Although 4 young men from Liverpool gathered together to believe they have created a small music band, this was the beginning of an adventure and musical revolution. The harmony between John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney made them a trend topic even after the band was gone and their songs addressing all ages and genders left memorable marks in time. Even though the young musicians who followed these marks created new bands inspired from them, they never had the same success. The Beatles dragged millions behind their back not with their music alone but with their hair style, clothing and the way they looked into life. Each song that still sang by everyone today has a different interpretation of live and a peaceful invitation towards the universality of the music.
John Lennon who is not only the representator of love and peace and played a huge role on the birth of a legend and Pete Shotton in 1956 turned a band called The Quarrymen into a 5-people music band. One year later, Lennon met with Paul McCartney whom he admired his guitar talents and included him in the band. Later, George Harrison joined them and only three names were left from an amateur band who did covers: John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison… On the same year, they changed their name to Johnny & The Moondogs to follow the fashion. As Stuart Sutcliffe, Lennon’s friend from Liverpool Art College was in the band, the band changed named again into “The Beatals”.
Until the band was called “the Beatles” in 1960, they played with “The Silver Beetles” and “The Silver Beatles” names. They even used nicknames to follow the trend of that time. The name that the group chose as a reference to the word “beat” meaning “rhythm” in English, after being changed many times. At the age of 12, he remained “The Beatles” with the suggestion of John Lennon, who was impressed by the words of the man on the flying carpet he saw in his dream, “You are a beetle with the letter an” in it. In that period, a new member called Pete Best was included in the band. In the same year, they started their first Hamburg concert and performances in nightclubs in Liverpool. Stuart Sutcliffe who decided to settle down in Germany and become a painter between 1960-1962 left the band. The reason behind this decision was that his girlfriend and photographer Astrid Kirchherr who created the famous Beatles haircut lived in Germany.
The band’s manager and owner of the “North End Music Store” Brian Epstein started to hear “The Beatles” name in the store. He admired not only their music but also their looks and sincerity when he went to see them in the Cavern Club. He saw a future in them and send the 15-song record to a production company. Although the record company rejected them by saying bands with guitars are out of fashion, this was not enough to give up. After a few attempts, he signed with Parlophone Records, headed by George Martin, who was the producer of the band in 1962. But George Martin had in mind the most “artist” member of the band, Ringo Starr, whose real name was “Richard Starkey”, rather than Pete Best, who was the drummer of the band at the time.
Ringo uses this name because he wore a ring on each finger all the time. He combined the nickname “Rings”, which his friends deemed appropriate for him, with his fondness for the wild west, and shortened his last name to take the name Ringo Starr, which he would carry for life. Although the sudden change made against their wishes did not, please both the other members of the group and the audience at first, Ringo Starr managed to be accepted as a “Beatle” by making himself popular in a short time with his cheerful and sincere demeanor. The only purpose of the band that started at local clubs in Liverpool and expanded across the UK and the world was to be heard. One of the common areas of interest of the band was Elvis Presley whom they referred as “there won’t be the Beatles if it wasn’t for him”. 4 music lovers never thought of meeting with the king of the rock and roll who was around the world in the 50s and singing with him.
The band did their first professional record in 1962 and released their debut album “Please Please Me” after one year in the UK. The album at the same time hit number 1 in the UKs album list. Guys from the Liverpool moved up to the summit and expanded to the world slowly. With “Beatlemania”, which started in America with the “I Want to Hold Your Hand” 45, those who fainted at their concerts, threw themselves on the stage, screamed to see them up close, and cried every day. All the young people were dressing like them, combing their hair like them, trying to be a real “Beatle” by taking their example. The albums “With the Beatles”, the beginning of the Beatles’ being called the “Magnificent Four”, were their first “million” selling albums. The Beatles proved its uniqueness with “Lennon/McCartney1 songs that turned into a brand over time and started to be on the silver screen since 1964. The first movie was “A Hard Day’ s Night” which was also the name of their 3rd album. “I Fell Fine” album released in the UK in the same year had a great innovation to inspire the musicians in the future. John Lennon used guitar feedback defined as a noise similar to a bee at the beginning of the song. Although the production company that released the record later apologized for “this sound was due to a technical malfunction”, in fact, this small detail was the first and deliberate practice of the Beatles, which would be repeated many years later by other musicians. The “Beatles for Sale” album released by the end of 1964 was not energetic as before and this album was considered as the “stagnation” period.
Their following albums and songs were at the top. The broke records with tours and welcomed by mad crowds wherever they went. Contrary to what some think, their reason for not accepting the Royal Order presented to them by Queen Elizabeth, among millions of their admirers, in 1965 is not because of their sassiness. As they said, “not to rise to the same level as a handful of sluggish minds”. They released a movie and “Help” album on the same year. Help album is the one known by everyone even if there is anyone who hasn’t listen to the Beatles before. “Yesterday”, which has only been produced in 3000 versions today and managed to stay at number 1 in all world charts for 11 weeks. The interesting detail about the song is this. Paul McCartney’s insistence that the other members of the band find this song slow and that it should not be on the album because it does not reflect the structure of the band. Their other album, “Rubber Soul,” released in 1965, was a turning point with its different melodies, which went down in history as the Beatles’ maturity album. was accepted as
