About the Beatles!

The early Beatles, circa 1961.
From L to R,
John, George, Paul, and "Pete".
.
Rock and Roll's Beginning

The Beatles are undoubtedly historys most influential Rock and Roll
band. At a time when Rock and Roll music had mellowed dramatically
due to performers such as Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker,
and The Beach Boys, guitar based Rock and Roll was supposedly on its
way out. The Beatles repopularized a form of music that had been
established by earlier performers of the 1950s but, had begun to
fade by the early 1960s due to the taming efforts of the recording
industry.

In the early 1950s when Rock and Roll first evolved from a combination of
country, gospel, and rythem and blues, the primary performers used a
mixture of brass instruments,pianos, drums, and vocals to create what would
become Rock and Roll. Bill Haley and the Comets, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and
Jerry Lee Lewis are all examples of Rock of the early 1950s that had little or no guitar.
It wasn't until performers like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly became
popular that the electric guitar was brought in as the preferred instrument.

The Day the Music Died

In the late 50s, several developments almost caused the demise of what was
then considered to be hard Rock and Roll. Elvis Presley was drafted into
the United States Army, Chuck Berry was cited in violation of the Mann Act.
Jerry Lee Lewis was charged for marrying his thirteen year old cousin.
Then, February 3, 1959, on what became known as,
"The Day The Music Died"
Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P Richardson "The Big Bopper" were killed in an
airplane crash. It looked as if the major stars of Rock and Roll were all gone.

The Taming of Rock and Roll

"BAN"
Rock and Roll
had already become a major anthem of conservative
political and religious groups since the early 1950s. By the late 1950s,
with most of its major stars out of the way, Rock music was effectively
tamed by record company executives who bowed to pressure from these groups
and by demands from parents that Rock and Roll be less "Vulgar".

Meanwhile Across the Atlantic...
Over in Britain, teenagers were being influenced by a form of country rock
called "Skiffle", which was similar to Americas "Rock-a-Billy. Many were also
interested in American Rythem and Blues and Rock and Roll. Some young brits formed
Skiffle Bands. In 1956, sixteen year old John Lennon did just that. He formed a band called
"The Quarrymen" with a few friends of his. Later Paul McCartney joined this group.
Many name changes occured. They were variously called, "Johnny and the Moondogs",
"The Silver Beetles" and, "The Beetles". George Harrison, Stu Sutcliff, and Pete Best
were all members when John got the idea to change "Beetles" to
"BEATLES" by replacing the second "e" with an "a" because "beat" reminded you of rythem and it made you think of "crawly things". Stu Sutcliff died of a brain hemmorhage and Pete Best was replaced with Richard Starkey, A.K.A. Ringo Starr.

A New Sound!
The mop top Beatles.
A little practice,...circa 1965.
From L to R,
George, Ringo, Paul, and John.

The Beatles used a combination of instruments rarely used at that time.
Inspired by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Beatles used a Rythem guitar,
a guitar to re-emphasize the melody, later called a "lead" guitar, and a bass.
Up until that time, bass was usually, but not always, played on a stand-up violin bass.
The Beatles used an electric bass guitar. The trio of three guitars and heavy drums was a
little used format before 1962. The Beatles perfected the concept of the "Electric" guitar
as being the primary instrument of Rock and Roll.

Long Term Influence of The Beatles

The psychedelic Beatles, circa 1967.
From L to R,
George, Paul, John, and Ringo.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney collaborated together to compose over 90%
of The Beatles' songs and set a precedent and inspired other Rock and Roll
groups of the 1960s to do the same thing. Never before and never since has a
Rock and Roll Band had so much influence on soceity as a whole.
Unfortunately, their influence has been forgotten due to the lack of reinforcement
often associated with such phenomenon. Due to copyright and licensing problems, The Beatles
music is hardly ever included in promotional albums of the 1960s which are sold on television.
Oldies Radio stations rarely play Beatles songs other than the earliest, mop top hits which do not
truly show the diversity of the band in its later years. The film industry never truly
portrays The Beatles historically and their music is never accurately represented.
For example, in the film, "The Rock", Nicholas Cage's Character loves the Beatles and recieves
what he claims to be a remarkably rare "Beatles" album via snail mail. The album is actually,
"Meet the Beatles", an album readily available, "ANYWHERE"!
To make it worse, scenes later, Nicholas Cage sits and gazes at the cover of his treasured
Beatles' Album while the music of "THE HOLLIES", plays in the background,
a supposedly "Beatle" sounding group. The Hollies were a fine group but,
they sounded NOTHING like The Beatles!
This is but one example of how The Beatles true history and influence have been
systematically eliminated and ignored by modern music listeners.

The latter Beatles, circa 1969.
From L to R,
George, Paul, John, and Ringo.

I will attempt to list every Beatle contribution in my page,Contributions of the Beatles!, also
accesible from the main Beatles' menu.

This text was written entirely by
Isaac Douglas Moorefield
in his own words and absolutely no plagerism has occured.
Links were obtained at various places on the net and are the
properties of the webmaster responsible for their creation.

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CAPTAIN IKE'S BEATLES PAGE!