BEATLES
BEATLES, The Beatles Paul McCartney Ringo Starr George Harrison and John Lennon Beatles Soundtrack partials 0:00 0:13 Twist Shout 0:14 0:29 I Feel Fine 0:29 0:41 We Can Work It Out 0:41 0:54 I Wanna Hold Your Hand 0:54 1:10 Love Me Do 1:10 1:21 She Loves You 1:21 1:39 Yes It Is 1:40 1:55 I Will 1:56 2:20 All My Loving 2:20 2:44 Birthday 2:45 3:10 Lucy in the Sky 3:10 3:26 Sgt Pepper 3:26 3:42 I Am the Walrus 3:42 3:57 Magical Mystery Tour 3:57 4:13 Yes it Is again 4:13 4:24 She Loves You again 4:24 4:44 Ticket to Ride 4:44 5:05 Paperback Writer 5:05 5:30 Hey Jude 5:30 5:52 Get Back 5:53 6:02 I need help here no idea what this one is 6:02 6:29 Ob La Di Ob La Da above is courtesy of HappyDaze01 Thx HaDz01! Origin Liverpool England Rock/Pop Years active 1960 1970 Parlophone Capitol Apple Vee Jay Polydor Swan Tollie Related to Tony Sheridan The Quarrymen The Plastic Ono Band The Dirty Mac Wings Traveling Wilburys Rory Storm and the Hurricanes Ringo Starr All Starr Band Billy Preston Members Ever to Date John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Former members Stuart Sutcliffe Pete Best The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison and Ringo Starr They are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music The Beatles are the best selling musical act of all time in the United States of America according to the Recording Industry Association of America which certified them as the highest selling band of all time based on American sales of singles and albums In the United Kingdom The Beatles released more than 40 different singles albums and EPs that reached number one This commercial success was repeated in many other countries: their record company EMI estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion discs and tapes worldwide In 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time According to that same magazine their innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s 2 and their influence on pop culture can still be felt today The Beatles led the mid 1960s musical British Invasion into the United States Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock Their clothes styles and statements made them trend setters while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s 1957 1960: Formation The Quarrymen In March 1957 John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen whilst attending Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool 6 Lennon and the Quarrymen met guitarist Paul McCartney at the Woolton Garden Fête held at St Peters Church on 6 July 1957 7 On 6 February 1958 the young guitarist George Harrison was invited to watch the group who played under a variety of names at Wilson Hall Garston Liverpool 8 McCartney had become acquainted with Harrison on the morning school bus ride to the Liverpool Institute as they both lived in Speke At McCartneys insistence Harrison joined the Quarrymen as lead guitarist 9 after a rehearsal in March 1958 overcoming Lennons initial reluctance because of Harrisons young age 10 Members continually joined and left the lineup during that period and in January 1960 Lennons art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass 11 Lennon and McCartney both played rhythm guitar and the group had a high turnover of drummers The Quarrymen went through a progression of names — Johnny and the Moondogs Long John and the Beatles the Silver Beetles derived from Larry Parnes suggestion of Long John and the Silver Beetles — before settling on The Beatles There are many theories as to the origin of the name and its unusual spelling It is usually credited to Lennon who said that the name was a combination word play on the insects beetles as a reference to Buddy Hollys band the Crickets and the word beat Cynthia Lennon suggests that Lennon came up with the name Beatles at a brainstorming session over a beer soaked table in the Renshaw Hall bar 12 Lennon who was well known for giving multiple versions of the same story joked in a 1961 Mersey Beat magazine article that It came in a vision — a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them From this day on you are Beatles with an A 13 During an interview in 2001 Paul McCartney took credit for the peculiar spelling of the name saying that John had the idea of calling us the Beetles I said how about the Beatles; you know like the beat of the drum? At the time everyone was stoned enough to find it hilarious Its funny how history is made 14 In May 1960 The Beatles toured northeast Scotland as a back up band with singer Johnny Gentle 15 They met Gentle an hour before their first gig and McCartney referred to the tour as a great experience for the band 16 For the tour the often drummerless group secured the services of Tommy Moore who was considerably older than the others 17 Soon after the tour however feeling the age gap was too great Moore left the band and went back to work in a bottling factory as a fork lift truck driver 18 Norman Chapman was the bands next drummer but was called up for National Service in a few weeks His departure posed a significant problem as the groups unofficial manager Allan Williams had arranged for them to perform in clubs on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg Germany 19 1960 1970: The Beatles Hamburg On 15 August 1960 McCartney invited Pete Best to become the groups permanent drummer He had watched Best play with the Blackjacks 20 in the Casbah Club owned by Petes mother Mona Best This was a cellar club in West Derby Liverpool where The Beatles had played and often visited 21 In the documentary The Compleat Beatles Williams said that Best played not too cleverly but passable The Beatles started playing in Hamburg at the Indra and Kaiserkeller bars They were required to play six or seven hours a night seven nights a week Shortly after they began performing at a new venue the Top Ten Club 22 Harrison was deported for having lied to the German authorities about his age 23 A week later having started a small fire at their living quarters while vacating it for more luxurious rooms McCartney and Best were arrested charged with arson and deported 24 Lennon followed the others to Liverpool in mid December The reunited Beatles played their first engagement on 17 December 1960 at the Casbah Club and returned to Hamburg in April 1961 Whilst playing at the Top Ten Club they were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label 25 produced by famed bandleader Bert Kaempfert 19 Kaempfert signed the group to its own Polydor contract at the first session on 22 June 1961 On 31 October Polydor released the recording My Bonnie Mein Herz ist bei dir nur which appeared on the German charts under the name Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers a generic name used for whoever happened to be in Sheridans backup band 26 In addition to the legend that this record led to the groups eventual meeting with Brian Epstein it also resulted in their first mention in the American press Around the beginning of 1962 Cashbox mentioned My Bonnie as the debut of a new rock and roll team Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers A few copies were also pressed under the Decca label for U S disc jockeys as American Decca had a distribution deal with Polydor parent Deutsche Grammophon 27 This was ironic considering that by this time the then unaffiliated British Decca had turned down the groups attempt to gain a recording contract When the group returned to Liverpool Sutcliffe stayed on in Hamburg with his new German fiancee Astrid Kirchherr 28 and McCartney took over bass duties 29 Their third stay in Hamburg was from 13 April to 31 May 1962 when they opened The Star Club 19 Upon their arrival they were informed of Sutcliffes death from a brain haemorrhage 30 Epstein took over as the groups manager in January 1962 and led The Beatles quest for a British recording contract Epstein had been manager of the record department at North End Music Store NEMS an offshoot of his familys furniture store He played on the status of NEMS as a major record dealer to gain access to producers and recording company executives In a now famous exchange Decca Records A R executive Dick Rowe turned Epstein down flat informing him that Guitar groups are on the way out Mr Epstein 31 While Epstein was negotiating with Decca he also approached EMI marketing executive Ron White 32 White who was not himself a record producer in turn contacted EMI producers Norrie Paramor Walter Ridley and Norman Newell all of whom declined to record The Beatles 33 White did not approach EMIs fourth staff producer — George Martin — who was on holiday at the time 34 Record contract After failing to impress Decca Records Epstein went to the HMV store on Oxford Street in London to transfer the Decca tapes to discs There recording engineer Jim Foy referred him to Sid Coleman who ran EMIs publishing arm When Coleman heard the demo tapes he suggested taking the tapes to George Martin who Coleman explained does comedy records and headed the Parlophone label at EMI Epstein eventually met with Martin who signed the group to EMI on a one year renewable contract and scheduled their first recording session on 6 June at EMIs Abbey Road studios in north London 35 Martin had not been particularly impressed by the bands demo recordings 36 but he instantly liked them as people when he met them He concluded that they had raw musical talent but said in later interviews that what made the difference for him was their wit and humour 37 Martin did have a problem with Pete Best 36 whom he criticised for not being able to keep time He privately suggested to Epstein that the band use another drummer in the studio Best was good looking and popular with the groups fans but the three founding members had become increasingly unhappy with his drumming and his personality citation needed There was speculation by some that Bests popularity 38 with fans was another source of friction In addition Epstein had become exasperated with his refusal to adopt the distinctive hairstyle as part of their unified look Best also had missed a number of engagements because of illness The three founding members enlisted Epstein to dismiss Best which he did on 16 August 1962 39 They asked Ringo Starr born Richard Starkey the drummer for one of the top Merseybeat groups Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join the band as Starr had performed occasionally with The Beatles in Hamburg 40 The first recordings of Lennon McCartney Harrison and Starr together were made as early as 15 October 1960 in a series of demonstration records privately recorded in Hamburg while acting as the backing group for singer Lu Walters 41 Starr played on The Beatles second EMI recording session on 4 September 1962 but Martin hired session drummer Andy White for their next session on 11 September 42 Their recording contract paid them one penny for each single sold which was split amongst the four Beatles — one farthing per group member 43 This royalty rate was further reduced for singles sold outside the UK on which they received half of one penny again split between the whole band per single Martin said later that it was a pretty awful contract 43 Their publishing contract with Dick James Music DJM was also standard for the time: songwriters received the statutory minimum of 50% of the gross monies received with the publisher retaining the other 50% citation needed The Beatles first EMI session on 6 June did not yield any releasable recordings but the September sessions produced a minor UK hit Love Me Do which peaked on the charts at number 17 44 Love Me Do reached the top of the U S singles chart over 18 months later in May 1964 On 26 November they recorded their second single Please Please Me which reached no 2 in the official UK charts and no 1 in the NME chart Three months later they recorded their first album also titled Please Please Me The bands first televised performance was on the People and Places programme transmitted live from Manchester by Granada Television on 17 October 1962 45 As The Beatles fame spread the frenzied adulation of the group predominantly from teenage female fans was dubbed Beatlemania In November 1963 The Beatles appeared on the Royal Variety Performance and were photographed with Marlene Dietrich who also appeared on the show citation needed America Although the band experienced huge popularity in the UK record charts from early 1963 EMIs American operation Capitol Records declined to issue the singles Please Please Me and From Me to You their first official no 1 hit in the UK 46 Vee Jay Records a small Chicago label issued the singles as part of a deal for the rights to another performers masters Art Roberts music director of Chicago powerhouse radio station WLS placed Please Please Me into radio rotation in late February 1963 making it the first time a Beatles record was heard on American radio Vee Jays rights to The Beatles were later cancelled for non payment of royalties 47 In August 1963 Philadelphia based Swan Records released She Loves You which also failed to receive airplay A testing of the song on Dick Clarks TV show American Bandstand produced laughter from American teenagers when they saw the groups distinctive hairstyles New York disc jockey Murray the K featured She Loves You on his 1010 WINS record revue show in January 48 In early November 1963 Brian Epstein persuaded Ed Sullivan to present The Beatles on three editions of his show in February and parlayed this guaranteed exposure into a record deal with Capitol Records Capitol committed to a mid January release for I Want to Hold Your Hand 49 On 7 December 1963 a clip of The Beatles was shown on the CBS Evening News the story originally had been scheduled to air on 22 November and was aired on the CBS Morning News but was pre empted by the assassination of John F Kennedy The clip inspired a teenage girl in Washington D C to request a Beatles song on a local radio station The station secured an imported copy of I Want to Hold Your Hand — forcing Capitol Records to release the song ahead of schedule on 26 December Several New York radio stations — first WMCA then WINS AM and WABC — began playing I Want to Hold Your Hand on its release day The Beatlemania that had started in Washington was duplicated in New York and quickly spread to other markets The record sold one million copies in just ten days and by 16 January Cashbox magazine had certified the record number one in the edition marked 23 January On 3 January 1964 a film of The Beatles performing She Loves You was aired on the late night Jack Paar Show Beatlemania crosses the Atlantic On 7 February 1964 a crowd of four thousand fans at Heathrow Airport waved to The Beatles as they took off for their first trip to America as a group 51 They were accompanied by photographers journalists including Maureen Cleave and Phil Spector who had booked himself on the same flight 52 The pilot had radioed ahead and as they prepared to land said Tell the boys theres a big crowd waiting for them Kennedy International Airport had never experienced such a crowd estimated at about 3000 screaming fans 53 After a press conference where they first met Murray the K they were put into limousines and driven to New York On the way McCartney turned on a radio and listened to a running commentary: They The Beatles have just left the airport and are coming to New York City 54 After reaching the Plaza Hotel they were besieged by fans and reporters Harrison had a temperature of 102 the next day and was ordered to stay in bed so Neil Aspinall replaced him for the first television rehearsal 55 Their first live American television appearance was on the The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964 The next morning practically every newspaper wrote that The Beatles were nothing more than a fad and could not carry a tune across the Atlantic 56 Their first American concert appearance was at Washington Coliseum in Washington D C on 11 February 57 After The Beatles huge success in 1964 Vee Jay Records and Swan Records took advantage of their previously secured rights to The Beatles early recordings and reissued the songs all of which reached the top ten the second time around MGM and Atco also secured rights to The Beatles early Tony Sheridan era recordings and had minor hits with My Bonnie and Aint She Sweet the latter featuring John Lennon on lead vocal In addition to Introducing The Beatles which was essentially The Beatles debut British album with some minor alterations Vee Jay also issued an unusual LP called The Beatles Vs The Four Seasons This 2 LP set paired Introducing The Beatles and The Golden Hits Of The Four Seasons another successful act that Vee Jay had under contract in a contest the back cover featured a score card Another unusual release was the Hear The Beatles Tell All album which consisted of two lengthy interviews with Los Angeles radio disc jockeys side one was titled Dave Hull interviews John Lennon while side two was titled Jim Steck interviews John Paul George Ringo No Beatles music was included on this interview album which turned out to be the only Vee Jay Beatles album Capitol Records could not reclaim The Vee Jay/Swan issued recordings eventually ended up with Capitol who issued most of the Vee Jay material on the American only Capitol release The Early Beatles with three songs left off this final US version of the album I Saw Her Standing There was issued as the American B side of I Want to Hold Your Hand and also appeared on the Capitol Records album Meet The Beatles Misery and Theres a Place were issued as a Capitol Starline reissue single in 1964 and reappeared on the 1980 Rarities compilation album The early Vee Jay and Swan Beatles records command a high price on the record collectors market and all have been copiously bootlegged 58 The Swan tracks She Loves You and Ill Get You were issued on the Capitol LP The Beatles Second Album Swan also issued the German language version of She Loves You called Sie Liebt Dich This song later appeared in stereo on Capitols US version of the Rarities compilation album In mid 1964 the band undertook their first appearances outside of Europe and North America They toured Australia and New Zealand without Ringo Starr who was ill and temporarily replaced by session drummer Jimmy Nicol In Adelaide they were greeted by over 300000 people who turned out at Adelaide Town Hall 59 In June 1965 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire MBE The band members were nominated by Prime Minister Harold Wilson who also was the M P for Huyton Liverpool 60 The appointment — at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders — sparked some conservative MBE recipients to return their insignia in protest 61 The first two were returned on 14 June before The Beatles received theirs on 26 October 1965 62 On 15 August that year The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock playing at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of 55600 63 Their sixth album Rubber Soul was released in early December 1965 It was hailed as a major leap forward in the maturity and complexity of the bands music 64 Backlash and controversy In July 1966 when The Beatles toured the Philippines they unintentionally snubbed the nations first lady Imelda Marcos who had expected the group to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace 65 When presented with the invitation Brian Epstein politely declined on behalf of the group as it had never been the groups policy to accept such official invitations 66 The group soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to accepting no for an answer After the snub was broadcast on Philippine television and radio all of The Beatles police protection disappeared The group and their entourage had to make their way to Manila airport on their own At the airport roadie Mal Evans was beaten and kicked and the band members were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd 67 Once the group boarded the plane Epstein and Evans were ordered off and Evans said Tell my wife that I love her 68 Epstein was forced to give back all the money that the band had earned while they were there before being allowed back on the plane 69 Almost as soon as they returned from the Philippines an earlier comment by Lennon made in March that year launched a backlash against The Beatles from religious and social conservatives in the United States In an interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave 70 Lennon had offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus now 71 Afterwards a radio station in Birmingham Alabama ran a story on burning Beatles records in what was considered to be a joke However many people affiliated with rural churches in the American South started taking the suggestion seriously Towns across the United States and South Africa started to burn Beatles records in protest Attempting to make light of the incident McCartney said Theyve got to buy them before they can burn them Under tremendous pressure from the American media Lennon apologised for his remarks at a press conference in Chicago on August 11 the eve of the first performance of what turned out to be their final tour 72 The groups two year series of Capitol compilations also took a strange twist in the United States when one of their publicity shots used for a Yesterday and Today album and a poster promoting the UK release of Paperback Writer created an uproar as it featured the band draped in meat and plastic dolls Thousands of these copies had to be withdrawn Years later the cover shot was linked with the groups interest in German expressionism 72 Elvis Presley disapproved of The Beatless anti war activism and open use of drugs later asking President Nixon to ban all four members of the group from entering the United States Peter Guralnick writes The Beatles Elvis said had been a focal point for anti Americanism They had come to this country made their money then gone back to England where they fomented anti American feeling 73 Guralnick adds Presley indicated that he is of the opinion that The Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music while entertaining in this country during the early and middle 1960s 74 Despite Elvis remarks Lennon still had some positive feeling towards him: Before Elvis there was nothing 75 The studio years The Beatles at their last concert Candlestick Park In April 1966 the group began recording what would be their most ambitious album to date Revolver During the recording sessions for the album tape looping and early sampling were introduced in a complex mix of ballad R B soul and world music The Beatles performed their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on 29 August 1966 72 McCartney asked Tony Barrow to tape the event but the 30 minute tape he used ran out halfway through the last song The concert lasted a little under 35 minutes 76 From then on The Beatles concentrated on recording Less than seven months after recording Revolver The Beatles returned to Abbey Road Studios on 24 November 1966 to begin the 129 day recording sessions for their eighth album Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band released on 1 June 1967 On 25 June 1967 The Beatles became the first band globally transmitted on television—before an estimated 400 million people worldwide The band appeared in a segment within the first ever worldwide TV satellite hook up a show titled Our World The Beatles were transmitted live from Abbey Road Studios and their new song All You Need Is Love was recorded live during the show The bands business affairs began to unravel after manager Brian Epstein died of an accidental prescription drug overdose on 27 August 1967 at the age of 32 At the end of 1967 they received their first major negative press in the UK with disparaging reviews of their surrealistic TV film Magical Mystery Tour 77 Part of the criticism arose because colour was an integral part of the film but in 1967 few viewers in the UK had colour televisions The films soundtrack which features one of The Beatles few instrumental tracks Flying was released in the United Kingdom as a double EP and in the United States as a full LP the LP is now the official version The group spent the early part of 1968 in Rishikesh Uttar Pradesh India studying transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 78 Upon their return Lennon and McCartney went to New York to announce the formation of Apple Corps The middle of 1968 saw the band busy recording the double album The Beatles popularly known as The White Album because of its plain white cover These sessions saw deep divisions opening within the band with Starr temporarily walking out The band carried on with McCartney recording the drums on the songs Martha My Dear Wild Honey Pie Dear Prudence and Back in the USSR Among the other causes of dissension were that Lennons new girlfriend Yoko Ono was at his side through almost all of the sessions and that the others felt that McCartney was becoming too dominating 79 Internal divisions within the band had been a small but growing problem during their early years; most notably this was reflected in the difficulty that George Harrison experienced in getting his own songs onto Beatles albums On the business side McCartney wanted Lee Eastman the father of his then girlfriend Linda Eastman to manage The Beatles but the other members wanted New York manager Allen Klein All past Beatles decisions had been unanimous but this time the four could not agree Lennon Harrison and Starr felt the Eastmans would put McCartneys interests before those of the group In 1971 it was discovered that Klein who had been appointed manager had stolen £5 million from The Beatles holdings Years later during the Anthology interviews McCartney said of this time Looking back I can understand why they would feel that he Lee Eastman was biased against them Their final live performance was on the rooftop of the Apple building in Savile Row London on 30 January 1969 the next to last day of the difficult Get Back sessions Most of the performance was filmed and later included in the film Let It Be While the band was playing the local police were called because of complaints about the noise Although the group was simply asked to end their performance the band members later remarked in the Anthology video that they were disappointed they were not arrested — pointing out that the police hauling the band members off in handcuffs would have been an appropriate ending for the film The Beatles recorded their final album Abbey Road in the summer of 1969 The completion of the song I Want You Shes So Heavy for the album on 20 August was the last time all four Beatles were together in the same studio Their final new song was Harrisons I Me Mine recorded 3 January 1970 and released on the Let It Be album It was recorded without Lennon who was in Denmark when the song was recorded 80 Breakup John Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September 1969 but agreed that no announcement was to be publicly made until a number of legal matters were resolved In March 1970 the Get Back session tapes were given to American producer Phil Spector who had produced Lennons solo single Instant Karma! Spectors Wall of Sound production values went against the original intent of the record which had been to record a stripped down live performance McCartney was deeply dissatisfied with Spectors treatment of The Long and Winding Road and unsuccessfully attempted to halt release of Spectors version of the song McCartney publicly announced the break up on 10 April 1970 a week before releasing his first solo album McCartney Pre release copies included a press release with a self written interview explaining the end of The Beatles and his hopes for the future 81 On 8 May 1970 the Spector produced version of Get Back was released as Let It Be followed by the documentary film of the same name The Beatles partnership was finally dissolved in 1975 82 1970 present: After The Beatles Ringo Starr 1968 Shortly before and after the official dissolution of the group all four Beatles released solo albums including Lennons John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band McCartneys McCartney Starrs Sentimental Journey and Harrisons All Things Must Pass Some of their albums featured contributions by other former Beatles; Starrs Ringo 1973 was the only one to include compositions and performances by all four albeit on separate songs 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 In the wake of the expiration in 1975 of The Beatles contract with EMI Capitol the American Capitol label rushing to cash in on its vast Beatles holdings and freed from the groups creative control released five LPs: Rock n Roll Music a compilation of their more uptempo numbers The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl containing portions of two unreleased shows at the Hollywood Bowl Love Songs a compilation of their slower numbers Rarities a compilation of tracks that either had never been released in the U S or had gone out of print and Reel Music a compilation of songs from their films There was also a non Capitol EMI release of a show from the groups early days at the Star Club in Hamburg captured on a poor quality tape Of all these post breakup LPs only the Hollywood Bowl LP had the approval of the group members Upon the American release of the original British CDs in 1986 these post breakup Capitol American compilation LPs were deleted from the Capitol catalogue John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman on 8 December 1980 in New York City Shortly afterward in 1981 the three surviving Beatles reunited to record All Those Years Ago released as a George Harrison solo single Its original lyrics had been rewritten as a tribute to Lennon The BBC has a large collection of Beatles recordings mostly comprising original studio sessions from 1963 to 1968 Much of this material formed the basis for a 1988 radio documentary series The Beebs Lost Beatles Tapes In 1989 many outtakes from The Beatles sessions appeared on the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes Later in 1994 the best of the BBC sessions were given an official EMI release on Live at the BBC In 1988 The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a group not as individual performers during their first year of eligibility 83 On the night of their induction Harrison and Starr appeared to accept their award along with Lennons widow Yoko Ono and his two sons McCartney stayed away issuing a press release citing unresolved difficulties with Harrison Starr and Lennons estate Solo Beatles later inducted were Lennon in 1994 McCartney in 1999 and Harrison in 2004 Collage of the various covers of the Anthology seriesIn February 1994 the three surviving Beatles reunited to produce and record additional music for a few of Lennons home recordings Free as a Bird premiered as part of The Beatles Anthology series of television documentaries and was released as a single in December 1995 with Real Love following in March 1996 These songs were also included in the three Anthology collections of CDs released in 1995 and 1996 each of which consisted of two CDs of never before released Beatles material Klaus Voormann who had known The Beatles since their Hamburg days and had previously illustrated the Revolver album cover directed the Anthology cover concept 450000 copies of Anthology 1 were sold on its first day of release In 2000 a compilation album named 1 was released containing almost every number one single released by the band from 1962 to 1970 The collection sold 3 6 million copies in its first week selling 3 copies a second and more than 12 million in three weeks worldwide The collection also reached number one in the United States and 33 other countries and had sold 25 million copies by 2005 about the ninth best selling album of all time George Harrison during this time showed his socio political consciousness and earned respect for his contribution for arranging the Concert For Bangladesh in New York in August 1971 along with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar Harrison died of lung cancer on 29 November 2001 More recently in 2006 George Martin and his son Giles Martin remixed original Beatles recordings to create a soundtrack to accompany Cirque du Soleils theatrical production Love Musical evolution The Beatles constant demands to create new sounds on every new recording combined with George Martins arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers such as Norman Smith Ken Townshend and Geoff Emerick all played significant parts in the innovative sounds of the albums Rubber Soul 1965 Revolver 1966 and Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967 The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries Among those influences were Bob Dylan who influenced songs such as Youve Got to Hide Your Love Away and Norwegian Wood This Bird Has Flown 84 Other contemporary influences included the Byrds and the Beach Boys whose album Pet Sounds was a favourite of McCartneys 85 Along with studio tricks such as sound effects unconventional microphone placements tape loops double tracking and vari speed recording The Beatles began to augment their recordings with instruments that were unconventional for rock music at the time These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar as in Norwegian Wood This Bird Has Flown and the swarmandel as in Strawberry Fields Forever They also used early electronic instruments such as the Mellotron with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the intro to Strawberry Fields Forever and the ondioline an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe like sound on Baby Youre a Rich Man Beginning with the use of a string quartet arranged by George Martin with input from McCartney on Yesterday in 1965 The Beatles pioneered a modern form of art song exemplified by the double quartet string arrangement on Eleanor Rigby 1966 Here There and Everywhere 1966 and Shes Leaving Home 1967 A televised performance of Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No 2 directly inspired McCartneys use of a piccolo trumpet on the arrangement of Penny Lane The Beatles moved towards psychedelia with Rain and Tomorrow Never Knows from 1966 and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am the Walrus from 1967 Influence on popular culture Lifestyle The Beatles lifestyles were greatly altered by their success and the income they earned The availability of the first oral contraceptive and illegal drugs changed many peoples opinions — including The Beatles — about life marriage and sexual relationships 86 Recreational drug use In Hamburg The Beatles used prellies Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all night performances 87 McCartney would usually take one but Lennon would often take four or five 87 Bob Dylan introduced them to cannabis during a 1964 visit to New York 88 McCartney remembered them all getting very high and giggling 89 The Beatles occasionally smoked a spliff in the car on the way to the studio during the filming of Help! which often made them forget their lines 90 In April 1965 Lennon and Harrison were introduced to LSD by an acquaintance dentist John Riley 91 Lennon in particular became an avid tripper claiming in a 1970 interview in Rolling Stone to have taken LSD hundreds of times McCartney was more reluctant to try the drug but finally did so in 1966 and was the first Beatle to talk about it in the press The Beatles added their names to an advertisement in The Times on 24 July 1967 which asked for the legalisation of cannabis the release of all prisoners imprisoned because of possession and research into marijuanas medical uses The advertisement was sponsored by a group called Soma and was signed by 65 people including Brian Epstein Graham Greene R D Laing 15 doctors and two MPs 92 On a sailing trip to Greece in 1967 the whole band sat around on the boat and took acid 93 Meditation On 24 August 1967 The Beatles met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton and a few days later went to Bangor in North Wales to attend a weekend initiation conference 94 There the Maharishi gave each of them a mantra 95 Their time in early 1968 at the Maharishis ashram in India was highly productive from a musical standpoint as practically all of the songs that would later be recorded for The White Album and Abbey Road were composed there by Lennon McCartney and Harrison 78 Discography Further information: List of Beatles songs by singer The Beatles record sales worldwide charts The Beatles bootlegs and List of Beatles hit singles Official CD catalogue In 1987 EMI released all 12 of The Beatles studio albums — as originally released in the UK — on CD worldwide North American releases were on EMIs American subsidiary Capitol Records It was a considered decision by Apple Corps to standardise The Beatles catalogue throughout the world Because there were tracks that had been released in the UK on singles and EPs that had not been released on the original UK albums in order for all their recordings to be available on CD it was necessary to create three further CDs that would contain the missing tracks One CD was of a 1967 US compilation album that featured the 6 track 1967 UK EP Magical Mystery Tour and the various singles released in that year The other two CDs were new compilations that gathered together all the other singles EP tracks and recordings from 1962 1970 that had not been issued on the original British studio albums Magical Mystery Tour 8 August 1987 96 Past Masters Volume One 7 March 1988 Past Masters Volume Two 7 March 1988 According to EMI and the Guinness Book of Records The Beatles have sold in excess of one billion units 1010000000 including cassettes records CDs and bootlegs Beginning in 2004 the US album configurations were released as a series of box sets from Capitol Records The Capitol Albums Volume 1 Volume 2 ; these included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of their original 1960s releases Song catalogue In 1963 Lennon and McCartney agreed to assign their song publishing rights to Northern Songs a company created by music publisher Dick James The company was administered by James own company Dick James Music Northern Songs went public in 1965 with Lennon and McCartney each holding 15% of the companys shares whilst Dick James and the companys chairman Charles Silver held a controlling 37 5% In 1969 following a failed attempt by Lennon and McCartney to buy the company James and Silver sold Northern Songs to British TV company Associated TeleVision ATV from which Lennon and McCartney received stock In 1985 after a short period in which the parent company was owned by Australian business magnate Robert Holmes à Court ATV Music was sold to Michael Jackson for a reported $47 million trumping a joint bid by McCartney and Yoko Ono including the publishing rights to over 200 songs composed by Lennon and McCartney A decade later Jackson and Sony merged its music publishing businesses Since 1995 Jackson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing have jointly owned most of the Lennon McCartney songs recorded by The Beatles Sony later reported that Jackson had used his share of their co owned Beatles catalogue as collateral for a loan from the music company Meanwhile Lennons estate and McCartney still receive their respective songwriter shares of the royalties Despite his ownership of most of the Lennon McCartney publishing Jackson has only recorded one Lennon McCartney composition himself Come Together which was featured in his film Moonwalker Although the Jackson Sony catalogue includes most of The Beatles greatest hits four of their earliest songs had been published by one of EMIs publishing companies prior to Lennon and McCartney signing with Dick James — and McCartney later succeeded in personally acquiring the publishing rights to Love Me Do Please Please Me P S I Love You and Ask Me Why from EMI Harrison and Starr did not renew their songwriting contracts with Northern Songs in 1968 signing with Apple Publishing instead Harrison later created Harrisongs his own company which still owns the rights to his post 1967 songs such as While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Something Starr also created his own company called Startling Music It holds the rights to his two post 1967 songs recorded by The Beatles Dont Pass Me By and Octopuss Garden The future of The Beatles catalogue The Beatles are but a few of the major artists aside from Led Zeppelin and Garth Brooks who have not to date allowed their entire recorded catalogue to be available through major online music services iTunes Napster etc This may be due to the massive royalty fees demanded by the group As a result The Beatles music both officially and unofficially released has been made available through illegal music search engines such as eMule and BearShare and have apparently raised the ire of the entire music industry However sure signs that official online distributions may be coming is the fact that the video for Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You the remix from their album Love is currently being distributed as of June 2007 via Napster and many Internet radio networks such as Pandora Internet Radio and Live365 com are allowing Beatles songs to be broadcasted over the world wide web There has been talk of negotiations to make such an official online distribution schedule possible Officials at Apple Corps have hinted at this as they have confirmed that the entire Beatles catalog has been digitally remastered for online distribution On film Main article: The Beatles on film The Beatles appeared in several films all of which featured associated soundtrack albums The band played themselves in two films directed by Richard Lester A Hard Days Night 1964 and Help! 1965 The group produced and starred in the hour long television movie Magical Mystery Tour 1967 while the documentary Let It Be released 1970 followed the recording sessions for the Get Back project in early 1969 In addition the psychedelic animated film Yellow Submarine 1968 followed the adventures of a cartoon version of the band; the members did not provide their own voices appearing only in a brief live action epilogue Other projects Anthology Main article: The Beatles Anthology Love Main article: Love Cirque du Soleil Instrumentation Rickenbacker Gretsch Epiphone Gibson Fender and C F Martin Company guitars Höfner Fender and Rickenbacker basses Vox Fender and Selmer amplifiers Premier and Ludwig drums Zildjian cymbals Steinway and Blüthner pianos Hammond Vox and Lowrey electric organs Fender Rhodes Wurlitzer and Hohner Pianet electric pianos Moog Modular synthesiser Mellotron Polyphonic Keyboard Neumann AKG and STC microphones Bill Stoll Stollco video tampa fl