THE BEATLES, 1964 Term paper

Between 1962 and 1971 the Beatles were the most popular rock band in the world. They changed popular music and entertainment in general in several important ways. In 1964 they came to the United States to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show and unleashed what became known as “Beatlemania.”

The Beatles came from Liverpool and working-class backgrounds. Paul McCartney (1942–) and John Lennon (1940–1980) began playing together in 1956. George Harrison (1943–) joined in 1957. Ringo Starr (originally Richard Starkey, 1940–) replaced one of the original members of the band in 1962. That same year another member of the band, Stu Sutcliff, died of cancer.

The Beatles played clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg for several years before becoming popular. Brian Epstein, who began to manage them in 1962, had a great deal to do with their success. Under his influence, the Beatles became a more polished act, started dressing more fashionably, and began wearing their hair longer than was then customary.

In 1962 and 1963 several Lennon-McCartney songs, among them “Love Me Do,”“Please, Please Me,”“She Loves You,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” became hits in England. In 1964 “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” became hits in America.

The Beatles stopped performing in public in 1966. By then they had moved from an enthusiastic blend of early rock and roll and rhythm and blues to experiments with musical forms and social commentary. In 1967 they produced Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album that broke new ground in that it was seen as a unified production and not merely a collection of songs. The Beatles made a number of other popular albums in the late 1960s, including their last one, Abbey Road (1969). The two films made by the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965), were well received.

The group broke up in 1971, in part because of the pressures of the enormous popularity it enjoyed but also because of diverging individual interests. Paul McCartney was probably the most successful of the four in the post-Beatles period with his band Wings and a career of recording and composing. John Lennon, a political activist in the 1970s, remained popular as a musician. George Harrison had some success as a musician and film producer but became best known for organizing a concert to raise money for famine relief in Bangladesh. Ringo Starr appeared in several movies and continued to perform and record. Rumors that the Beatles would reunite persisted, even after Lennon was shot and killed by a deranged fan in New York City in 1980. The Beatles, in the short time they were together, helped to explode the conventions that governed the writing of popular songs, which meant songs could not only be entertaining but also commentaries on social problems and political issues. Additionally, they played a vital role in the creation of a new youth culture that swept the United States and many other parts of the world in the 1960s and 1970s. More than any other musical group in the twentieth century, they changed the face of popular culture.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Trace the development of the Beatles from the point where Lennon and McCartney began playing together to 1962, when Brian Epstein became their manager and Ringo Starr was recruited as the drummer.
2. Investigate the Beatles’ tour of America in 1964. Suggest reasons why they were so enormously popular.
3. Lennon and McCartney are often seen as one of the greatest songwriting teams of this century. Compare them with one or more famous songwriting teams in terms not only of popularity but also of contributions to popular music.
4. Watch A Hard Day’s Night (see Suggested Sources) and examine the critical response to it. Do you agree with the generally favorable reception of the critics? Provide evidence for the position you take.
5. Yoko Ono, Lennon’s second wife, has often been blamed for the breakup of the Beatles. After reviewing the Beatles’financial affairs, artistic differences, and personal relations, determine what caused the breakup. Provide reasons for the position you take.
6. The Rolling Stones are generally considered the other great musical group of the 1960s. Compare the music they produced in this period with that of the Beatles. Which group was more influential? Defend your decision.

Research Suggestions

Search under the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, Yoko Ono, Linda McCartney, George Martin, and Rock Music.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

The Beatles Anthology. 8 videocassettes. 10 hours, 28 minutes. Turner Home Entertainment, 1996. The 1995 ABC network production, The Beatles Anthology, an enormous collection of songs, interviews, and other material.

The Compleat Beatles. Distributed by MGM/UA Home Video, 1983. Videodisc, 119 minutes. A useful compilation.

Epstein, Brian, and Martin Lewis. A Cellarful of Noise: The Autobiography of the Man Who Made the Beatles, with a New Companion Narrative. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. First published in 1964. Epstein did as much as anyone to make the Beatles an extraordinary success in the 1960s.

A Hard Day’s Night. Distributed by Voyager Co., 1993. CD-ROM. A treasure trove for fans of the movie.

Lennon, John. Lennon Remembers: The “Rolling Stone” Interviews.New York: Popular Library, 1971. Lennon on the Beatles just as they were breaking up.

———. The Writings of John Lennon. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. Lennon’s collected works. Slight but witty. Introduction by Paul McCartney.

Neises, Charles, ed. The Beatles Reader: A Selection of Contemporary Views, News, and Reviews of the Beatles in Their Heyday. Ann Arbor: Popular Culture, Ink., 1991. A useful anthology.

Secondary Sources

Davies, Hunter. The Beatles. 2nd rev. ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. An excellent biography.

Everett, Walter. The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. An important study of the development of the Beatles as musicians.

Hertsgaard, Mark. A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. New York: Delacorte Press, 1995. One of the best biographies available. Knight, Judson. Abbey Road to Zapple Records: A Beatles Encyclopedia. Dallas: Taylor, 1999. A very useful reference book.

Kozinn, Allan. The Beatles. New York: Chronicle Books, 1995. Kozinn takes the Beatles seriously as important composers.

MacDonald, Ian. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. 2nd ed. London: Fourth Estate, 1997. Places the Beatles in the context of their era.

McKean, William. The Beatles: A Bio-Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989. A versatile reference source.

Miller, James. Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947–1977. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999. Miller, a well-known rock critic, devotes five chapters to the Beatles. Thoughtful comments and comprehensive coverage.

Norman, Philip. Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation. 2nd ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996. Perhaps the best biography of the Beatles.

World Wide Web

“Abbeyrd’s Beatles Page.” http://www.best.com/~abbeyrd An excellent source of Beatles information. Good links to other sites.

“The Internet Beatles Album.” http://www.getback.org/bmain.html. Another excellent Web site on the Beatles.