The Phenomenon that Was the Beatles

Introduction

Everyone, Americans and Europeans alike, have heard-of, if not grown off of, a generation and culture started by an ensemble of four shaggy-haired Liverpool musicians that the world went mad over; no one can deny that no greater event impacted today's pop culture than "Beatlemania". But not everyone has heard the story behind the Beatles, who were they? How did they become the band and how did they make it big? What's the story of their struggle?

Since the story of the Beatles could be researched for a lifetime, I decided only to seek out the general story behind their fame. What is the story behind each of the members and how did they meet? What was involved in their struggle to make it big? How did their music and fame affect the culture?

Before I began my search I had to make a research question, so I reviewed all the things I wanted to learn and formed the final question: Who were the Beatles? Well I already knew enough to vaguely answer my question. The Beatles were a band of musicians from Liverpool who shaped the face of popular music and culture of their time and all who came after, their fame was a phenomenon that threw American youth into a frenzy over long hair and guitar-laced beats. They also set an example for all rock acts to follow with a strong sense of autonomy, standing against their record company and management on many issues, even refusing to tour at the height of their popularity.

My research didn't take too long, because I found a lot of information easily on the band. The first thing I did was go to the school library and check out two books on the Beatles. There were a lot more that seemed useful, but the two I picked seemed to best fit my inquiries. Then after doing a lot of print research I went online and did a search on "the Beatles biography". The online results were long and not always trustworthy, but the discography and some other information seemed useful, so I book-marked the sites for later.

The Band is Born

John Lennon bought a guitar in March 1957 and formed a skiffle group called the Quarrymen, named after his high school, Quarry Bank. He invited in Paul McCartney after hearing him play. At first the band played mostly covers of already popular songs, but after Paul's first live performance with the band he played some stuff that he had written to John, who, not wanting to be outdone, returned the favor, thus creating the best songwriting duo of the century. (The two decided to share all songwriting credits in their career, although they only actually co-wrote a few songs.) The lineup of the band was changing frequently, but by October 1959 it consisted of Lennon, McCartney, George Harrison and drummer Colin Hanton. By March of 1960, Lennon's art school classmate Stuart Sutcliffe joined the band as a bassist and suggested the ...