003)"Vertigo" – U2 (2004)"Lose Control" – Missy Elliott featuring Ciara & Fatman Scoop (2005)"Here It Goes Again" – OK Go (2006)"God's Gonna Cut You Down" – Johnny Cash (2007)"Pork and Beans" – Weezer (2008)"Boom Boom Pow" – The Black Eyed Peas (2009) 2010–present "Bad Romance" – Lady Gaga (2010)"Rolling in the Deep" – Adele (2011)"We Found Love" – Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris (2012)"Suit & Tie" – Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z (2013)"Happy" – Pharrell Williams (2014)"Bad Blood" – Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar (2015)"Formation" – Beyoncé (2016)"Humble" – Kendrick Lamar (2017)"This Is America" – Childish Gambino (2018)"Old Town Road" – Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (2019)"Brown Skin Girl" – Beyoncé, Blue Ivy & Wizkid (2020)"Freedom" – Jon Batiste (2021)All Too Well: The Short Film – Taylor Swift (2022)"I'm Only Sleeping" – The Beatles (2023) vte Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 1963–1990 1963 Bing Crosby1965 Frank Sinatra1966 Duke Ellington1967 Ella Fitzgerald1968 Irving Berlin1971 Elvis Presley1972 Louis ArmstrongMahalia Jackson1984 Chuck BerryCharlie Parker1985 Leonard Bernstein1986 Benny GoodmanThe Rolling StonesAndrés Segovia1987 Roy AcuffBenny CarterEnrico CarusoRay CharlesFats DominoWoody HermanBillie HolidayB.B. KingIsaac SternIgor StravinskyArturo ToscaniniHank Williams1989 Fred AstairePablo CasalsDizzy GillespieJascha HeifetzLena HorneLeontyne PriceBessie SmithArt TatumSarah Vaughan1990 Nat King ColeMiles DavisVladimir HorowitzPaul McCartney 1991–2000 1991 Marian AndersonBob DylanJohn LennonKitty Wells1992 James BrownJohn ColtraneJimi HendrixMuddy Waters1993 Chet AtkinsLittle RichardThelonious MonkBill MonroePete SeegerFats Waller1994 Bill EvansAretha FranklinArthur Rubinstein1995 Patsy ClinePeggy LeeHenry ManciniCurtis MayfieldBarbra Streisand1996 Dave BrubeckMarvin GayeGeorg SoltiStevie Wonder1997 Bobby "Blue" BlandThe Everly BrothersJudy GarlandStéphane GrappelliBuddy HollyCharles MingusOscar PetersonFrank Zappa1998 Bo DiddleyThe Mills BrothersRoy OrbisonPaul Robeson1999 Johnny CashSam CookeOtis ReddingSmokey RobinsonMel Tormé2000 Harry BelafonteWoody GuthrieJohn Lee HookerMitch MillerWillie Nelson 2001–2010 2001 The Beach BoysTony BennettSammy Davis Jr.Bob MarleyThe Who2002 Count BasieRosemary ClooneyPerry ComoAl GreenJoni Mitchell2003 Etta JamesJohnny MathisGlenn MillerTito PuenteSimon & Garfunkel2004 Van CliburnThe Funk BrothersElla JenkinsSonny RollinsArtie ShawDoc Watson2005 Eddy ArnoldArt BlakeyThe Carter FamilyMorton GouldJanis JoplinLed ZeppelinJerry Lee LewisJelly Roll MortonPinetop PerkinsThe Staple Singers2006 David BowieCreamMerle HaggardRobert JohnsonJessye NormanRichard PryorThe Weavers2007 Joan BaezBooker T. & the M.G.'sMaria CallasOrnette ColemanThe DoorsThe Grateful DeadBob Wills2008 Burt BacharachThe BandCab CallowayDoris DayItzhak PerlmanMax RoachEarl Scruggs2009 Gene AutryThe Blind Boys of AlabamaThe Four TopsHank JonesBrenda LeeDean MartinTom Paxton2010 Leonard CohenBobby DarinDavid "Honeyboy" EdwardsMichael JacksonLoretta LynnAndré PrevinClark Terry 2011–2020 2011 Julie AndrewsRoy HaynesJuilliard String QuartetThe Kingston TrioDolly PartonRamonesGeorge Beverly Shea2012 The Allman Brothers BandGlen CampbellAntônio Carlos JobimGeorge JonesThe Memphis HornsDiana RossGil Scott-Heron2013 Glenn GouldCharlie HadenLightnin' HopkinsCarole KingPatti PageRavi ShankarThe Temptations2014 The BeatlesClifton ChenierThe Isley BrothersKraftwerkKris KristoffersonArmando ManzaneroMaud Powell2015 Bee GeesPierre BoulezBuddy GuyGeorge HarrisonFlaco JiménezThe Louvin BrothersWayne Shorter2016 Ruth BrownCelia CruzEarth, Wind & FireHerbie HancockJefferson AirplaneLinda RonstadtRun-DMC2017 Shirley CaesarAhmad JamalCharley PrideJimmie RodgersNina SimoneSly StoneThe Velvet Underground2018 Hal BlaineNeil DiamondEmmylou HarrisLouis JordanThe MetersQueenTina Turner2019 Black SabbathGeorge Clinton and Parliament-FunkadelicBilly EckstineDonny HathawayJulio IglesiasSam & DaveDionne Warwick2020 ChicagoRoberta FlackIsaac HayesIggy PopJohn PrinePublic EnemySister Rosetta Tharpe 2021–present 2021 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious FiveLionel HamptonMarilyn HorneSalt-N-PepaSelenaTalking Heads2022 Bonnie Raitt2023 Bobby McFerrinNirvanaMa RaineySlick RickNile RodgersThe SupremesAnn Wilson and Nancy Wilson2024 Laurie AndersonThe Clark SistersGladys KnightN.W.ADonna SummerTammy Wynette vte Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award The Beatles and Richard Lester (1984)David Bowie (1984)David Byrne (1985)Russell Mulcahy (1985)Godley & Creme (1985)Madonna (1986)Zbigniew Rybczyński (1986)Peter Gabriel (1987)Julien Temple (1987)Michael Jackson (1988)George Michael (1989)Janet Jackson (1990)Bon Jovi and Wayne Isham (1991)Guns N' Roses (1992)The Rolling Stones (1994)Tom Petty (1994)R.E.M. (1995)LL Cool J (1997)Mark Romanek (1997)Beastie Boys (1998)Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)U2 (2001)Duran Duran (2003)Hype Williams (2006)Britney Spears (2011)Justin Timberlake (2013)Beyoncé (2014)Kanye West (2015)Rihanna (2016)Pink (2017)Jennifer Lopez (2018)Missy Elliott (2019)Nicki Minaj (2022)Shakira (2023)Katy Perry (2024) vte Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Class of 1988 Performers The Beach Boys Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis WilsonThe Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo StarrThe Drifters Ben E. King, Rudy Lewis, Clyde McPhatter, Johnny Moore, Bill Pinkney, Charlie Thomas, Gerhart ThrasherBob DylanThe Supremes Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson Early influences Woody GuthrieLead BellyLes Paul Non-performers (Ahmet Ertegun Award) Berry Gordy vte Time 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century Leaders & revolutionaries David Ben-GurionWinston ChurchillMahatma GandhiMikhail GorbachevAdolf HitlerHo Chi MinhPope John Paul IIRuhollah KhomeiniMartin Luther King Jr.Vladimir LeninNelson MandelaMao ZedongRonald ReaganEleanor RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltTheodore RooseveltMargaret SangerMargaret ThatcherUnknown Tiananmen Square rebelLech Wałęsa Artists & entertainers Louis ArmstrongLucille BallThe BeatlesMarlon BrandoCoco ChanelCharlie ChaplinLe CorbusierBob DylanT. S. EliotAretha FranklinMartha GrahamJim HensonJames JoycePablo PicassoRichard Rodgers and Oscar HammersteinBart SimpsonFrank SinatraSteven SpielbergIgor StravinskyOprah Winfrey Builders & titans Stephen Bechtel Sr.Leo BurnettWillis CarrierWalt DisneyHenry FordBill GatesAmadeo GianniniRay KrocEstée LauderWilliam LevittLucky LucianoLouis B. MayerCharles E. MerrillAkio MoritaWalter ReutherPete RozelleDavid SarnoffJuan TrippeSam WaltonThomas J. Watson Jr. Scientists & thinkers Leo BaekelandTim Berners-LeeRachel CarsonAlbert EinsteinPhilo FarnsworthEnrico FermiAlexander FlemingSigmund FreudRobert H. GoddardKurt GödelEdwin HubbleJohn Maynard KeynesLeakey familyJean PiagetJonas SalkWilliam ShockleyAlan TuringFrancis Crick & James WatsonLudwig WittgensteinWright brothers Heroes & icons Muhammad AliThe American G.I.Lady Diana SpencerAnne FrankBilly GrahamChe GuevaraEdmund Hillary & Tenzing NorgayHelen KellerKennedy familyBruce LeeCharles LindberghHarvey MilkMarilyn MonroeEmmeline PankhurstRosa ParksPeléJackie RobinsonAndrei SakharovMother TeresaBill W. Portals: 1960s flag England Music icon Pop music Rock music flag United Kingdom Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata International ISNIVIAF National GermanyUnited StatesFranceBnF dataJapanItalyAustraliaCzech RepublicSpainPortugalNorwayLatviaCroatiaChileKoreaSwedenPolandIsraelCatalonia Academics CiNii Artists ULANMusicBrainzRKD ArtistsMuseum of Modern ArtGrammy Awards People Trove Other IdRefSNAC Categories: The Beatles1960 establishments in England1970 disestablishments in EnglandApple CorpsApple Records artistsAtco Records artistsBeat groupsBrit Award winnersBritish Invasion artistsCapitol Records artistsEnglish musical quartetsEnglish pop music groupsEnglish psychedelic rock music groupsEnglish rock music groupsGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award winnersMusical groups established in 1960Musical groups disestablished in 1970Musical groups from LiverpoolParlophone artistsProto-prog groupsPsychedelic pop music groupsSwan Records artistsUnited Artists Records artistsVee-Jay Records artistsWorld Music Awards winnersWorld record holders The Beatles Article Talk Read View source View history Tools Appearance hide Text Small Standard Large Width Standard Wide Color (beta) Automatic Light Dark Featured article Page semi-protected Listen to this article From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the band. For their eponymous album, see The Beatles (album). For other uses, see Beatles (disambiguation). "Beatle" and "Fab Four" redirect here. For the insect, see Beetle. For other uses, see Fab Four (disambiguation). The Beatles A square quartered into four head shots of young men with moptop haircuts. All four wear white shirts and dark coats. The Beatles in 1964; clockwise from top left: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison Background information Origin Liverpool, England Genres Rockpopbeatpsychedelia Discography Albums and singlessongs Years active 1960–1970 Labels ParlophoneCapitolApple Spinoffs Plastic Ono Band Spinoff of The Quarrymen Past members John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr (see Personnel section for others) Website thebeatles.com The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time[1] and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form.[2] Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.[3] Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI Records and achieved their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a "fifth Beatle". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded the album era, as albums became the dominant form of record use over singles. These records also increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements in electronic music, album art and music videos. In 1968, they founded Apple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After the group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and some partial reunions occurred. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide.[4][5] They are the most successful act in the history of the US Billboard charts,[6] holding the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15), most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades, including seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest artists in history. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people. History History of the Beatles The Beatles logo The QuarrymenIn HamburgAt the Cavern ClubDecca auditionBeatlemaniaNorth American releases"More popular than Jesus"In BangorIn IndiaBreak-upThe Beatles AnthologyTimeline vte 1956–1963: Formation The Quarrymen and name changes Main article: The Quarrymen In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They were called the Quarrymen, a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth."[7] Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after.[8] In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus,[9] and they enlisted him as lead guitarist.[10][11] By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art.[12] The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs,[13] were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer.[14] They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later told New Musical Express that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!" [15] Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.[16][17] They used this name until 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 had refashioned themselves as the Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simply the Beatles.[18] Early residencies and UK popularity Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3+1⁄2-month residency.[19] Beatles historian Mark 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."[20] Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to the Kaiserkeller in October.[21] When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice,[22] and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.[23] The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November.[24] One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them.[25] Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr,[26] who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles.[27] During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.[28] In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the "exi" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.[29][30] Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass.[31] Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records.[17][32] As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year.[33] Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single "My Bonnie", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart.[34] After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.[35] In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club, they encountered Brian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist.[36] He 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 ... [a] star quality."[37] First EMI recordings Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962.[38] Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg.[39] On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage.[40] Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan.[41] After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band, saying, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."[42] However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI's Parlophone label.[40] A flight of stone steps leads from an asphalt car park up to the main entrance of a white two-story building. The ground floor has two sash windows, the first floor has three shorter sash windows. Two more windows are visible at basement level. The decorative stonework around the doors and windows is painted grey. Main entrance at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios, pictured 2007) Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962.[43] He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place.[44] Already contemplating Best's dismissal,[45] the Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them.[43] 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 a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "P.S. I Love You".[43] Martin initially selected the Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.[43] Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart.[46] Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places.[47] After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at a faster tempo,[48] a studio session in late November yielded that recording,[49] of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1."[50] In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.[51] By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.[52] 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.[53] Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.[54] 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 ...."[42][nb 1] 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years Main article: Beatlemania Please Please Me and With the Beatles The logo of the English rock band the Beatles The band's logo was designed by Ivor Arbiter.[55] On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the 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".[56] After the moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer, where it peaked at number two.[57] Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins."[58] 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."[59] "She Loves You" Duration: 13 seconds.0:13 Sample of "She Loves You". The song's repeated use of "yeah" exclamations became a signature phrase for the group at the time.[60][61] Problems playing this file? See media help. Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one.[62] The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.[63] Issued in August, their 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.[64] It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978.[65][nb 2] The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.[66] The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.[67] As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show.[68] Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck.[68][69] Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles 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.[70] A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison.[71] Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Swedish pop singer Lill-Babs and John Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In in 1963 McCartney, Harrison, Swedish pop singer Lill-Babs and Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In, 30 October 1963[72] In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.[73] On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from the BBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events.[74] The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.[75] In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.[76] On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre.[77] Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles,[78] which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week.[79] Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor.[80] It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks.[81] Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original".[82] In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales.[83] The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963".[80] The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.[84] 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.[85] When 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".[86] First visit to the United States and the British Invasion Main article: British Invasion A black-and-white image of four men standing in front of a crowd of people at the bottom of an aeroplane staircase The Beatles arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 7 February 1964 EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963.[87] Vee-Jay finished preparation for the album Introducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released.[nb 3] After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided.[89] A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in the Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally.[90] Epstein brought a demo copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to Capitol's Brown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air.[91] Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks.[92] Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January.[93] In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles[94] along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You".[95] The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 1964 On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.[96] Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them.[97] 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,[98] or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program".[99] The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US,[100] but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum.[101] Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall.[98] The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February.[102] The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November.[103] Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade.[104] Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults,[17] became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.[105] The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion.[106] The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Petula Clark, the Kinks, and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America.[107] During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five.[108][nb 4] A Hard Day's Night Main article: A Hard Day's Night (film) Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records, encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US.[110] Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy.[111] The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with the Marx Brothers.[112] United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two.[113] According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies."[114] That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record.[115][nb 5] 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon of the Beatles performing on Dutch TV in 1964 McCartney, Harrison and Lennon performing on Dutch TV in 1964 Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.[116][nb 6] In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities.[118] Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York.[118] In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan.[119] Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis.[120] 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 commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists."[121] Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band and electric instrumentation, and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion".[122] As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture.[122] During the 1964 US tour, the group were confronted with racial segregation in the country at the time.[123][124] When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.[125][123][124] Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money."[123] City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.[123] The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville.[124] For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.[124][126] Beatles for Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions.[127] They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964,[128] to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs.[127] They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of a problem".[129] As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.[127] In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee.[130] Lennon described the experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two."[131] He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi's music."[132][133] McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966.[134] He 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".[135] The Beatles performing music in a field. In the foreground, the drums are played by Starr (only the top of his head is visible). Beyond him, the other three stand in a column with their guitars. In the rear, Harrison, head down, strikes a chord. In the front, Lennon smiles and gives a little wave toward camera, holding his pick. Between them, McCartney is jocularly about to choke Lennon. The US trailer for Help! with (from the rear) Harrison, McCartney, Lennon and (largely obscured) Starr Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award.[136] In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia.[137] In July, the Beatles' second film, Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond",[138] 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."[139] 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".[140] The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two.[141] The LP contained all original material save for two covers, "Act Naturally" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album until Let It Be's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song "Maggie Mae".[142] The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad "Yesterday".[143] Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording[144] – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written.[145] With Help!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[146] The Beatles at a press conference in August 1965 The Beatles at a press conference in Minnesota in August 1965, shortly after playing at Shea Stadium in New York The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description.[147] A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers.[148] Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills.[149][150] Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse.[151][152] September 1965 saw the launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles, that echoed A Hard Day's Night's slapstick antics over its two-year original run.[153] The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people.[154] In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments.[155] Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own."[156] Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.[157] Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to the band members' "now habitual use of marijuana".[158] Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album"[159] 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."[159] After Help!'s foray into 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 the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning.[160] "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" Duration: 15 seconds.0:15 Sample of "Norwegian Wood" from Rubber Soul (1965). Harrison's use of a sitar on this song is representative of the Beatles' incorporation of unconventional instrumentation into rock music.[157] Problems playing this file? See media help. While some of Rubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,[161] the album also included distinct compositions from each,[162] though they continued to share official credit. "In My Life", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue.[163] Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album",[159] and Starr referred to it as "the departure record".[164] McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand."[165] 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".[166] Controversies, Revolver and final tour Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,[87] compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.[167][nb 7] In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums.[169] Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.[170] In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument.[171] During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace.[172] When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.[173] They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.[174] Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time.[175] We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966[176] Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles 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.[177] "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."[178] His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region.[177] The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service.[179] Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it."[180] He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."[180] "Eleanor Rigby" Duration: 13 seconds.0:13 Sample of "Eleanor Rigby" from Revolver (1966). The album involves innovative compositional approaches, arrangements and recording techniques. This song, primarily written by McCartney, prominently features classical strings in a novel fusion of musical styles. Problems playing this file? See media help. Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group.[181] The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia.[181] Abandoning the customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.[181] The album was preceded by the single "Paperback Writer", backed by "Rain".[182] Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos",[183] they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June.[184] Among the experimental songs on Revolver was "Tomorrow Never Knows", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a tape loop while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.[185] McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" made prominent use of a string octet; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song".[186] Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.[187] Among these, "Taxman", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music.[188] San Francisco's Candlestick Park in the 1960s San Francisco's Candlestick Park (pictured in the early 1960s) was the venue for the Beatles' final concert before a paying audience. As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used Vox AC30 amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them by Vox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.[189] Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last.[190] The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.[191] In Chris Ingham's description, 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."[192] The band's concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on 29 August was their last commercial concert.[193] It marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.[194] 1966–1970: Studio years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Main article: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The album artwork of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Front cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "the most famous cover of any music album, and one of the most imitated images in the world"[195] Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966.[196] According to engineer Geoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours.[197] He recalled the band's insistence "that everything on Sgt. Pepper had to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We 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."[198] Parts of "A Day in the Life" featured a 40-piece orchestra.[198] The sessions initially yielded the non-album double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane" in February 1967;[199] the Sgt. Pepper LP followed with a rush-release in May.[200] The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitive four-track recording technology, astounded contemporary artists.[195] Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal.[201] 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 revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963.[202] In the wake of Sgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as "lifestyle revolutionaries".[3] The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover.[203][204] Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry 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".[205][nb 8] The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study.[206] A collage designed by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album's title track[207] standing in front of a crowd of famous people.[208] The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of the hippie movement,[209] while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their "brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms" as a knowingly "anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment" display.[210] Sgt. Pepper topped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.[211] With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release,[212] Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.[213] It was the first rock album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.[214] It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records.[215] Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine Main articles: Magical Mystery Tour (film) and Yellow Submarine (film) Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completing Sgt. Pepper: Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, and Yellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced by United Artists.[216] The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter.[217] On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single "All You Need Is Love" to an estimated 350 million viewers on Our World, the first live global television link.[218] Released a week later, during the Summer of Love, the song was adopted as a flower power anthem.[219] The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer.[220] In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-based commune off the coast of Greece.[221][222] On 24 August, the group were introduced to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London. The next day, they travelled to Bangor for his Transcendental Meditation retreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.[223] The coroner ruled the death an accidental carbitol overdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide.[224][nb 9] His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future.[226] 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 f**kin' had it now.'"[227] Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd remembered that "Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead."[228] During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed with Magical Mystery Tour.[217] The Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was released in the UK as a six-track double extended play (EP) in early December 1967.[87][229] It was the first example of a double EP in the UK.[230][231] The record carried on the psychedelic vein of Sgt. Pepper,[232] though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up to Sgt. Pepper.[229] In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.[109] In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums.[233] Magical Mystery Tour first aired on Boxing Day to an audience of approximately 15 million.[234] Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK.[235] It was dismissed as "blatant rubbish" by the Daily Express; the Daily Mail called it "a colossal conceit"; and The Guardian labelled the film "a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience".[236] Gould describes it as "a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus".[236] Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film.[237] The group were less involved with Yellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment.[238] Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film.[239] Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style.[240] A soundtrack LP was issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued on Revolver), "All You Need Is Love" (already issued as a single and on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin.[241] India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album Main articles: Beatles in India, Apple Corps, and The Beatles (album) In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation "Guide Course". Their time in India marked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album.[242] However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.[243] For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known as Magic Alex suggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.[244] When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him.[243] In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled "Maharishi", renamed "Sexy Sadie" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, "We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was."[244] In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture, Apple Corps.[245] It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education.[246] McCartney described Apple as "rather like a Western communism".[247] The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects[248] handled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience.[249] Among its numerous subsidiaries were Apple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-lived Apple Boutique in London.[250] Harrison later said, "Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it."[247] The album artwork of the Beatles' self-titled 1968 album, also known as "the White Album" 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"[251] From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what became The Beatles, a double LP commonly known as "the White Album" for its virtually featureless cover.[252] During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive.[253] Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums.[254] Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,[255] whose contribution "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" he scorned as "granny music shit".[256] Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.[257] McCartney has recalled that the album "wasn't a pleasant one to make".[258] He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.[259][260] With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical styles[261] and broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre.[262] During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort.[263] Describing the double album, Lennon later 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."[264] The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, "Hey Jude", released in August as a non-album single with "Revolution".[265] Issued in November, the White Album was the band's first Apple Records album release, although EMI continued to own their recordings.[266] The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations.[267] Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture.[268] Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing that Sgt. Pepper had.[267] Abbey Road, Let It Be and separation See also: Break-up of the Beatles Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely 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".[269] Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called Beatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.[269][270] Martin said that the project was "not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb."[269] Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as "hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth", and Harrison, "the low of all-time".[271] Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they "abandon[ed] all talk of live performance" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.[272] He also demanded they cease work at Twickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finished Apple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film.[273] American musician Billy Preston in 1971 The American soul musician Billy Preston (pictured in 1971) was, for a short time, considered a fifth Beatle during the Get Back sessions. 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.[274] Preston received label billing on the "Get Back" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release.[275] After 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 Libyan desert, and the Colosseum.[269] 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.[276] Five weeks later, engineer Glyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes as Get Back's "uncredited producer", began work assembling an album, given "free rein" as the band "all but washed their hands of the entire project".[277] A terrace house with four floors and an attic. It is red brick, with a slate roof, and the ground floor rendered in imitation of stone and painted white. Each upper floor has four sash windows, divided into small panes. The door, with a canopy over it, occupies the place of the second window from the left on the ground floor. Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, site of the Let It Be rooftop concert New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favoured Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke;[278] McCartney wanted Lee and John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, of Linda Eastman,[279] whom McCartney married on 12 March.[280] Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers.[281][282] Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost.[278] On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band,[283] the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles.[284] Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as the Get Back sessions had been "a miserable experience" and he had "thought it was the end of the road for all of us".[285] The primary recording sessions for Abbey Road began on 2 July.[286] Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a "continuously moving piece of music", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.[287] The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.[287] Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio's valve-based mixing console with a transistorised 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.[288] On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance", credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.[289] On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney pretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.[290] On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.[291] Released on 26 September, Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.[292] Its second track, the ballad "Something", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side.[293] Abbey Road received mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.[292] Unterberger considers it "a fitting swan song for the group", containing "some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record".[294] Musicologist and author Ian MacDonald calls the album "erratic and often hollow", despite the "semblance of unity and coherence" offered by the medley.[295] Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was "competent" but had "no life in it".[288] 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.[296] 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!"[297] In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as "live". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble.[298] McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored,[299] and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his first self-titled solo album.[298][300] On 8 May 1970, Let It Be was released. Its accompanying single, "The Long and Winding Road", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK.[182] The Let It Be documentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.[301] Sunday Telegraph critic Penelope Gilliatt called it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings".[302] Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks.[303] Describing Let It Be as the "only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews", Unterberger calls it "on the whole underrated"; he singles out "some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'" and praises "Let It Be", "Get Back", and "the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together".[304] McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970.[305] Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974,[306] when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.[307] After the breakup See also: Collaborations between ex-Beatles 1970s Lennon in 1974 and McCartney in 1976 Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members;[308] 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 participation, Harrison staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971.[309] 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.[310] Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.[311] Commonly known as the "Red Album" and "Blue Album", respectively, each has earned a Multi-Platinum certification in the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.[312][313] 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.[314] 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.[315][nb 10] The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musical John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written by Willy Russell and featuring singer Barbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, "Here Comes the Sun". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it.[317] Later that year, the off-Broadway musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road opened.[318] All This and World War II (1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra.[319] The Broadway musical Beatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.[320] In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages.[320] Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham.[321] Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert.[322] Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month.[323][324] On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast of Saturday Night Live, producer Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment at the Dakota in New York, which was within driving distance of the NBC studio where the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to.[325] 1980s In December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song "All Those Years Ago" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981.[326] McCartney's own tribute, "Here Today", appeared on his Tug of War album in April 1982.[327] In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street,[328] and played with McCartney on several of the songs on the soundtrack.[329] In 1987, Harrison's Cloud Nine album included "When We Was Fab", a song about the Beatlemania era.[330] When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version of Magical Mystery Tour.[331] All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilation Past Masters (1988). Except for the Red and Blue albums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including the Hollywood Bowl record – from its catalogue.[315] In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean.[332][333] 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".[333] 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.[334][335] 1990s Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994.[336] That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on the Anthology project. Anthology was the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps director Neil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working title The Long and Winding Road.[337] During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork by Klaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, the Anthology project included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producer Jeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s,[338] resulting in the release of two "new" Beatles singles, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love". A third Lennon demo, "Now and Then", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.[339] The Anthology releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people.[340] A book, The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued.[341] 2000s The Beatles' 1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first week[342] and 13 million within a month.[343] It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries.[344] The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009.[345] Harrison died from metastatic lung cancer in November 2001.[346][347][348] McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at the Concert for George, organised 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.[349] In 2003, Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of the Let It Be album, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements.[350] It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. 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 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.[351] 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".[352] The show premiered in June 2006, and the Love album was released that November.[353] In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall and organised by McCartney.[354] On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.[331] Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along with Magical Mystery Tour and the Past Masters compilation, were released on compact disc both individually and as a box set.[355] A second collection, The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul (both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions).[356] The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in the Rock Band series, was issued on the same day.[357] In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released in FLAC and MP3 format in a limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives.[358] 2010s Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services.[359] Residual disagreement emanating from Apple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc., iTunes' owners, over the use of the name "Apple" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI "want[s] something we're not prepared to give them".[360] In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums, Past Masters, and the "Red" and "Blue" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes.[361] In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold to Universal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, the European Union, for antitrust reasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed by Capitol Records under its Capitol Music Group division.[362] The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set.[363] In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings, On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titled The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying "the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these."[364][365] On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[366] The following day, The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles television special was taped in the Los Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out by David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater.[367][368] In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services including Spotify and Apple Music.[369] In September 2016, the documentary film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week was released. Directed by Ron Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming on Hulu on 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[370] An expanded, remixed and remastered version of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl was released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film.[371][372] On 18 May 2017, Sirius XM Radio launched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary.[373] Similar box sets were released for The Beatles in November 2018,[374] and Abbey Road in September 2019.[375] On the first week of October 2019, Abbey Road returned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts as Abbey Road hit the top spot 50 years after its original release.[376] 2020s In November 2021, The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed by Peter Jackson using footage captured for the Let It Be film, was released on Disney+ as a three-part miniseries.[377] A book also titled The Beatles: Get Back was released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary.[378] A super deluxe version of the Let It Be album was released on 15 October.[379] In January 2022, the album Get Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of the Beatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services.[380] In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of "Let It Be" with Dolly Parton, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's album Rockstar in November 2023.[381][382] In October, a special edition of Revolver was released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix using AI de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentary Get Back.[383] New music videos were produced for "Here, There and Everywhere" and "I'm Only Sleeping", the latter of which won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.[384] In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release "the final Beatles record" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist.[339] In October 2023, the song was revealed to be "Now and Then", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023.[385][386] The official music video for "Now and Then" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its first 12 hours,[387] as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs.[386] "Now and Then" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track.[388] The song became their first UK number one single since 1969.[389] On 8 May 2024 the 1970 film Let It Be, digitally restored by Peter Jackson's Park Road Post, was released on Disney+, marking the first time it has been publicly screened since its original theatrical release.[390] Artistry See also: Lennon–McCartney Development In Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work.[391] In The Beatles as Musicians, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."[392] Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own."[393] MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".[394] Influences The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent.[395][396] During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.[397] 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."[398] Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, "He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him."[399] Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison,[400] the Everly Brothers[401] and Jerry Lee Lewis.[402] 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, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Who, Frank Zappa, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, whose 1966 album Pet Sounds amazed and inspired McCartney.[403][404][405][406][407] Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [Wilson]."[408] Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years.[409] Genres Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre,[410] and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.[411] Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said of Beatles for Sale, "You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP",[412] while Gould credits Rubber Soul as "the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop".[413] Two electric guitars, a light brown violin-shaped bass and a darker brown guitar resting against a Vox amplifier A Höfner "violin" bass guitar and Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, models played by McCartney and Harrison, respectively; the Vox AC30 amplifier behind them is the model the Beatles used during performances in the early 1960s. Although the 1965 song "Yesterday" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, "The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars."[414] They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect; Sgt. Pepper's "She's Leaving Home", for instance, is "cast in the mold of a sentimental Victorian ballad", Gould writes, "its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama".[415] The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side "Rain", described by Martin Strong as "the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record".[416] Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (recorded before "Rain"), "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", and "I Am the Walrus". The influence of Indian classical music was evident in Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Love You To", and "Within You Without You" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts "to replicate the raga form in miniature".[417] Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell: "'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively."[418] Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: "The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way."[419] Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: "Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintained in parallel their mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy."[420] As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's "Revolution 9" (whose musique concrète approach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr's country song "Don't Pass Me By", Harrison's rock ballad "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and the "proto-metal roar" of McCartney's "Helter Skelter".[421] Contribution of George Martin The Beatles with George Martin in the studio in the mid-1960s George Martin (second from right) in the studio with the Beatles in the mid-1960s George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle".[422] He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould.[423] Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a "hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour", in MacDonald's description.[424] Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording.[425] In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass.[426] Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "while [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is an outstanding example."[427] Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence: Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an aural Salvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope, Pepper would never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows?[428] Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: "I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape."[429] In the studio See also: Recording practices of the Beatles Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music.[430] Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith, Ken Townsend and Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records from Rubber Soul and, especially, Revolver onwards.[430] Along with innovative studio techniques such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking, and vari-speed recording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" and the swarmandal in "Strawberry Fields Forever".[431] They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro,[432] and the clavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on "Baby, You're a Rich Man".[433] Legacy Main article: Cultural impact of the Beatles Statue in Liverpool The Beatles statue at Pier Head in Liverpool, their home city Road crossing in London Abbey Road crossing in London is a popular destination for Beatles fans. In December 2010 it was given grade II listed status for its "cultural and historical importance"; the Abbey Road studios themselves had been given similar status earlier in the year.[434] Former Rolling Stone magazine associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..."[357] The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism" and "the first advance in popular music since the War".[435] In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating the album era;[436] the music historian Joel Whitburn says that LP sales soon "exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles" in the music industry.[437] They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US,[438] they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.[439] From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via Hollywood films, jazz, the music of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged in Memphis, Tennessee.[343] The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture.[440][441] Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide.[439][442] Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs.[443] On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio station forbade his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, marking the defining line of what would be considered oldies on American radio.[444] They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with "filler",[445] and they were primary innovators of the modern music video.[446] The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their 1965 North American tour attracted an estimated 55,600 people,[147] then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business".[447] Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion.[105] According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism.[448] According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and "began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness".[171] Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their socio-cultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness.[103][449] Referring to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show Leopold states: "In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964."[449] According to Gilmore: Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus.[103] Established in 2009, Global Beatles Day is an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles.[450] The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in the BBC programme Our World in 1967, performing "All You Need Is Love" broadcast to an international audience.[451] Awards and achievements See also: List of awards and nominations received by the Beatles In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[136] The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film Let It Be (1970).[301] The recipients of seven Grammy Awards[452] and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards,[453] the Beatles have six Diamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.[312] In the UK, the Beatles have four Multi-Platinum albums, four Platinum albums, eight Gold albums and one Silver album.[313] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.[332] The best-selling band in history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012.[454][nb 11] From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.[456] They have had more number-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen,[457] and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act.[458] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years.[459] They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary.[460] As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with twenty.[461] The Recording Industry Association of America certifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.[462] They were collectively included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people.[463] In 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[464] On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day under UNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening of the Cavern Club in 1957.[465][466] In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.[467] Earlier in 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles and Yellow Submarine.[468] In 2004 and 2011, Rolling Stone named them the greatest artist of all time.[469] Personnel Further information: List of members of bands featuring members of the Beatles Principal members John Lennon – vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica, bass (1960–1969; died 1980) Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards, drums (1960–1970) George Harrison – guitars, vocals, sitar, keyboards, bass (1960–1970; died 2001) Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, vocals (1962–1970) Early members Stuart Sutcliffe – bass, vocals (1960–1961; died 1962) Tommy Moore – drums (1960; died 1981) Norman Chapman – drums (1960; died 1995) Pete Best – drums, vocals (1960–1962) Chas Newby – bass (1960; died 2023) Touring musicians Jimmie Nicol – drums (1964) Timeline Discography Main articles: The Beatles discography and List of songs recorded by the Beatles The Beatles have a core catalogue consisting of thirteen studio albums and a compilation of UK singles and EP tracks:[470][nb 12] Please Please Me (1963) With the Beatles (1963) A Hard Day's Night (1964) Beatles for Sale (1964) Help! (1965) Rubber Soul (1965) Revolver (1966) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Magical Mystery Tour (1967) The Beatles ("The White Album") (1968) Yellow Submarine (1969) Abbey Road (1969) Let It Be (1970) Past Masters (1988, compilation) Song catalogue Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively by Northern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisher Dick James specifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee.[471][472][473] In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000.[474] At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973.[475] Harrison created Harrisongs to represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included "Taxman" and "Within You Without You".[476] The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying", were also Northern Songs copyrights.[477] Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead with Apple Publishing while retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Something". That year, as well, Starr created Startling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".[478][479] In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting company Associated Television (ATV), founded by impresario Lew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding.[480] The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, "I'm sick of being f**ked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the City."[481] By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973.[482] In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969.[483] In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company, Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million.[484] According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to "separate off" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle "a week or so" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected.[485] According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in a takeover by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court for £60 million.[486] In 1985, Michael Jackson purchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights.[487] In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business with Sony, creating a new company, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world.[488] In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million.[489] Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.[490] Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore[491] in 1978,[492] and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications.[493] On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in the United States district court against Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years.[494][495] McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017.[496][497] Selected filmography Main article: The Beatles in film Fictionalised A Hard Day's Night (1964) Help! (1965) Magical Mystery Tour (1967) Yellow Submarine (1968) (brief cameo) Documentaries and filmed performances The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966) Let It Be (1970) The Compleat Beatles (1982) It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (1987) (about Sgt. Pepper) The Beatles Anthology (1995) The Beatles: 1+ (2015) (collection of digitally restored music videos) The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (2016) (about Beatlemania and touring years) The Beatles: Get Back (2021) Now and Then: The Last Beatles Song (2023) (short film about the creation of "Now and Then") Concert tours Main article: List of the Beatles' live performances Headlining 1963 UK tours (winter–autumn) Autumn 1963 Sweden tour Winter 1964 North American tour Spring 1964 UK tour 1964 world tour 1964 North American tour 1965 European tour 1965 US tour 1965 UK tour 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines 1966 US tour Co-headlining Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour Spring 1963 Tommy Roe/Chris Montez UK tour Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour See also Outline of the Beatles The Beatles timeline Grammy Award records – most Grammys won by a group List of songs recorded by the Beatles Notes Lennon said of Epstein, "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."[42] "She Loves You" was surpassed in sales by "Mull of Kintyre", by McCartney's post-Beatles band Wings.[65] Vee-Jay company president Ewart Abner resigned after it was disclosed he used company funds to cover gambling debts.[88] During the same week in April 1964, a third American Beatles LP joined the two already in circulation; two of the three reached the first spot on the Billboard albums chart, the third peaked at number two.[109] Harrison's ringing 12-string inspired Roger McGuinn, who obtained his own Rickenbacker and used it to craft the trademark sound of the Byrds.[115] Starr was briefly hospitalised after a tonsillectomy, and Jimmie Nicol sat in on drums for the first five dates.[117] It was not until Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 that a Beatles album was released with identical track listings in both the UK and the US.[168] Poirier identified what he termed its "mixed allusiveness": "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."[205] McCartney said at the time: "We write songs. We know what we mean by them. But in a week someone else says something about it, and you can't deny it. ... You put your own meaning at your own level to our songs."[205] Epstein had been in a fragile emotional state, stressed by personal troubles. It was speculated that he was concerned that the band might not renew his management contract, due to expire in October, over discontent with his supervision of business matters, particularly regarding Seltaeb, the company that handled their US merchandising rights.[225] 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.[316] Another estimate gives total international sales of over 1 billion units,[343] a figure based on EMI's statement and recognised by Guinness World Records.[455] According to Lewisohn on pg. 201, the Past Masters compilation of singles and EP tracks was originally released as two separate albums, Volumes One and Two in 1988. However, they were later merged into one compilation. References Citations Hasted 2017, p. 425. Frontani 2007, p. 125. Frontani 2007, p. 157. Siggins, Gerard (7 February 2016). "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Rare footage of the Beatles's Dublin performance". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2017. Hotten, Russell (4 October 2012). "The Beatles at 50: From Fab Four to fabulously wealthy". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013. "Greatest of All Time Artists". Billboard. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2023. Lewisohn 2013, pp. 104. Spitz 2005, pp. 93–99. Miles 1997, p. 47; Spitz 2005, p. 127. Miles 1997, p. 47. Lewisohn 1992, p. 13. Harry 2000a, p. 103. Lewisohn 1992, p. 17. Harry 2000b, pp. 742–743. Smith, Alan (9 August 1963). "The Beatles, Paul McCartney: Close-Up on Paul McCartney, a Beatle". New Musical Express. London, England: NME Networks. Lewisohn 1992, p. 18. Gilliland 1969, show 27, track 4. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 18–22. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 21–25. Lewisohn 1992, p. 22. Lewisohn 1992, p. 23. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 24, 33. Gould 2007, p. 88. Lewisohn 1992, p. 24. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 24–25. Lewisohn 1992, p. 25. Spitz 2005, pp. 222–224. Miles 1997, pp. 66–67. Lewisohn 1992, p. 32. Miles 1997, p. 76. Gould 2007, pp. 89, 94. Spitz 2005, pp. 249–251. Lewisohn 2013, p. 450. Everett 2001, p. 100. Lewisohn 1992, p. 33. Miles 1997, pp. 84–87. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 34–35. Miles 1997, pp. 84–88. Winn 2008, p. 10. Lewisohn 1992, p. 56. Lewisohn 2013, p. 612, 629. The Beatles 2000, p. 67. Lewisohn 1992, p. 59. Spitz 2005, pp. 318, 322. Miles 1998, pp. 49–50. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 59–60. Lewisohn 1992, pp. 81, 355. The Beatles 2000, p. 90. (2003)The Music and Animation Collection (2004)Between Chaos and Creation (2005)The Space Within US (2006)Memory Almost Full – Deluxe Edition (2007)The McCartney Years (2007)Ecce Cor Meum (2008)Good Evening New York City (2009)The Love We Make (2011)A Rendez-Vous with Paul McCartney (2013)New – Collector's Edition (2014)A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney (2015)Pure McCartney (2016)Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney Live from Liverpool (2018) Bootlegs Cold CutsCostello AlbumA Toot and a Snore in '74Return to Pepperland Tours The Paul McCartney World TourThe New World TourDriving World TourThe 'US' TourSummer Live '09Good Evening Europe TourUp and Coming TourOn the RunOut ThereOne on One2018 Secret GigsFreshen UpGot Back Tributes The Art of McCartneyLet Us in Americana: The Music of Paul McCartneyPure McCartney (2013 album) Lists AwardsDiscographyMusic contributions and appearancesSong recordings Related media "Cut Me Some Slack"The Family WayA Garland for Linda"Lisa the Vegetarian"The McCartney InterviewMany Years from NowOobu JoobuPaul McCartney Archive CollectionPaul McCartney's Glastonbury GrooveTwo of Us (film)Wide Prairie Other topics 20 Forthlin RoadThe BeatlesBrian ClarkeThe FiremanLennon–McCartneyHeather MillsMPL Communications"Paul is dead"Paul McCartney's bandPersonal relationshipsThe QuarrymenWings Category vte Ringo Starr Studio albums Sentimental JourneyBeaucoups of BluesRingoGoodnight ViennaRingo's RotogravureRingo the 4thBad BoyStop and Smell the RosesOld WaveTime Takes TimeVertical ManI Wanna Be Santa ClausRingo RamaChoose LoveLiverpool 8Y NotRingo 2012Postcards from ParadiseGive More LoveWhat's My Name Live albums Ringo Starr and His All-Starr BandRingo Starr and His All Starr Band Volume 2: Live from MontreuxRingo Starr and His Third All-Starr Band Volume 1VH1 StorytellersKing Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Ringo & His New All-Starr BandExtended VersionsTour 2003Ringo Starr and FriendsRingo Starr: Live at SoundstageRingo Starr & His All Starr Band Live 2006Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 Compilations Blast from Your PastStarr Struck: Best of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2The Anthology... So FarPhotograph: The Very Best of Ringo StarrRingo 5.1: The Surround Sound CollectionIcon Singles "Beaucoups of Blues""It Don't Come Easy" / "Early 1970""Back Off Boogaloo""Photograph""You're Sixteen""Oh My My""Only You (And You Alone)""No No Song" / "Snookeroo""(It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna""Oh My My" / "No No Song""A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll""Hey! Baby""Wings""Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette)""In My Car""I Keep Forgettin'""Act Naturally""Weight of the World""Never Without You""Liverpool 8""Walk with You""Wings""Postcards from Paradise""Give More Love""What's My Name""Grow Old with Me""Here's to the Nights""Zoom In Zoom Out""Let's Change the World""Rock Around the Clock""World Go Round" EPs 4-Starr CollectionZoom InChange the WorldEP3Rewind ForwardCrooked Boy Books Postcards from the BoysOctopus's GardenPhotograph Related DiscographySong listFilmographyRingo Starr & His All-Starr BandThe Beatles10 Admiral GroveBarbara Bach"Brush with Greatness"The Concert for BangladeshVini PonciaRing O' RecordsRingo (1978 film)Ringo's Yellow SubmarineScouse the Mouse"Ringo for President"Zak StarkeyMaureen Starkey TigrettStartling MusicRory StormTittenhurst Park4150 Starr Category Articles related to the Beatles vte The Beatles albums Albums in the core catalogue are marked in bold. Studio albums UK Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThe Beatles ("White Album")Yellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be US Vee-Jay Introducing... The BeatlesHear the Beatles Tell All Capitol Meet the Beatles!The Beatles' Second AlbumA Hard Day's NightSomething NewThe Beatles' StoryBeatles '65The Early BeatlesBeatles VIHelp!Rubber SoulYesterday and TodayRevolverMagical Mystery TourHey Jude Canada Twist and ShoutThe Beatles' Long Tall Sally Extended plays UK Twist and ShoutThe Beatles' HitsThe Beatles (No. 1)All My LovingLong Tall SallyExtracts from the Film A Hard Day's NightExtracts from the Album A Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleBeatles for Sale No. 2The Beatles' Million SellersYesterdayNowhere ManMagical Mystery Tour US Souvenir of Their Visit to AmericaFour by the Beatles4 by the Beatles Live albums Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl / Live at the Hollywood BowlFirst Live RecordingsLive at the BBCOn Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963Get Back – The Rooftop Performance Selected compilations Hits The Beatles in ItalyLos BeatlesGreatest Hits Volume 1A Collection of Beatles OldiesGreatest Hits Volume 21962–1966 ("Red Album")1967–1970 ("Blue Album")1 Non-album tracks Por Siempre BeatlesPast MastersMono Masters Themed From Then to You / The Beatles' Christmas AlbumTomorrow Never Knows Archival Anthology 123The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963 Remixes Yellow Submarine SongtrackLet It Be... NakedLove Box sets The Beatles CollectionThe Beatles BoxThe Beatles: The CollectionThe Beatles Box SetThe Capitol Albums vol. 12The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings)The Beatles in MonoThe U.S. AlbumsThe Japan BoxThe Christmas Records Discography vte The Beatles compilations Discography Bert Kaempfert recordings with Tony Sheridan My Bonnie (GER, 1962)The Beatles with Tony Sheridan and Their Guests (1964)Ain't She Sweet (1964)The Beatles' First (GER, 1964 / UK, 1967)Very Together (1969)In the Beginning (Circa 1960) (1970)The Early Tapes of the Beatles (1984) Hits Greatest Hits Volume 1 (AUS, 1966)A Collection of Beatles Oldies (1966)Greatest Hits Volume 2 (AUS, 1967)The Essential Beatles (AUS, 1972)1962–1966 (Red Album) (1973)1967–1970 (Blue Album) (1973)20 Greatest Hits (1982)The Number Ones (AUS, 1983)1 (2000) Themes Rock 'n' Roll Music (1976)Love Songs (1977)The Beatles Ballads (1980)Reel Music (1982)Tomorrow Never Knows (2012) Non-album tracks Hey Jude (US, 1970 / UK, 1979)Por Siempre Beatles (ARG, 1971)Rarities (UK, 1978)Rarities (US, 1980)Past Masters (1988)Mono Masters (2009) Alternative versions Yellow Submarine Songtrack (1999)Let It Be... Naked (2003) Archival Sessions (unreleased)Anthology 1 (1995)Anthology 2 (1996)Anthology 3 (1996)The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963 (2013) Other Jolly What! / The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage (US, 1964)The Beatles in Italy (ITA, 1965)The Beatles' Christmas Album (US) / From Then to You (UK) (1970)The Beatles Tapes from the David Wigg Interviews (1976)Only The Beatles... (UK, 1986, withdrawn)Love (2006)4: John Paul George Ringo (2014 EP) Unofficial God (1998)Everyday Chemistry (2009)The Black Album (2014) Box sets The Singles Collection 1962–1970 (UK, 1976)The Beatles Collection (UK, 1978 / US, 1979)The Beatles Box (1980)The Beatles EP Collection (1981)The Beatles: The Collection (1982)The Beatles Mono Collection (1982)The Beatles Box Set (1988)The Cap itol Albums, Volume 1 (2004)The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006)The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) (2009)The Beatles in Mono (2009)The U.S. Albums (2014)The Japan Box (2014)The Christmas Records (2017)The Singles Collection (2019) Reissues Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017)The Beatles (White Album) (2018)Abbey Road (2019)Let It Be (2021)Revolver (2022)1962–1966 (2023)1967–1970 (2023) vte The Beatles singles Discography UK and US 1963 "Please Please Me" / "Ask Me Why""From Me to You" / "Thank You Girl""She Loves You" / "I'll Get You" 1964 "Can't Buy Me Love" / "You Can't Do That""I Feel Fine" / "She's a Woman" 1965 "Ticket to Ride" / "Yes It Is""Help!" / "I'm Down""Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" 1966 "Paperback Writer" / "Rain""Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine" 1967 "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane""All You Need Is Love" / "Baby, You're a Rich Man""Hello, Goodbye" / "I Am the Walrus" 1968 "Lady Madonna" / "The Inner Light""Hey Jude" / "Revolution" 1969 "Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down""The Ballad of John and Yoko" / "Old Brown Shoe""Something" / "Come Together" 1970 "Let It Be" / "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" 1978 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends" / "A Day in the Life" 1982 "The Beatles' Movie Medley" / "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" 1995 "Baby It's You""Free as a Bird" / "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" 1996 "Real Love" / "Baby's in Black" 2023 "Now and Then" / "Love Me Do" UK only 1962 "My Bonnie" / "The Saints""Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You" 1963 "I Want to Hold Your Hand" / "This Boy" 1964 "Ain't She Sweet" / "If You Love Me, Baby""A Hard Day's Night" / "Things We Said Today" 1976 "Yesterday" / "I Should Have Known Better""Back in the U.S.S.R." / "Twist and Shout" US only 1963 "I Want to Hold Your Hand" / "I Saw Her Standing There" 1964 "Please Please Me" / "From Me to You""My Bonnie" / "The Saints""Twist and Shout" / "There's a Place""Do You Want to Know a Secret" / "Thank You Girl""Love Me Do" / "P.S. I Love You""Sie liebt dich" / "I'll Get You""I'll Cry Instead" / "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You""And I Love Her" / "If I Fell""Ain't She Sweet" / "Nobody's Child""A Hard Day's Night" / "I Should Have Known Better""Matchbox" / "Slow Down" 1965 "Eight Days a Week" / "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party""Yesterday" / "Act Naturally" 1966 "Nowhere Man" / "What Goes On" 1970 "The Long and Winding Road" / "For You Blue" 1976 "Got to Get You into My Life" / "Helter Skelter""Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" / "Julia" Other countries 1963 "All My Loving" / "This Boy" (Canada) 1964 "Komm, gib mir deine Hand / Sie liebt dich" (Germany, Australia)"Roll Over Beethoven" / "Devil in Her Heart" (Philippines) 1965 "Rock and Roll Music" / "I'm a Loser" (Europe, Australia) 1966 "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" / "Nowhere Man" (Australia)"Michelle" / "Girl" (Europe) 1968 "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" / "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Europe, Japan, Australia)"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" / "I Will" (Philippines)"Back in the U.S.S.R." / "Don't Pass Me By" (Sweden) 1969 "You're Going to Lose That Girl" / "Tell Me What You See" (Japan) 1970 "Oh! Darling" / "Here Comes the Sun" (Japan) 1972 "All Together Now" / "Hey Bulldog" (Europe) 1978 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends" / "Within You Without You" (Germany) vte The Beatles films and videos Filmography and videography A Hard Day's NightHelp!Magical Mystery TourYellow SubmarineLet It BeThe Beatles: 1+ Documentaries Around the BeatlesThe First U.S. VisitAt Shea StadiumA Salute to the BeatlesThe Compleat BeatlesIt Was Twenty Years Ago TodayAnthologyAll Together NowEight Days a Week – The Touring YearsThe Beatles and IndiaGet Back Promotional films (music videos) "Day Tripper""We Can Work It Out""I Feel Fine""Ticket to Ride""Help!""Rain""Paperback Writer""Strawberry Fields Forever""Penny Lane""A Day in the Life""Hello, Goodbye""Lady Madonna""Hey Jude""Revolution""Something""Free as a Bird""Real Love""Here Comes the Sun""Now and Then" Fictionalised Beatles The Beatles (TV series)RingoBirth of the BeatlesBeatlemaniaGive My Regards to Broad StreetJohn and Yoko: A Love StoryBackbeatThe Hours and TimesThe Linda McCartney StoryTwo of UsIn His Life: The John Lennon StoryThe Killing of John LennonChapter 27Nowhere BoyLennon NakedSnodgrass"The Devil's Chord" Inspired by Beatles The Girls on the BeachAll This and World War IISgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandI Wanna Hold Your HandAll You Need Is CashSecretsI Am SamThe Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me LunchAcross the UniverseLiving Is Easy with Eyes ClosedYesterday Related articles The Music of Lennon & McCartneyOur WorldUp Against ItBeatles StoriesGeorge Harrison: Living in the Material WorldI Met the WalrusWar Is Over! vte The Beatles literature Reference works The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (1969)The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (1988)Recording the Beatles (2006) Primary sources Beatles Lennon Remembers (1970)I, Me, Mine (1980)Songs by George Harrison (1988)Songs by George Harrison 2 (1992)Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now (1997)Anthology (2000)Postcards from the Boys (2004)Photograph (2013)The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present (2021)1964: Eyes of the Storm (2023) Associates A Cellarful of Noise (1964)The Longest Cocktail Party (1973)All You Need Is Ears (1979)The Love You Make (1983)Ticket to Ride (2003)John (2005)Magical Mystery Tours (2006)Wonderful Today (2007) Biographies The Authorised Biography (1968)Apple to the Core (1972)Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation (1981)The Lives of John Lennon (1988)Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon (2000)The Biography (2004)Can't Buy Me Love (2007)You Never Give Me Your Money (2009)All These Years (2013–present)One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time (2020)Living the Beatles Legend (2023) Critique An Illustrated Record (1975)Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (1994)In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs (2017) Fiction Beatles (1984)The Beatles Experience (1991–1992)"The Twelfth Album" (1998)Octopus's Garden (2013)The Fifth Beatle (2013) Writers Hunter DaviesPeter DoggettWalter EverettBill HarryMark HertsgaardMark LewisohnIan MacDonaldBarry MilesPhilip NormanTim RileyNicholas SchaffnerBob SpitzBruce SpizerSteve TurnerKenneth Womack Category vte Please Please Me Songs Side one "I Saw Her Standing There""Misery""Anna (Go to Him)""Chains""Boys""Ask Me Why""Please Please Me" Side two "Love Me Do""P.S. I Love You""Baby It's You""Do You Want to Know a Secret""A Taste of Honey""There's a Place""Twist and Shout" Non-album single "From Me to You""Thank You Girl" Outtakes "How Do You Do It?""Tip of My Tongue""Hold Me Tight""Bésame Mucho""One After 909""What Goes On" Extended plays Twist and ShoutThe Beatles (No. 1)Souvenir of Their Visit to America Corresponding North American albums Introducing... The BeatlesTwist and ShoutThe Early Beatles Tours Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour1963 Tour with Roy Orbison Related articles The Beatles discography The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte With the Beatles Songs Side one "It Won't Be Long""All I've Got to Do""All My Loving""Don't Bother Me""Little Child""Till There Was You""Please Mr. Postman" Side two "Roll Over Beethoven""Hold Me Tight""You Really Got a Hold on Me""I Wanna Be Your Man""Devil in Her Heart""Not a Second Time""Money (That's What I Want)" Non-album singles "She Loves You""I'll Get You""I Want to Hold Your Hand""This Boy" Extended plays All My LovingFour by the Beatles Corresponding North American albums Meet the Beatles!The Beatles' Second Album Related articles The Beatles discography The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte A Hard Day's Night 1964 film Songs Side one "A Hard Day's Night""I Should Have Known Better""If I Fell""I'm Happy Just to Dance with You""And I Love Her""Tell Me Why""Can't Buy Me Love" Side two "Any Time at All""I'll Cry Instead""Things We Said Today""When I Get Home""You Can't Do That""I'll Be Back" Long Tall Sally (EP) "Long Tall Sally""I Call Your Name""Slow Down""Matchbox" German single "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" / "Sie Liebt Dich" Outtakes "No Reply""You Know What to Do" Extended plays Extracts from the Album A Hard Day's NightExtracts from the Film A Hard Day's Night Related North American album Something New Tours 1964 world tour1964 North American tour Related articles The Beatles discography The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Beatles for Sale Songs Side one "No Reply""I'm a Loser""Baby's in Black""Rock and Roll Music""I'll Follow the Sun""Mr. Moonlight""Kansas City / Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" Side two "Eight Days a Week""Words of Love""Honey Don't""Every Little Thing""I Don't Want to Spoil the Party""What You're Doing""Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" Non-album single "I Feel Fine""She's a Woman" Outtakes "Leave My Kitten Alone" Extended plays Beatles for SaleBeatles for Sale No. 24 by the Beatles Corresponding North American albums Beatles '65Beatles VI Related articles The Beatles discography The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Help! 1965 film Songs Side one "Help!""The Night Before""You've Got to Hide Your Love Away""I Need You""Another Girl""You're Going to Lose That Girl""Ticket to Ride" Side two "Act Naturally""It's Only Love""You Like Me Too Much""Tell Me What You See""I've Just Seen a Face""Yesterday""Dizzy Miss Lizzy" Non-album tracks "I'm Down""Yes It Is""Bad Boy" Outtakes "If You've Got Trouble""That Means a Lot""Wait" Extended play Yesterday Tours 1965 European tour1965 US tour Related articles The Beatles discographyHelp! (George Martin album) The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Rubber Soul Songs Side one "Drive My Car""Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)""You Won't See Me""Nowhere Man""Think for Yourself""The Word""Michelle" Side two "What Goes On""Girl""I'm Looking Through You""In My Life""Wait""If I Needed Someone""Run for Your Life" Non-album single "Day Tripper""We Can Work It Out" Outtake "12-Bar Original" Related articles The Beatles discographyThe Beatles' 1965 UK tourYesterday and TodayNowhere Man (EP)This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Revolver Special Edition Songs Side one "Taxman""Eleanor Rigby""I'm Only Sleeping""Love You To""Here, There and Everywhere""Yellow Submarine""She Said She Said" Side two "Good Day Sunshine""And Your Bird Can Sing""For No One""Doctor Robert""I Want to Tell You""Got to Get You into My Life""Tomorrow Never Knows" Non-album single "Paperback Writer""Rain" Related articles The Beatles discographyRecording practices of the BeatlesYesterday and Today1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines1966 US tour"More popular than Jesus" The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary EditionCover photo Songs Side one "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band""With a Little Help from My Friends""Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds""Getting Better""Fixing a Hole""She's Leaving Home""Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" Side two "Within You Without You""When I'm Sixty-Four""Lovely Rita""Good Morning Good Morning""Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)""A Day in the Life" Non-album single "Strawberry Fields Forever""Penny Lane" Outtakes "Only a Northern Song""Carnival of Light" Tribute albums Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub BandSaluting Sgt. PepperSgt. Pepper Knew My FatherSgt. Pepper LiveSgt. Pepper'sSgt. Petsound's Lonely Hearts Club BandWith a Little Help from My Fwends Related articles Peter BlakePablo FanqueJann HaworthWilliam KiteThe Beatles discographyReturn to PepperlandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (soundtrack)It Was Twenty Years Ago TodaySgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the RoadYellow Submarine (film)"Tina in the Sky with Diamonds" The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Magical Mystery Tour 1967 film Songs Side one "Magical Mystery Tour""The Fool on the Hill""Flying""Blue Jay Way""Your Mother Should Know""I Am the Walrus" Side two "Hello, Goodbye""Strawberry Fields Forever""Penny Lane""Baby, You're a Rich Man""All You Need Is Love" Outtakes "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)""All Together Now""It's All Too Much" Related The Beatles discographyOur WorldThe Beatles in BangorFurthur (bus) The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte The Beatles (White Album) 50th Anniversary Edition Songs Side one "Back in the U.S.S.R.""Dear Prudence""Glass Onion""Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da""Wild Honey Pie""The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill""While My Guitar Gently Weeps""Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Side two "Martha My Dear""I'm So Tired""Blackbird""Piggies""Rocky Raccoon""Don't Pass Me By""Why Don't We Do It in the Road?""I Will""Julia" Side three "Birthday""Yer Blues""Mother Nature's Son""Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey""Sexy Sadie""Helter Skelter""Long, Long, Long" Side four "Revolution 1""Honey Pie""Savoy Truffle""Cry Baby Cry""Revolution 9""Good Night" Non-album single "Hey Jude""Revolution" Outtakes "A Beginning""Child of Nature""Circles""Etcetera""Junk""Not Guilty""Sour Milk Sea""What's the New Mary Jane" Related articles The Beatles discographyThe Beatles in IndiaBreak-up of the BeatlesMother Nature's SonThe Grey AlbumLive Phish Volume 13 The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Yellow Submarine 1968 filmYellow Submarine Songtrack Songs Side one "Yellow Submarine""Only a Northern Song""All Together Now""Hey Bulldog""It's All Too Much""All You Need Is Love" Side two "Pepperland""Sea of Time""Sea of Holes""Sea of Monsters""March of the Meanies""Pepperland Laid Waste""Yellow Submarine in Pepperland" Film characters Blue MeaniesChief Blue MeanieJeremy Hillary Boob Related articles The Beatles discographyYellow Submarine (sculpture)George MartinRingo's Yellow Submarine The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Abbey Road 50th Anniversary Edition Songs Side one "Come Together""Something""Maxwell's Silver Hammer""Oh! Darling""Octopus's Garden""I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Side two "Here Comes the Sun""Because""You Never Give Me Your Money""Sun King""Mean Mr. Mustard""Polythene Pam""She Came In Through the Bathroom Window""Golden Slumbers""Carry That Weight""The End""Her Majesty" Non-album single "The Ballad of John and Yoko""Old Brown Shoe" Outtakes "All Things Must Pass""Come and Get It""Ain't She Sweet" Related articles The Beatles discographyBreak-up of the BeatlesAbbey Road, LondonMcLemore AvenueThe Other Side of Abbey RoadThe Abbey Road E.P. The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be vte Let It Be 1970 filmLet It Be... NakedSpecial EditionThe Beatles: Get Back Songs Side one "Two of Us""Dig a Pony""Across the Universe""I Me Mine""Dig It""Let It Be""Maggie Mae" Side two "I've Got a Feeling""One After 909""The Long and Winding Road""For You Blue""Get Back" B-sides "Don't Let Me Down""You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" Outtakes "All Things Must Pass""Another Day""The Back Seat of My Car""Every Night""Gimme Some Truth""Hear Me Lord""Let It Down""Madman""The Palace of the King of the Birds""Suzy Parker""Teddy Boy""Watching Rainbows" Related articles The Beatles discographyRooftop concertBreak-up of the BeatlesLet It Be (Laibach album)Kum BackLet It Be (musical) The Beatles albums:Please Please MeWith the BeatlesA Hard Day's NightBeatles for SaleHelp!Rubber SoulRevolverSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandMagical Mystery TourThe BeatlesYellow SubmarineAbbey RoadLet It Be Awards for the Beatles vte Academy Award for Best Original Score 1930s Louis Silvers (1934)Max Steiner (1935)Leo F. Forbstein (1936)Charles Previn (1937)Erich Wolfgang Korngold / Alfred Newman (1938)Herbert Stothart / Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken (1939) 1940s Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and Ned Washington / Alfred Newman (1940)Bernard Herrmann / Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace (1941)Max Steiner / Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld (1942)Alfred Newman / Ray Heindorf (1943)Max Steiner / Morris Stoloff and Carmen Dragon (1944)Miklos Rozsa / Georgie Stoll (1945)Hugo Friedhofer / Morris Stoloff (1946)Miklos Rozsa / Alfred Newman (1947)Brian Easdale / Johnny Green and Roger Edens (1948)Aaron Copland / Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton (1949) 1950s Franz Waxman / Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens (1950)Franz Waxman / Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin (1951)Dimitri Tiomkin / Alfred Newman (1952)Bronislau Kaper / Alfred Newman (1953)Dimitri Tiomkin / Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin (1954)Alfred Newman / Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton and Adolph Deutsch (1955)Victor Young / Alfred Newman and Ken Darby (1956)Malcolm Arnold (1957)Dimitri Tiomkin / Andre Previn (1958)Miklos Rozsa / Andre Previn and Ken Darby (1959) 1960s Ernest Gold / Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman (1960)Henry Mancini / Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal (1961)Maurice Jarre / Ray Heindorf (1962)John Addison / Andre Previn (1963)Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman / Andre Previn (1964)Maurice Jarre / Irwin Kostal (1965)John Barry / Ken Thorne (1966)Elmer Bernstein / Alfred Newman and Ken Darby (1967)John Barry / Johnny Green (1968)Burt Bacharach / Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman (1969) 1970s Francis Lai / The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) (1970)Michel Legrand / John Williams (1971)Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell / Ralph Burns (1972)Marvin Hamlisch / Marvin Hamlisch (1973)Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola / Nelson Riddle (1974)John Williams / Leonard Rosenman (1975)Jerry Goldsmith / Leonard Rosenman (1976)John Williams / Jonathan Tunick (1977)Giorgio Moroder / Joe Renzetti (1978)Georges Delerue / Ralph Burns (1979) 1980s Michael Gore (1980)Vangelis (1981)John Williams / Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse (1982)Bill Conti / Michel Legrand, Alan and Marilyn Bergman (1983)Maurice Jarre / Prince (1984)John Barry (1985)Herbie Hancock (1986)Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su (1987)Dave Grusin (1988)Alan Menken (1989) 1990s John Barry (1990)Alan Menken (1991)Alan Menken (1992)John Williams (1993)Hans Zimmer (1994)Luis Bacalov / Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (1995)Gabriel Yared / Rachel Portman (1996)James Horner / Anne Dudley (1997)Nicola Piovani / Stephen Warbeck (1998)John Corigliano (1999) 2000s Tan Dun (2000)Howard Shore (2001)Elliot Goldenthal (2002)Howard Shore (2003)Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (2004)Gustavo Santaolalla (2005)Gustavo Santaolalla (2006)Dario Marianelli (2007)A. R. Rahman (2008)Michael Giacchino (2009) 2010s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (2010)Ludovic Bource (2011)Mychael Danna (2012)Steven Price (2013)Alexandre Desplat (2014)Ennio Morricone (2015)Justin Hurwitz (2016)Alexandre Desplat (2017)Ludwig Göransson (2018)Hildur Guðnadóttir (2019) 2020s Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (2020)Hans Zimmer (2021)Volker Bertelmann (2022)Ludwig Göransson (2023) vte Best-selling singles by year in the United Kingdom 1950s 1952: "Here in My Heart" – Al Martino1953: "I Believe" – Frankie Laine1954: "Secret Love" – Doris Day1955: "Rose Marie" – Slim Whitman1956: "I'll Be Home" – Pat Boone1957: "Diana" – Paul Anka1958: "Jailhouse Rock" – Elvis Presley1959: "Living Doll" – Cliff Richard (UK) 1960s 1960: "It's Now or Never" – Elvis Presley1961: "Wooden Heart" – Elvis Presley1962: "I Remember You" – Frank Ifield (UK)1963: "She Loves You" – The Beatles (UK)1964: "Can't Buy Me Love" – The Beatles (UK)1965: "Tears" – Ken Dodd (UK)1966: "Green, Green Grass of Home" – Tom Jones (UK)1967: "Release Me" – Engelbert Humperdinck (UK)1968: "Hey Jude" – The Beatles (UK)1969: "Sugar, Sugar" – The Archies 1970s 1970: "The Wonder of You" – Elvis Presley / "In the Summertime" – Mungo Jerry (UK)1971: "My Sweet Lord" – George Harrison (UK)1972: "Amazing Grace" – Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (UK)1973: "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" – Dawn featuring Tony Orlando1974: "Tiger Feet" – Mud (UK)1975: "Bye Bye Baby" – Bay City Rollers (UK)1976: "Save Your Kisses for Me" – Brotherhood of Man (UK)1977: "Mull of Kintyre" / "Girls' School" – Wings (UK)1978: "Rivers of Babylon" / "Brown Girl in the Ring" – Boney M.1979: "Bright Eyes" – Art Garfunkel 1980s 1980: "Don't Stand So Close to Me" – The Police (UK)1981: "Tainted Love" – Soft Cell (UK) / "Don't You Want Me" – The Human League (UK)1982: "Come On Eileen" – Dexys Midnight Runners (UK)1983: "Karma Chameleon" – Culture Club (UK)1984: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" – Band Aid (UK)1985: "The Power of Love" – Jennifer Rush1986: "Don't Leave Me This Way" – The Communards (UK)1987: "Never Gonna Give You Up" – Rick Astley (UK)1988: "Mistletoe and Wine" – Cliff Richard (UK)1989: "Ride on Time" – Black Box 1990s 1990: "Unchained Melody" – The Righteous Brothers1991: "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" – Bryan Adams1992: "I Will Always Love You" – Whitney Houston1993: "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" – Meat Loaf1994: "Love Is All Around" – Wet Wet Wet (UK)1995: "Unchained Melody" – Robson & Jerome (UK)1996: "Killing Me Softly" – Fugees1997: "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" / "Candle in the Wind 1997" – Elton John (UK)1998: "Believe" – Cher1999: "...Baby One More Time" – Britney Spears 2000s 2000: "Can We Fix It?" – Bob the Builder (UK)2001: "It Wasn't Me" – Shaggy featuring Rikrok (UK)2002: "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" – Will Young (UK)2003: "Where Is the Love?" – Black Eyed Peas2004: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" – Band Aid 20 (UK)2005: "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" – Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay (UK)2006: "Crazy" – Gnarls Barkley2007: "Bleeding Love" – Leona Lewis (UK)2008: "Hallelujah" – Alexandra Burke (UK)2009: "Poker Face" – Lady Gaga 2010s 2010: "Love the Way You Lie" – Eminem featuring Rihanna2011: "Someone like You" – Adele (UK)2012: "Somebody That I Used to Know" – Gotye featuring Kimbra2013: "Blurred Lines" – Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams2014: "Happy" – Pharrell Williams2015: "Uptown Funk" – Mark Ronson (UK) featuring Bruno Mars2016: "One Dance" – Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla (UK)2017: "Shape of You" – Ed Sheeran (UK)2018: "One Kiss" – Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa (UK)2019: "Someone You Loved" – Lewis Capaldi (UK) 2020s 2020: "Blinding Lights" – The Weeknd2021: "Bad Habits" – Ed Sheeran (UK)2022: "As It Was" – Harry Styles (UK)2023: "Flowers" – Miley Cyrus vte Billboard Year-End number one albums 1956–1975 1956: Calypso – Harry Belafonte1957: Music from My Fair Lady – Original Cast1958: Music from My Fair Lady – Original Cast1959: The Music from Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini1960: Music from The Sound of Music – Original Cast1961: Camelot – Original Cast1962: West Side Story – Soundtrack1963: West Side Story – Soundtrack1964: Music from Hello, Dolly! – Original Cast1965: Mary Poppins: Original Cast Soundtrack – Soundtrack1966: Whipped Cream & Other Delights – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass1967: More of the Monkees – The Monkees1968: Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience1969: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly1970: Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel1971: Jesus Christ Superstar – Soundtrack1972: Harvest – Neil Young1973: The World Is a Ghetto – War1974: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John1975: Greatest Hits – Elton John 1976–2000 1976: Frampton Comes Alive! – Peter Frampton1977: Rumours – Fleetwood Mac1978: Saturday Night Fever – Soundtrack1979: 52nd Street – Billy Joel1980: The Wall – Pink Floyd1981: Hi Infidelity – REO Speedwagon1982: Asia – Asia1983: Thriller – Michael Jackson1984: Thriller – Michael Jackson1985: Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen1986: Whitney Houston – Whitney Houston1987: Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi1988: Faith – George Michael1989: Don't Be Cruel – Bobby Brown1990: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson1991: Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey1992: Ropin' the Wind – Garth Brooks1993: The Bodyguard – Soundtrack1994: The Sign – Ace of Base1995: Cracked Rear View – Hootie & the Blowfish1996: Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette1997: Spice – Spice Girls1998: Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture – James Horner1999: Millennium – Backstreet Boys2000: No Strings Attached – NSYNC 2001–present 2001: 1 – The Beatles2002: The Eminem Show – Eminem2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin' – 50 Cent2004: Confessions – Usher2005: The Massacre – 50 Cent2006: Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood2007: Daughtry – Daughtry2008: As I Am – Alicia Keys2009: Fearless – Taylor Swift2010: I Dreamed a Dream – Susan Boyle2011: 21 – Adele2012: 21 – Adele2013: The 20/20 Experience – Justin Timberlake2014: Frozen – Soundtrack2015: 1989 – Taylor Swift2016: 25 – Adele2017: Damn – Kendrick Lamar2018: Reputation – Taylor Swift2019: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish2020: Hollywood's Bleeding – Post Malone2021: Dangerous: The Double Album – Morgan Wallen2022: Un Verano Sin Ti – Bad Bunny2023: One Thing at a Time – Morgan Wallen vte Brit Award for British Album of the Year 1977–2000 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1977)Kings of the Wild Frontier – Adam and the Ants (1982)Memories – Barbra Streisand (1983)Thriller – Michael Jackson (1984)Diamond Life – Sade (1985)No Jacket Required – Phil Collins (1986)Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits (1987)...Nothing Like the Sun – Sting (1988)The First of a Million Kisses – Fairground Attraction (1989)The Raw and the Cooked – Fine Young Cannibals (1990)Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 – George Michael (1991)Seal – Seal (1992)Diva – Annie Lennox (1993)Connected – Stereo MC's (1994)Parklife – Blur (1995)(What's the Story) Morning Glory? – Oasis (1996)Everything Must Go – Manic Street Preachers (1997)Urban Hymns – The Verve (1998)This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours – Manic Street Preachers (1999)The Man Who – Travis (2000) 2001–present Parachutes – Coldplay (2001)No Angel – Dido (2002)A Rush of Blood to the Head – Coldplay (2003)Permission to Land – The Darkness (2004)Hopes and Fears – Keane (2005)X&Y – Coldplay (2006)Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not – Arctic Monkeys (2007)Favourite Worst Nightmare – Arctic Monkeys (2008)Rockferry – Duffy (2009)Lungs – Florence and the Machine (2010)Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons (2011)21 – Adele (2012)Our Version of Events – Emeli Sandé (2013)AM – Arctic Monkeys (2014)x – Ed Sheeran (2015)25 – Adele (2016)Blackstar – David Bowie (2017)Gang Signs & Prayer – Stormzy (2018)A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships – The 1975 (2019)Psychodrama – Dave (2020)Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (2021)30 – Adele (2022)Harry's House – Harry Styles (2023)My 21st Century Blues – Raye (2024) vte Brit Award for British Group The Beatles (1977)The Police (1982)Dire Straits (1983)Culture Club (1984)Wham! (1985)Dire Straits (1986)Five Star (1987)Pet Shop Boys (1988)Erasure (1989)Fine Young Cannibals (1990)The Cure (1991)The KLF and Simply Red (1992)Simply Red (1993)Stereo MC's (1994)Blur (1995)Oasis (1996)Manic Street Preachers (1997)The Verve (1998)Manic Street Preachers (1999)Travis (2000)Coldplay (2001)Travis (2002)Coldplay (2003)The Darkness (2004)Franz Ferdinand (2005)Kaiser Chiefs (2006)Arctic Monkeys (2007)Arctic Monkeys (2008)Elbow (2009)Kasabian (2010)Take That (2011)Coldplay (2012)Mumford & Sons (2013)Arctic Monkeys (2014)Royal Blood (2015)Coldplay (2016)The 1975 (2017)Gorillaz (2018)The 1975 (2019)Foals (2020)Little Mix (2021)Wolf Alice (2022)Wet Leg (2023)Jungle (2024) vte Grammy Award for Album of the Year 1950s The Music from Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini (1958)Come Dance with Me! – Frank Sinatra (1959) 1960s The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart – Bob Newhart (1960)Judy at Carnegie Hall – Judy Garland (1961)The First Family – Vaughn Meader (1962)The Barbra Streisand Album – Barbra Streisand (1963)Getz/Gilberto – Stan Getz & João Gilberto (1964)September of My Years – Frank Sinatra (1965)A Man and His Music – Frank Sinatra (1966)Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967)By the Time I Get to Phoenix – Glen Campbell (1968)Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1969) 1970s Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (1970)Tapestry – Carole King (1971)The Concert for Bangladesh – George Harrison & Friends (1972)Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (1973)Fulfillingness' First Finale – Stevie Wonder (1974)Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon (1975)Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder (1976)Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (1977)Saturday Night Fever – Various Artists (1978)52nd Street – Billy Joel (1979) 1980s Christopher Cross – Christopher Cross (1980)Double Fantasy – John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1981)Toto IV – Toto (1982)Thriller – Michael Jackson (1983)Can't Slow Down – Lionel Richie (1984)No Jacket Required – Phil Collins (1985)Graceland – Paul Simon (1986)The Joshua Tree – U2 (1987)Faith – George Michael (1988)Nick of Time – Bonnie Raitt (1989) 1990s Back on the Block – Quincy Jones and Various Artists (1990)Unforgettable... with Love – Natalie Cole (1991)Unplugged – Eric Clapton (1992)The Bodyguard – Whitney Houston (1993)MTV Unplugged – Tony Bennett (1994)Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette (1995)Falling into You – Celine Dion (1996)Time Out of Mind – Bob Dylan (1997)The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill (1998)Supernatural – Santana (1999) 2000s Two Against Nature – Steely Dan (2000)O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Various Artists (2001)Come Away with Me – Norah Jones (2002)Speakerboxxx/The Love Below – Outkast (2003)Genius Loves Company – Ray Charles & Various Artists (2004)How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – U2 (2005)Taking the Long Way – Dixie Chicks (2006)River: The Joni Letters – Herbie Hancock (2007)Raising Sand – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (2008)Fearless – Taylor Swift (2009) 2010s The Suburbs – Arcade Fire (2010)21 – Adele (2011)Babel – Mumford & Sons (2012)Random Access Memories – Daft Punk (2013)Morning Phase – Beck (2014)1989 – Taylor Swift (2015)25 – Adele (2016)24K Magic – Bruno Mars (2017)Golden Hour – Kacey Musgraves (2018)When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (2019) 2020s Folklore – Taylor Swift (2020)We Are – Jon Batiste (2021) Harry's House – Harry Styles (2022)Midnights – Taylor Swift (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best New Artist 1950s No Award (1958)Bobby Darin (1959) 1960s Bob Newhart (1960)Peter Nero (1961)Robert Goulet (1962)The Swingle Singers (1963)The Beatles (1964)Tom Jones (1965)No Award (1966)Bobbie Gentry (1967)José Feliciano (1968)Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969) 1970s The Carpenters (1970)Carly Simon (1971)America (1972)Bette Midler (1973)Marvin Hamlisch (1974)Natalie Cole (1975)Starland Vocal Band (1976)Debby Boone (1977)A Taste of Honey (1978)Rickie Lee Jones (1979) 1980s Christopher Cross (1980)Sheena Easton (1981)Men at Work (1982)Culture Club (1983)Cyndi Lauper (1984)Sade (1985)Bruce Hornsby & The Range (1986)Jody Watley (1987)Tracy Chapman (1988)Milli Vanilli (1989) 1990s Mariah Carey (1990)Marc Cohn (1991)Arrested Development (1992)Toni Braxton (1993)Sheryl Crow (1994)Hootie & the Blowfish (1995)LeAnn Rimes (1996)Paula Cole (1997)Lauryn Hill (1998)Christina Aguilera (1999) 2000s Shelby Lynne (2000)Alicia Keys (2001)Norah Jones (2002)Evanescence (2003)Maroon 5 (2004)John Legend (2005)Carrie Underwood (2006)Amy Winehouse (2007)Adele (2008)Zac Brown Band (2009) 2010s Esperanza Spalding (2010)Bon Iver (2011)Fun (2012)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (2013)Sam Smith (2014)Meghan Trainor (2015)Chance the Rapper (2016)Alessia Cara (2017)Dua Lipa (2018)Billie Eilish (2019) 2020s Megan Thee Stallion (2020)Olivia Rodrigo (2021)Samara Joy (2022)Victoria Monét (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album 1960s Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967) 1990s Longing in Their Hearts – Bonnie Raitt (1994)Turbulent Indigo – Joni Mitchell (1995)Falling into You – Celine Dion (1996)Hourglass – James Taylor (1997)Ray of Light – Madonna (1998)Brand New Day – Sting (1999) 2000s Two Against Nature – Steely Dan (2000)Lovers Rock – Sade (2001)Come Away with Me – Norah Jones (2002)Justified – Justin Timberlake (2003)Genius Loves Company – Ray Charles and various artists (2004)Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson (2005)Continuum – John Mayer (2006)Back to Black – Amy Winehouse (2007)Rockferry – Duffy (2008)The E.N.D. – Black Eyed Peas (2009) 2010s The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga (2010)21 – Adele (2011)Stronger – Kelly Clarkson (2012)Unorthodox Jukebox – Bruno Mars (2013)In the Lonely Hour – Sam Smith (2014)1989 – Taylor Swift (2015)25 – Adele (2016)÷ – Ed Sheeran (2017)Sweetener – Ariana Grande (2018)When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (2019) 2020s Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa (2020)Sour – Olivia Rodrigo (2021)Harry's House – Harry Styles (2022)Midnights – Taylor Swift (2023) From 1968–1993, the category was discontinued. vte Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media 1950s No Award (1958)Anatomy of a Murder – Duke Ellington (1959) 1960s Exodus – Ernest Gold (1960)Breakfast at Tiffany's – Henry Mancini (1961)No Award (1962)Tom Jones – John Addison (1963)Mary Poppins – Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman (1964)The Sandpiper – Johnny Mandel (1965)Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre (1966)Music from Mission: Impossible – Lalo Schifrin (1967)The Graduate – Dave Grusin & Paul Simon (1968)Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Burt Bacharach (1969) 1970s Let It Be – The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr) (1970)Shaft – Isaac Hayes (1971)The Godfather – Nino Rota (1972)Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Neil Diamond (1973)The Way We Were: Original Soundtrack Recording – Alan and Marilyn Bergman & Marvin Hamlisch (1974)Jaws – John Williams (1975)Car Wash – Norman Whitfield (1976)Star Wars – John Williams (1977)Close Encounters of the Third Kind – John Williams (1978)Superman – John Williams (1979) 1980s The Empire Strikes Back – John Williams (1980)Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams (1981)E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – John Williams (1982)Flashdance – Michael Boddicker, Irene Cara, Kim Carnes, Doug Cotler, Keith Forsey, Richard Gilbert, Jerry Hey, Duane Hitchings, Craig Krampf, Ronald Magness, Dennis Matkosky, Giorgio Moroder, Phil Ramone, Michael Sembello & Shandi Sinnamon (1983)Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution (1984)Beverly Hills Cop – Marc Benno, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Micki Free, John Gilutin Hawk, Howard Hewett, Bunny Hull, Howie Rice, Sharon Robinson, Danny Sembello, Sue Sheridan, Richard Theisen & Allee Willis (1985)Out of Africa – John Barry (1986)The Untouchables – Ennio Morricone (1987)The Last Emperor – David Byrne, Cong Su & Ryuichi Sakamoto (1988)The Fabulous Baker Boys – Dave Grusin (1989) 1990s Glory – James Horner (1990)Dances with Wolves – John Barry (1991)Beauty and the Beast – Alan Menken (1992)Aladdin – Alan Menken (1993)Schindler's List – John Williams (1994)Crimson Tide – Hans Zimmer (1995)Independence Day – David Arnold (1996)The English Patient – Gabriel Yared (1997)Saving Private Ryan – John Williams (1998)A Bug's Life – Randy Newman (1999) 2000s American Beauty – Thomas Newman (2000)Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Tan Dun (2001)The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Howard Shore & John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) (2002)The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Howard Shore, John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) & Peter Cobbin (engineer/mixer) (2003)The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Howard Shore, John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) & Peter Cobbin (engineer/mixer) (2004)Ray – Craig Armstrong (2005)Memoirs of a Geisha – John Williams (2006)Ratatouille – Michael Giacchino (2007)The Dark Knight – Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard (2008)Up – Michael Giacchino (2009) 2010s Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman (2010)The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat (2011)The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2012)Skyfall – Thomas Newman (2013)The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat (2014)Birdman – Antonio Sánchez (2015)Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams (2016)La La Land – Justin Hurwitz (2017)Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson (2018)Chernobyl – Hildur Guðnadóttir (2019) 2020s Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir (2020)The Queen's Gambit – Carlos Rafael Rivera / Soul – Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (2021)Encanto – Germaine Franco (2022)Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best Music Film 1983–1986 Duran Duran – Duran Duran (1983)Making Michael Jackson's Thriller – Michael Jackson (1984)Huey Lewis & The News: The Heart of Rock 'n Roll – Huey Lewis and the News (1985)Bring On the Night – Sting (1986) Best Performance Music Video (1987−1988) The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert – Various Artists (1987)"Where the Streets Have No Name" – U2 (1988) 1989–2009 Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson (1989)Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie – MC Hammer (1990)Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90 – Madonna (1991)Diva – Annie Lennox (1992)Ten Summoner's Tales – Sting (1993)Zoo TV: Live from Sydney – U2 (1994)Secret World Live – Peter Gabriel (1995)The Beatles Anthology – The Beatles (1996)Jagged Little Pill, Live – Alanis Morissette (1997)American Masters: Lou Reed: Rock & Roll Heart – Lou Reed (1998)Band of Gypsys: Live at Fillmore East – Jimi Hendrix (1999)Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album – John Lennon (2000)Recording The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks – Mel Brooks (2001)Westway to the World – The Clash (2002)Legend – Sam Cooke (2003)Concert for George – Various Artists (2004)No Direction Home – Bob Dylan (2005)Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen (2006)The Confessions Tour – Madonna (2007)Runnin' Down a Dream – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (2008)The Beatles Love – All Together Now – The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil (2009) 2010–present When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors – The Doors (2010)Back and Forth – Foo Fighters (2011)Big Easy Express – Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show (2012)Live Kisses – Paul McCartney (2013)20 Feet from Stardom – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill (2014)Amy – Amy Winehouse (2015)The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years – The Beatles (2016)The Defiant Ones – Various Artists (2017)Quincy – Quincy Jones (2018)Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé – Beyoncé (2019)Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice – Linda Ronstadt (2020)Summer of Soul – Various Artists (2021)Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story – Various Artists (2022)Moonage Daydream – David Bowie (2023) vte Grammy Award for Best Music Video Video of the Year (1981−1982) Elephant Parts – Michael Nesmith (1981)Olivia Physical – Olivia Newton-John (1982) 1983–1986 "Girls on Film" / "Hungry Like the Wolf" – Duran Duran (1983)"Jazzin' for Blue Jean" – David Bowie (1984)"We Are the World" – USA for Africa (1985)"Brothers in Arms" – Dire Straits (1986) Best Concept Music Video (1987−1988) "Land of Confusion" – Genesis (1987)"Fat" – "Weird Al" Yankovic (1988) 1989–2009 "Leave Me Alone" – Michael Jackson (1989)"Opposites Attract" – Paula Abdul (1990)"Losing My Religion" – R.E.M. (1991)"Digging in the Dirt" – Peter Gabriel (1992)"Steam" – Peter Gabriel (1993)"Love Is Strong" – The Rolling Stones (1994)"Scream" – Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson (1995)"Free as a Bird" – The Beatles (1996)"Got 'til It's Gone" – Janet Jackson (1997)"Ray of Light" – Madonna (1998)"Freak on a Leash" – Korn (1999)"Learn to Fly" – Foo Fighters (2000)"Weapon of Choice" – Fatboy Slim featuring Bootsy Collins (2001)"Without Me" - Eminem (2002)"Hurt" – Johnny Cash (2003)"Vertigo" – U2 (2004)"Lose Control" – Missy Elliott featuring Ciara & Fatman Scoop (2005)"Here It Goes Again" – OK Go (2006)"God's Gonna Cut You Down" – Johnny Cash (2007)"Pork and Beans" – Weezer (2008)"Boom Boom Pow" – The Black Eyed Peas (2009) 2010–present "Bad Romance" – Lady Gaga (2010)"Rolling in the Deep" – Adele (2011)"We Found Love" – Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris (2012)"Suit & Tie" – Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z (2013)"Happy" – Pharrell Williams (2014)"Bad Blood" – Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar (2015)"Formation" – Beyoncé (2016)"Humble" – Kendrick Lamar (2017)"This Is America" – Childish Gambino (2018)"Old Town Road" – Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (2019)"Brown Skin Girl" – Beyoncé, Blue Ivy & Wizkid (2020)"Freedom" – Jon Batiste (2021)All Too Well: The Short Film – Taylor Swift (2022)"I'm Only Sleeping" – The Beatles (2023) vte Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 1963–1990 1963 Bing Crosby1965 Frank Sinatra1966 Duke Ellington1967 Ella Fitzgerald1968 Irving Berlin1971 Elvis Presley1972 Louis ArmstrongMahalia Jackson1984 Chuck BerryCharlie Parker1985 Leonard Bernstein1986 Benny GoodmanThe Rolling StonesAndrés Segovia1987 Roy AcuffBenny CarterEnrico CarusoRay CharlesFats DominoWoody HermanBillie HolidayB.B. KingIsaac SternIgor StravinskyArturo ToscaniniHank Williams1989 Fred AstairePablo CasalsDizzy GillespieJascha HeifetzLena HorneLeontyne PriceBessie SmithArt TatumSarah Vaughan1990 Nat King ColeMiles DavisVladimir HorowitzPaul McCartney 1991–2000 1991 Marian AndersonBob DylanJohn LennonKitty Wells1992 James BrownJohn ColtraneJimi HendrixMuddy Waters1993 Chet AtkinsLittle RichardThelonious MonkBill MonroePete SeegerFats Waller1994 Bill EvansAretha FranklinArthur Rubinstein1995 Patsy ClinePeggy LeeHenry ManciniCurtis MayfieldBarbra Streisand1996 Dave BrubeckMarvin GayeGeorg SoltiStevie Wonder1997 Bobby "Blue" BlandThe Everly BrothersJudy GarlandStéphane GrappelliBuddy HollyCharles MingusOscar PetersonFrank Zappa1998 Bo DiddleyThe Mills BrothersRoy OrbisonPaul Robeson1999 Johnny CashSam CookeOtis ReddingSmokey RobinsonMel Tormé2000 Harry BelafonteWoody GuthrieJohn Lee HookerMitch MillerWillie Nelson 2001–2010 2001 The Beach BoysTony BennettSammy Davis Jr.Bob MarleyThe Who2002 Count BasieRosemary ClooneyPerry ComoAl GreenJoni Mitchell2003 Etta JamesJohnny MathisGlenn MillerTito PuenteSimon & Garfunkel2004 Van CliburnThe Funk BrothersElla JenkinsSonny RollinsArtie ShawDoc Watson2005 Eddy ArnoldArt BlakeyThe Carter FamilyMorton GouldJanis JoplinLed ZeppelinJerry Lee LewisJelly Roll MortonPinetop PerkinsThe Staple Singers2006 David BowieCreamMerle HaggardRobert JohnsonJessye NormanRichard PryorThe Weavers2007 Joan BaezBooker T. & the M.G.'sMaria CallasOrnette ColemanThe DoorsThe Grateful DeadBob Wills2008 Burt BacharachThe BandCab CallowayDoris DayItzhak PerlmanMax RoachEarl Scruggs2009 Gene AutryThe Blind Boys of AlabamaThe Four TopsHank JonesBrenda LeeDean MartinTom Paxton2010 Leonard CohenBobby DarinDavid "Honeyboy" EdwardsMichael JacksonLoretta LynnAndré PrevinClark Terry 2011–2020 2011 Julie AndrewsRoy HaynesJuilliard String QuartetThe Kingston TrioDolly PartonRamonesGeorge Beverly Shea2012 The Allman Brothers BandGlen CampbellAntônio Carlos JobimGeorge JonesThe Memphis HornsDiana RossGil Scott-Heron2013 Glenn GouldCharlie HadenLightnin' HopkinsCarole KingPatti PageRavi ShankarThe Temptations2014 The BeatlesClifton ChenierThe Isley BrothersKraftwerkKris KristoffersonArmando ManzaneroMaud Powell2015 Bee GeesPierre BoulezBuddy GuyGeorge HarrisonFlaco JiménezThe Louvin BrothersWayne Shorter2016 Ruth BrownCelia CruzEarth, Wind & FireHerbie HancockJefferson AirplaneLinda RonstadtRun-DMC2017 Shirley CaesarAhmad JamalCharley PrideJimmie RodgersNina SimoneSly StoneThe Velvet Underground2018 Hal BlaineNeil DiamondEmmylou HarrisLouis JordanThe MetersQueenTina Turner2019 Black SabbathGeorge Clinton and Parliament-FunkadelicBilly EckstineDonny HathawayJulio IglesiasSam & DaveDionne Warwick2020 ChicagoRoberta FlackIsaac HayesIggy PopJohn PrinePublic EnemySister Rosetta Tharpe 2021–present 2021 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious FiveLionel HamptonMarilyn HorneSalt-N-PepaSelenaTalking Heads2022 Bonnie Raitt2023 Bobby McFerrinNirvanaMa RaineySlick RickNile RodgersThe SupremesAnn Wilson and Nancy Wilson2024 Laurie AndersonThe Clark SistersGladys KnightN.W.ADonna SummerTammy Wynette vte Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award The Beatles and Richard Lester (1984)David Bowie (1984)David Byrne (1985)Russell Mulcahy (1985)Godley & Creme (1985)Madonna (1986)Zbigniew Rybczyński (1986)Peter Gabriel (1987)Julien Temple (1987)Michael Jackson (1988)George Michael (1989)Janet Jackson (1990)Bon Jovi and Wayne Isham (1991)Guns N' Roses (1992)The Rolling Stones (1994)Tom Petty (1994)R.E.M. (1995)LL Cool J (1997)Mark Romanek (1997)Beastie Boys (1998)Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)U2 (2001)Duran Duran (2003)Hype Williams (2006)Britney Spears (2011)Justin Timberlake (2013)Beyoncé (2014)Kanye West (2015)Rihanna (2016)Pink (2017)Jennifer Lopez (2018)Missy Elliott (2019)Nicki Minaj (2022)Shakira (2023)Katy Perry (2024) vte Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Class of 1988 Performers The Beach Boys Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis WilsonThe Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo StarrThe Drifters Ben E. King, Rudy Lewis, Clyde McPhatter, Johnny Moore, Bill Pinkney, Charlie Thomas, Gerhart ThrasherBob DylanThe Supremes Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson Early influences Woody GuthrieLead BellyLes Paul Non-performers (Ahmet Ertegun Award) Berry Gordy vte Time 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century Leaders & revolutionaries David Ben-GurionWinston ChurchillMahatma GandhiMikhail GorbachevAdolf HitlerHo Chi MinhPope John Paul IIRuhollah KhomeiniMartin Luther King Jr.Vladimir LeninNelson MandelaMao ZedongRonald ReaganEleanor RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltTheodore RooseveltMargaret SangerMargaret ThatcherUnknown Tiananmen Square rebelLech Wałęsa Artists & entertainers Louis ArmstrongLucille BallThe BeatlesMarlon BrandoCoco ChanelCharlie ChaplinLe CorbusierBob DylanT. S. EliotAretha FranklinMartha GrahamJim HensonJames JoycePablo PicassoRichard Rodgers and Oscar HammersteinBart SimpsonFrank SinatraSteven SpielbergIgor StravinskyOprah Winfrey Builders & titans Stephen Bechtel Sr.Leo BurnettWillis CarrierWalt DisneyHenry FordBill GatesAmadeo GianniniRay KrocEstée LauderWilliam LevittLucky LucianoLouis B. MayerCharles E. MerrillAkio MoritaWalter ReutherPete RozelleDavid SarnoffJuan TrippeSam WaltonThomas J. Watson Jr. Scientists & thinkers Leo BaekelandTim Berners-LeeRachel CarsonAlbert EinsteinPhilo FarnsworthEnrico FermiAlexander FlemingSigmund FreudRobert H. GoddardKurt GödelEdwin HubbleJohn Maynard KeynesLeakey familyJean PiagetJonas SalkWilliam ShockleyAlan TuringFrancis Crick & James WatsonLudwig WittgensteinWright brothers Heroes & icons Muhammad AliThe American G.I.Lady Diana SpencerAnne FrankBilly GrahamChe GuevaraEdmund Hillary & Tenzing NorgayHelen KellerKennedy familyBruce LeeCharles LindberghHarvey MilkMarilyn MonroeEmmeline PankhurstRosa ParksPeléJackie RobinsonAndrei SakharovMother TeresaBill W. Portals: 1960s flag England Music icon Pop music Rock music flag United Kingdom Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata International ISNIVIAF National GermanyUnited StatesFranceBnF dataJapanItalyAustraliaCzech RepublicSpainPortugalNorwayLatviaCroatiaChileKoreaSwedenPolandIsraelCatalonia Academics CiNii Artists ULANMusicBrainzRKD ArtistsMuseum of Modern ArtGrammy Awards People Trove Other IdRefSNAC Categories: The Beatles1960 establishments in England1970 disestablishments in EnglandApple CorpsApple Records artistsAtco Records artistsBeat groupsBrit Award winnersBritish Invasion artistsCapitol Records artistsEnglish musical quartetsEnglish pop music groupsEnglish psychedelic rock music groupsEnglish rock music groupsGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award winnersMusical groups established in 1960Musical groups disestablished in 1970Musical groups from LiverpoolParlophone artistsProto-prog groupsPsychedelic pop music groupsSwan Records artistsUnited Artists Records artistsVee-Jay Records artistsWorld Music Awards winnersWorld record holders Creators on Creators: Sabrina Brier and Kyle Gordon × 00:17 24:46 Skip to main content Rollingstone Logo Click to expand the Mega Menu Click to Expand Search Input Music Politics TV & Movies (Sub)Culture RS Recommends Got A Tip? Log In Music 100 Greatest Artists The Beatles, Eminem and more of the best of the best By Rolling Stone December 3, 2010 Best Artists of all time 100 Rolling Stone Rolling Stones in London circa 1960s. REX In 2004 — 50 years after Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studios and cut “That’s All Right” — Rolling Stone celebrated rock & roll’s first half-century in grand style, assembling a panel of 55 top musicians, writers and industry executives (everyone from Keith Richards to ?uestlove of the Roots) and asking them to pick the most influential artists of the rock & roll era. The resulting list of 100 artists, published in two issues of Rolling Stone in 2004 and 2005, and updated in 2011, is a broad survey of rock history, spanning Sixties heroes (the Beatles) and modern insurgents (Eminem), and touching on early pioneers (Chuck Berry) and the bluesmen who made it all possible (Howlin’ Wolf). The essays on these top 100 artists are by their peers: singers, producers and musicians. In these fan testimonials, indie rockers pay tribute to world-beating rappers (Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on Jay-Z), young pop stars honor stylistic godmothers (Britney Spears on Madonna) and Billy Joel admits that Elton John “kicks my ass on piano.” Rock & roll is now a music with a rich past. But at its best, it is still the sound of forward motion. As you read this book, remember: This is what we have to live up to. Load Previous Illustration by Dale Stephanos 50 The Band By Lucinda Williams I've used the Band as an example for my career. When I first tried to get record deals, nobody knew how to market me, because my sound didn't necessarily fit into any stereotypes. But the Band did a little bit of everything. I remember when Music From Big Pink came out, in 1968. I was living in Arkansas at the time. You couldn't categorize the Band's sound, but it was so organic — a little bit country, a little bit roots, a little bit mountain, a little bit rock — and their vocal styles and harmonies totally set them apart. Each member brought something, because they were all consummate musicians. Their work as the Hawks on Bob Dylan's 1966 tour is some of the best rock & roll ever made, with Robbie Robertson playing just amazing guitar. The Band let Dylan branch out stylistically. In his writing, Dylan was getting away from those heavy, metaphorical songs on Blonde on Blonde and writing cool little tunes. Their songs are uncoverable — who can pull off Richard Manuel's incredible high voice? — but we tried. Any time we sat around singing songs, someone would inevitably pull out a version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." My favorite song was "It Makes No Difference." The sentiment of it is so heart-wrenching. This guy is saying that his lover has just left him, and he's totally devastated. It's one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard. There is an element of sadness about the Band. The Last Waltz, despite its wonderful music, was sad to see because they had so much more to give. Richard Manuel's death was really tragic. I got to meet Garth Hudson when he played on a demo I did back in the mid-Eighties. I just remember he was really quiet, soft-spoken and real sweet. And he played like an angel. Illustration by Charles Miller 49 Elton John By Billy Joel Elton John defines himself as a rock star, and he really lives it. More like a Roman aristocrat rock star. I've noticed when we've toured together that backstage you'll see young men with togas, dressed as centurions, with little fig leaves around their heads. Inside Elton's dressing room there are a thousand pairs of sunglasses, a hundred pairs of shoes and about 50 Versace suits laid out. He's f**king royalty, and I love it. My dressing room looks like the back of a deli. I have one of those meat platters that sea gulls circle around. Elton kicks my ass on piano. He's fantastic — a throwback to Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino and Little Richard. His spontaneous, improvisational playing always challenges me. And that is his contribution to rock & roll and pop: his musicianship. Before him, rock was a bunch of James Taylors — guitar-based singer-songwriter stuff. Elton brought back fantastic piano-based rock. Elton knows what his instrument is capable of. The piano is a percussion instrument, like a drum. You don't strum a piano. You don't bow a piano. You bang and strike a piano. You beat the shit out of a piano. Elton knows exactly how to do that — he always had that rhythmic, very African, syncopated style that comes from being well versed in gospel and good old R&B. Elton and Bernie Taupin did some brilliant songwriting during the first part of his career, from Elton John to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The first time we met we were in Holland, at a hotel in Amsterdam. It was in the mid-Seventies, and he was at his peak — it was the height of the Elton John era — and I was just starting out as the "Piano Man" guy. We went into a private room and we just talked. I told him what a fan I was, and he said he knew my stuff. I thought this was so cool: There were a thousand guitar players, but there were only two of us. The English piano player and the American piano player. And, seminally, rock & roll was not just guitar. Elton gave a funny-looking guy like me — and so many others — an opportunity to be a singer-songwriter. When Elton was in his first band, Bluesology, he never thought he could be a rock star. Same as me. I didn't look like Mick Jagger or Paul McCartney or Jim Morrison. Sure, we thought we'd be piano players for big rock bands, but funnily enough he ended up with big, silly glasses and crazy outfits, and I ended up with my dopey stage behavior, both of us rock stars. To this day we laugh about that. And he keeps going on and on. I haven't put out a song since 1993, and he asks me, "Billy, why don't you write some new songs?" I say, "Elton, why don't you write less new songs?" At $200 a ticket, you can't shove new stuff down people's throats. So much of his stuff is amazing, though: "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Bennie and the Jets," "Tiny Dancer," "Your Song" and "The Bitch Is Back." That's what they want to hear. Any melodic songwriter owes a debt to Elton John, the supreme melodist. I don't know shit about new bands, but anybody who plays the keyboard and likes melody must give a nod to Elton. Like Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Carole King and the Beatles, he carries on the rich tradition of writing beautiful melodies. Illustration by Mark Stutzman 48 Run-DMC By Chuck D Run-DMC were the Beatles of hip-hop — Run and DMC were Lennon and McCartney, and Jam Master Jay was George and Ringo rolled into one. Raising Hell was the first true rap album, a complete work of art as opposed to a collection of singles or a novelty item. It's my favorite album of all time. It incorporated rock, but on rap's terms. Everyone in hip-hop today can be traced back to Run-DMC. They had a whole new energy that revolutionized hip-hop. Older artists like Grandmaster Flash wore disco-style outfits, were from the Bronx and had a different kind of appeal. Run-DMC were from Hollis, Queens, about 15 minutes from where I lived. Hollis was a suburban, not urban, environment, but Run-DMC dressed more like cats off the street — and 25 years later, most rappers still dress the same way. When I was doing college radio at WBAU on Long Island, we helped break Run-DMC. They were a model for Public Enemy in that we both made loud, blasting records for arenas, not clubs. They had to yell, because their beats and guitar riffs needed it. You couldn't rap in a low tone over a blaring guitar in an arena. I was at home in the fall of 2002, and I happened to turn on the TV. Some newscaster said that Jay had been shot and murdered, and I went into shock. Black musicians are not immune to the ills that afflict our community. It's not popular to say, but it's the truth, and we must address it to prevent these tragedies in the future. One little story: In 1984, I told Jay that I was coming to the Spectrum in Philadelphia to check out the first Fresh Fest tour. When I got to the back gate, I sent a message and asked, could he meet me there? And sure enough, in the middle of a concert in front of 20,000 people, he took time out to walk down the ramp, past security and hit me off with two tickets. He gave me some good seats, too. I was forever grateful. That's who Jay was. He was the type of cat who didn't forget you. And I will never forget him. Illustration by Johanna Goodman 47 Patti Smith By Shirley Manson I was about 19 when I first heard a Patti Smith record. It was Horses. I remember sitting there, very taken by the sound of her voice, this ferocious delivery. Later I was struck by how literate her lyrics were, how intellectual and political. I loved how, in her songs, she talked about anything other than the love in her heart for a man. And I loved her image: this non-glam look with the chopped-off hair, looking like a skinny boy. She was the complete opposite of the images that were pumped into me as a child, of what I was supposed to aspire to as a woman. She is a folk artist, in the way that Bob Dylan is. I loved that she was a poet involved in visual art. It wasn't just about the music for her. It was everything. And she knew how powerful her image was — that she was really sexy — and how to manipulate that for her art. What Madonna does today, Patti was doing from the beginning. Except Madonna was into selling, period. I felt that Patti's goal was to use her art to bring comfort and grace — to me, personally. The opening lines of "Revenge," on Wave, give me the chills to this day: "I feel upset/Let's do some celebrating." Garbage played a festival with Patti in Athens years ago, and she signed a set list for me: "Power to the people, Patti Smith." It's a cliché. But clichés, she understands, can work. I once talked with a young man who was refusing to utilize his right to vote, out of principle. As much as I understood his point, I believe individuals are important. One person can make a difference. When Patti sings "People Have the Power," it moves me, because I know I am not the only person out there feeling these things. I can only imagine there are millions of people out there whom she is singing to, who feel like me. And when you add up those millions of people, it's worthwhile. She is a soldier. She will not be defeated. I look at today's charts, at the women who are selling the most records, getting the most column inches, and I'm terrified by how so many of them are controlled by a male corporate idea of what women and rebels should be. When some teen-pop singer is taken seriously as a rebellious figure, we have a huge problem. I'm just glad that Patti is still willing to get up there and fight for what she believes in. It makes me feel less alone. Illustration by Andrea Ventura 46 Janis Joplin By Rosanne Cash Janis Joplin was absolutely a barnstormer and a complete groundbreaker. She wasn't just a great woman in rock — at the time she was the woman in rock. Janis really created this whole world of possibility for women in music: Without Janis Joplin, there would be no Melissa Etheridge. Without Janis, there would be no Chrissie Hynde, no Gwen Stefani. There would be no one. I was a freshman or sophomore in high school when Janis first connected with me. Pearl was the first record I bought. I remember that I was kind of scared. I think that if Joni Mitchell gave me the idea that a woman could write about her life in a public forum, Janis gave me the idea that a woman could live a wild life and put that out there in a public forum, too. At the time, I was this very proper Catholic girl, and Janis was a frightening presence. But being scared didn't stop me from buying Janis' records, and it didn't stop me from wearing a black armband to school the day she died. It's hard to imagine now the extent to which Janis was so completely shocking at the time. There had been blues singers who were wild and unrestrained — but even they tended to be a little more buttoned-down than Janis. She always seemed on the verge of being totally out of control. A few summers ago, I watched the Monterey Pop Festival film for the first time in ages, and I was absolutely stunned by Janis. She had this focus that was relentless. She was a spectacle, like some kind of nuclear being bearing down on the crowd. In the film, you see Mama Cass at the end of Janis' performance just shaking her head, and applauding, like, "Oh, my God, what just happened?" She had an unshakable commitment to her own truth, no matter how destructive, how weird or how bad. Nothing else seemed to matter. She was such an individual in the way she dressed, the way she sang, the way she lived. She loved her whiskey and made no bones about it. This was a full-blown one-of-a-kind woman — no stylist, no publicist, no image-maker. It was just Janis. The beauty and the power of Janis Joplin as a singer is her complete lack of fear. She held nothing back. She went to the edge every time she opened her mouth. She sang from her toes and from her soul. She could also destroy you when she got vulnerable, like on "Me and Bobby McGee," where you saw the little girl underneath. But through it all, Janis never lightened up. She didn't live long enough to lighten up. She was a very fierce, very beautiful bright light that burned out way, way too quickly. Illustration by Anita Kunz 45 The Byrds By Tom Petty The Byrds are immortal because they flew so high. For me, they're still way, way up there. They left a huge mark. First off, the Byrds were the first credible American answer to the British Invasion. All of folk rock — for lack of a better term — descends directly from the music the Byrds made. They were certainly the first to introduce any sort of country element into rock music. As if all that wasn't enough, the Byrds spurred on a good degree of Bob Dylan's popularity, too. And not to be too shallow, but they also were just the best-dressed band around. They had those great clothes and hairdos. That counted for something even then. I'll never forget hearing "Mr. Tambourine Man" for the first time on the radio — the feeling of that Rickenbacker twelve-string guitar and those incredible harmonies. Roger McGuinn told me he took that guitar sound from A Hard Day's Night, but McGuinn was a banjo player, and he played the Rickenbacker in this rolling, fingerpicking style — no one had really tried it before. George Harrison admitted that "If I Needed Someone" was his take on the Byrds' "The Bells of Rhymney." The Byrds were the only American group that the Beatles were friendly with and had a dialogue with. Those original Byrds really changed the world in that short time they were together. In some ways, they were an unlikely group to become rock & roll stars. Chris Hillman was from the bluegrass world. McGuinn had been in folk groups like the Limelighters and the Chad Mitchell Trio, as well as playing with Bobby Darin. David Crosby came out of the coffeehouse scene, too. Gene Clark played with the New Christy Minstrels. McGuinn once told me that the Byrds had to get together and really learn how to play rock & roll as a group. That was their first que st. Imagine a bunch of recovering folkies trying to learn how to make people dance. The Byrds represented Los Angeles as much as the Beach Boys, except that the Byrds were the other side of the coin — they were L.A.'s whacked-out beatnik rock group. They're part of what drew me to Los Angeles and made me want to be in a band. I got to see the Byrds once at the West Palm Beach pop festival on the same bill with the Rolling Stones. In the beginning, that was the original blueprint for the Heartbreakers — we wanted to be a mix of the Byrds and the Stones. We figured, "What could be cooler than that?" Illustration by Owen Smith 44 Public Enemy By Adam Yauch No one has been able to approach the political power that Public Enemy brought to hip-hop. I put them on a level with Bob Marley and a handful of other artists — the rare artist who can make great music and also deliver a political and social message. But where Marley's music sweetly lures you in, then sneaks in the message, Chuck D grabs you by the collar and makes you listen. I remember the first time I heard "Rebel Without a Pause": We were on tour with Run-DMC, and one day Chuck D put on a tape they had just finished. It was the first time they used those screeching horns along with this incredibly heavy beat — it was just unlike anything I had ever heard before. It blew my wig back. Later I remember listening to "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" over and over again on headphones after It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back came out. The premise of it — that the current U.S. prison system has many parallels to slavery — blew my mind, and the music is incredible: that Isaac Hayes sample and Chuck D's rhymes about a jailbreak. Like a lot of their songs, it's like watching a movie. PE completely changed the game musically. No one was just putting straight-out noise and atonal synthesizers into hip-hop, mixing elements of James Brown and Miles Davis; no one in hip-hop had ever been this hard, and perhaps no one has since. They made everything else sound clean and happy, and the power of the music perfectly matched the intention of the lyrics. They were also the first rap group to really focus on making albums — you can listen to Nation of Millions or Fear of a Black Planet from beginning to end. They aren't just random songs tossed together. To me, Chuck D is the most important MC in hip-hop. On a strictly MC'ing-skill basis, I rank him up there with the best: His power and cadences on lines like "Yes/The rhythm, the rebel/Without a pause/I'm lowering my level" is unmatched. Then if you take into account what he's actually saying, it puts him on a different plane from any other MC. The combination of him and Flavor Flav is incredibly effective: Chuck is so straight and direct, and Flav brings this wild randomness to it. They complement each other perfectly. Public Enemy made hip-hop that was more than entertainment. They inspired a lot of people who believed that you can effect change through music, and they're still inspiring to me. Illustration by Olaf Hajek 43 Sly and the Family Stone By Don Was Sly and the Family Stone didn't have to say, "Why can't we all just get along?" Looking at the band members and listening to their shared sound made the statement. On the early Sly and the Family Stone records, there was just no acknowledgment of race; they're truly utopian. A real idealism comes across loud and clear on songs like "Everyday People" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime," and people need messages like that. The band had blacks and whites, men and women. Seeing this group that embraced so many elements of society sort of drew you in as an extended family member. This was a joyous noise and a joyful vision. Sly was monumental in his contribution to music. On musical terms, the Family Stone were an amazing band, but there was no doubt Sly Stone was the leader. He is a singular funk orchestrator; Duke Ellington is probably the best reference point. No one had taken elements of funk and combined them the way Sly did. Sly orchestrated those early records in very advanced ways — a little guitar thing here that would trigger the next part that would trigger the next part. Then, as time went on, Sly started using some more dissonant colors; he became like the Cézanne of funk. It's like he took these traditional James Brown groove elements and started putting orange into the picture. Somewhere along the way, around the time of There's a Riot Goin' On, Sly got disillusioned. I think he discovered that the utopian worldview worked in his band, but when he got out in everybody else's world, he still couldn't walk into a bar in Mobile, Alabama, without getting into a fight. That will change you. Fresh is from a guy who realizes that nobody — not Sly Stone, not the Rothschilds — nobody can mess with the forces of history. Que será será. Fresh is a very deep piece of work. It's the sound of a guy who has hit the pinnacle and is free-falling. Why is Sly singing "Que Sera Sera" on the album? Because he's got no f**king control. When the magic hits, it's a gift that can go away just as quickly as it came. Without Sly, the world would be very different. Every R&B thing that came after him was influenced by this guy. The so-called revolution that was coming at the end of the Sixties: We might have lost that one, but Sly won his own personal revolution, musically and in the minds of the audience. I just hope he knows that, I hope he's not sitting around with any kind of remorse. Because by any real criteria that you measure success, this guy is a titan. Illustration by Shawn Barber 42 Van Morrison By Peter Wolf Back in 1968, the Boston Tea Party was the premier club for rock bands. My band, the Hallucinations, composed of art-school dropouts heavily drenched in R&B and Chicago blues, used the club as a rehearsal hall whenever it was available. The music we played could be described as primal, raw and heavy on attitude. We were in the midst of rehearsing one day, getting ready to open for the great bluesman Howlin' Wolf, when something caught my eye, and I looked over to see a stranger looming in the doorway. I had no idea who he was or what he was doing there, so I went over to find out what he wanted. In a thick brogue, he asked about places to play in Boston. Once I figured out who it was, I was both excited and perplexed. Excited because I'd known and admired Van Morrison's work from his debut on the charts with his group, Them. Perplexed because he seemed so lost and adrift. Despite the recent Top 40 success of his song "Brown Eyed Girl," he'd been having difficulty establishing his identity as a solo artist, but that couldn't account for the bleakness of his mood. As we talked, it became clear that we shared a passion for the same kind of music. Van gradually loosened up, and we made plans to get together again. He started dropping by the FM station where I used to do an all-night radio show. Soon we began to hang together, going out carousing in the night and sometimes getting into more mischief than we bargained for. Van was living in a small, street-level apartment in an old wooden house on Green Street in Cambridge. He, his new wife, her young son. They were flat-out broke. The place was bleak and barren, with little more than a mattress on the floor, a refrigerator, an acoustic guitar and a reel-to-reel tape recorder. They had no phone and little food. It was hard times: He was in exile, with a family to feed, no money, no band, no recording contract and no promise of any safe or legal way out. Even the reason he moved to Boston remained a mystery. Whenever Van had to make business calls, he would walk several blocks to my place to use the phone. It seemed that my apartment also offered him a break from the near-despair of his complicated and unresolved life. He would spend endless hours going through my records. Over and over, we would listen to what he called "the gospel" of Jackie Wilson, Ray Charles, Hank Williams, Louis Jordan, Billy Stewart, Elvis and John Lee Hooker. "They're the real deal," he'd say. He played Gene Chandler's live version of "Rainbow '65" so much, I had to get a new needle for my turntable. Many nights were spent checking out different clubs, but few people knew who Van was. Sometimes he would show up at my band's gigs. One night, as we started the intro to his song "Gloria," I called him onstage even though he was reluctant to sing it. When he came up, he went into a brilliant scat that rivaled King Pleasure himself. Unfortunately, the audience didn't want this "unknown" singer changing the familiar delivery of a song that was fast becoming a true rock classic. Eventually, Van managed to assemble a two-piece acoustic band and booked himself at a coffeehouse/jazz club that could only be described as subterranean. It was located three stories below a pool parlor and was deep, damp and dark. Egyptian motifs were painted on its yellow smoke-stained walls. The club justly deserved its name: the Catacombs. I borrowed a tape machine to capture the evening's music. What he performed that night later turned out to be the song cycle that made up the groundbreaking Astral Weeks. Though only a handful of people showed up, when Van finished playing, there was no doubt that the few present had witnessed something extraordinary. When I see Van now, I still see the same raw power and passion that he displayed more than 40 years ago in the long-forgotten Catacombs. I admire the strength and mysterious ability to transcend the despair and chaos that could have so easily trapped and overwhelmed him. He has created a body of work that reflects without imitation. The gospel according to Van: "Turn it up, turn it up, a little bit higher/You know it's got soul" and "it's too late to stop now!" Illustration by Tim Bower 41 The Doors By Marilyn Manson Jim Morrison said it best: "all the children are insane," and he meant it like I mean it. We are children revolted by the banality of what people think is sane. When Jim rambled, quite profoundly, "Rock & roll is dead," and "Hitler is still alive…. I slept with her last night," he knew then what we are choking on now. You can't change the world, and if you try, you just end up destroying it. We love all things to death. We leave the lights on, turn everything up to 10 and f**k everything we fear. In 10th grade I was told to read No One Here Gets Out Alive, the biography of Jim Morrison. Everything I'm interested in now got started with that book. It made me want to be a writer, and I started with poetry and short stories. We don't know what was really going on in Morrison's head, but I liked trying to piece it together. The immortality of his words, the mystery of his existence appealed to my sense of fantasy. I found "Moonlight Drive" — particularly when accompanied by "Horse Latitudes" — scary and sexually mystifying, like Happy Days told by Ted Bundy. I read the poem in front of my 10th-grade English class, and it was as awe-inspiring then as it is now. Words like "mute nostril agony" and "carefully refined and sealed over" always stung in the corners of my eyes. I think the Doors still fit in because they never fit in in the first place. They didn't have a bass player. The music often had nothing to do with what Morrison was singing. The keyboard held everything together. Most bands can still get through a show if the keyboardist breaks a finger. Not the Doors. Robby Krieger played very odd guitar parts if you compare him to Jimmy Page or Keith Richards. Yet all this combined into something unique that grabbed people's attention. Morrison's voice was a beautiful pond for anything to drown in. Whatever he sang became as deep as he was. He had the unnameable thing that people will always be drawn to. I've always thought of the Doors as the first punk band, even more than the Stooges or the Ramones. They didn't sound anything like punk rock, but Morrison outshined everyone else when it came to rebellion and not playing by anyone else's rules. There are a lot of bands that seem to want to sound like the Doors filtered through grunge or neogrunge — or whatever it is. But it's all just ideas pasted on ideas, faded copies of copies. If you want to be like Jim Morrison, don't try. You can't be anything like Jim Morrison. It's about finding your own place in the world. Illustration by Dan Brown 40 Simon and Garfunkel By James Taylor I remember when my older brother Alex and my youngest brother, Hugh, both brought home Simon and Garfunkel albums. The music stood by itself, quite apart from anything else around at the time. Simon and Garfunkel brought something new to music: They brought themselves. Through it all — whether they were together or not — they've remained a force in American music and culture. Their impact has been huge. To use a hackneyed phrase, they scored some of the most meaningful years of our lives. Think of how their songs worked in The Graduate — these were songs that spoke to a generation, in a motion picture that also spoke for a generation. Paul Simon has just always been one of our best songwriters. Paul's breakthrough came at a time when there was so much in the air, and many of his songs were picked up as anthems. He creates an unusually rich and full world, and he has such a broad palette, from basic and elemental folk music, like "Scarborough Fair," to later songs with far greater sophistication and more worldly approaches on solo work, like "Something So Right" and "Still Crazy After All These Years." And Art Garfunkel is one of those great, rare voices. I would know it anywhere at the drop of a hat, in half a bar. Over the years, I've been able to work with Paul and Art — the first time was with Art on a song of mine called "A Junkie's Lament." Art inhabits the songs like Louis Armstrong did — you don't just get his version of a song, you get his take on it. It is moving to see them sing together now after all these years. That kind of partnership is like a marriage, only more difficult and more public. You have two very strong, very willful individuals sharing this tight space. I was around Apple Records as the Beatles were disintegrating, and you realize that it's not an uncommon pattern. And perhaps because it wasn't something that came easy, it's all the more inspiring and reassuring to see that Paul and Art can still pull off such great reunions. Illustration by Jody Hewgill 39 David Bowie By Lou Reed David Bowie's contribution to rock & roll has been wit and sophistication. He's smart, he's a true musician and he can really sing. He's got such a big range: I like the Ziggy Stardust voice, but he's got a lot of different voices. He's got his crooner voice, when he wants to. And he has a melodic sense that's just well above anyone else in rock & roll. Most people could not sing some of his melodies. He can really go for a high note. Take "Satellite of Love," on my Transformer album. There's a part at the very end where his voice goes all the way up. It's fabulous. There had been androgyny in rock from Little Richard on up, but David put his own patina on it, to say the least. He bethought hard about that Ziggy character; he'd been studying mime, and he didn't do it just for laughs. He was very aware of stagecraft. He made an entire show out of that character — and then he left it behind. How smart can you get? Can you imagine if he had to keep doing Ziggy? I mean, if you listened to what critics and audiences say, you'd be playing four songs over and over again. David set himself up to do other characters, like the Thin White Duke. And his take on American soul music, on albums like Young Americans, was incredibly good; the original material he wrote was great. I can't pick a favorite Bowie record. It always depends on my mood — any of the dance records; Ziggy Stardust; I always liked "The Bewlay Brothers," that track on Hunky Dory. And the albums he did with Brian Eno, like Low and "Heroes," are just phenomenal. He's always changing, so you never get tired of what he's doing. And I mean all the way up to his later records: "The Loneliest Guy" on his album Reality is a great song. Yet another one. David and I are still friends after all these years, amazingly enough. We go to the occasional art show and museum together, and I always like working with him. I really love what David does. I remember seeing him play in New York on the Reality tour a few years back, and it was one of the greatest rock & roll shows I have ever seen. At least as far as white people go. Seriously. Illustration by Marco Ventura 38 John Lennon By Lenny Kravitz I loved the Beatles' music growing up, but I didn't become aware of John Lennon's solo music until I was making my first album, Let Love Rule. There was this guy who was going to manage me; when he heard the raw tapes of my early songs, like "Be," he said, "Have you ever heard John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band? Because your stuff sounds like him." So I bought Plastic Ono Band, and I listened to it over and over for months. It's a monumental work of genius. I was blown away by how minimal it was, and how expressive it was. Lennon had just finished doing primal-scream therapy, and he was just unloading all this stuff, about his mother leaving him, about the Beatles and about who he was. A lot of people identify themselves by their success instead of who they are as people. Lennon showed us who he was as a person. He had just come from being in the biggest group on the planet; most people in his position would say, "How do I keep this up? I don't want to come down off this pedestal." He didn't care; he got butt-naked on the cover of Two Virgins, with his dick hanging out. On Plastic Ono Band, he stripped it down musically: He went into a studio with just a guitar, a bass, a piano and drums, and he made a raw record. The attitude and emotion of that album are harder than any punk rock I've ever heard. And the honesty of that music is why I became an enormous fan of his solo work, maybe even more than what he did with the Beatles. It inspired me and made me want to go deeper with my own songwriting. As a guitarist, Lennon had a great feel — something that can outshine a guy with a million chops. He's not a virtuoso, he's not Jimi Hendrix, but if you listen to those early Beatles records, there are some serious guitar intricacies going on between him and George Harrison. One of my favorite Lennon solo tracks is "How Do You Sleep?" — the guitar is incredibly funky. Not many people remember that Lennon co-wrote "Fame" with David Bowie; he had a really cool funky side. If he were around today, I think he would have gotten interested in hip-hop. He'd have wanted to blend the different things going on in our culture. Lennon was more than just a musician; he was more like a prophet. He stated his political point of view and spoke out against war, even when that meant he was being followed and hassled by the U.S. government. "Imagine" is one of the greatest songs ever written. It's like a church hymn, and it states his beliefs quite clearly. And more than anything, Lennon was an icon for peace. That's hard to find these days. Illustration by Mark Gagnon 37 Roy Orbison By K.D. Lang I've always compared Roy Orbison to a tree: passive and beautiful yet extremely solid. He maintained a sense of humility and sensitivity and gentleness uncommon to his era. He wasn't effeminate but extremely gentle. He was someone you felt entirely safe with, whether you were listening to his records or being around him. It wasn't like Elvis: It wasn't like your loins were on fire or anything like that. It's more like Roy was a private place to go — a solace or a refuge. He broke the mold of the Fifties tough-guy thing, and even the style of his music was a kind of fine art for somebody from Wink, Texas. It was cosmopolitan in a mysteriously soft and romantic way. Roy Orbison was like a folk opera singer. I think he was influenced by Spanish opera in structure and in feel. He also loved to express his voice in this upper range, in falsetto. He was vulnerable and strong at the same time. He was extremely earnest in his voice and his appearance, and yet he had this veil of mystery to him. In 1987, Roy and I recorded a version of "Crying" for a movie called Hiding Out. We ended up recording "Crying" in Vancouver, which is where I lived. I walked into the studio, and it was like staring at the huge image of the Marlboro Man on Sunset Boulevard — so immediately ominous and present. We were rehearsing the song in the studio with the band, and Roy and I happened to be sharing a mic. When we got to a part where we were singing at the same time, we both leaned into the mic and our cheeks touched. His cheek was so soft, and the energy was so amazing. Not sexual but totally explosive, like the chemistry of some sort of kinship. I'll never forget what that felt like. I can hear that voice right in my ear. His vibrato was sort of fast and had a small waver within it, and that's what gave him the vulnerable sound. That voice. Illustration by Cynthia Von Buhler 36 Madonna By Britney Spears I'm sorry, but I'd rather meet Madonna than the president of the United States. Madonna has this thing about her that you can't explain — the thing that makes somebody a star. When she walks into the room, you just have to take notice. She's so comfortable with herself, and she's not afraid to live life to the fullest and to say whatever she feels, no matter what anyone thinks. There's something kind of childlike about that; it's a beautiful, amazing thing. Madonna was the first female pop star to take control of every aspect of her career and to take responsibility for creating her image, no matter how much flak she might get. She's proved that she can do so many different things — music and movies and being a parent, too. Her music has become iconic: Songs like "Holiday" or "Live to Tell" are timeless — not just disposable hits. They feel like home. She has her spells of being moody and vibey and spiritual, but her words are so easy to relate to. She's a diva and does what she wants, but she's a loving person. The first time I met her was when I flew to visit her at one of her shows in 2001. I walked into her dressing room, and her daughter, Lola, was there, and I felt really nervous. I said to Madonna, "Can I just hug you?" I was so stupid! But she was so nice about it. I would definitely not be here, doing what I'm doing, if it wasn't for Madonna. I remember being eight or nine years old, running around my living room singing and dancing and wanting so much to be like her. All my girlfriends still listen to her stuff. We're all mesmerized by her. Madonna's stage presence has inspired so many artists. You can see her influence in the recent generations of artists who have picked up some of her moves and have been influenced by her style. Madonna has done so much, and she's been around so long, and the bitch still looks good! She's spent years in the public eye, and that can be really hard for anyone to deal with. But she dug deep and started writing from her heart. Madonna has so much light inside her, and she's so much more noticeable than all of the rest of us. She stuck to what she believed in and did what she felt. It's part of her art — to just be herself. Illustration by Tim O'Brien 35 Michael Jackson By Antonio "L.A." Reid Michael Jackson was the world's greatest entertainer. One of the most explosive performances I've ever witnessed was Jackson sliding across the stage at the Motown 25th-anniversary show. Just watching that made us all know: That's what greatness is, and anything that doesn't measure up to that is beneath greatness. Before him there were the Beatles and Elvis and Frank Sinatra; Michael Jackson takes his place right alongside those greats. I was born around the same time as Michael, and I was one of the original fans. I first saw him at the Ohio State Fair, when I was very young; the Jackson 5 were performing with the Commodores. Michael came on, and that voice of his rang over the whole fairground. I was deeply touched by that voice from the very beginning. "Billie Jean" is the most important record he made, not only because of its commercial success but because of the musical depth of the record. It has more hooks in it than anything I've ever heard. Everything in that song was catchy, and every instrument was playing a different hook. You could separate it into 12 different musical pieces and I think you'd have 12 different hits. Every day, I look for that kind of song. Michael has influenced so many artists, some of whom are picking up on the grandeur and showmanship of his live performances. You can see his influence in his sister Janet, in Justin Timberlake, Usher, Britney Spears, and in Justin Bieber and so many others. You can see his influence in the dance moves — the syncopated choreography — that a lot of young artists use. And a lot of them have picked up his work ethic. When you look at a Justin Timberlake production or an Usher production, you really see that they took a page out of Michael's book; they went to rehearsal, and they must've worked eight hours a day, because their shows are flawless, as Michael's shows were flawless. Late in his life, there were many, many people who thought of Michael as a spectacle, and it was sad. The world without Michael Jackson is a very, very different world. And I think we should all feel very blessed that an artist of that caliber came into our lives, because he enriched our lives. Illustration by Gerard DuBois 34 Neil Young By Flea There's a rare contradiction in Neil Young's work. He works so hard as a songwriter, and he's written a phenomenal number of perfect songs. And, at the same time, he doesn't give a f**k. That comes from caring about essence. There can be things out of tune and all wild-sounding and not recorded meticulously. And he doesn't care. He's made whole albums that aren't great, and instead of going back to a formula that he knows works, he would rather represent where he is at the time. That's what's so awesome: watching his career wax and wane according to the truth of his character at the moment. It's never phony. It's always real. The truth is not always perfect. I can't say enough about how much I love Crazy Horse. The sound is so deep, the groove is so deep — even when they're off, it still sounds great, because they feel it so much. I don't usually go for that approach. I like Sly and the Family Stone, Miles Davis and Mingus. I like consummate steady musicianship. I grew up on jazz. I didn't listen to rock music until I played in my first rock band when I was in high school. I went from progressive to Hendrix to funk to full-on L.A. punk. That's when I had the realization that emotion and content, no matter how simple, were valuable. A great one-chord punk song became as important to me as a Coltrane solo, and I've had the same feeling about Neil Young. He changed the way I thought about rock music. As a bass player, I used to be into very boisterous, syncopated and rhythmically complex songs. After hearing Neil, I appreciated simplicity, the poignancy of "less is more." My favorite Neil album is Zuma, with "Pardon My Heart" and "Lookin' for a Love": "But I hope I treat her kind/And don't mess with her mind/When she starts to see the darker side of me." And "Tell Me Why," on After the Gold Rush — when he says, "Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself/When you're old enough to repay but young enough to sell?" it feels like me. I know I'm not alone. Tonight's the Night is probably the greatest raw rock record ever made, on a level with the Stooges' Fun House or any Hendrix album. It's such a mess, with stuff recorded so loud that it distorts. The background vocals are completely out of tune. And I wouldn't change a note. It's the spirit of what rock music is, and it's the reason to play rock music. Neil is the guy I look at when I think about getting older in a rock band and still having dignity and relevance and honesty. He's never, ever sold out, and he's never pretended to be anything other than what he is. The Chili Peppers get offers all the time to sell songs for commercials. Maybe we could whore ourselves out for the right price someday. But I always think, "Would Neil Young do this?" And the answer is no. Neil Young wouldn't f**kin' do it. Illustration by Dan Brown 33 The Everly Brothers By Paul Simon The roots of the Everly Brothers are very, very deep in the soil of American culture. First of all, you should know that the Everly Brothers were child stars. They had a radio show with their family, and their father, Ike, was an influential country guitar player, so he attracted other significant musicians to the Everlys' world — among them Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, who was instrumental in getting the Everlys on the Grand Ole Opry. Perhaps even more powerfully than Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers melded country with the emerging sound of Fifties rock & roll. They were exposed to extraordinary country-roots music, and so they brought with them the legacy of the great brother groups like the Delmore Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys into the Fifties, where they mingled with the other early rock pioneers and made history in the process. The Everly Brothers' impact exceeds even their fame. They were a big influence on John Lennon and Paul McCartney — who called themselves the Foreverly Brothers early on — and, of course, on Simon and Garfunkel. When we were kids, Artie and I got our rock & roll chops from the Everlys. Later, as Simon and Garfunkel, we put "Bye Bye Love" on Bridge Over Troubled Water, and much later, Phil and Don both sang on the song "Graceland." Before the Everly Brothers joined Artie and me on the road in 2003, Phil and Don had actually quietly retired three years earlier. They basically came out of retirement for us. I said, "Phil, look, if you're going to retire, you might as well come out one more time and take a bow and let me at least say what it is that you meant to us and to the culture." You know, the Everlys have a long history of knocking each other down, as brothers can do. So in a certain sense, it was hilarious that the four of us were doing this tour, given our collective histories of squabbling. And it's amazing, because they hadn't seen each other in about three years. They met in the parking lot before the first gig. They unpacked their guitars — those famous black guitars — and they opened their mouths and started to sing. And after all those years, it was still that sound I fell in love with as a kid. It was still perfect. Illustration by Rob Day 32 Smokey Robinson and the Miracles By Bob Seger I used to go to the Motown revues, and the Miracles always closed the show. They were that good, and everybody knew it. Not flash at all. The Supremes had bigger hits. The Temptations had the better dance moves. The Miracles did it with pure music. Back then the radio played the rougher stuff, like "Do You Love Me," by the Contours, only at night. Smokey Robinson — they played him all day. Everybody loved his songs, and he had a leg up on all the other singers, with that slightly raspy, very high voice. Smokey was smoky. He could rasp in falsetto, which is hard to do and perfect for a sad ballad like "The Tears of a Clown" or "The Tracks of My Tears." Smokey wrote his own stuff, so he had an originality or individualism that maybe the other Motown greats didn't. He was a lyric man as well as a melody man, a musicians' musician. It's kinda like Hollywood, where you have the star, and then you have the actors' actor. Gene Hackman — when was the last time that guy gave a bad performance? Smokey was the Gene Hackman of Motown. I grew up in the black neighborhoods of Ann Arbor, Michigan, so I didn't think in terms of black music or white music. It was all just music to me. Smokey's first hit, "Shop Around," was one of the first records I bought. Later on, when my brother went into the service and I was the sole support of my mother, I was playing bars six nights a week, five 45-minute sets a night. This was '63-'67, and I could make the most money playing in a trio. We had a medley of six Smokey songs that we played at least twice every night: "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," "Shop Around," "Bad Girl," "Way Over There" and a couple of others. It was a survival move — the people demanded it. Also, if you were after a girl in the audience, it was always a good idea to do some Smokey. Smokey was also known as the nicest guy at Motown, which you hear in his voice. I used to do a Canadian television show called Swingin' Time, and everyone from Detroit would show up: the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations. All of them nice people, but Smokey was particularly a gentleman. I saw him again around '87 at an awards show. I was able to tell him how much I appreciated his writing, and all the money I made playing his songs in bars. I have great memories. Thank you, Smokey. Illustration by Marc Burckhardt 31 Johnny Cash By Kris Kristofferson Johnny Cash was a biblical character. He was like some old preacher, one of those dangerous old wild ones. He was like a hero you'd see in a Western. He was a giant. And he never lost that stature. I don't think we'll see anyone like him again. Of course, the first thing he'll be remembered for is the power and originality of his music. The first time I heard Johnny Cash was when he released "I Walk the Line" in 1956. It was unlike anything I'd ever heard. Elvis had had a lot of hits by that point, but "I Walk the Line" was completely different. It didn't sound much like any of the country music that was popular at the time, either. There was always a kind of dark energy around John and his music. My first hero, when I was a kid, was Hank Williams, and he had a similar energy. You could tell they were both wild men. As a songwriter, I've always loved his lyrics. At the beginning of his career, John released a bunch of powerful songs in a very short time. For me, the best one was always "Big River." It's so well-written, so unlike anything else. The lines don't even seem to rhyme. "I met her accidentally in St. Paul, Minnesota/And it tore me up every time I heard her drawl." His imagery was so powerful: "Then you took me to St. Louis later on, down the river/A freighter said she's been here/But she's gone, boy, she's gone/I found her trail in Memphis/But she just walked up the bluff/She raised a few eyebrows, and then she went on down alone." The first time I saw John live, I was on leave from the Army, visiting Nashville. He was playing the Grand Ole Opry, and I was watching from backstage — and he was the most exciting performer I'd ever seen. At the time, he was skinnier than a snake, and he was just electric. He used to prowl the stage like a panther. He looked like he might explode up there. And in fact, there were times when he did. One night at the Opry, he knocked out all of the footlights. I think they banned him for a while after that. But they banned Hank Williams, too. They were a pretty conservative crowd. The main thing about John, though — the thing that everybody could sense — was his integrity, the integrity of his relationship with his music, with his life and with other people. He stood up for Bob Dylan when everyone in the music business was criticizing Dylan for going electric. And he did the same for me, in the Eighties, when I was taking a lot of criticism for going down to Nicaragua. That's the kind of guy he always was. He stood up for the underdog. I thought that The Man Comes Around, one of the last albums John did, was terrific. His version of "Danny Boy" kills me every time. I think he'll be remembered for the way he grew as a person and an artist. He went from being this guy who was as wild as Hank Williams to being almost as respected as one of the fathers of our country. He was friends with presidents and with Billy Graham. You felt like he should've had his face on Mount Rushmore. Illustration by Tim O'Brien 30 Nirvana By Iggy Pop The first time I saw Nirvana was at the Pyramid Club, a rank, wonderful, anything-goes dive bar on Avenue A in New York. It wasn't known for having live bands; it was known more for cross-dressing and bar dancing. I had a photographer friend, and he told me, "There's a really hot band from Seattle you have to see. They're gonna play the Pyramid, of all places!" You could smell the talent on Kurt Cobain. He had this sort of elfin delivery, but it was not naval gazing. He was jumping around and throwing himself into every number. He'd sort of hunch over his guitar like an evil little troll, but you heard this throaty power in his voice. At the end of the set he tossed himself into the drums. It was one of maybe 15 performances I've seen where rock & roll is very, very good. After that, I bought Bleach, and listened to it in Europe and Asia on tour. I still like this album very much, but there was one song, "About a Girl," that's not like the rest of the album. It sounded like someone gave Thorazine to the Beatles. And I thought, "If he puts out a record full of that, he's gonna get really rich." And sure enough … I met Kurt at a club in L.A. right before Nevermind came out. We took a picture and he said, "Come on, let's give the finger!" So we did. I bought Nevermind and I thought, "This has really got it." Nirvana genuinely achieved dynamics. They took you down, they took you up, and when they pressed a certain button, they took you over. They rocked without rushing and they managed melody without being insipid. It was emotional without sounding dated or corny or weak. Some time later, Kurt reached out to me. I missed the call, but my wife took the message: "Kurt Cobain wants to go into the studio with you." See, I'm 113 years old now; I was about 72 in the Nineties, so I was going to bed at, like, 10 p.m., and he was just getting going around 11. I did call him back a couple of times. The number was from the Four Seasons in L.A., and I would get these responses like, "Mr. Cobain has not left the room for three days" or "Mr. Cobain is under the bed." As for his legacy: He was Johnny B. Goode. He was the last example that I can think of within rock & roll where a poor kid with no family backup from a small, rural area effected a serious emotional explosion in a significant sector of world youth. It was not made in Hollywood. There were no chrome parts. It was very down-home at its root. Somebody who is truly nobody from nowhere reached out and touched the world. He may have touched it right on its wound. Illustration by Josie Jammet 29 The Who By Eddie Vedder The Who began as spectacle. They became spectacular. Early on, the band was in pure demolition mode; later, on albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia, it coupled that raw energy with precision and desire to complete musical experiments on a grand scale. They asked, "What were the limits of rock & roll? Could the power of music actually change the way you feel?" Pete Townshend demanded that there be spiritual value in music. They were an incredible band whose main songwriter happened to be on a quest for reason and harmony in his life. He shared that journey with the listener, becoming an inspiration for others to seek out their own path. They did all this while also being in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band. Presumptuously, I speak for all Who fans when I say being a fan of the Who has incalculably enriched my life. What disturbs me about the Who is the way they smashed through every door of rock & roll, leaving rubble and not much else for the rest of us to lay claim to. In the beginning they took on an arrogance when, as Pete says, "We were actually a very ordinary group." As they became accomplished, this attitude stuck. Therein lies the thread to future punks. They wanted to be louder, so they had Jim Marshall invent the 100-watt amp. Needed more volume, so they began stacking them. It is said that some of the first guitar feedback ever to make it to record was on "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," in 1965. The Who told stories within the confines of a song and, over the course of an entire album, pushed boundaries. How big of a story could be told? And how would it transmit (pre-video screens, etc.) to a large crowd? Smash the instruments? Keith Moon said they wanted to grab the audience by the balls. Pete countered that like the German auto-destructive movement, where they made sculpture that would collapse and buildings that would explode, it was high art. I was around nine when a baby sitter snuck Who's Next onto the turntable. The parents were gone. The windows shook. The shelves were rattling. Rock & roll. That began an exploration into music that had soul, rebellion, aggression, affection. Destruction. And this was all Who music. There was the mid-Sixties maximum- R&B period, mini-operas, Woodstock, solo records. Imagine, as a kid, stumbling upon the locomotive that is Live at Leeds. "Hi, my name is Eddie. I'm 10 years old and I'm getting my f**king mind blown!" The Who on record were dynamic. Roger Daltrey's delivery allowed vulnerability without weakness; doubt and confusion, but no plea for sympathy. (You should hear Roger's vocal on a song called "Lubie [Come Back Home]," a bonus track from the reissue of their first album, The Who Sings My Generation. It's top-gear.) The Who quite possibly remain the greatest live band ever. Even the list-driven punk legend and music historian Johnny Ramone agreed with me on this. You can't explain Keith Moon or his playing. John Entwistle was an enigma unto himself, another virtuoso musical oddity. Roger turned his mic into a weapon, seemingly in self-defense. All the while, Pete was leaping into the rafters wielding a Seventies Gibson Les Paul, which happens to be a stunningly heavy guitar. As a live group, they created momentum, and they seemed to be released by the ritual of their playing. (Check out "A Quick One While He's Away," from the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus.) A few years ago in Chicago, I saw Pete wring notes out of his guitar like a mechanic squeezing oil from a rag. I watched as the guitar became a living being, one getting its body bashed and its neck strangled. As Pete set it down, I swear I sensed relief coming from that guitar. A Stratocaster with sweat on it. The guitar's sweat. John and Keith made the Who what they were. Roger was the rock. And at this point, Pete has been through and survived more than anyone in rock royalty. Perhaps even beyond Keith Richards, who was actually guilty of most things he was accused of. The songwriter-listener relationship grows deeper after all the years. Pete saw that a celebrity in rock is charged by the audience with a function, like, "You stand there and we will know ourselves." Not "You stand there and we will pay you loads of money to keep us entertained as we eat our oysters." He saw the connection could be profound. He also realized the audience may say, "When we're finished with you, we'll replace you with somebody else." For myself and so many others (including shopkeepers, foremen, professionals, bellboys, gravediggers, directors, musicians), they won't be replaced. Yes, Pete, it's true, music can change you. Illustration by Christian Clayton 28 The Clash By The Edge The Clash, more than any other group, kick-started a thousand garage bands across Ireland and the U.K. For U2 and other people of our generation, seeing them perform was a life-changing experience. There's really no other way to describe it. I can vividly remember when I first saw the Clash. It was in Dublin in October 1977. They were touring behind their first album, and they played a 1,200-capacity venue at Trinity College. Dublin had never seen anything like it. It really had a massive impact around here, and I still meet people who are in the music business today — maybe they are DJs, maybe they are in bands — because they saw that show. U2 were a young band at the time, and it was a complete throw-down to us. It was like: Why are you in music? What the hell is music all about, anyway? The members of the Clash were not world-class musicians by any means, but the racket they made was undeniable — the pure, visceral energy and the anger and the commitment. They were raw in every sense, and they were not ashamed that they were about much more than playing with precision and making sure the guitars were in tune. This wasn't just entertainment. It was a life-and-death thing. They made it possible for us to take our band seriously. I don't think that we would have gone on to become the band we are if it wasn't for that concert and that band. There it was. They showed us what you needed. And it was all about heart. The social and political content of the songs was a huge inspiration, certainly for U2. It was the call to wake up, get wise, get angry, get political and get noisy about it. It's interesting that the members were quite different characters. Paul Simonon had an art-school background, and Joe Strummer was the son of a diplomat. But you really sensed they were comrades in arms. They were completely in accord, railing against injustice, railing against a system they were just sick of. And they thought it had to go. I saw them a couple of times after the Dublin show, and they always had something fresh going on. It's a shame that they weren't around longer. The music they made is timeless. It's got so much fighting spirit, so much heart, that it just doesn't age. You can still hear it in Green Day and No Doubt, Nirvana and the Pixies, certainly U2. They meant it, and you can hear it in their work. Illustration by Sterling Hundley 27 Prince By Ahmir Thompson Prince was forbidden in my closed, Christian household. He was somewhere between Richard Pryor — whom we absolutely couldn't listen to — and a stash of porn. In junior high, my parents would put $30 or $40 in an envelope, and that would buy a card that would cover a month of school lunches. It was November of 1982, and I took my $36 and purchased Prince's 1999, What Time Is It?, by the Time, and the Vanity 6 album. I starved that whole month. "Little Red Corvette" from 1999 was one of the first regularly played songs by a black artist on MTV; Prince crossed boundaries like that all the time. In the first five songs on Sign 'O' the Times, he sprawls across James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Curtis Mayfield in five easy swoops and maintains his own identity. But it's Purple Rain that was a crowning achievement, not only in Prince's career but for black life — or how blacks were perceived — in the Eighties. It's the equivalent of Michael Jordan's 1997 championship games: He was absolutely just in the zone, every shot was going in. "When Doves Cry" is one of the most radical Number One songs of the past 25 years. Here's a song with no bass line in it, hardly any music. Yet it's still had such an influence; "When Doves Cry" is a precursor to the Neptunes' one-note funk grind, a masterpiece of song with just a drum machine and very little melody. Purple Rain was a great movie too. Anyone who saw Eminem's biopic, 8 Mile, if they're over 35, the first words out of their mouth are, "Oh, I liked that film the first time I saw it back in the Eighties. It was this Prince movie called Purple Rain." Prince must be one of the most bootlegged artists of the rock era — on a weekly basis I listen to a bootleg called The Dream Factory, which would later be known as Sign 'O' the Times. His ability to create on the spot is mind-boggling. Like a hip-hop MC freestyling, he executes ideas off the top of his head in a very convincing manner. But there must be at least 20 ways to prove that hip-hop is damn-near patterned after Prince, including his genius, blatant use of sexuality and the use of controversy as a way to get attention. I don't think any artist before had used that level of sex to get in the door and be accepted by the mainstream. I wonder what his mind state was in 1981, standing onstage in kiddie briefs, leg warmers and high heels without a Number One hit. That was a risk. Also, Prince created the image of what we now know as the video ho — he was a pioneer of objectifying and empowering women at the same time. Jay-Z often talks about ghostwriting for other artists; Prince is notorious for ghostwriting. Not only that, but he invented different aliases for himself in a way that rappers have adopted — he was Jamie Starr, Joey Coco or Alexander Nevermind. I met Prince in 1996, and I was prepared for the grasshopper voice, the one that he always uses at award shows, but he was totally normal. Just like you and me, except he's Prince. We played together a few times, and one of my hero moments of all time is after a concert in New York when me, him and D'Angelo got onstage and played for about a half-hour. His period of silence about a decade ago bothered me. It was really a shame that his fight for independence from the labels was a David and Goliath battle that he had to fight alone. But judging from what he's done lately, I'm happy to say that he hasn't lost a step in his 30 years of doing it. He seems as young and as in charge as ever. He definitely seizes the moment. In case a few people counted him out, he's got a few trump cards up his sleeve. Illustration by Chris Kasch 26 The Ramones By Lenny Kaye Every rock & roll generation needs reminding of why it picks up a guitar in the first place, and four nonbrothers from the borough of Queens had a concept that was almost too perfect. Their look — ripped jeans, tight T-shirt, high-top sneakers, bowl haircut and black motorcycle jacket — was a cartoon version of rock's tough-guy ethos. When they first started, they played what they knew how to play, which wasn't much, and worked it to their advantage. They opted for speed rather than complexity, they aspired to be the Beach Boys, Alice Cooper and the Bay City Rollers, and their rotational three chords and headlong lunge kept them skidding through the simpleton catchphrases of their singalongs. The Ramones were pure, unadulterated — and hardly adult in their adolescent concerns of sniffing glue and beating on brats with a baseball bat, even if the brats were themselves. Their sibling rivalry meshed like any television reality show. Johnny was the stern older brother, disciplined, military; Dee Dee was the blunt instrument; Tommy was the producer who knew the record business, and like any good producer, knew that you build a great track from the drums out. Joey was the beating heart. The Ramones had their act so together that they would change it only in increments for two decades after they took it out of the CBGB nest in 1975. They were easily understood, translatable. When the band got to England on Independence Day 1976, returning the favor of the English Invasion in a fun-house mirror, it was a frontal assault on here-we-go-again pop subculture. The Ramones always believed in their music's message of self-deliverance. They affirmed that if they could do it, you could do it; just be resolute. Count to four. When I think of a Ramones moment, I remember not the early years — when the bands played for each other on the Bowery, and each was like a different world — but a late afternoon in May, somewhere in New England, a daylong festival, maybe the early Eighties. I'm standing backstage with Johnny, and we're talking about nothing much, guitars we've known, the Red Sox, and finally the conversation stops, and we just look around, quiet in the midst of electric noise, seeing where rock & roll has brought us on this beautiful afternoon, playing the music we love. Illustration bya Dan Adel 25 Fats Domino By Dr. John After John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Fats Domino and his partner, Dave Bartholomew, were probably the greatest team of songwriters ever. They always had a simple melody, a hip set of chord changes and a cool groove. And their songs all had simple lyrics; that’s the key. There are no deep plots in Fats Domino songs: “Yes, it’s me, and I’m in love again/Had no lovin’ since you know when/You know I love you, yes I do/And I’m savin’ all my lovin’ just for you.” It don’t get no simpler than that. Even when Fats Domino did songs by somebody else, it was still Fats. He could really lock in with his band and play those hard-driving boogie shuffles — it was pre-funk stuff, and it was New Orleans, and he did it all his way. One thing that most people miss, which he did on some of his biggest records, like “Blueberry Hill”: He could do piano rolls with both hands. A couple of guys, like Allen Toussaint, could do Fats to a T, but with Fats, there was brothsome little different thing. He was like Thelonious Monk that way. You can always tell when it’s Monk and when it’s somebody trying to play like Monk. I give a lot of credit to Dave Bartholomew, Fats’ producer and songwriting partner. They were a team. Dave produced records perfect for Fats. He had the sense to go with the best-feeling take when they were recording. People would have missed something great about Fats if they had just heard the more “correct” takes — the ones without that extra off-the-wall thing that Fats would bring. You can’t hardly hear the bass on some of Fats’ early records. Later, they started doubling the bass line with the guitar, and it made for a very distinctive sound. That became standard with Phil Spector. I don’t know if Phil picked it up from Fats or from somebody who picked it up from Fats, but it started with Fats. You can hear a lot of Fats in Jerry Lee Lewis. Anytime anybody plays a slow blues, the piano player will eventually get to something like Fats. I can’t tell you the number of times I played sessions and was asked specifically to do Fats. Eighty kajillion little bands all through the South — we all had to play Fats Domino songs. Everybody, everywhere. Fats is old school to the max — he loved to work the house, do looooong shows and push the piano across the stage with his belly. That innocence is there in his music. He’s a good man, and people respond to that goodness. I don’t think it was about anything other than the tradition of working the house and what felt good to Fats. When all the payola scandals were happening and it looked bad for rock & roll, Fats did an interview in some magazine. He said, “I don’t know what all the trouble is about us being a bad influence on teenagers. I’m just playing the same music I played all my life.” That’s what Fats was about. He didn’t look on what he did as special or different. He just did what Fats did. Illustration by Jody Hewgill 24 Jerry Lee Lewis By Moby I'd be curious to know how many pianos Jerry Lee Lewis has gone through in his lifetime. Whoever was responsible for keeping the piano in tune and making sure it didn't fall apart at Sun Studio must have wept every time he showed up to play. I don't know what switch got flipped in his brain when he was born that compelled him to play so fast and so hard, but I'm glad it got flipped. There's a perhaps apocryphal story that when he and his cousin, the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, were children, they went to a roadhouse and listened through the window to some amazing R&B band. Jimmy Swaggart supposedly said, "This is the devil's music! We have to leave!" But Jerry Lee just stood there transfixed and couldn't tear himself away. He was an evangelist for the devil's music. If you listen to his records, they sound more punk rock than just about anything any contemporary punk band is doing. His records sound faster than they actually are, and they sound louder than they actually are. If you listen to them on a crummy little stereo on low volume, they still sound like they're exploding out of the speakers. Whether it's Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard or Gene Vincent, these guys were dripping sex and anarchy. Their records all have a sense of abandon, like they had given up all hope of commercial success or ever being respected, so they just wanted to play crazy music and get laid. If I had a daughter, I wouldn't let her date a musician, because most of them are just too dumb. In Jerry Lee's case, if he were coming over for dinner, I would literally lock her up. The story of him marrying his 13-year-old cousin is unbearably sad. Elvis had just been drafted, Jerry Lee was about to tour England for the first time, and the scandal broke. He was never able to ascend to the throne that was rightfully his. And the piano faded because it was too big and too hard to mic. The beauty of the electric guitar is that it's small, portable, loud and easy to mic. "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On" are the iconic singles. But if you really want to understand Jerry Lee Lewis, find some video performance of him doing "Great Balls of Fire." It's pure, narcotic rock & roll excitement. Illustration by Owen Smith 23 Bruce Springsteen By Jackson Browne In many ways, Bruce Springsteen is the embodiment of rock & roll. Combining strains of Appalachian music, rockabilly, blues and R&B, his work epitomizes rock's deepest values: desire, the need for freedom and the search to find yourself. All through his songs there is a generosity and a willingness to portray even the simplest aspects of our lives in a dramatic and committed way. The first time I heard him play was at a small club, the Bitter End in New York, where he did a guest set. It was just an amazing display of lyrical prowess. I asked him where he was from, and he sort of grinned and said he was from New Jersey. The next time I saw him play it was with his band, the one with David Sancious in it. I'd never seen anybody do what he was doing: He would play acoustic guitar and dance all over the place, and the guitar wasn't plugged into anything. There wasn't this meticulous need to have every note heard. It filled that college gym with so much emotion that it didn't matter if you couldn't hear every note. A year or so later I saw him play in L.A., with Max Weinberg, Clarence Clemons and Steve Van Zandt in the band, and it was even more dramatic — the use of lights and the way it was staged. There were these events built into the music. I went to see them the second night, and I guess I expected it to be the same thing, but it was completely different. It was obvious that they were drawing on a vocabulary. It was exhilarating, and at the bottom of it all there was all this joy and fun and a sense of brotherhood, of being outsiders who had tremendous power and a story to tell. Bruce has been unafraid to take on the tasks associated with growing up. He's a family man, with kids and the same values and concerns as working-class Americans. It runs all through his work, the idea of finding that one person and making a life together. Look at "Rosalita": Her mother doesn't like him, her father doesn't like him, but he's coming for her. Or in "The River," where he gets Mary pregnant and for his 19th birthday he gets a union card and a wedding coat. That night they go to the river and dive in. For those of us who are ambivalent about marriage, the struggle for love in a world of impermanence is summed up by the two of them diving into that river at night. Bruce's songs are filled with these images, but they aren't exclusively the images of working-class people. It just happens to be where he's from. Bruce has all kinds of influences, from Chuck Berry and Gary U.S. Bonds to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. But he's also a lot like Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean — people whose most indistinct utterances have been magnified to communicate volumes. He is one of the few songwriters who works on a scale that is capable of handling the subject of our national grief and the need to find a response to an event like September 11th. His sense of music as a healing power, of band-as-church, has always been there. He's got his feet planted on either side of that great divide between rebellion and redemption. Illustration by Anita Kunz 22 U2 By Chris Martin I don't buy weekend tickets to Ireland and hang out in front of their gates, but U2 are the only band whose entire catalog I know by heart. The first song on The Unforgettable Fire, "A Sort of Homecoming," I know backward and forward — it's so rousing, brilliant and beautiful. It's one of the first songs I played to my unborn baby. The first U2 album I ever heard was Achtung Baby. It was 1991, and I was 14 years old. Before that, I didn't even know what albums were. From that point, I worked backward — every six months, I'd get to buy a new U2 album. The sound they pioneered — the driving bass and drums underneath and those ethereal, effects-laden guitar tracks floating out from above — was nothing that had been heard before. They may be the only good anthemic rock band ever. Certainly they're the best. What I love most about U2 is that the band is more important than any of its songs or albums. I love that they're still best mates and that they each play an integral role in one another's lives as friends. I love the way that they're not interchangeable — if Larry Mullen Jr. wants to go scuba diving for a week, the rest of the band can't do a thing. U2 — like Coldplay — maintain that all songs that appear on their albums are credited to the band. And they are the only band that's been around for more than 30 years with no member changes and no big splits. It's amazing that the biggest band in the world has so much integrity and passion in its music. Our society is thoroughly screwed, fame is a ridiculous waste of time, and celebrity culture is disgusting. There are only a few people around brave enough to talk out against it, who use their fame in a good way. And every time I try, I feel like an idiot, because I see Bono actually getting things achieved. While everyone else was swearing at George Bush, Bono was the one who rubbed Bush's back and got a billion dollars for Africa. People can be so cynical — they don't like do-gooders — but Bono's attitude is, "I don't care what anybody thinks, I'm going to speak out." He's accomplished so much with Greenpeace, in Sarajevo, at the concert to shut down the Sellafield nuclear plant, and he still runs the gantlet. When the time came for Coldplay to think about fair trade, we took his lead to speak out regardless of what anyone may think. That's what we've learned from U2: You have to be brave enough to be yourself. Illustration by Dale Stephanos 21 Otis Redding By Steve Cropper The first time we saw Otis Redding was in 1962, and he was driving a car for Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers out of Macon, Georgia. They had a moderate hit, an instrumental called "Love Twist," and they wanted to record a follow-up in Memphis with my band, Booker T. and the MGs. I saw this big guy get out from behind the wheel and go to the back of the truck and start unloading equipment. That was Otis. And we had no idea he was also a singer. In those days, instrumental groups always carried a singer so they could play the songs on the radio that the kids wanted to dance to. We had a few minutes left at the end of the session, and Al Jackson, our drummer, said, "This guy with Johnny, he wants us to hear him sing." Booker had already left for the day, so I sat down at the piano, which I play only a little for writing. Otis said, "Just gimme those church things." We call them triplets in music. I said, "What key?" He said, "It don't matter." He started singing "These Arms of Mine." And, man, my hair stood on end. Jim [Stewart, co-owner of Stax] came running out and said, "That's it! That's it! Where is everybody? We gotta get this on tape!" So I grabbed all the musicians who hadn't left already for their night gigs, and we recorded it right there. When you hear something that's better than anything you ever heard, you know it, and it was unanimous. We almost wore out the tape playing it afterward. "These Arms of Mine" was the first of 17 hit singles he had in a row. Otis had the softness of Sam Cooke and the harshness of Little Richard, and he was his own man. He was also fabulous to be around, always 100 percent full of energy. So many singers in those days, with all due respect, had just been in the business too long. They were bitter from the way they were treated. But Otis didn't have that. He was probably the most nonprejudiced human being I ever met. He seemed to be big in every way: physically, in his talent, in his wisdom about other people. After he died, I was surprised to find out I was the same age as he was, because I looked up to him as an older brother. When I wrote with Otis, my job was to help him finish his songs. He had so many ideas that I'd just pick one and say, "Let's do this," and we'd write all night long. "I Can't Turn You Loose" was just a riff I'd used on a few songs with the MGs. Otis worked it up with the horns in about 10 minutes as the last thing we did one night in the studio. Just a riff and one verse that he sings over and over. That's all it is. With Otis, it was all about feeling and expression. Most of his songs had just two or three chord changes, so there wasn't a lot of music there. The dynamics, the energy, the way we attacked it — that's hard to teach. So many things now are computer-generated. They start at one level and they stop at the same level, so there isn't much dynamic, even if there are a lot of different sounds. I miss Otis. I miss him as much now as I did after we lost him. I've been to the lake in Madison, Wisconsin, where they have the plaque. The best explanation I've read is that his plane missed the runway on the first approach, and it circled around over the lake when the wings iced up. That was December 10th, 1967. It's been difficult for me to listen to Otis since then. It brings back too many memories, all great except for the end. Illustration by Mark Summers 20 Bo Diddley By Iggy Pop Bo Diddley's music is enormous. It's deeply moving. It has the sultry, sexual power of Africa. There's all sorts of mystery in that sound. People listen to Bo Diddley recordings and think, "Oh, you can just go bonk-de-bonk-bonk, de-bonk-bonk, and you got a Bo Diddley beat." But it isn't that easy. He played really simple things but with incredible authority. I first heard him on a Rolling Stones album, on their cover of "Mona." It was such a great song; I looked at the credits and it said "Ellas McDaniel," and I thought, "Who the hell is that?" But when I wanted to get into songwriting, he was the key for me. I didn't have a lot of vocal range, and I didn't know a lot of chords on the guitar. So I was looking for a way to write, and there he was, writing very complete, very memorable songs without a lot of fuss. They weren't florid. He never bothered to change the chord, for one thing — which is very heavy-metal! It's hypnotic. And, of course, there's the attitude, a chin-up, chest-out sort of thing. He was a bull; he had a bullish quality to everything he did and everything he played. Vocally, he reminds me of gutbucket Delta blues: Muddy Waters, but brought to town, rocked up. And his voice is so damn loud. It's just a huge voice, and he's got a big, deep shout. Then there's the way he played the guitar. First of all, Bo's hands were about a foot long from the wrist to the tip of the finger. He really controlled his guitar. Bo plays his instrument, and the way the rhythm clicks is unique. What seems to pass for guitar more and more now is some wimp with a fuzz box. Somewhere around Hendrix, the line was crossed. Hendrix had both: He had the hands, and he had the fuzz box. Now all they have is the fuzz box — a lot of them. Bo Diddley had a huge impact on Sixties rock. The Stones covered Bo Diddley, and the Yardbirds did "I'm a Man," and the Pretty Things did his song "Pretty Thing." My band in high school, the Iguanas, did a few of his songs, including "Road Runner," and you can hear a bit of him in the Stooges. You can be damn well sure that Jack White has studied Bo's records. I've had a little personal experience with Bo. I worked with him in Vegas once, and I kept running into him on airplanes in the Eighties and Nineties — always in first class, always alone, always with a roll bag, his police hat and his sheriff's badge. I think Bo and Chuck Berry have both suffered the trivialization of people who are covered too much. His influence is everywhere, but his personal career could have used a boost. Some car or jeans company needs to put a track of his in a commercial so a lot of young dudes and dudettes can go, "Whoa — that's rockin'!" Illustration by Josie Jammet 19 The Velvet Underground By Julian Casablancas When you listen to a classic-rock station today, why don't they play the Velvet Underground? Why is it always Boston and Led Zeppelin? And why are the Rolling Stones so much more popular than the Velvets? OK, I understand why the Stones are more popular. But there is also a part of me that has always felt that it should have been the other way around. The Velvet Underground were way ahead of their time. And their music was weird. But it also made so much sense to me. I couldn't believe this wasn't the most popular music ever made. Listening to those four studio albums now is like reading a good book that takes place in a distant time. When I hear The Velvet Underground and Nico or Loaded, I feel like I'm in Andy Warhol's Factory in the 1960s or hanging out at Max's Kansas City. The way Lou Reed wrote and sang about drugs and sex, about the people around him — it was so matter-of-fact. I believed every word of "Heroin." Reed could be romantic in the way he portrayed these crazy situations, but he was also intensely real. It was poetry and journalism. A lot of people associate the Velvets with feedback and noise. White Light/White Heat is the kind of record you have to be in the mood for. You have to be in a shitty bar, in a really shitty mood. But the Velvets created some very beautiful music, too: "Sunday Morning," with John Cale's viola; "Candy Says"; "All Tomorrow's Parties" — I can't imagine that song without Nico singing it, although I thought Maureen Tucker had a cool voice, as well as being a really cool drummer. She had a femininity. I thought she sounded hotter than Nico. In the beginning, the Strokes definitely drew from the vibe of the Velvets. I listened to Loaded all the time when we started the band, while I was writing my first songs. For four solid months, it was just Loaded and this Beach Boys greatest-hits record, Made in the U.S.A. A lot of our guitar tones are based on what Reed and Sterling Morrison did. I honestly wish we could have copied them more. We didn't come close enough. But that was cool, because it became more of our own thing. Which is something else I got from the Velvets. They taught me just to be myself. Illustration by Andrea Ventura 18 Marvin Gaye By Smokey Robinson At Motown, Marvin was one of the main characters in the greatest musical story ever told. Prior to that, nothing quite like Motown had ever existed — all those songwriters, singers, producers working and growing together, part family, part business — and I doubt seriously if it will ever happen like that again. And there's no question that Marvin will always be a huge part of the Motown legacy. When Marvin first came to Motown, he was the drummer on all the early hits I had with the Miracles. He and I became close friends — he was my brother, really — and I did a lot of production and wrote a lot of songs for him: "Ain't That Peculiar," "I'll Be Doggone." Of course, that means that I spent a lot of time waiting for Marvin. See, Marvin was basically late coming to the studio all the time. But I never minded, because I knew that whenever Marvin did get there, he was going to sing my song in a way that I had never imagined it. He would Marvinize my songs, and I loved it. Marvin could sing anything, from gospel to gutbucket blues to jazz to pop. But Marvin was much more than just a great singer. He was a great record maker, a gifted songwriter, a deep thinker — a real artist in the true sense. What's Going On is the most profound musical statement in my lifetime. It never gets dated. I still remember when I would go by Marvin's house and he was working on it, he would say, "Smoke, this album is being written by God, and I'm just the instrument that he's writing it through." Marvin really had it all — that voice, that soul, that look, too. He was one very handsome man. He had sex appeal and his music was sexy. You couldn't blame women for falling in love with Marvin. I said before that when you worked with Marvin, it meant you were waiting for Marvin. But Marvin was always worth the wait. I suppose that in a way, I'm still waiting for Marvin. Illustration by Shawn Barber 17 Muddy Waters By Billy Gibbons Muddy and his band opened for ZZ Top on a tour in 1981. This was over 40 years after his first recordings, and that band could still play the blues, not just as seasoned pros but with the same enthusiasm Muddy had when he started out. When he sang that his mojo was working, you could tell his mojo had not slowed down at all. He was satisfied, composed, self-contained. If he had an opinion on a subject, he didn't allow a whole lot of latitude to be convinced otherwise. If he was bitter about the way he'd been treated by record companies, he never showed it. We talked to him a lot as we traveled, when he wasn't chasing young girls through the airport. He told us a story once about his friends Freddie King and Little Walter walking from Dallas to Chicago. I've always had that image in my mind of two guys walking from the South to the North. Everyone else in the great migration took the train. I hope they weren't carrying their equipment. People call his sound raw and dirty and gritty, but it wasn't particularly loud. It just sounded that way. A guitar amplifier in the Fifties was maybe the size of a tabletop radio. To be heard over a party, you had to crank that thing as loud as it would go. And then you left behind all semblance of circuit design and entered the elegant field of distortion that made everything so much deeper. If you didn't have a big band with 20 guys, you had 20 watts. I first heard Muddy Waters through two friends of mine, Walter Baldwin and Steve Roberts, in junior high in 1962 or '63. We grew up together and jumped on every piece of musical madness we could find. Most people in my generation probably discovered Muddy backwards from the Rolling Stones, who got their name from a Muddy song. I heard him just before the Stones got here, but it was all good, whether you discovered it backwards, forwards or sideways. Anyway, I picked up the guitar because of Muddy Waters as much as anyone. Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Albert King, B.B. King, Freddie King — they all had an impact too, but they all followed Muddy Waters. He started out in Mississippi playing acoustic, using his thumb to play the bass line and a real bottleneck slide for melody on the upper strings. The slide guitar got the nuance of the human voice better than any other instrument. Basically, it was a Robert Johnson thing, and Muddy took it to Chicago, electrified it, added a bass player and a harp with a good backbeat, and you had a party. His bands were always powerhouses, and his voice had an amazing depth. The remarkable thing is that the blues never died out, ever. It's been rediscovered every 10 years since the Twenties. Nobody can do what Muddy did, but his energy is still fueling that fire. You can hear his enthusiasm in bands like the White Stripes or the Black Keys. I'd recommend his first album, The Best of Muddy Waters, with the early Chess singles, to anyone. Every track is worthy. The albums Johnny Winter produced in the late Seventies, Hard Again and I'm Ready, are also terrific. It was all supposed to be disposable. Just noise on a shellac disc. And here we are in the 21st century still trying to figure out how such a simple art form could be so complicated and subtle. It's still firing brain synapses around the world. You've got the Japanese Muddy Waters Society corresponding with fans in Sweden and England, and his music can still propel a party in the U.S. He made three chords sound deep, and they are. Illustration by Charles Miller 16 Sam Cooke By Art Garfunkel Sam Cooke was grounded in a very straightforward singing style: It was pure, beautiful and open-throated, extraordinarily direct and unapologetic. Let's say you're going to sing "I love you for sentimental reasons." How do you hit that "I"? Do you slur into it? Do you put in a little hidden "h"? The attack on that vowel sound is the tip-off to how bold a singer is. If you pour on the letter "i" from the back of your throat, the listener gets that there is no fudge in the first thousandth of a second. There's just confidence from the singer, that he knows the pitch, and here's the sound. That's what Sam was great at. He had guts as a singer. Sam also threw a lot of notes at you. Today you hear everyone doing those melismatic notes that Mariah Carey made popular. Sam was the first guy I remember singing that way. When he's singing, "I love you for sentimental reasons/I hope you do believe me," the next line should be, "I've given you my heart." But he goes, "I've given you my-my-mah-muh-my heart/Given you my heart because I need you." It's as if he's saying, "Now that I've sung the word, I'm going to sing it again, because I've got all this feeling in my heart that demands expression." He gave us so much that he could have given us less, and that would've been enough, but he put in all those extra notes, as in "You Send Me," where he's scatting between the lines: "I know, I know, I know, when you hold me." He had fabulous chops, but at the same time fabulous taste. I never felt that he was overdoing it, as I often feel with singers today. He stayed rhythmic and fluty and floaty; he always showed brilliant vocal control. I must have sung "You Send Me" to myself walking up and down stairwells at least a thousand times. It was on the charts right when I was having my first little success with Paul Simon as Tom and Jerry. Our "Hey, Schoolgirl" was on the charts with "You Send Me" and "Jailhouse Rock." "Jingle Bell Rock" had just come out. I was just a kid, calling on radio stations for promotional purposes, and all I heard was "You Send Me." Sam was great to sing along with. He was my hero. There was a deep sense of goodness about Sam. His father was a minister, and he obviously had spent a lot of time in church. His first success came early as a gospel singer, and he expanded into R&B and pop. It looked like he was making the right choices in life until he got shot by the night manager of a motel. You wonder who he had fallen in with. Paul Simon, James Taylor and I covered "Wonderful World," which he also wrote. It was a teenage short story like Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" or "School Days." You're stroking the teenager's sense of style with those pop songs. Sam was a master of that idiom. "Wonderful World" was unsophisticated but very Tin Pan Alley. Sam came along before the album was discovered as an art form. You think of him in terms of songs. My favorites are "Sad Mood," "Wonderful World," "Summertime," "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" and "You Send Me." I think that "A Change Is Gonna Come" shows where he could have gone if he had lived through the Sixties, doing Marvin Gaye kind of lyrics about the society we live in. It was a tremendous loss when he was killed. I remember thinking, "Oh, that can't be." He was such a rising star, a fabulous singer with intelligence. And that brilliant smile. I used to think he was just a great singer. Now I think he's better than that. Almost nobody since then can touch him. Illustration by Sterling Hundley 15 Stevie Wonder By Elton John Let me put it this way: Wherever I go in the world, I always take a copy of Songs in the Key of Life. For me, it's the best album ever made, and I'm always left in awe after I listen to it. When people in decades and centuries to come talk about the history of music, they will talk about Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. Stevie came out of the golden age of Motown, when they were putting out the best R&B records in the world from Detroit, and he evolved into an amazing songwriter and a genuine musical force of nature. He's so multitalented that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes him one of the greatest ever. But first, there's that voice. Along with Ray Charles, he's the greatest R&B singer who ever lived. Nobody can sing like he does. I know: I actually recorded a version of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" when I was young, and I really had to squeeze my balls to get those high notes. As a keyboard player, I've played with him over the years, and he never ceases to amaze me, the stuff he comes up with. He can play anything — check out his harmonica playing. I think I'm a pretty good musician, but he's in a whole other league. He could play with Charlie Parker or John Coltrane and hold his own. Stevie's Sixties hits are amazing — joyful music that still sounds great — but then, starting in the Seventies, he hit a run of albums that's unsurpassed in music history, from Talking Book to Songs in the Key of Life. I think the elite — the most major of major artists — often have a period when they can do no wrong. It happened to Prince, too, who is like Stevie in some ways. He has got an immeasurable amount of talent — so much talent that sometimes it can seem like he's kind of lost. Stevie is an amazingly positive, peaceful man. When you ask him to do something, he is generous. He loves music. He loves to play. When he comes into a room, people adore him. And there aren't many artists like that. People admire you and they like your records, but they don't want to stand up and hug you. But this man is a good man. He tries to use his music to do good. His message, I think, is about love, and in the world we live in today, that message does shine through. Illustration by Mark Stutzman 14 Led Zeppelin By Dave Grohl Heavy metal would not exist without Led Zeppelin, and if it did, it would suck. Led Zeppelin were more than just a band — they were the perfect combination of the most intense elements: passion and mystery and expertise. It always seemed like Led Zeppelin were searching for something. They weren't content being in one place, and they were always trying something new. They could do anything, and I believe they would have done everything if they hadn't been cut short by John Bonham's death. Zeppelin served as a great escape from a lot of things. There was a fantasy element to everything they did, and it was such a major part of what made them important. It's hard to imagine the audience for all those Lord of the Rings movies if it wasn't for Zeppelin. They were never critically acclaimed in their day, because they were too experimental and they were too fringe. In 1969 and '70, there was some freaky shit going on, but Zeppelin were the freakiest. I consider Jimmy Page freakier than Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a genius on fire, whereas Page was a genius possessed. Zeppelin concerts and albums were like exorcisms for them. People had their asses blown out by Hendrix and Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, but Page took it to a whole new level, and he did it in such a beautifully human and imperfect way. He plays the guitar like an old bluesman on acid. When I listen to Zeppelin bootlegs, his solos can make me laugh or they can make me tear up. Any live version of "Since I've Been Loving You" will bring you to tears and fill you with joy all at once. Page doesn't just use his guitar as an instrument — he uses it like it's some sort of emotional translator. John Bonham played the drums like someone who didn't know what was going to happen next — like he was teetering on the edge of a cliff. No one has come close to that since, and I don't think anybody ever will. I think he will forever be the greatest drummer of all time. You have no idea how much he influenced me. I spent years in my bedroom — literally f**king years — listening to Bonham's drums and trying to emulate his swing or his behind-the-beat swagger or his speed or power. Not just memorizing what he did on those albums but getting myself into a place where I would have the same instinctual direction as he had. I have John Bonham tattoos all over my body — on my wrists, my arms, my shoulders. I gave myself one when I was 15. It's the three circles that were his insignia on Zeppelin IV and on the front of his kick drum. "Black Dog," from Zeppelin IV, is what Led Zeppelin were all about in their most rocking moments, a perfect example of their true might. It didn't have to be really distorted or really fast, it just had to be Zeppelin, and it was really heavy. Then there's Zeppelin's sensitive side — something people overlook, because we think of them as rock beasts, but Zeppelin III was full of gentle beauty. That was the soundtrack to me dropping out of high school. I listened to it every single day in my VW bug, while I contemplated my direction in life. That album, for whatever reason, saved some light in me that I still have. I heard them for the first time on AM radio in the Seventies, right around the time that "Stairway to Heaven" was so popular. I was six or seven years old, which is when I'd just started discovering music. But it wasn't until I was a teenager that I discovered the first two Zeppelin records, which were handed down to me from the real stoners. We had a lot of those in the suburbs of Virginia, and a lot of muscle cars and keggers and Zeppelin and acid and weed. Somehow they all went hand in hand. To me, Zeppelin were spiritually inspirational. I was going to Catholic school and questioning God, but I believed in Led Zeppelin. I wasn't really buying into this Christianity thing, but I had faith in Led Zeppelin as a spiritual entity. They showed me that human beings could channel this music somehow and that it was coming from somewhere. It wasn't coming from a songbook. It wasn't coming from a producer. It wasn't coming from an instructor. It was coming from four musicians taking music to places it hadn't been before — it's like it was coming from somewhere else. That's why they're the greatest rock & roll band of all time. It couldn't have happened any other way. Illustration by Christian Clayton 13 Buddy Holly By John Mellencamp Buddy Holly was a complete and utter hillbilly. I'm very proud of that. So much of our musical heritage is from the country. People always ask me, "Why do you stay in Indiana?" Well, I have to. Just about every song, every sound that we emulate and listen to was created by a hillbilly, born out of the frustration of a small town where there ain't much to do in the evening. That's one thing that I loved about Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly was one of the first great singer-songwriters — he wrote his own material and in the end was producing it, too. He came from such a rural area and was able to speak to so many people in so many locations. He was one of the first to get away from the Tin Pan Alley songwriting factory and communicate directly, honestly with his audience. I was just a little kid when I first heard Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue." You may not understand what it was like being about nine years old in 1957 or '58, but it was quite a treat. All of this music was just coming out of nowhere — Memphis and Texas. I was in a band when I was in sixth grade, and we played "Not Fade Away." You shouldn't even be in a band if you haven't played that song. It's two chords, beautiful melody, with a nice message. Holly's songs never really left my consciousness. When I set up my iPod, there he was, those same songs that I've heard for all these years. They sound just as good as the first time I heard them. Holly's melodies and arrangements were a huge influence on the Beatles. With the whirlwind they were on in 1964, the first thing John Lennon asked when he got to The Ed Sullivan Show was, "Is this the stage that Buddy Holly played on?" That shows a lot of quiet admiration. Listen to the songs on the first three Beatles albums. Take their voices off, and it's Buddy Holly. Same with the Rolling Stones. Record companies encourage young artists to copy what's been there before. But nobody was pushing Holly in any direction. That was just all him and his instincts. Those songs are great, and some are only a minute and 25 seconds long. Think about delivering a song like that today. The magic that Buddy Holly created was nothing short of a miracle. The fact that he died at 22 is just ridiculous. That tells you all you need to know about just how focused and visionary he was. Illustration by Chris Kasch 12 The Beach Boys By Lindsey Buckingham The Beach Boys showed the way, and not just to California. Sure, they may have sold the California Dream to a lot of people, but for me, it was Brian Wilson showing how far you might have to go in order to make your own musical dream come true. In the beginning, I was someone who grew up in California and loved the early music that he and the Beach Boys made. Later, I would relate to Brian's struggle as an artist against a machine that tended toward serving the bottom line — the industry attitude that if it works, run it into the ground. Music meant much more to him than that. He was trying to do something so much bigger than that with his teenage symphonies to God. In the process, he really rocked the boat and changed the world. When the Beach Boys started, Brian was taking European sensibilities and infusing them into a Chuck Berry format. Those harmonies were based on the Four Freshmen, with a little church element added to it. He put all that on top of Chuck Berry rock & roll, and the result sounded so fresh. I remember hearing "Surfin' Safari" first when I was in sixth grade. It had the beat, the sense of joy, that explosion rock & roll gave to a lot of us. But it also had this incredible lift, this amazing kind of chemical reaction that seemed to happen inside you when you heard it. Pet Sounds is the acknowledged masterpiece, and it's everything it's said to be, with Brian taking some of the influences he got from Phil Spector and making something all his own. But even before that there's Side Two of The Beach Boys Today!, which is really just one ballad after another and is for me one of the great sides on a rock album. Those are beautiful numbers — "Please Let Me Wonder," "Kiss Me Baby," "She Knows Me Too Well," "In the Back of My Mind" — that foreshadow Brian's angst and start exposing his vulnerability. A lot of what you find later on Pet Sounds or Smile, you could find in a different form early on. Today it's nice to see that Brian's in a place where he can do what he wants without the pressure of selling or of having to be the support system for so many others. Because he gave the rest of us more than his fair share of good vibrations. Illustration by Mark Gagnon 11 Bob Marley By Wyclef Jean What separates Bob Marley from so many other great songwriters? They don't know what it's like for rain to seep into their house. They wouldn't know what to do without their microwaves and stoves — to make a fire with wood and cook their fish next to the ocean. Marley came from the poverty and injustice in Jamaica, and that manifested itself in his rebel sound. The people were his inspiration. Straight up. Like John Lennon, he brought the idea that through music, empowerment and words, you can really come up with world peace. But it's hard to compare him to other musicians, because music was just one part of what he was. He was also a humanitarian and a revolutionary. His impact on Jamaican politics was so strong, there was an assassination attempt on his life. Marley was like Moses. When Moses spoke, people moved. When Marley spoke, they moved as well. Marley almost single-handedly brought reggae to the world. When I was growing up in Haiti — where my father was a missionary and a church minister — we could barely get away with listening to Christian rock and definitely couldn't get away with any rap. When I was 14, I slipped on "Exodus," and my dad, who didn't speak English very well, asked me, "What's this song about?" I told him it was biblical, and it was about movement. The minute it reached his ears — the minute Marley's music reaches anybody's ears — he was automatically grooving. The vibe goes straight to your brain. "Redemption Song" transcends time. "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery/ None but ourselves can free our minds/Have no fear for atomic energy/'Cause none of them can stop the time." It will mean the same thing in the year 3014. Today, people struggle to find what's real. Everything has become so synthetic that a lot of people, all they want is to grasp onto hope. The reason people still throw on Bob Marley T-shirts is because his music is one of the few real things left to grasp onto. Illustration by Marco Ventura 10 Ray Charles Ray Charles is proof that the best music crosses all boundaries, reaches all denominations. He could do any type of music, and he always stayed true to himself. It's all about his soul. His music first hit me when I heard a live version of "What'd I Say" on American Forces Network in Germany, which I used to listen to late at night. Then I started buying his singles. His sound was stunning — it was the blues, it was R&B, it was gospel, it was swing — it was all the stuff I was listening to before that but rolled into one amazing, soulful thing. As a singer, Ray Charles didn't phrase like anyone else. He didn't put the time where you thought it was gonna be, but it was always perfect, always right. He knew how to play with time, like any great jazzman. But there was more to him than that voice — he was also writing these incredible songs. He was a great musician, a great record maker, a great producer and a wonderful arranger. There's a reason they called Ray Charles "the Genius." Think of how he reinvented country music in a way that worked for him. He showed there are no limitations, not for someone as good as he is. Whatever Ray Charles did, whatever he touched, he made it his own. He's his own genre. It's all Ray Charles music now. I always learn something from him. It's music that set a tough standard. For me, two albums that stand out are Ray Charles at Newport and Ray Charles in Person. Then there's Genius + Soul = Jazz with the Basie orchestra and Quincy Jones. And of course Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. There's so much to live up to — these days, you almost have to go backward to go forward. In 2004, I did a duet with him on one of my songs, "Crazy Love." It felt fantastic. I always loved his singing, but I also connected with him on a soul level. I just felt his emotion. People like Ray Charles — and Sam Cooke, Bobby Bland and Solomon Burke — defined what soul was for me. It wasn't just the singing — it was what went into the singing. These were guys who put their souls on the line. This music is way beyond marketing. This music is global, and its appeal is universal. Ray Charles changed music just by being himself — by doing what he did and translating it to millions of people with the force of his soul. That's his legacy. I think that the music of Ray Charles will probably outlive us all — at least I hope that it will. Illustration by Anita Kunz 9 Aretha Franklin As a producer, I almost always addressed phrasing and enunciation with the singer, but in Aretha's case, there was nothing I could tell her. I would only be getting in her way. Nowadays, singers who want to be extra soulful overdo melisma. Aretha only used it a touch and used it gloriously because her taste was impeccable. She never went to the wrong place. It wasn't her gospel training. Most young African-American singers get their musical training in church. Training can give you form, can give you tradition, can give you the cadence. When genius gets good training, it can expedite the process, but training isn't genius. Genius is who she is. "Respect" had the biggest impact, with overtones for the civil rights movement and gender equality. It was an appeal for dignity combined with a blatant lubricity. There are songs that are a call to action. There are love songs. There are sex songs. But it's hard to think of another song where all those elements are combined. Aretha wrote most of her material or selected the songs herself, working out the arrangements at home and using her piano to provide the texture. In this case, she just had the idea that she wanted to embellish Otis Redding's song. When she walked into the studio, it was already worked out in her head. Otis came up to my office right before "Respect" was released, and I played him the tape. He said, "She done took my song." He said it benignly and ruefully. He knew the identity of the song was slipping away from him to her. Aretha had a minor career at Columbia before coming to Atlantic. I don't think Columbia let her play the piano much. It's always been my belief that when a singer plays an instrument, you should let them play it on the record, even if the singer is not a virtuoso, because they're bringing another element to the recording. In Aretha's case, there was no compromise in quality. She was a brilliant pianist. It is part of her genius. No one can copy her. She's all alone in her greatness. Illustration by Tim O'Brien 8 Little Richard A lot of people call me the architect of rock & roll. I don't call myself that, but I believe it's true. You've got to remember, I was already known back in 1951. I was recording for RCA-Victor — if you were black, it was called Camden Records — before Elvis. Then I recorded for Peacock in Houston. Then Specialty Records bought me from Peacock — I think they paid $500 for me — and my first Specialty record was a hit in 1956: "Tutti Frutti." It was a hit worldwide. I felt I had arrived, you know? We started touring everywhere immediately. We traveled in cars. Back in that time, the racism was so heavy, you couldn't go in the hotels, so most times you slept in your car. You ate in your car. You got to the date, and you dressed in your car. I had a Cadillac. That's what the star rode in. You remember the way that Liberace dressed onstage? I was dressing like that all the time, very flamboyantly, and I was wearing the pancake makeup. A lot of the other performers at that time — the Cadillacs, the Coasters, the Drifters — they were wearing makeup, too, but they didn't have any makeup kit. They had a sponge and a little compact in their pocket. I had a kit. Everybody started calling me gay. People called rock & roll "African music." They called it "voodoo music." They said that it would drive the kids insane. They said that it was just a flash in the pan — the same thing that they always used to say about hip-hop. Only it was worse back then, because, you have to remember, I was the first black artist whose records the white kids were starting to buy. And the parents were really bitter about me. We played places where they told us not to come back, because the kids got so wild. They were tearing up the streets and throwing bottles and jumping off the theater balconies at shows. At that time, the white kids had to be up in the balcony — they were "white spectators." But then they'd leap over the balcony to get downstairs where the black kids were. I didn't get paid — most dates I didn't get paid. And I've never gotten money from most of those records. And I made those records: In the studio, they'd just give me a bunch of words, I'd make up a song! The rhythm and everything. "Good Golly Miss Molly"! And I didn't get a dime for it. Michael Jackson owned the Specialty stuff. He offered me a job with his publishing company once, for the rest of my life, as a writer. At the time, I didn't take it. I wish I had now. I wish a lot of things had been different. I don't think I ever got what I really deserved. I appreciate being picked one of the top 100 performers, but who is number one and who is number two doesn't matter to me anymore. Because it won't be who I think it should be. The Rolling Stones started with me, but they're going to always be in front of me. The Beatles started with me — at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, before they ever made an album — but they're going to always be in front of me. James Brown, Jimi Hendrix — these people started with me. I fed them, I talked to them, and they're going to always be in front of me. But it's a joy just to still be here. I think that when people want joy and fun and happiness, they want to hear the old-time rock & roll. And I'm just glad I was a part of that. Illustration by Charles Miller 7 James Brown By Rick Rubin In one sense, James Brown is like Johnny Cash. Johnny is considered one of the kings of country music, but there are a lot of people who like Johnny but don't like country music. It's the same with James Brown and R&B. His music is singular — the feel and tone of it. James Brown is his own genre. He was a great editor — as a songwriter, producer and bandleader. He kept things sparse. He knew that was important. And he had the best players, the funkiest of all bands. If Clyde Stubblefield had been drumming on a Motown session, they would not have let him play what he did with James on "Funky Drummer." James' vision allowed that music to get out. And the music always came from the groove, whereas for so many R&B and Motown artists at the time it was more about conventional songs. James Brown's songs are not conventional. "I Got You," "Out of Sight" — they are ultimately vehicles for unique, even bizarre grooves. The first big record in hip-hop that used a Brown sample was Eric B. and Rakim's "Eric B. Is President." That opened the floodgates for people to sample Brown. I can't remember ever using a James Brown sample on my early records with LL Cool J or the Beastie Boys, but I wanted to make records that felt as good as Brown's, and I didn't want to do it by sampling or copying him. For me, it was about understanding the feeling you get when you listen to those grooves, figuring out how to achieve that with drum machines. That feeling was something that the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I worked on for BloodSugarSexMagik. We used Brown's idea that all the musicians didn't have to be playing at the same time. Let the bass have its moment; don't be afraid to start a song with just guitar or break it down to just drums and guitar. Those are the sort of dynamics you hear on Brown's records. I remember going to Minneapolis to visit Prince years ago, sitting in an office waiting for him — and there was an endless loop of James Brown's performance in the 1964 concert film The T.A.M.I. Show running. That may be the single greatest rock & roll performance ever captured on film. You have the Rolling Stones on the same stage, all of the important rock acts of the day — and James Brown comes out and destroys them. It's unbelievable how much he outclasses everyone else in the film. I first saw James Brown around 1980, between my junior and senior years in high school. It was in Boston. It was in a catering hall, with folding chairs. And it was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. His dancing and singing were incredible, and he played a Hammond B3 organ tufted with red leather, with "Godfather" in studs written across the front. Regardless of what went on in his personal life, his legacy is secure. He certainly did things along the way where you can't help wondering, "What's going on?" But the good stuff comes from these one-of-a-kind people. These people are just touched by God. They are special. And James Brown is one of them. His legend will loom large, because the rhythm of life is in there. Illustration by Cynthia von Buhler 6 Jimi Hendrix By John Mayer Jimi Hendrix is one of those extraordinary hubs of music where everybody lands at some point. Every musician passes through Hendrix International Airport eventually. He is the common denominator of every style of popular music. Was he a bluesman? Listen to "Voodoo Chile" and you'll hear some of the eeriest blues you can find. Was he a rock musician? He used volume as a device. That's rock. Was he a sensitive singer-songwriter? In "Bold As Love," he sings, "My yellow in this case is not so mellow/In fact I'm trying to say it's frightened like me" — that is a man who knows the shape of his heart. So often, he's portrayed as a loud, psychedelic rock star lighting his guitar on fire. But when I think of Hendrix, I think of some of the most placid, lovely guitar sounds on songs like "One Rainy Wish," "Little Wing" and "Drifting." "Little Wing" is painfully short and painfully beautiful. It's like your grandfather coming back from the dead and hanging out with you for a couple of minutes and then going away. It's perfect, then it's gone. I think the reason musicians love Hendrix's playing so much is that the language of it was so native to his head and heart. He had a secret relationship with playing the guitar, and though it was incredibly technical and based in theory, it was his theory. All you heard was the color. The math is what's been applied ever since. I discovered Hendrix by way of Stevie Ray Vaughan. I heard Stevie Ray do "Little Wing," and I started working my way backward to Hendrix. The first Hendrix record I bought was Axis: Bold As Love, because it had "Little Wing" on it. I remember staring at the album cover for hours. Then I remember spending months listening to Electric Ladyland, which was very creepy. There's something dark about it in certain places that maybe Hendrix was too honest to hide. Hendrix invented a kind of cool. The cool of a big conch-shell belt. The cool of boots that your jeans are tucked into. If Jimi Hendrix is an influence on somebody, you can immediately tell. Give me a guy who's got some kind of weird-ass goatee and an applejack hat, and you just go, "He got to you, didn't he?" Hendrix has the allure of the tragic figure: We all wish we were genius enough to die before we're 28. People want to paint him as this lonely, shy figure who managed to let himself open up on the stage and play straight colors through the crowd. There's something heroic about it, but there's nothing human about it. Everybody is so caught up in his otherworldliness. I prefer to think about his human side. He was a man who had a Social Security number, not an alien. The merchandising companies put Jimi Hendrix's face on a tie-dyed T-shirt, and somehow that's what he became. But when I listen to Hendrix, I just hear a man, and that's when it's most beautiful — when you remember that another human being was capable of what he achieved. Who I am as a guitarist is defined by my failure to become Jimi Hendrix. However far you stop on your climb to be like him, that's who you are. Illustration by Skip Liepke 5 Chuck Berry By Joe Perry Like a lot of guitarists of my generation, I first heard Chuck Berry because of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I was so blown away by the way those bands were playing these hardcore rock & roll songs like “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Around and Around.” I’d looked at the labels, under the song titles. I’d seen the name “Chuck Berry.” But I was fortunate enough, again like a lot of guys from my generation, to have a friend who had an older brother, who had the original records: “If you like the Stones, wait until you hear this!” I heard Chuck Berry Is On Top — and I really freaked out! That feeling of excitement in the pit of my stomach, in the hair on the back of my neck: I got more of it from Chuck Berry than from anybody else. It’s not so much what he played — it’s what he didn’t play. His music is very economical. His guitar leads drove the rhythm, as opposed to laying over the top. The economy of his licks and his leads — they pushed the song along. And he would build his solos so there was a nice little statement taking the song to a new place, so you’re ready for the next verse. As a songwriter, Chuck Berry is like the Ernest Hemingway of rock & roll. He gets right to the point. He tells a story in short sentences. You get a great picture in your mind of what’s going on, in a very short amount of space, in well-picked words. He was also very smart: He knew that if he was going to break into the mainstream, he had to appeal to white teenagers. Which he did. Everything in those songs is about teenagers. I think he knew he could have had his own success on the R&B charts, but he wanted to get out of there and go big time. He was also celebrating the music and lifestyle of rock & roll in songs like “Johnny B. Goode” and “School Days” — how anybody could make a guitar sound like the ring of a bell. Anytime you put the words “rock & roll” in a lyric, you have to be careful. But he did it perfectly. “Johnny B. Goode” is probably the most covered song ever. Bar bands, garage bands — everybody plays it. And so many bands play it badly. As much fun as it is to play, it’s also easy to destroy it. But it was probably the first Chuck Berry song I learned. It hits people on all levels: lyric, melody, tempo, riff. It’s funny — when my son, Roman, was 12, he came back from his guitar lesson one day and I said, “What song were you learning today?” He said, “We’re learning ‘Johnny B. Goode.'” That’s the essence of the appeal of Chuck Berry. When you’re a young guitar player now, you’re confronted by all these guys: Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page. But you can sit down and get your guitar to sound like Chuck Berry in a very short amount of time. The other thing is, Chuck Berry was a showman: playing the guitar behind his head and between his legs, doing the duckwalk. It’s not like you could close your eyes and hear his playing suffer because of it. He was able to do all that stuff and make it look like it was so easy and natural. I still listen to Chuck Berry Is On Top. The whole thing just rocks out. That’s why I love it — for the same reason I love AC/DC records. They just don’t stop. That was another thing he did: He stayed in that groove. He could have done one or two of those “Johnny B. Goode”-type songs, or a couple like “Maybellene,” then gone off and done whatever. But he stayed in that place, that groove, and made it his own. I also have a bunch of different compilations, and I hear the direct influence on me. The way he phrases things, that double-note stop, where you get the two notes bending against each other and they make that rock & roll sound — that’s what I hear when I listen back to a lot of my solos. It’s a little bit of technique, but it’s mostly phrasing. And kids today are playing the same three chords, trying to play in that same style. Turn the guitars up, and it’s punk rock. It’s the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. I hear it in the White Stripes, too. People will always cover Chuck Berry songs. When bands go do their homework, they will have to listen to Chuck Berry. If you want to learn about rock & roll, if you want to play rock & roll, you have to start there. I’ve had the fortune to shake his hand once or twice, but I’ve never really had a chance to tell him any of this. It was always in passing, at an airport or something. The last time was in the Seventies. I was walking through the airport, and someone said, “It’s Chuck Berry over there.” Well, I had to go over and shake his hand. But he was tongue-tied. Then he was gone. Illustration by Rob Day 4 The Rolling Stones By Steven Van Zandt The Rolling Stones are my life. If it wasn't for them, I would have been a Soprano for real. I first saw the Stones on TV, on The Hollywood Palace in 1964. In '64, the Beatles were perfect: the hair, the harmonies, the suits. They bowed together. Their music was extraordinarily sophisticated. The whole thing was exciting and alien but very distant in its perfection. The Stones were alien and exciting, too. But with the Stones, the message was, "Maybe you can do this." The hair was sloppier. The harmonies were a bit off. And I don't remember them smiling at all. They had the R&B traditionalist's attitude: "We are not in show business. We are not pop music." And the sex in Mick Jagger's voice was adult. This wasn't pop sex — holding hands, playing spin the bottle. This was the real thing. Jagger had that conversational quality that came from R&B singers and bluesmen, that sort of half-singing, not quite holding notes. The acceptance of Jagger's voice on pop radio was a turning point in rock & roll. He broke open the door for everyone else. Suddenly, Eric Burdon and Van Morrison weren't so weird — even Bob Dylan. It was completely unique: a white performer doing it in a black way. Elvis Presley did it. But the next guy was Jagger. There were no other white boys doing this. White singers stood there and sang, like the Beatles. The thing we associate with black performers goes back to the church — letting the spirit physically move you, letting go of social restraints, any form of embarrassment or humiliation. Not being in control: That's what Mick Jagger was communicating. In the beginning, it was Brian Jones' band. He named them. He managed them — got the gigs and wrote to the paper when they got bad reviews. The attitude and aggressiveness — they first came from him. And the tradition came from him. He was using the blues pseudonym Elmo Lewis and playing bottleneck guitar. Then, on albums like Aftermath, he was playing all of these other instruments: dulcimer, harpsichord, sitar. He was so inventive and important. If anybody gets left out of the Stones' story, he's the one. But Keith Richards has been taken for granted too, relegated historically to permanent rhythm guitar. But his solos were great: "Sympathy for the Devil," "It's All Over Now." And there are the riffs: "Satisfaction," of course, and "The Last Time," which the Stones themselves considered the first serious song they wrote. "Honky Tonk Women" is just one chord. Then he started the tunings: the G tuning and the five-string version of the G tuning. There are chord patterns that relate to his tunings — the "Gimme Shelter" effect, let's call it — where you add a suspended note, and it becomes more melodic and rhythmic at the same time. I play rhythm guitar with the E Street Band in Keith's style all the time. Anybody who plays rock & roll guitar does. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, more than any other rock & roll rhythm section, to this day, knew how to swing. It's so much a thing of the past now, but in those days rock & roll was something you danced to. You can just picture how much fun it was to be at the Station Hotel in London in 1963: the crowd going crazy, the Stones going crazy, like they were in a South Side Chicago blues club. You can picture it in the music. There are generations of young people now who only know the Stones iconically. So I'd send them to the first four albums, the American versions: England's Newest Hitmakers, 12×5, Now! and Out of Our Heads. The next lesson is the second great era: Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. They make up the greatest run of albums in history — and all done in three and a half years. In a lot of ways, the Stones are playing better now than they were in the Sixties. They were quite sloppy in the early days — which I enjoy. Technically, they're better than they've ever been. The trouble is, their power comes from their first 12 albums. There have been a few great songs since '72, but only a handful. If they were making great records and playing live the way they are now, my God, how amazing would that be? But live, they're still able to communicate that original power. You can learn a lot from the Stones still: Write good songs, stay in shape and dig deep down for that passion every night. You should live so long, a tenth as long, and be as good as Mick Jagger. It's amazing Keith is still alive. There are a few people who have this constitution of invulnerability, although you shouldn't learn that. Let's be honest: Excessive drug use hurts songwriting. The good side is, he's still on the road, rockin', almost 50 years later. You can't hold most bands together for four years, let alone 50. They show that if you stick to your guns, and don't compromise with what's trendy, you're gonna go a long f**king way. Illustration by Braldt Bralds 3 Elvis Presley By Bono Out of Tupelo, Mississippi, out of Memphis, Tennessee, came this green, sharkskin-suited girl chaser, wearing eye shadow — a trucker-dandy white boy who must have risked his hide to act so black and dress so gay. This wasn’t New York or even New Orleans; this was Memphis in the Fifties. This was punk rock. This was revolt. Elvis changed everything — musically, sexually, politically. In Elvis, you had the whole lot; it’s all there in that elastic voice and body. As he changed shape, so did the world: He was a Fifties-style icon who was what the Sixties were capable of, and then suddenly not. In the Seventies, he turned celebrity into a blood sport, but interestingly, the more he fell to Earth, the more godlike he became to his fans. His last performances showcase a voice even bigger than his gut, where you cry real tears as the music messiah sings his tired heart out, turning casino into temple. In Elvis, you have the blueprint for rock & roll. The highness — the gospel highs. The mud — the Delta mud, the blues. Sexual liberation. Controversy. Changing the way people feel about the world. It’s all there with Elvis. I was eight years old when I saw the ’68 comeback special — which was probably an advantage. I hadn’t the critical faculties to divide the different Elvises into different categories or sort through the contradictions. Pretty much everything I want from guitar, bass and drums was present: a performer annoyed by the distance from his audience; a persona that made a prism of fame’s wide-angle lens; a sexuality matched only by a thirst for God’s instruction. But it’s that elastic spastic dance that is the most difficult to explain — hips that swivel from Europe to Africa, which is the whole point of America, I guess. For an Irish boy, the voice might have explained the sexiness of the U.S.A., but the dance explained the energy of this new world about to boil over and scald the rest of us with new ideas on race, religion, fashion, love and peace. I once met with Coretta Scott King, John Lewis and some of the other leaders of the American civil rights movement, and they reminded me of the cultural apartheid rock & roll was up against. I think the hill they climbed would have been much steeper were it not for the racial inroads black music was making on white pop culture. Elvis was already doing what the civil rights movement was demanding: breaking down barriers. You don’t think of Elvis as political, but that is politics: changing the way people see the world. In the Eighties, U2 went to Memphis, to Sun Studio — the scene of rock & roll’s big bang. Elvis’ music diviner Cowboy Jack Clement opened the studio so we could cut some tracks within the same four walls where Elvis recorded “Mystery Train.” He found the old valve microphone the King had howled through; the reverb was the same reverb: “Train I ride, 16 coaches long.” It was a small tunnel of a place, but there was a certain clarity to the sound. You can hear it in those Sun records, and they are the ones for me. The King didn’t know he was the King yet. Elvis doesn’t know where the train will take him, and that’s why we want to be passengers. Jerry Schilling, the only one of the Memphis Mafia not to sell him out, told me that when Elvis was upset and feeling out of kilter, he would leave the big house and go down to his little gym, where there was a piano. With no one else around, his choice would always be gospel. He was happiest when he was singing his way back to spiritual safety. But he didn’t stay long enough. Self-loathing was waiting back up at the house, where Elvis was seen shooting at his TV screens, the Bible open beside him at St. Paul’s great ode to love, Corinthians 13. Elvis clearly didn’t believe God’s grace was amazing enough. Some commentators say it was the Army, others say it was Hollywood or Las Vegas that broke his spirit. The rock & roll world certainly didn’t like to see their King doing what he was told. I think it was probably much more likely his marriage or his mother — or a finer fracture from earlier on, like losing his twin brother, Jesse, at birth. Maybe it was just the big arse of fame sitting on him. I think the Vegas period is underrated. I find it the most emotional. By that point Elvis was clearly not in control of his own life, and there is this incredible pathos. The big opera voice of the later years — that’s the one that really hurts me. Why is it that we want our idols to die on a cross of their own making, and if they don’t, we want our money back? But you know, Elvis ate America before America ate him. Illustration by Dan Brown 2 Bob Dylan By Robbie Robertson Bob Dylan and I started out from different sides of the tracks. When I first heard him, I was already in a band, playing rock & roll. I didn't know a lot of folk music. I wasn't up to speed on the difference he was making as a songwriter. I remember somebody playing "Oxford Town," from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, for me. I thought, "There's something going on here." His voice seemed interesting to me. But it wasn't until we started playing together that I really understood it. He is a powerful singer and a great musical actor, with many characters in his voice. I could hear the politics in the early songs. It's very exciting to hear somebody singing so powerfully, with something to say. But what struck me was how the street had had such a profound effect on him: coming from Minnesota, setting out on the road and coming into New York. There was a hardness, a toughness, in the way he approached his songs and the characters in them. That was a rebellion, in a certain way, against the purity of folk music. He wasn't pussyfooting around on "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Ballad of a Thin Man." This was the rebel rebelling against the rebellion. I learned early on with Bob that the people he hung around with were not musicians. They were poets, like Allen Ginsberg. When we were in Europe, there'd be poets coming out of the woodwork. His writing came directly out of a tremendous poetic influence, a license to write in images that weren't in the Tin Pan Alley tradition or typically rock & roll, either. I watched him sing "Desolation Row" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" in those acoustic sets in 1965 and '66. I had never seen anything like it — how much he could deliver with a guitar and a harmonica, and how people would just take the ride, going through these stories and songs with him. When he and I went to Nashville in 1966, to work on Blonde on Blonde, it was the first time I'd ever seen a songwriter writing songs on a typewriter. We'd go to the studio, and he'd be finishing up the lyrics to some of the songs we were going to do. I could hear this typewriter — click, click, click, ring, really fast. He was typing these things out so fast; there was so much to be said. And he'd be changing things during a session. He'd have a new idea and try to incorporate that. That was something else he taught me early on. The Hawks were band musicians. We needed to know where the song was going to go, what the chord changes were, where the bridge was. Bob has never been big on rehearsing. He comes from a place where he just did the songs on acoustic guitar by himself. When we'd play the song with him, it would be, "How do we end it?" And he'd say, "Oh, when it's over, it's over. We'll just stop." We got so we were ready for anything — and that was a good feeling. We'd think, "OK, this can take a left turn at any minute — and I'm ready." More than anything, in my own songwriting, the thing I learned from Bob is that it's OK to break those traditional rules of what songs are supposed to be: the length of a song, how imaginative you could get telling the story. It was great that someone had broken down the gates, opened up the sky to all of the possibilities. I think Bob has a true passion for the challenge, for coming up with something in the music that makes him feel good, to keep on doing it and doing it, as he does now. The songs Bob is writing now are as good as any songs he's ever written. There's a wonderful honesty in them. He writes about what he sees and feels, about who he is. We spent a lot of time together in the 1970s. We were both living in Malibu and knew what was going on in our respective day-to-day lives. And I know Blood on the Tracks is a reflection of what was happening to him then. When he writes songs, he's holding up a mirror — and I'm seeing it all clearly, like I've never seen it before. I don't think Bob ever wanted to be more than a good songwriter. When people are like, "Oh, my God, you're having an effect on culture and society" — I doubt he thinks like that. I don't think Hank Williams understood why his songs were so much more moving than other people's songs. I think Bob is thinking, "I hope I can think of another really good song." He's putting one foot in front of the other and just following his bliss. But Bob is a great barometer for young singers and songwriters. As soon as they think they've written something good — "I'm pushing the envelope here, I've made a breakthrough" — they should listen to one of his songs. He will always stand as the one to measure good work by. That's one of the greatest accomplishments of all. Illustration by Paul Davis 1 The Beatles By Elvis Costello I first heard of the Beatles when I was nine years old. I spent most of my holidays on Merseyside then, and a local girl gave me a bad publicity shot of them with their names scrawled on the back. This was 1962 or '63, before they came to America. The photo was badly lit, and they didn't quite have their look down; Ringo had his hair slightly swept back, as if he wasn't quite sold on the Beatles haircut yet. I didn't care; they were the band for me. The funny thing is that parents and all their friends from Liverpool were also curious and proud about this local group. Prior to that, the people in show business from the north of England had all been comedians. Come to think of it, the Beatles recorded for Parlophone, which was known as a comedy label. I was exactly the right age to be hit by them full on. My experience — seizing on every picture, saving money for singles and EPs, catching them on a local news show — was repeated over and over again around the world. It was the first time anything like this had happened on this scale. But it wasn't just about the numbers. Every record was a shock when it came out. Compared to rabid R&B evangelists like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles arrived sounding like nothing else. They had already absorbed Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry, but they were also writing their own songs. They made writing your own material expected, rather than exceptional. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were exceptional songwriters; McCartney was, and is, a truly virtuoso musician; George Harrison wasn't the kind of guitar player who tore off wild, unpredictable solos, but you can sing the melodies of nearly all of his breaks. Most important, they always fit right into the arrangement. Ringo Starr played the drums with an incredibly unique feel that nobody can really copy, although many fine drummers have tried and failed. Most of all, John and Paul were fantastic singers. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison had stunningly high standards as writers. Imagine releasing a song like "Ask Me Why" or "Things We Said Today" as a B side. These records were events, and not just advance notice of an album release. Then they started to really grow up. They went from simple love lyrics to adult stories like "Norwegian Wood," which spoke of the sour side of love, and on to bigger ideas than you would expect to find in catchy pop lyrics. They were pretty much the first group to mess with the aural perspective of their recordings and have it be more than just a gimmick. Before the Beatles, you had guys in lab coats doing recording experiments in the Fifties, but you didn't have rockers deliberately putting things out of balance, like a quiet vocal in front of a loud track on "Strawberry Fields Forever." You can't exaggerate the license that this gave to everyone from Motown to Jimi Hendrix. My absolute favorite albums are Rubber Soul and Revolver. When you picked up Revolver, you knew it was something different. Heck, they are wearing sunglasses indoors in the picture on the back of the cover and not even looking at the camera … and the music was so strange and yet so vivid. If I had to pick a favorite song from those albums, it would be "And Your Bird Can Sing" … no, "Girl" … no, "For No One" … and so on, and so on…. Their breakup album, Let It Be, contains songs both gorgeous and jagged. I remember going to Leicester Square and seeing the film of Let It Be in 1970. I left with a melancholy feeling. The word "Beatlesque" has been in the dictionary for a while now. I can hear them in the Prince album Around the World in a Day; in Ron Sexsmith's tunes; in Harry Nilsson's melodies. You can hear that Kurt Cobain listened to the Beatles and mixed them in with punk and metal. I've co-written some songs with Paul McCartney and performed with him in concert on a few occasions. During one rehearsal, I was singing harmony on a Ricky Nelson song, and Paul called out the next tune: "All My Loving." I said, "Do you want me to take the harmony line the second time round?" And he said, "Yeah, give it a try." I'd only had 35 years to learn the part. It was a very poignant performance, witnessed only by the crew and other artists on the bill. At the show, it was very different. The second he sang the opening lines — "Close your eyes, and I'll kiss you" — the crowd's reaction was so intense that it all but drowned the song out. It was very thrilling but also rather disconcertin g. Perhaps I understood in that moment one of the reasons why the Beatles had to stop performing. The songs weren't theirs anymore. They were everybody's. 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• Condition: In Excellent Condition
• Options: Commemorative
• Certification Number: Beatles
• Fineness: 0.01
• Grade: Ungraded
• Material: Metal
• Certification: Uncertified
• Colour: Silver
• Year of Issue: 2024
• Currency: Beatles
• Features: Commemorative
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Variety: Beatles
• Country of Origin: United States

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