5 Important Facts About The Beatles

1. How The Beatles began.- In July of 1957, In Liverpool, Paul McCartney met John Lennon, who were both teenagers. As they showed each other their impressive musical skills, Lennon was mostly impressed with McCartney's mastery of the acoustic guitar and invited him to join his band, The Quarrymen. In 1958, George Harrison joined them and the following year they played regular gigs at The Casbah Club. For this band they had various names such as The Quarrymen, Johnny & the Moon Dogs, and The Silver Beetles. John Lennon finally came up with the name The Beatles, a mix of Beetle and Beat. In 1960, The Beatles toured through Germany and met Ringo Starr, who played for the Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and later joined The Beatles. Then, The Beatles finally started their journey to become the most successful act of the 20th century. To read more about they began, click on The Beatles: The Birth Of The Band. 2. How The Beatles became famous.- It wasn't easy for The Beatles to gain all of the popularity they have now. On January 1, 1962, The Beatles flew to London and recorded fifteen songs at the Decca Records. They were not hired at first which is why they made several trips to London and auditioned for several labels. Brian Epstein, their manager, was persistent in trying to sign a record deal for The Beatles, even after being shot down by every major record label in the UK. Epstein transferred a demo tape to disc with HMV technician Jim Foy, who liked their song and referred it to Parlophone's George Martin. On June 6, 1962, at the Abbey Road studios, they passed Martin's audition with the exception of Pete Best, former drummer of The Beatles. They were asked to get a new drummer which is how they brought in Ringo Starr. In September of 1962 The Beatles recorded their first hit Love Me Do, which charted in UK and reached the top of the US singles chart. To read more about their number 1 hit, click on 3 Things to Know About the Beatles’ First No.1 Hit, “Please Please Me”. 3. How The Beatles changed Rock 'n' Roll.- By 1945, the United States had emerged as the victor of World War II and found itself an economic lord among the destroyed Allied and Axis powers. With the past miseries of the Depression and devastating war fresh in the collective mind, the ensuing economic boom and cornucopia of wealth were cherished all the more. Conservatives feared social disintegration, immorality and rock 'n' roll, as well as the menace of communism. At the same time, popular music and movies began to exert a greater influence on adolescents, questioning the norms and illusions of the affluent society. Rock 'n' roll was the main base of the youth. As parents grew concerned with the implications of rock 'n' roll, it became clear that it helped insulate the youth from previous generation. The rock 'n' roll subculture rose and liberated millions of teens to become the activists, protesters, hippies, and proponents of the growing counterculture of the late 1960s. In a sense, The Beatles were the "first working-class heroes," in that the band was the first to make rock 'n' roll respectable by winning over the higher class. The Beatles were one of the many century's major symbols of cultural transformation. To read more about how The Beatles changed the world, click on Five ways The Beatles changed the world. 4. The real reason The Beatles separated.- John Lennon was planning to leave The Beatles in 1969, but it wasn't official until Paul McCartney publicly announced Lennon's departure on April 10, 1970. Since then, fans tried looking for the answers blaming Lennon's widowed wife, Yoko Ono, as to why they separated, but McCartney finally came to her defense to set the record straight. "She certainly didn't break the group up. I don't think you can blame her for anything," he said in an interview. Many fans believed Ono came to sweep Lennon off his feet to purposely steal him from The Beatles. McCartney added that Lennon was going to leave regardless. Yoko Ono inspired him to think differently of the world and influenced her view of things which was extremely attractive to John Lennon. "John was just tired of the band's unhealthy rivalry and wanted to go his own way,' added McCartney.  Although The Beatles separated, they are still one of the most relevant music groups today. To read more about John Lennon and Yoko Ono's relationship, click on A Look Back at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Infamous Love Story. 5. The definition of Beatlemania.- Beatlemania is extreme enthusiasm for the Beatles, as manifested in the frenzied behavior of their fans in the 1960s. It was said that in some instances in 1964, concerts had to be postponed because of riots involving fans too excited to see the band perform live. Beatlemania was something different and new. By the summer of 1964, when the Beatles appeared in A Hard Day's Night, a movie that dramatized the phenomenon of Beatlemania, the band’s effect was evident around the world as countless young people emulated the band members’ characteristic long hair, flip humor, and whimsical displays of devil-may-care abandon. To read more about Beatlemania, click on 1964: Beatlemania. 6. Why people hate The Beatles.- In an interview, John Lennon argued that Christianity was in decline and that it may be outlived by rock music, explaining "We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."  Since then, observers have anxiously tried to search whether their fame was on the wax or on the wane. People tried looking for "The New Beatles." Angry reactions flared up in Christian communities when it was published in the United States. Shortly after the controversy broke, Lennon apologized for the comment, saying "if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it". He stressed that he was simply remarking on how other people viewed the popular band. The events contributed to the Beatles' lack of interest in public live performances, and the US tour was the last they undertook, after which they became a studio-only band. To read more about this quote, click on When John Lennon's 'More Popular Than Jesus' Controversy Turned Ugly.