THE DECADES

The Decades

The Decades

“Love Me Do” by Beatles

The Beatles released their first single “Love Me Do,” in 1962; it was successful. The Beatles rose to world superstardom in 1963 and 1964. In 1965, they toured the United States for the first time and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, a television variety show that often featured musical acts. These years were marked by “Beatlemania”—worldwide fan recognition, merchandizing, and commercialism (Pratt, 2007). The Beatles impacted fashion with mop-tops, mohair suits, Cuban-heeled boots, velvet-collar suits, Eastern clothing, and granny glasses. Popular usage of words such as “gear” and “fab” is also attributed to the group. In the studio, the Beatles were among the first to release a concept or “themed” album; use sitars, orchestration, and quartets in a pop song; use intentional feedback; fade songs directly into one another; and produce backward vocal and guitar sounds—all techniques that are commonplace today.

“Dancing in the Streets” by Martha Reeves

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas had a successful R&B single with the song “Dancing in the Streets” (1964), but it was the Marvelettes who were the first of the Motown girl groups to strike it rich with its 1961 debut hit “Please Mr. Postman.” Lead singer Gladys Horton and her cohorts Katherine Anderson, Juanita Cowart, and Georgeanna Tillman, all natives of Detroit, performed in a talent show and were introduced to Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown records, by their schoolteacher (Kellner, 2005). Other hits recorded by the Marvelettes, such as “Too Many Fish in the Sea” and “Don't Mess With Bill,” kept the group at the top of the charts through 1966, but the Marvelettes were soon eclipsed by the superstardom of another female R&B group, the Supremes. The Marvelettes disbanded in 1970.

“Imagine by John Lennon

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Lennon's musical work became ...