It's 1959, and the Beatles, the most famous rock 'n' roll band in the history of the universe, are just a four-cell fetus gestating in the backwaters of Liverpool, England. They aren't even called the Beatles yet. Time-lapse to 1960: the...
[more]It's 1959, and the Beatles, the most famous rock 'n' roll band in the history of the universe, are just a four-cell fetus gestating in the backwaters of Liverpool, England. They aren't even called the Beatles yet. Time-lapse to 1960: the wunderkinder are now a year old and have toddled as far as Hamburg, Germany, where they play covers of songs by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, and Buddy Holly. They return to Liverpool in 1961 for a makeover by their newly adopted manager, Brian Epstein: tatty jeans and bad haircuts are rejected in favor of ties and gray suits. In 1962, after being turned down by a number of record labels -- all of which have been mutilating themselves with regret ever since -- the Beatles sign with EMI's tiny subsidiary, Parlaphone. It's a miracle in the chem lab: within a year they're the biggest group in Britain, and the highly infectious Beatlemania is investigated by the Center for Disease Control. Although EMI's American label, Capitol, delays releasing Beatles' records until January of 1964, the American public knows a good thing even before they see it. In February, a mere month after the first LP hit the in-home hi-fis, the first wave of the British invasion is mobbed at JFK. There are two Beatles sightings on the Ed Sullivan show, corroborated by over 70 million viewers. The following two summers each see the release of a Beatles movie and the hysterical consumption of incredible quantities of soon-to-be-priceless memorabilia. Then, in 1965, the Beatles hit musical adolescence. They begin experimenting with new musical technologies, unusual instruments, and exotic spiritual disciplines. They hang out with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for several months learning sitar and meditation. In December of 1967, they create and perform the "Magical Mystery Tour" for BBC-TV. Critical acclaim and the horrified squeaking of squares grow out of all proportion. 1968 marks the beginning of the John Lennon-Yoko Ono collaborations, both artistically and personally. Unfortunately for those of us born in the Summer of Love or later, the Beatles' last public performance is in January of 1969. Paul McCartney releases a solo album in 1970, which marks the final fragmentation of the band. Lennon is murdered by a fanatic in 1980, but not before bequeathing a legacy of round black glasses to young aspiring artists everywhere.
[show less]
