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No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band’s output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles?
In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles’ rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source.
As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy.
In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
lesson:
Liverpool: The Birthplace of the Beatles
How did growing up in post-WWII Liverpool influence the Beatles?
lesson:
Beatlemania
What were the factors that contributed to the rise of Beatlemania?
Video
video:
Long Tall Sally
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
Beatlemania
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
The Early Beatles
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
Bed-In for Peace, Amsterdam
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
The Beatles in the Studio
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
She Loves You
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
A Hard Day’s Night Trailer
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
video:
Saga of Western Man
No other Rock and Roll band has achieved the stature accorded the Beatles. They remain the most celebrated act in the music’s history. Their recordings, their performances, their songwriting, their singing: taken together, the band's output is widely considered unmatched in the history of popular music. How, then, did it all happen? What made the Beatles the Beatles? In this chapter, teachers can explore the complicated historical roots of the Beatles' rise to fame. The first lesson examines life in postwar England, and Liverpool in particular: it was there that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison — later joined by Ringo Starr— met as teenagers and played together for the first time. In a city colored by war-wrought devastation, with rationing still a daily reality, the young men who would become the Beatles saw the power of music in hard times. From the Music Hall acts to the Skiffle bands on the streets, music makers were bringing a spirit of release to the lives of working-class families, most of whom were affected very directly by the challenges of life during and after the war. The young Beatles were pulled toward music as a cultural power source. As another lesson in this chapter will demonstrate, the Beatles spent significant time as a band before they became worldwide stars. They honed their craft, playing “covers” of other artists’ material and performing nightly for long hours, particularly during their Hamburg residence. Perhaps more than any other lesson, this one approaches very directly that question “What made the Beatles the Beatles?” The lesson that follows explores Beatlemania, looking into the Beatles as a cultural phenomenon. Like no other reaction to a popular music act, Beatlemania remains a powerful instance of music giving rise to community, to collective obsession, to media saturation, and to widespread joy. In a time of tremendous social change, the Beatles provided a model for the creative possibilities of youth culture. They broke musical ground by expanding on the possibilities of studio recording, by actively engaging with both avant-garde and non-Western cultures, and by exploring film, television, and other media as territories of a new popular artistry. They remain, even today, a kind of standard for music-makers.
Print Journalism
article:
Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters — A Portrait from 1966
IT IS NOW ABOUT A DOZEN YEARS since the pop music revolution – since Alan Freed began to play, instead of soupy white imitations, straight rhythm and blues in New York and called it rock'n'roll; since Wild Bill Haley and his Comets roared to the top of the Top Ten with 'Shake, Rattle and Roll'; since the advent of the 45 rpm record and the post-war prosperity stretched that Top Ten into the Top 40, and even the Top 100. Despite adult accusations of the sameness of all the bleating sounds, pop has changed many times in those years. Those...
article:
Newcomers To The Charts: Liverpool’s Beatles Wrote Their Own Hit
MAKING THEIR NME Chart debut with 'Love Me Do' this week are the Beatles, a vocal-instrumental group who hail from Liverpool, the birthplace of such stars as Billy Fury, Frankie Vaughan, Norman Vaughan and Ken Dodd. Their own composition, 'Love Me Do', is their first disc to be released on a British label. Previously they were with Polydor and had several discs released on the Continent, including one with singer Tony Sheridan, of 'Oh Boy!' note. Why are they called "the Beatles" ? The boys laughingly put off this question by saying : "The name came to us in a vision!" The line-up is...