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15 July 2011

The Beatle Side of Rock

The Beatles are a world famous band, renowned for the kind of music that they

made between the 60s and the 70s. They have been able to establish themselves all over

the world with a fan following of more than 30 million people and fans continue to listen

to their music even today. (Curtis, J ) This paper helps to provide an insight into the

biography, music and lyrics of the band The Beatles, and also discusses other

contemporaries during the time that this band gained recognition, with a view to

comprehend what set the Beatles apart from others and how they were able to write their

own music and win over the hearts of millions of people around the world.

The various members of the band, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and

George Harrison have become recognised as icons of music and peace by people as well.

However, during the time the Beatles were active, so were a number of other bands and

singers, trying to shoot to fame as well, with the help of their music and lyrics. Bands like

Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones, as well as singer Bob Dylan were the contemporaries

of the Beatles at the time.

The Beatles rose to fame for a period of a decade between which they were able to

produce a number of hit singles and top the charts almost all the time. They have been

regarded as icons of rock that have changed the world as well as the face of music. “In
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their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionized

the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal

wave of British rock acts.

Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of

their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial

style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll

and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers,

consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly

sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock,

country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of

their early work.” (Schinder, Scott, and Andy Schwartz)

The Beatles’ music and lyrics as compared to that of the Rolling Stones, has a

certain amount of difference along with being linked to each other as well. By 1965,

British pop music had reached its peak with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on top of

the charts, adorning the hits and making people aware of them. Both these groups helped

to define music during that era and set the bar for other bands and singers and musical

groups that were coming up. However, with time the Beatles grew apart and broke up

within ten years of being together and making music with one another whereas the Stones

remained tight and still worked together as a band creating music for people all around

the world. (Lewisohn, M)

The Stones were all about non conformity and thus did not give in to the sounds

that bands around them were into producing. This is what set them apart from the Beatles
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and helped them to stay with each other unlike the Beatles that broke apart because of

their differences with each other. However, during their stay as a band together, Lennon

and McCartney produced some of the most amazing music the world has ever heard;

intense lyrics with words that flowed like rhyme and rhythm along with in depth thinking

gone into the making and stringing of each and every word together. The lyrics were

mature and a product of the unconscious and daring mind of John Lennon mostly as he

put together his artistic sense of profoundness and gave the world something new to utter

on their lips.

Paul McCartney has been termed to be a natural melodist who is able to create

tunes with the most perfect harmonies ever heard by people. He has been constantly

developing himself as he has gone ahead in his career, both with the band and otherwise,

and has been able to put out music full of optimism and give something to the world to

look forward to. The influences of the Beatles have been artists like Carl Perkins, Little

Richard, Chuck Berry as well as a number of their contemporaries including Bob Dylan,

Frank Zappa and The Beach Boys. The Beatles have tried to search themselves and

understand the reasons for liking the music of these artists, and with the conclusion that

they came up with, they provided the world with their work. (Hunter, D)

Even though the Rolling Stones popularized themselves with their distinct sense

of music and style, and stayed for a longer time than the Beatles, there are many people

that believe in the impact of the Beatles lasting longer. The Stones produced more of rock

and roll music and moved on to the rock British genre while the Beatles thrived on

making music in harmonious tones, almost as a pop rock style. However, they also
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entered the world of rock and roll and incorporated classical music elements adding a

different touch to their music altogether. (Beatles And The Rolling Stones)

Another rock band that was also famous during the 1960s was Led Zeppelin. The

Beatles and Led Zeppelin dominated rock bands in 1960s and in 1970s. They acquired

some similarities and differences in the way they produced their songs and the extent to

which they influenced the world of rock music such as employing a verse chorus style of

production in their music, as well as sustaining a good reputation and commercial success

all over the world for a long time. Rolling Stones magazine also described both these

bands as the heaviest rock bands of their time. However, the significant difference

between the two lay in how they released their music; Beatles released them in the form

of singles, whereas Led Zeppelin released whole albums. (Shadwick, K)

Right from singles like ‘Rain’ and ‘Paperback Writer’, the Beatles have tried to

mesh their music with a psychedelic feel attached to it, which has made it popular with

most of the youth even in today’s day and age. Their lyrics talk of a better world where

people understand the meaning of peace. A few other psychedelic songs include hits like

‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, ‘With You Without You’, and ‘Lucy In the Sky With

Diamonds’. These songs have helped to highlight the kind of imagination that the band

possessed and how they tried to use the same in order to portray their ideas through their

music. (Doug, G)

The Beatles also produced the album, ‘The Magical Mystery Tour’ which

included some of their best works till date. It has music ranging from a psychedelic point

of view to a very soft pop sound apt for almost all ages. It talks mostly about the kind of
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Utopian life that people may have in the future if they start making changes in the way

that they live and look at each other within society. Their music has also been used as

soundtracks in various movies and theatre productions all around the world. Furthermore,

they have also digitized their music in the modern day and age in various forms by

making it available for people online on websites.

These songs helped the world to understand the innovation that the Beatles

brought in with their work; it depicted peacefulness and helped to understand the true art

encapsulated behind their work, as well as the connection that persisted between the

music, tunes and harmonies, and the lyrics created by them. Furthermore, the Beatles also

made use of technology and treated their entire studio as a musical instrument, trying out

new music on a regular basis in order to surprise themselves and come up with something

new all the time. They were thus, truly one of the greatest artists that ever survived in the

rock and roll or pop rock genre, making memories in the form of music for life.

In conclusion, the Beatles have been able to establish themselves all over the

world in the name of rock music and peace. They have been portrayed a number of times

in films, art work as well as music composed by other singers and bands and have been

greatly perceived by most of the world. There are several differences that lie between

them and bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin as discussed within the purview

of this paper. Furthermore, their style of composing music, writing lyrics as well as

portraying their work to the world is different and what sets them apart from their

contemporaries.

The Beatles’ discography includes the following albums created by them:

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1. Please Please Me (1963)

2. With the Beatles (1963)

3. It’s A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

4. Beatles for Sale (1964)

5. Help! (1965)

6. Rubber Soul (1965)

7. Revolver (1966)

8. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

9. The Beatles (aka the White Album) (1968)

10. Yellow Submarine (1969)

11. Abbey Road (1969)

12. Let It Be (1970)

(Beatles Discography)
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Bibliography

Schinder, Scott, and Andy Schwartz. Icons of Rock: an Encyclopedia of the Legends

Who Changed Music Forever. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008. Print.

"Beatles And The Rolling Stones." Revelations On The Rolling Stones - The Rolling

Stones. Web. 15 July 2011. <http://www.rollingstonesnet.com/Beatles.html>.

“Beatles discography.” The Beatles. Web. 15 July 2011.

<http://www.thebeatles.com/>.

Curtis, J. (1987). Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954–1984. Rock Eras, 73.

Print.

Doug, G. (2009, September 4). The Beatles Set to Rock. Still Relevant After Decades.

Print.

Hunter, D. (1968). The Beatles: The Authorized Biography.(Revised 1996 ed.).

London: Heinemann. Print.

Lewisohn, M. (1976, June). Top Ten Greatest Albums of All Times. Rolling Stone

Magazine, p. 40. Print.

Shadwick, K. (2005). The Story of a Band and Their Music 1968–1980. Led Zeppelin,

18-22. Welch, C. (1994). Led Zeppelin. London: Orion Books. Print.