Their songs are as familiar to us as our own hands. Their album covers are landmarks in popular culture. They spoke for a generation and were among the most influential and innovative artists in history. And they were and are globally popular.
If you haven’t guessed, the band is The Beatles, the Daily Vault’s pick for October Artist of the Month.
Looking back now, some 40 years later, much of the Beatles’ catalog remains fresh and forward-thinking. Timeless pop gems like “Yesterday” and anthems like “Hey Jude” continue to inspire countless other bands, and their records are repeatedly placed at the top of music polls. Yet the Beatles never aspired to their position, instead taking the usual route of most bands by playing in clubs under various names before landing a record deal.
But that first record — Please Please Me — and the following hit “I Want To Hold Your Hand” would usher in what came to be known as Beatlemania. Based only on three albums and a strategic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the band quickly inspired slavish devotion from teenagers and legions of followers, helping pave the way for many other British bands that would forever change rock.
But all was not well on the inside, as the pressures of fame and the desire to grow creatively took their toll on the band. In 1966, after the Rubber Soul and Revolver albums exploded the boundaries of “pop” music, the Beatles elected to stop touring in order to focus exclusively on studio recording — and produced one of rock’s landmark albums, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Drugs and internal tension had taken a toll by 1968, but the band’s charm and skill shone through on the “White Album” and Abbey Road. After breaking up in 1970, each member would pursue a solo career, sometimes guesting on each other’s releases but never reuniting as fans had hoped. John Lennon and Paul McCartney would have the most solo success, which McCartney enjoys to this day, but the death of John Lennon at the hands of a deranged fan in 1980 ended any hopes at a reunion, let alone the end to violence that Lennon had eloquently imagined.
With George Harrison now gone as well, the memory of the Beatles lives on in the band’s 13 original albums, plus the 1 compilation and Anthology series, not to mention McCartney and Ringo Starr’s recent tours. Beginning October 9, the Daily Vault’s review panel will review all the official British Beatles releases, as well as a handful of solo albums from each Beatle.
Founded in January 1997, the Daily Vault has featured thousands of reviews from artists covering almost the entire musical spectrum, written by a volunteer review staff from around the world. Previous Artist Of The Month retrospectives have spotlighted the work of artists from Tori Amos to Frank Zappa, including Garth Brooks, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin and many others. Themed retrospectives have focused on punk, grunge, arena rock, hip-hop and dynamic debuts. A link to all previous retrospectives can be found here.
