View source for Cultural impact of the Beatles

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The English rock band [[the Beatles]], comprising [[John Lennon]], [[Paul McCartney]], [[George Harrison]] and [[Ringo Starr]], are commonly regarded as the foremost and most influential band in [[popular music]] history. They sparked the "[[Beatlemania]]" phenomenon in 1963, gained international superstardom in 1964, and remained active until their [[break-up of the Beatles|break-up in 1970]]. Over the latter half of the decade, they were often viewed as orchestrators of society's developments. Their recognition concerns their effect on the [[Baby boomers|era's youth]] and [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]], [[British national identity|British identity]], popular music's [[Art music#Popular music|evolution into an art form]], and their unprecedented following.

Many cultural movements of the 1960s were assisted or inspired by the Beatles. In Britain, their rise to prominence signalled the youth-driven changes in postwar society, with respect to [[social mobility]], teenagers' commercial influence, and informality. They spearheaded the shift from American artists' global dominance of [[rock and roll]] to British acts (known in the US as the [[British Invasion]]) and inspired young people to pursue music careers. From 1964 to 1970, the Beatles had the top-selling US single one out of every six weeks and the top-selling US album one out of every three weeks. In 1965, they were awarded [[Order of the British Empire|MBEs]], the first time such an honour was bestowed on a British pop act. A year later, Lennon controversially remarked that the band were "[[more popular than Jesus]] now".

The Beatles often incorporated [[classical music|classical]] elements, [[traditional pop]] forms and unconventional [[Recording practices of the Beatles|recording techniques]] in innovative ways, especially with the albums ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' (1965), ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' (1966) and ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (1967). Many of their advances in production, writing, and artistic presentation were soon widespread. Other cultural changes initiated by the group include the elevation of the [[LP record|album]] to the dominant form of record consumption over [[Single (music)|singles]], a wider interest in [[psychedelic drug]]s and Eastern spirituality, and several fashion trends. They also pioneered with their [[record sleeve]]s and [[music video]]s, as well as informed music styles such as [[jangle]], [[folk rock]], [[power pop]], [[psychedelic music|psychedelia]], [[art pop]], [[progressive rock]], [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] and [[electronic music]]. By the end of the decade, the Beatles were seen as an embodiment of the era's sociocultural movements, exemplified by the sentiment of their 1967 song "[[All You Need Is Love]]".

Over the 1960s, the Beatles were the dominant youth-centred pop act on the sales charts. They broke numerous sales and attendance records, many of which they have or had maintained for decades, and hold a canonised status unprecedented for popular musicians. Their songs are among the most recorded in history, with cover versions of "[[Yesterday (Beatles song)|Yesterday]]" reaching 1,600 by 1986.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guinness World Records |url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50867 |access-date=4 December 2015 |archive-date=10 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910071729/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50867 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2009, they were the [[List of best-selling music artists|best-selling band]] in history, with estimated sales of over 600&nbsp;million records worldwide.<ref name="RooneySmith/CNN">{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/2009/09/04/news/companies/beatles_video_game/|first1=Ben|last1=Rooney|first2=Aaron|last2=Smith|title=Beatles' remastered box set, video game out|date=9 September 2009|publisher=[[CNNMoney.com]]|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915183858/https://money.cnn.com/2009/09/04/news/companies/beatles_video_game/|archive-date=15 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="hotten1">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19800654|title=The Beatles at 50: From Fab Four to fabulously wealthy|last=Hotten|first=Russell|date=4 October 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=28 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312172123/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19800654|archive-date=12 March 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' included the Beatles in [[Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century|its list of the twentieth century's 100 most important people]].{{sfn|Loder|1998}}

==Scope==
The Beatles formed in [[Liverpool]] in 1960. Comprising [[John Lennon]], [[Paul McCartney]], [[George Harrison]] and [[Ringo Starr]], they gained international stardom in 1964, and remained active until their [[Break-up of the Beatles|break-up in 1970]]. Throughout their career, they expanded collective notions regarding the limits of commercial and artistic achievement.{{sfn|George-Warren|2001|p=56}} The ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ''Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'' (2001) defined their "incalculable" influence as encompassing "all of Western culture". The writers state that the group's discography held the precedent for "virtually every rock experiment&nbsp;... Although many of their sales and attendance records have since been surpassed, no group has so radically transformed the sound and significance of rock & roll."{{sfn|George-Warren|2001|p=56}} Writing for [[AllMusic]], critic [[Richie Unterberger]] recognises the Beatles as both "the greatest and most influential act of the rock era" and a group that "introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century".<ref name="AMUnter"/> He adds:

{{blockquote|They were among the few artists of any discipline that were simultaneously the best at what they did and the most popular at what they did. Relentlessly imaginative and experimental, the Beatles grabbed hold of the international mass consciousness in 1964 and never let go for the next six years, always staying ahead of the pack in terms of creativity but never losing their ability to communicate their increasingly sophisticated ideas to a mass audience.<ref name="AMUnter">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-beatles-mn0000754032/biography|title=The Beatles|first=Richie|last=Unterberger|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=19 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402112507/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-beatles-mn0000754032/biography|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Many contemporary listeners viewed the Beatles as orchestrators of society's developments over the second half of the 1960s.{{sfn|MacDonald|2002a|p=31}} Musicologist Allan F. Moore states that there have been occasions when "audiences gravitate towards a centre" of pop music culture, the most prominent of which was in the early to mid 1960s, a period in which it "seems that almost everyone, irrespective of age, class or cultural background, listened to the Beatles".{{sfn|Moore|2016|p=144}} Music critic [[Greil Marcus]] described the Beatles' impact as the second "pop explosion", after [[Elvis Presley]]'s emergence in the 1950s, and defined the term as "an irresistible cultural explosion that cuts across lines of class and race, and, most crucially, divides society itself by age".{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=145}} In such a phenomenon, he continued, "The surface of daily life (walk, talk, dress, symbolism, heroes, family affairs) is affected with such force that deep and substantive changes in the way large numbers of people think and act take place."{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=145}}{{sfn|Marcus|1992|p=214}} According to author and film-maker [[Hanif Kureishi]], the Beatles are "the only mere pop group you could remove from history and suggest that culturally, without them, things would have been significantly different".<ref name="Kureishi/Guardian">{{cite news|first=Hanif|last=Kureishi|title=How the Beatles changed Britain|url=https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/how-the-beatles-changed-britain|newspaper=[[The Guardian|Weekend Guardian]]|date=2–3 November 1991|pages=4–7|via=[[bl.uk]]|access-date=10 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318101059/http://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/how-the-beatles-changed-britain|archive-date=18 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Detractors of the Beatles' legacy argue that the band are overrated and are often credited for innovations that other acts were the first to achieve.{{sfn|Martin|2015|p=13}} Music historian [[Bill Martin (philosophy)|Bill Martin]] cites such notions as part of modern culture's inability to fully "understand them as a force", and says that although rock music has been defined by "synthesis and transmutation" since it began, "what was original about the Beatles is that they synthesized and transmuted more or less ''everything'', they did this in a way that reflected their time, they reflected their time in a way that spoke to a great part of humanity, and they did all of this really, really well."{{sfn|Martin|2015|pp=3, 13–14}} [[Ian MacDonald]] states that the band were keen observers who discovered trends in their infancy and were adept at mirroring the era's "social and psychological changes". He said that their connection with the times was such that the Beatles "did far more mind-liberating" than [[Bob Dylan]], through their greater record sales and "because they worked in simpler, less essentially sceptical ways".{{sfn|MacDonald|2002a|p=31}}

==Sales and attendance records==
Over the 1960s as a whole, the Beatles were the dominant youth-centred pop act on the sales charts.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=112}} "[[She Loves You]]", the band's second number-one single on the ''[[Record Retailer]]'' chart (subsequently adopted as the [[UK Singles Chart]]),<ref name="Elvis">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/10030810/The-Beatles-chart-success-in-rivals-and-numbers.html|first=Alice|last=Vincent|title=The Beatles' chart success in rivals and numbers|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=2 May 2013|access-date=26 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126165934/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/10030810/The-Beatles-chart-success-in-rivals-and-numbers.html|archive-date=26 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> became the best-selling single in UK chart history, a position it retained until 1978.{{sfn|Harry|2000|p=990}} The band's first two albums, ''[[Please Please Me]]'' and ''[[With the Beatles]]'', each topped ''Record Retailer''{{'}}s LPs chart, for a combined run of 51 consecutive weeks.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=90, 92, 100}} Beginning with "[[From Me to You]]" in 1963, the Beatles had a four-year run of eleven consecutive chart-topping singles in ''Record Retailer'', ending when the [[double A-side]] single "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]" / "[[Penny Lane]]" peaked at number two.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=389}}

On 4 April 1964, the Beatles occupied the top five US chart positions – with "[[Can't Buy Me Love]]", "[[Twist and Shout]]", "She Loves You", "[[I Want to Hold Your Hand]]" and "[[Please Please Me (song)|Please Please Me]]"{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=139}} – as well as 11 other positions on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=417}} For nine consecutive weeks, they held the top two places on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs chart (subsequently the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]) with reconfigured versions of their first two albums.<ref name="Caulfield/BB" /> Until 2018, they were the only act to have filled the top five of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.<ref name="drake"/>{{refn|group=nb|In July 2018, the record was broken by Canadian rapper [[Drake (musician)|Drake]], with six songs.<ref name="drake">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/drake-beats-huge-chart-record-set-beatles/|first=Corrine|last=Corrodus|title=Drake beats a huge chart record set by the Beatles|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=10 July 2018|access-date=26 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126164418/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/drake-beats-huge-chart-record-set-beatles/|archive-date=26 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} They also broke 11 other chart records on ''Billboard''{{'}}s singles and albums charts at that time.<ref name="Caulfield/BB">{{cite web|last1=Caulfield|first1=Keith|last2=Trust|first2=Gary|last3=Letkemann|first3=Jessica|title=The Beatles' American Chart Invasion: 12 Record-Breaking Hot 100 & Billboard 200 Feats|url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/the-beatles-american-chart-invasion-12-record-breaking-hot-100/|publisher=[[Billboard (magazine)|billboard.com]]|date=7 February 2014|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224230354/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5901089/the-beatles-american-chart-invasion-12-record-breaking-hot-100|archive-date=24 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Their chart domination was commonplace in countries around the world during 1964.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=119}} In Australia, in late March, the band's songs filled the top six chart positions;{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=139}} during one week, they held nine positions in Canada's top ten.{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=161}}

On 15 August 1965, the Beatles became the first entertainment act to stage a concert in a sports stadium{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=165}} when they performed at [[Shea Stadium]] in New York City before an audience of 55,600.{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=93}} The event set records for attendance and revenue generation, with takings of $304,000 (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|304000|1965|end_year={{Inflation-year|US}}}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}).{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=166}} The band's record run of six consecutive number-ones on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 from January 1965 to January 1966 – with the songs "[[I Feel Fine]]", "[[Eight Days a Week]]", "[[Ticket to Ride (song)|Ticket to Ride]]", "[[Help! (song)|Help!]]", "[[Yesterday (Beatles song)|Yesterday]]" and "[[We Can Work It Out]]" – remained unbeaten until [[Whitney Houston]] achieved a seventh in 1988.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=3}}

[[File:TheBeatles68LP.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|alt=A mostly plain white album cover, with the words "the Beatles" towards the centre and a serial number towards the lower right corner|Cover of ''[[The Beatles (album)|The Beatles]]'' (also known as the "White Album"). The double LP was recognised by ''[[Guinness World Records]]'' as the fastest-selling album of all time.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=51}}]]

''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (1967) was the top-selling album of the 1960s in the UK, and on four occasions they had the best-selling album of the year there.<ref name="Mawer/OCC" /> As of 2019, with certified sales of 5.1&nbsp;million copies in the UK, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is the all-time [[List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom|third best-selling album]] there and the best-selling studio album.<ref>{{cite web|first=Rob|last=Copsey|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-best-selling-albums-of-all-time-on-the-official-uk-chart__15551/|title=The best-selling albums of all time on the Official UK Chart|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|date=11 April 2019|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002091415/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-best-selling-albums-of-all-time-on-the-official-uk-chart__15551/|archive-date=2 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1968 double LP ''[[The Beatles (album)|The Beatles]]'' (also known as the "White Album") became the fastest-selling album in history;{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=51}}{{sfn|Doggett|2011|p=50}} [[Capitol Records]] reported advance orders of 2&nbsp;million in the US, with many stores selling their entire stock in one day.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=528}}

In the UK, the Beatles are beaten only by Presley for their amount of number-one singles and combined weeks at number one.<ref name="Elvis"/> As of December 2018, the Beatles held the record for the most [[List of UK Singles Chart Christmas number ones|Christmas number-one hits]] there, with four, of which three were achieved in successive years between 1963 and 1965.<ref>{{cite news|first=Joe|last=Sommerlad|title=Christmas number ones: Every festive chart topper since records began, from The Beatles to Ed Sheeran|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/christmas-number-ones-singles-chart-beatles-spice-girls-cliff-richard-band-aid-slade-a8681606.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=13 December 2018|access-date=17 December 2019|archive-date=1 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601164715/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/christmas-number-ones-singles-chart-beatles-spice-girls-cliff-richard-band-aid-slade-a8681606.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In the list of the UK's top sellers for the decade, the band's albums filled the top ten, apart from the soundtracks to ''[[The Sound of Music (film)|The Sound of Music]]'', ''[[South Pacific (1958 film)|South Pacific]]'' and ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]''. The Beatles took the next three positions, meaning that all ten of their UK number-one albums were among the thirteen best-selling albums of the 1960s.<ref name="Mawer/OCC">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217020421/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1969.php|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1969.php|first=Sharon|last=Mawer|title=Album Chart History: 1969|publisher=[[Official Charts Company|The Official UK Charts Company]]|date=May 2007|archive-date=17 December 2007|access-date=8 October 2019}}</ref> In the case of US sales for the 1960s, the Beatles were the top artist, ahead of Presley, in both singles and albums.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=113}} Between February 1964 and July 1970, the band maintained the number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for a total of 59 weeks and topped ''Billboard''{{'}}s LPs chart for 116 weeks. In other words, they had the top-selling single one out of every six weeks, and the top-selling album one out of every three weeks.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=216}}

==Breakthrough and role in Britain's cultural resurgence==
===Merseybeat and British rock 'n' roll===
[[File:The Beatles i Hötorgscity 1963.jpg|thumb|The Beatles in [[Stockholm]], October 1963. Due to the crowds of screaming fans who attended the band's arrival in Sweden, the local press described the scene as "The Battle of Stockholm Airport".{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=110}}]]
As the Beatles rose in popularity in 1963, the terms "Mersey sound" and "[[Beat music|Merseybeat]]" were applied to bands and singers from Liverpool, making it the first time in British pop music that a sound and a location were linked together.{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=11}} (The [[River Mersey]] flows through Liverpool.) The city had the cultural advantages of being the UK's main transatlantic port and having an ethnically diverse population; local musicians were able to access records by American musicians through the [[Cunard Yanks]] working on the shipping routes.{{sfn|Inglis|2010|pp=18–20}} 

Like many Liverpool bands, the Beatles formed their sound from [[skiffle]] and a combination of American influences, especially [[rhythm and blues]] and [[girl group]]s,{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=308}} and honed their live act through [[The Beatles in Hamburg|seasons performing in the red-light district of Hamburg]] in West Germany.{{sfn|Inglis|2010|pp=14, 17–20}}{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=163}} The music was performed with an emphasis on beat and guitars, at the expense of saxophones or other instruments commonly heard on the American records.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=24}}{{sfn|Marwick|2012|pp=61–62}} Under pressure from Liverpool venues such as [[the Cavern]], their manager, [[Brian Epstein]], persuaded the Beatles to swap their favoured look of black leather jackets and pants for more presentable stage suits.{{sfn|Millard|2012|p=104}} The group's emergence as leaders of the Liverpool beat scene represented a departure from the London-focused tradition of the UK music industry.{{sfn|Inglis|2010|pp=13, 25}}

Released in October 1962, "[[Love Me Do]]", the band's debut single as [[EMI]] recording artists, contrasted with the polished style of contemporary UK hit songs.{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=82}}{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=25–26}} According to author [[Peter Doggett]], the January 1963 follow-up, "Please Please Me", represented "the real birth of the new" as, aided by Lennon's impassioned vocal, the song was "more driven than any previous British pop record".{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=325}} As musicians and songwriters, the Beatles established working-class authenticity and informality as key aspects in British rock 'n' roll.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=19}}  Doggett adds that "Most of all, the Beatles sounded like a gang: forceful, persuasive and sexually potent."{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=325}}

Starting in 1963, according to music historian David Simonelli, the Beatles initiated the "original golden age" of British rock 'n' roll and reversed a tradition whereby domestic acts were a "pale imitation" of the original American purveyors of the style.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=19, 29}}  During the first half of that year, the band usurped American acts including [[Roy Orbison]] to become the headline performers on their joint UK tours, something no previous British act accomplished while touring with artists from the US.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=88, 90}} Their initial success opened the way for many other Liverpool groups to achieve national success{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=24}} and encouraged the country's four main, London-based record companies to seek out talent in other areas of northern England.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=33}} As a result, the Beatles and other British acts dominated the charts in 1963 at the expense of American artists.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=26–27}}

===Sociocultural influence===
{{quote box|quote=The Beatles' much-copied mid-air leap on their ''[[Twist and Shout (EP)|Twist and Shout]]'' EP sleeve was the epitome of antidotal Mersey Beat&nbsp;... [[Scouse]] was now the most romantic dialect in the country, and the bigger chain stores were stocking Beatle wallpaper, 22-carat Beatle bracelets and Fab Four powder compacts.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=101}}|source= – Author [[Alan Clayson]]|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
The Beatles' emergence overlapped with the decline in British conservatism.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=14}} In the description of author and musician [[Bob Stanley (musician)|Bob Stanley]], their domestic breakthrough represented "a final liberation for Britain's teenagers" and, by coinciding with the end of [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|National Service]], the group "effectively signaled the end of World War II in Britain".{{sfn|Stanley|2014|p=85}} For sociologists, the band typified new developments in postwar Britain such as [[social mobility]], teenagers' commercial influence, and informality in society.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=399}} In their 1965 book ''[[Generation X (1965 book)|Generation X]]'', Charles Hamblett and Jane Deverson said the Beatles had supplied British youth culture with a unifying and liberating influence that departed from the usual American-inspired model and, together with other groups from outside London, had fostered a sense of celebration of provincial England. The authors commented that resistance to the Beatles' progressive social influence from establishment figures was because the band were "knocking the stuffing – and the stuffiness – out of the [[neo-Victorian]]s".{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=31}}

The band's appeal registered with members of the [[British royal family|royal family]] when the Beatles played a toned-down selection of songs at the [[Royal Variety Performance]] on 4 November 1963.{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=31–32}} The show was watched by a television audience of 26&nbsp;million, around half the population of the UK,{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=31–32}} and helped establish the group as one of the first "spectacles" of the 1960s.{{sfn|Marwick|2012|p=414}} Reluctant to play at such a formal event, Lennon told Epstein that he planned to sabotage the occasion.{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=111–12}} He instead charmed the theatre audience with his final comment: "For our last number ['Twist and Shout'], I'd like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you'd just rattle your jewellery."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2013/11/the-beatles-royal-variety-performance-when-john-lennon-told-the-queen-of-england-to-rattle-your-jewelry.html|first=Andrew Grant|last=Jackson|title=The Beatles Play for the Queen|website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=4 November 2013|access-date=21 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402015441/https://slate.com/culture/2013/11/the-beatles-royal-variety-performance-when-john-lennon-told-the-queen-of-england-to-rattle-your-jewelry.html|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

===Political significance and awarding of MBEs===
[[File:Premier Wilson gaf persconferentie na bespreking in Den Haag , Wilson (kop), Bestanddeelnr 920-1165.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|[[Harold Wilson]], Britain's Labour prime minister from 1964 to 1970. Pundits viewed him as representing a change to the established order and part of the same progressive influence that included the Beatles.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=129–30}}]]
The Beatles' international success created an export market for British pop for the first time{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=273}} and provided a boon to the UK government's [[balance of payments]] deficit.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=26–27}} This unexpected development led to approval from politicians and an eagerness on their part to be associated with the band.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=31–32}} In the run-up to the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]], the Beatles became a [[political football]] for the two major political parties; the ''[[New Statesman]]'' reported that [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] candidates were told to "mention the Beatles whenever possible in their speeches",<ref name="Harris/PollPosition" /> while a cartoon in the ''[[Daily Express]]'' showed the Conservative prime minister, [[Alec Douglas-Home]], and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]'s leader of the opposition, [[Harold Wilson]], consulting the Beatles over the [[Profumo affair]].{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=119}} During the election campaign, both parties accused the other of trying to use the band's popularity for political gain. In March 1964, Wilson, who was contesting the outer Liverpool seat of [[Huyton (UK Parliament constituency)|Huyton]], engineered a photo opportunity with the group as they received their [[Variety Club]] "Show Business Personality of the Year" awards. The association endured in the public's mind, securing Wilson the youth vote and aiding in his election win.<ref name="Harris/PollPosition">{{cite book|first=John|last=Harris|chapter=Poll Position|title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years – April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964)|year=2002|publisher=Emap|location=London|page=93|title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|The Beatles were nevertheless ambivalent towards Wilson and party politics in general. With reference to the colour and shape of the Variety Club awards, Lennon quipped, "Thanks for the [[Purple Heart]]s, Harold."<ref name="Harris/PollPosition" /> Wilson's courting of the Beatles anticipated Labour prime minister [[Tony Blair]] hosting [[Britpop]] stars at [[10 Downing Street]] in 1997 during the [[Cool Britannia]] era.<ref name="Sandall/JointHonours" />}}

The Beatles' international success also benefited the country's tourism and fashion industries, and entertainment generally.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=273}} In early 1965, ''[[Melody Maker]]'' initiated a campaign for the Beatles to be awarded [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]]s, a move that Wilson supported and set in motion.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=32}} When the band received their MBEs from [[Queen Elizabeth II]] in October, it was unprecedented recognition for pop musicians,{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=93}} anticipating the honours (including [[knighthood]]s) that were regularly bestowed on the country's entertainers in subsequent decades.{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=263}} The award was in acknowledgement of the Beatles' contribution to the national economy{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=208}} and reflected the value of their popularity to the Labour government.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=84}}{{refn|group=nb|By 1965, according to author Jonathan Gould, the gross revenue from the band's records, films, concerts and song publishing was said to be "[in] the order of a hundred million dollars a year".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=273}}}} Wilson's Cabinet minister [[Tony Benn]], who opposed the award, thought it was equally indicative of the royal family's wish to appeal to the masses in the new era of egalitarianism and meritocracy.{{sfn|Bray|2014|pp=263–64}}

===Britain's leadership of international culture===
In his book on the 1960s, social historian [[Arthur Marwick]] identifies the Beatles' US breakthrough as the "single critical event" that established "the hegemony of youth-inspired British popular culture".{{sfn|Marwick|2012|p=413}} With other countries succumbing to the Beatles' influence, according to Simonelli, the band "virtually redefined what it meant to be British", and British culture became "the most exciting culture on earth" for the first time since the start of the industrial age.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=27, 37}} The surge in exports revenue extended to film and other commercial artistic pursuits,{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=xiv–xv}} and recognition of London as the "[[Swinging London|Swinging City]]" of international culture.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=152–53}}

With the Beatles having moved to London in 1963,{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=21}} in Simonelli's description, they served as the "maypole" at the centre of the city's cultural influence throughout the 1960s.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=39}} Marwick says they represented the popular image of a phenomenon in which "hitherto invisible swathes of British society became visible and assertive" and their 1966 single "[[Paperback Writer]]" was the song that best conveyed "the new class-defying tide of individualistic enterprise".{{sfn|Marwick|2012|pp=415–16}} Liverpool poet [[Roger McGough]] credited the Beatles with establishing the "mythology of Liverpool" through their 1967 songs "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]" and "[[Penny Lane]]", in the manner that American rock 'n' roll songs had traditionally done for US cities and roads.{{sfn|Turner|1999|p=103}}
{{Clear}}

==Beatlemania==
{{Main|Beatlemania}}
[[File:The Beatles with Birmingham Police officers.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|The Beatles outside the [[Birmingham Hippodrome]], November 1963. Because the crowds were so thick, they had to be smuggled into the venue with assistance from local police.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=113}}]]
In late 1963, the British press coined the term "[[Beatlemania]]" to describe the phenomenal and increasingly hysterical interest in the Beatles.{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=17}} The word was first widely used following the band's 13 October appearance on ''[[Sunday Night at the London Palladium]]''; amid reports of wild crowd scenes outside the venue, and after 15&nbsp;million viewers watched the broadcast, Britain was said to be "in the grip of Beatlemania".{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=31}} The "yeah, yeah, yeah!" refrain of "She Loves You" was a signature hook for their European audiences. Its [[falsetto]] "ooh!"s elicited further fan delirium when accompanied by McCartney and Harrison's exaggerated shaking of their moptop hair.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=75}} Once it became an international phenomenon in 1964, Beatlemania surpassed in its intensity and reach any previous examples of fan worship, including those afforded to Presley and [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref name="Ehrenreich/Hess/Jacobs" />

Displays of mania were repeated wherever the band played.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=119}} When the group toured Australia in June 1964, the population afforded the visit the status of a national event.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=338–39}} A crowd of 300,000 – the largest recorded gathering of Australians in one place – welcomed the Beatles to Adelaide.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=90}} [[Sid Bernstein (impresario)|Sid Bernstein]], the US promoter who arranged the band's Shea Stadium concerts, said that only [[Adolf Hitler]] had had such power over the masses.{{refn|group=nb|In November 1963, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' published an article condemning Beatlemania and likening Beatles concerts to Hitler's [[Nuremberg Rallies]].{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=111}}}} Bernstein was sure that the group "could sway a presidential election if they wanted to".{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=157–58}} Around 4,000 fans gathered outside [[Buckingham Palace]] in central London when the Beatles received their MBEs from the Queen.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=213}} As the crowd chanted "God save the Beatles"<ref name="Sandall/JointHonours" /> and "Yeah, yeah, yeah!", some fans jostled with police officers and scaled the palace gates.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=213}} Referring to this spectacle, journalist [[Robert Sandall]] later commented that "Never had a ruling monarch been so thoroughly upstaged by a group of her subjects as was Elizabeth II on [26 October 1965]."<ref name="Sandall/JointHonours">{{cite book |last=Sandall |first=Robert |chapter=Joint Honours |title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years – April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964) |year=2002 |publisher=Emap |location=London |page=27 |title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref>

The Beatles became bored with all aspects of touring – including fans offering themselves sexually to the band, and the high-pitched screaming that rendered their performances inaudible.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|pp=323–24}} Beatlemania continued on a reduced scale after the band retired from touring, and after the members became solo artists.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=237}} In their book ''Encyclopedia of Classic Rock'', David Luhrssen and Michael Larson write that while [[boy band]]s such as [[One Direction]] have continued to attract audiences of screaming girls, no act has "moved pop culture forward or achieved the breadth and depth of the Beatles' fandom".{{sfn|Luhrssen|Larson|2017|p=27}}

==US breakthrough and British Invasion==
{{listen|
|filename=I Want To Hold Your Hand (Beatles song - sample).ogg
|title="I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1963)
|pos=right
|description= Bob Dylan said of "[[I Want to Hold Your Hand]]": "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid."{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=116}}
}}

Most Americans were introduced to the Beatles' music with the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" backed with "[[I Saw Her Standing There]]", rising to the top of US charts on 1 February 1964.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=49}} Both songs featured a harder-edged guitar sound that stood out as a revival of the "rebellious" spirit absent from newer rock and roll acts and as a rejection of the regular assortment of [[novelty song]]s, teen idols, folk singers and girl groups that occupied US charts in the weeks and months previous.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=22–23, 48–49}} MacDonald wrote: "every American artist, black or white, asked about 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' has said much the same: it altered everything, ushering in a new era and changing their lives."{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=101}}

On 9 February, the Beatles gave their first live US television performance on ''[[The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show|The Ed Sullivan Show]]'', watched by approximately 73&nbsp;million viewers in over 23&nbsp;million households,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|p=137}} or 34 per cent of the US population.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=3–4}} The [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen]] rating service reported that it was the largest audience number ever recorded for an American television {{lang|en-US|program}}.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=3–4}} Music journalist [[Neil McCormick]], writing in 2015, described the Beatles' debut on the show as pop music's "[[Big Bang|big bang]] moment",<ref name="McCormick"/> while Stanley calls it "arguably the most significant postwar cultural event in America", adding that "Their rise, the scale of it and their impact on society, was completely unprecedented."{{sfn|Stanley|2014|p=78}} Their second appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', on 16 February, was watched by around 70&nbsp;million viewers.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=5–6}}

[[File:JFKRiceUniversity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|[[John F. Kennedy]] in September 1962. Journalist [[Christopher Booker]] described Kennedy and the Beatles as the "supreme 'dream figures{{'"}} of the 1960s.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Christopher|last=Booker|title=Profumo. Chatterley. The Beatles. 1963 was the year old England died|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/11/it-all-began-in-1963/|magazine=[[The Spectator]]|date=23 November 2013|access-date=9 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809115831/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/11/it-all-began-in-1963/|archive-date=9 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Eleven weeks before the Beatles' arrival in the US, [[President John F. Kennedy]] was assassinated, a source of profound national mourning that American commentators at the time linked to young people's embrace of the Beatles and their music.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=9}} For many Americans, particularly young [[baby boomers]], the Beatles' visit reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that had been taken by Kennedy's assassination.{{sfn|Lemlich|1992|pp=2–3}}<ref name="Dean (Beatles Infl.)"/><ref name="Gilmore/RS/60s" />{{sfn|Spitz|2013|pp=5–6}} A teenage New Yorker in early 1964, author [[Nicholas Schaffner]] later wrote that the Kennedy link was "an exaggeration, perhaps", but the Beatles "more than filled the energy gap" left by the demise of 1950s rock 'n' roll for an audience accustomed to the "vacuous" music that had replaced it.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=9}}

For decades, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, via [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] films, [[jazz]], and the music of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and [[Tin Pan Alley]].{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=9}} In early 1964, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine declared: "In [1776] England lost her American colonies. Last week the Beatles took them back."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Parker|last=Puterbaugh|title=The British Invasion: From the Beatles to the Stones, The Sixties Belonged to Britain|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-british-invasion-from-the-beatles-to-the-stones-the-sixties-belonged-to-britain-244870/|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=14 July 1988|access-date=10 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810042550/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-british-invasion-from-the-beatles-to-the-stones-the-sixties-belonged-to-britain-244870/|archive-date=10 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The Beatles subsequently sparked the [[British Invasion]] of the US{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=277}} and became a globally influential phenomenon.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=8}} Recalling the Beatles' sudden popularity, [[Brian Wilson]] of the Beach Boys felt that the Beatles had "eclipsed&nbsp;... the whole music world".{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=70}} Bob Dylan recalled that, by April 1964, "a definite line was being drawn. This was something that had never happened before&nbsp;... I knew they were pointing the direction of where music had to go."{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=251}}

[[File:Beatles with Ed Sullivan.jpg|thumb|The Beatles with [[Ed Sullivan]], February 1964]]
The Beatles' success in the US established the popularity of British groups and affected the musical style of American bands.{{sfn|Jovanovic|2004|pp=11–14, 30}} In doing so, however, the Beatles inadvertently caused a sharp decrease in sales for black artists and the decline of many of the girl groups they admired.{{sfn|Stark|2005|pp=154–55}} By mid 1964, several more UK acts arrived in the US, including [[the Dave Clark Five]], [[the Rolling Stones]], [[Billy J. Kramer]] and [[Gerry & the Pacemakers]].{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=250}} Confirming the British Invasion of the US pop market, one-third of all top ten hits there in 1964 were performed by British acts.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=250–51}} The depth of the Beatles' US impact was also reflected in a wave of [[easy listening]] adaptations of their songs, aimed at the adult market.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=334}} This trend was led by the [[Boston Pops Orchestra]] recording "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and [[the Hollyridge Strings]] covering "[[All My Loving]]", after which the latter orchestra released the 1964 album ''The Beatles Song Book''.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=334}}

The extent of the Beatles' impact on American music was disputed in a 2015 study conducted by the Queen Mary University of London and Imperial College London. By analysing shifts in [[chord progression]]s, beats, lyrics and vocals, the study indicated that American music was moving away from mellow sounds like [[doo-wop]] and into more energetic rock styles since the beginning of the 1960s. [[Armand Leroi|Professor Armand Leroi]], who led the study on behalf of Imperial College, said: "They didn't make a revolution or spark a revolution, they joined one. The trend is already emerging and they rode that wave, which accounts for their incredible success."<ref name="Telegraph2015">{{cite news|last1=Knapton|first1=Sarah|title=The Beatles 'did not spark a musical revolution in America'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11584335/The-Beatles-did-not-spark-a-musical-revolution-in-America.html|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=5 May 2015|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210221602/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11584335/The-Beatles-did-not-spark-a-musical-revolution-in-America.html|archive-date=10 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Beatles historian [[Mark Lewisohn]] said in response: "anyone who was a young person in the US when the Beatles arrived&nbsp;... will tell you that the Beatles revolutionised everything."<ref name="Telegraph2015"/> McCormick dismissed the study as "sensationalist".<ref name="McCormick">{{cite news |last1=McCormick |first1=Neil |author-link1=Neil McCormick |title=Why The Beatles really did start a musical revolution |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/11586165/Why-The-Beatles-really-did-start-a-musical-revolution.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=6 May 2015 |access-date=19 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403215305/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/11586165/Why-The-Beatles-really-did-start-a-musical-revolution.html |archive-date=3 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|McCormick argued that the Beatles' sound was distinctive for taking "the energy of rock 'n' roll, the drive of rhythm and blues, harmonic shades of jazz, doo wop and soul and melodic elegance of the music hall and Broadway show tunes and formal pop of their childhoods" and combining these elements "into a seamless electric shock of sound that sparked a cultural revolution".<ref name="McCormick"/>}}

==Personality and fashion{{anchor|Haircut}}==
===Attitude and sensibility===

In the description of ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s editors, the Beatles "defined and incarnated Sixties style: smart, idealistic, playful, irreverent, eclectic".{{sfn|George-Warren|2001|p=56}} They helped popularise Northern English accents on British radio and television, reversing the preference for [[Received Pronunciation|BBC English]], and their humour and irreverence combined to mock social conventions.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=21}} Writer [[Sean O'Hagan (journalist)|Sean O'Hagan]] recalled in 2016: "Everything about them&nbsp;– the clothes they wore, the way they spoke, the songs they created with an effortlessness that seemed almost alchemical&nbsp;– suggested new ways of being. More than any of their contemporaries, they challenged the tired conventions that defined class-bound, insular, early-60s Britain."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/31/three-albums-1966-beatles-revolver-bob-dylan-blonde-on-blonde-beach-boys-pet-sounds|author1=Ellen, Barbara|author2=O'Hagan, Sean|author3=Vulliamy, Ed|title=Was 1966 Pop Music's Greatest Year?|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=31 January 2016|access-date=13 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126182317/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/31/three-albums-1966-beatles-revolver-bob-dylan-blonde-on-blonde-beach-boys-pet-sounds|archive-date=26 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> According to author Jonathan Gould, in conveying "Youthfulness, stylishness, unpretentiousness, and nonchalance", their early image defied the widely held stereotype of [[Britishness]], and through their presentation as Liverpudlians, "the Beatles personified an iconoclastic version of their national character that proved to be as compelling to the youth of North America, Europe, Australia and parts of Asia as it was to their British fans."{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=9}}

In his 1994 book ''[[Revolution in the Head]]'', MacDonald describes the band members as "perfect [[Marshall McLuhan#From Cliché to Archetype (1970)|McLuhanites]]" who "''felt'' their way through life". He says of the group's initial impact:
<blockquote>Unlike previous pop stars&nbsp;– programmed to recite their future itineraries and favourite colours&nbsp;– The Beatles replied to the press in facetious ad-libs provoked by whatever was going on in the immediate present&nbsp;... Before them, pop acts had been neatly presented as soloists or well-drilled units each with its clearly identified leader. With their uncanny clone-like similarity and by all talking chattily at once, The Beatles introduced to the cultural lexicon several key Sixties motifs in one go: "mass"-ness, "working class" informality, cheery street scepticism, and&nbsp;– most challenging to the status quo&nbsp;– a ''simultaneity'' which subverted conventions of precedence in every way.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=22}}</blockquote>

[[Lou Christie]] recalled that the Beatles' emergence underlined the staidness of the US music scene, saying: "We were, in many respects, just these goofy white boys. We weren't allowed to be seen with a cigarette in our hands&nbsp;... [The Beatles] were more aggressive, they were funny and they were articulate. The minute they came to America, they literally put a halt to everything that was previously happening."<ref name="DeMain/MojoSpecial" />

===Hair length and clothing<span class="anchor" id="Hair length and clothing"></span>===
{{Redirect|Moptop|the Brazilian alternative rock band|Moptop (band)}}
[[File:The Fabs.JPG|thumb|The "moptop" Beatles in 1964]]

The Beatles' emergence coincided with a new consideration for the concept of male beauty and its elevation in importance beside feminine attractiveness. According to Marwick, the group's appearance and Kennedy's provided "the two great points of reference in this respect".{{sfn|Marwick|2012|p=382}} The Beatles were dubbed "moptops" by some British tabloids in reference to their haircut,{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=146}} a mid-length hairstyle that was widely mocked by adults.<ref>Gilliland John (1969). [https://digital.library.unt.edu/search/?fq=str_title_serial%3A%22The+Pop+Chronicles+%28John+Gilliland+Collection%29%22&sort=date_a&start=26 "The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The U.S.A. is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers (Part 1)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808000317/https://digital.library.unt.edu/search/?fq=str_title_serial%3A%22The+Pop+Chronicles+%28John+Gilliland+Collection%29%22&sort=date_a&start=26 |date=8 August 2019 }}. ''[[Pop Chronicles]]''. UNT Digital Library. Show 27, track 4. Retrieved 28 March 2020.</ref> It was unusually long for the era and became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=345}}

In their 1986 book ''Re-making Love: The Feminization of Sex'', authors [[Barbara Ehrenreich]], Elizabeth Hess and Gloria Jacobs said that the Beatles' haircuts signalled [[androgyny]] and thus presented a less threatening version of male sexuality to teenage girls, while their presentable suits meant they seemed less "sleazy" than Presley to middle-class whites.<ref name="Ehrenreich/Hess/Jacobs">{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/12/14/screams-heard-round-the-world/|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|author1=Ehrenreich, Barbara|author2=Hess, Elizabeth|author3=Jacobs, Gloria|date=14 December 1986|title=Screams Heard 'Round the World|access-date=23 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102029/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-12-14/features/8604030230_1_young-women-riot-beatles/4|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Russian historian Mikhail Safonov wrote in 2003 that in the [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev]]-era [[History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982)|Soviet Union]], mimicking the Beatles' hairstyle was seen as highly rebellious. Young people were called "hairies" by their elders, and were arrested and forced to have their hair cut in police stations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/aug/08/thebeatles|title=Confessions of a Soviet moptop|first=Mikhail|last=Safanov|date=8 August 2003|access-date=15 January 2019|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928173005/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/aug/08/thebeatles|archive-date=28 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result of the Beatles, the traditional American male look of [[crewcut]]s or combed-back hair was replaced by a preference for long hair.<ref name="Nash/FiscalTimes" />

Clothing styles were similarly influenced, firstly by the band's [[Pierre Cardin]] suits and Cuban-heeled [[Beatle boot]]s, and later by the [[Carnaby Street]] mod fashions they wore.<ref name="Nash/FiscalTimes" /> Along with the Rolling Stones, Dylan and [[the Who]], the Beatles inspired thousands of young men to wear [[pop art]]-themed designs.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=73}} In the late 1960s, the band's adoption of [[Nehru jacket]]s and other Indian-style clothing was highly influential on Western fashion.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Camille|last=Paglia|title=Cults and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Visions in the American 1960s|journal=[[Arion (journal)|Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics]]|series=3rd|volume=10|issue=3|date=Winter 2003|jstor=20163901|page=80}}</ref> In his 1970 "[[Lennon Remembers]]" interview, Lennon complained: "When we got here [to the US], you were all walking around in fuckin' Bermuda shorts with Boston crew cuts and stuff on your teeth&nbsp;... The chicks looked like 1940s horses. There was no conception of dress or any of that jazz."{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=15}} Writing in 2002, music journalist [[David Fricke]] said Lennon was "right" in his withering assessment of American youth, adding that Americans were "psychologically stuck in the surface white-bread calm of the 1950s" and "ripe for blindsiding".<ref name="Fricke/MojoSpecial">{{cite book|first=David|last=Fricke|chapter=Best in Show|title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years&nbsp;– April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964)|year=2002|publisher=Emap|location=London|page=89|title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref>

The Chinese name for the Beatles is 披头士 (Simplified) or 披頭士 (Traditional), Pītóushì in [[Modern Standard Mandarin]]. ''[[Shanghai Daily]]'' stated that the characters chosen for the Chinese name reflect the musicians' hairdos, with the first two characters referring to unruly hair; the first character alone refers to putting something on shoulders, something done with hair.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shine.cn/news/nation/1907238931/|title=Who gave Sherlock Holmes a 'lucky' Chinese name?|newspaper=[[Shanghai Daily]]|place=[[Shanghai]]|date=2019-07-23|access-date=2024-04-01}}</ref>

===Image and caricatures===
{{quote box
| quote = As was so often pointed out in the mid-Sixties, the sum of the Beatles was greater than the parts, but the parts were so distinctive and attractive that the group itself could be all things to all people, more or less; you did not have to love them all to love the group, but you could not love one without loving the group, and this was why the Beatles became bigger than Elvis; this was what had never happened before.{{sfn|Marcus|1992|p=215}}
| source = &nbsp;– Music critic [[Greil Marcus]]
| width = 25%
| align = right
| style = padding:8px;
}}
The Beatles differed from previous musical acts in their presentation as a group in which each of the individual personalities was seen as indispensable to the whole, and each member attracted fanatical devotion.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=10–11}} According to cultural commentator [[Steven D. Stark]], their lack of a designated leader aligned with a more typically feminine approach to collaboration, an aspect that increased their resonance among the female audience and subsequently influenced men's self-perception and cultural views on masculinity.{{sfn|Stark|2005|p=133}} The intensity of the Beatles' appeal as live performers was such that they were often presented with people who were physically impaired, in the assumption that the band had healing powers.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=93–94}} When the band assumed a mystical image in the late 1960s, fans increasingly identified them as the [[four elements]], in which each member presented a complementary and essential contribution to the alchemical whole.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=10–11}}

In 1964, the Beatles starred in the film ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]'' as fictionalised versions of themselves, which created a lasting impression of their individual personas. Lennon became known as "the smart one", McCartney "the cute one", Harrison "the quiet one", and Starr "the lucky one".{{sfn|Weber|2016|p=31}} Starr's personality as the band's affable, self-deprecating drummer proved especially popular with fans and the press in the US.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|pp=122–23}} In 1964, as coverage of the Beatles matched that of the [[1964 United States presidential election|Johnson–Goldwater presidential race]], Starr was the subject of bumper stickers proclaiming "Ringo for President",{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=31}} as well as several tribute songs.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=122}} Teen fan magazines, such as ''16 Magazines'', ''DIG'', ''Datebook'', ''TeenScreen'' and, by 1965, ''TeenSet'' and ''Tiger Beat'' (along with many one-shots) also covered the Beatles to great lengths.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bumsted |first=Allison |title=TeenSet, Teen Fan Magazines, and Rock Journalism: Don't Let the Name Fool You |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2024 |isbn=978-1496853271}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bumsted |first=Allison |date=2025-05-26 |title=1960s Teen Fan Magazines and The Beatles: An Exploration of Community, Fandom, and the Beatles Narrative |url=https://mds.marshall.edu/j20thcenturymediahistory/vol3/iss1/2 |journal=Journal of 20th Century Media History |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=25–52 |doi=10.33470/2997-2523.1047 |issn=2997-2523}}</ref> ''TeenScreen'' promoted the Ringo For President Campaign, and ''16'' included articles entitles the Beatles and Me by Neil Aspinall, among many Beatles articles and images within the magazines — All of which heavily influenced the image and perception of the Beatles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bumsted |first=Allison |date=2025-05-26 |title=1960s Teen Fan Magazines and The Beatles: An Exploration of Community, Fandom, and the Beatles Narrative |url=https://mds.marshall.edu/j20thcenturymediahistory/vol3/iss1/2 |journal=Journal of 20th Century Media History |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=25–52 |doi=10.33470/2997-2523.1047 |issn=2997-2523}}</ref>

[[File:The Monkees March 1967.jpg|thumb|left|In 1966, in response to the Beatles' maturation beyond their initial [[teenybopper]] appeal, [[the Monkees]] were created as a television and recording act in their image.]]
Their ''Hard Day's Night'' characterisations were adopted again for the children's cartoon series ''[[The Beatles (TV series)|The Beatles]]'',{{sfn|Kruth|2015|p=177}} which was made by [[King Features Syndicate|King Features]]{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=210}} and broadcast weekly on ABC in the US from September 1965 to April 1969.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=92–93}} It was the first animated TV series to depict living people and featured the Beatles (voiced by actors) having adventures while touring the world.{{sfn|Kruth|2015|pp=177–78}} The series was highly successful,{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=135}} although its focus on the pre-1967 era ensured that audiences were presented with an increasingly outdated image of the band.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=33}}{{refn|group=nb|The last episode of the show was produced in 1967. All subsequent broadcasts were reruns.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=33}}}}

Towards the end of 1966, by which point the Beatles' artistic maturity had left many younger listeners yearning for their innocent, "mop-top" image, [[the Monkees]] were assembled by a pair of Hollywood-based television executives as a four-piece band in the Beatles' mould.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=177}}{{sfn|Stanley|2014|p=205}} An immediate commercial success, the Monkees' [[The Monkees (TV series)|self-titled television show]] evoked the Beatles' personalities from [[Dick Lester]]'s feature films ''A Hard Day's Night'' and ''[[Help! (film)|Help!]]'', with the characters of the individual Monkees developed to reflect those of the Beatles.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=177–79}} In Marwick's view, the Monkees' creation represented "the most remarkable sign of direct British influence" on American pop culture during the 1960s.{{sfn|Marwick|2012|p=421}} At this time, the Beatles grew moustaches, a look that defied pop convention by implying maturation and artistry over youthfulness.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=393}} Their appearance was the source of confusion for some of their young fans.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=133}}<ref name="Wawzenek/UCR">{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-strawberry-fields-forever-penny-lane-videos/|first=Bryan|last=Wawzenek|title=How the Beatles' 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever' Videos Changed Everything|website=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]|date=11 March 2017|access-date=20 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511145655/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-strawberry-fields-forever-penny-lane-videos/|archive-date=11 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> A ''[[Daily Mail]]'' writer complained that after emerging as "heroes of a social revolution" in 1963 and "the boys whom everybody could identify with", the Beatles had become austere and exclusive.{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=289}}{{sfn|Harris|2003|pp=42–43}}

The producers of the 1967 [[Disney]] animated film ''[[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book]]'' hoped to include the Beatles in a scene featuring four vultures with mop-top hairstyles singing "[[That's What Friends Are For (The Vulture Song)|That's What Friends Are For]]". After the band declined to take part, the scene was voiced by actors adopting Liverpudlian accents and the song was given a [[barbershop quartet]] arrangement.<ref>{{cite news|first=Clarisse|last=Loughrey|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-jungle-book-director-tried-to-get-paul-mccartney-and-ringo-starr-to-cameo-a6969346.html|title=The Jungle Book director tried to get Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to cameo|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=5 April 2016|access-date=2 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902124104/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-jungle-book-director-tried-to-get-paul-mccartney-and-ringo-starr-to-cameo-a6969346.html|archive-date=2 September 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Merchandise===
Along with Beatles-themed wallpaper and jewellery, "Beatles wigs" were popular and widely available in UK stores from 1963.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|pp=100–01}} In the US, their merchandise was extensive, and marketed through [[Seltaeb]], a local subsidiary of a company owned by Epstein's [[NEMS Enterprises]].{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=13–14}} Among what Schaffner estimated to be "several hundred" items authorised by Seltaeb were toys, clothing, stationery, alarm clocks, pillowcases, bath products, junk food and lunchboxes, while Beatles wigs "became the best-selling novelty since [[yo-yo]]'s".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=13–14, 17}} Beatles-brand chewing gum alone netted millions of dollars in the US.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=120}} Beatle boots were also sanctioned as official merchandise by NEMS.{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|p=101}}

According to Doggett, while Presley's image had similarly been exploited, "the onslaught of ephemeral artefacts aimed at Beatles fans between 1963 and 1969 dwarfed every previous campaign."{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=335}} The commercial exploitation extended to novelty records such as ''[[The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits]]'' and an early version of a Beatles [[karaoke]] disc.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=335}} King Features' ''The Beatles'' led to a range of cartoon-style products and marketing by companies such as [[Nestlé]], with their "Beatles' Yeah Yeah Yeah" confectionery, and [[Lux (soap)|Lux]] soap.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=92–93}} A major merchandising campaign accompanied the release of the band's 1968 animated film ''[[Yellow Submarine (film)|Yellow Submarine]]'', containing products that captured their psychedelic look.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=100}}

==Growth of musicians, scenes and rock bands==
According to Gould, the Beatles served as the "archetype" of a rock band, in contrast to the vocal and harmony groups with which listeners were most familiar in 1964.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=10–11}} In the US, thousands of bands sought to imitate the Beatles, some adopting English-sounding names to capitalise on the British Invasion.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=89}} While the country already had a vibrant [[garage rock]] scene,{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=91}} the movement surged following the Beatles' first appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''.{{sfn|Lemlich|1992|pp=2–3}}<ref name="Kauppila (Garage in San Jose Case Study)">{{cite journal|last1=Kauppila|first1=Paul|title=The Sound of the Suburbs: A Case Study of Three Garage Bands in San Jose, California during the 1960s|journal=Popular Music and Society|date=October 2006|pages=7–8, 10–11|url=http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=lib_pub|via=San Jose State University Faculty Publications|access-date=21 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929123022/http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=lib_pub|archive-date=29 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Spitz|2013|pp=5, 39, 42–49}} Commentator Bill Dean writes that the exact figures are impossible to determine, but "the anecdotal evidence suggests thousands&nbsp;– if not hundreds of thousands or even more&nbsp;– young musicians across the country" responded by forming bands.<ref name="Dean (Beatles Infl.)">{{cite web|last1=Dean|first1=Bill|title=50 Years Ago Today, The Beatles Taught a Young America to Play|url=http://www.gainesville.com/article/20140209/ent/140209672|website=Scene|publisher=Gainesville.com|access-date=10 October 2015|date=9 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122040505/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20140209/ent/140209672|archive-date=22 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> This was sometimes to the chagrin of their parents and other adults.<ref name="Gilmore/RS/60s" />{{sfn|Lemlich|1992|pp=2–3}}<ref name="Dean (Beatles Infl.)"/>{{sfn|Spitz|2013|pp=55–59}}

[[Tom Petty]], who joined the Sundowners in [[Gainesville, Florida]], after seeing the Beatles' US television debut,{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=162}} recalled: "Within weeks of that, you could drive through literally any neighborhood in Gainesville and you would hear the strains of garage bands playing&nbsp;... I mean everywhere. And I'd say by a year from that time, Gainesville probably had 50 bands."<ref name="Dean (Beatles Infl.)"/> [[The Byrds]] and [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]] are among the American groups said to have formed as a result of the show.{{sfn|Millard|2012|p=36}} Accompanying this phenomenon, the musicians typically abandoned their crewcut look and allowed their hair to grow.{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=162}} [[Joe Walsh]], [[Nancy Wilson (rock musician)|Nancy Wilson]] and [[Billy Joel]] also credited the show as the impetus for them to pursue musical careers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/top-11-musicians-influenced-by-the-beatles-50th-anniversary/|first=Frank|last=Mastropolo|title=Top 11 Musicians Influenced By the Beatles|website=Rock Cellar|date=4 February 2014|access-date=24 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823184539/https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/top-11-musicians-influenced-by-the-beatles-50th-anniversary/|archive-date=23 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Paul, George & John.png|thumb|upright=1.2|right|The Beatles performing on Dutch television during the 1964 world tour]]
The proliferation of new groups was evident in many other countries.<ref name="Gilmore/RS/60s" /> In Spain, Los Estudiantes and [[Los Brincos]] modelled themselves on the Beatles, as did the Uruguayan band [[Los Shakers]],{{sfn|Doggett|2015|pp=387–88}} who were one of many groups around the world that formed as a result of ''A Hard Day's Night''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Richie|last=Unterberger|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/los-shakers-mn0000360089/biography|title=Los Shakers|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=20 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019150559/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/los-shakers-mn0000360089/biography|archive-date=19 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the Beatles' concerts there on the [[The Beatles' 1964 world tour|1964 world tour]], new bands sprung up in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, while some existing acts, such as the [[Bee Gees]], instantly changed their style to match the Beatles'.{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|pp=162–63}}

The ''[[Daily Express]]'' reported in 1965 that a band known as the Candid Lads had started in the Soviet Union, with a sound and look identical to the Beatles'.{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=162}} Bands there were forced to play in secret due to the communist authorities' ban on rock music, and Beatles records had to be smuggled into the country, although contrary to popular conception, it was not impossible to listen to their music.<ref name="Walsh/NYDailyNews">{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Walsh|title=The Beatles ignited a cultural revolution in the Soviet youth that helped overthrow the USSR: former spy|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/beatles-beat-communism-spy-article-1.1360024|newspaper=[[New York Daily News]]|date=1 June 2013|access-date=15 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115071628/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/beatles-beat-communism-spy-article-1.1360024|archive-date=15 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Aksenov |first=Pavel |date=October 5, 2012 |title=Beatles for sale: The vinyl underground in the USSR |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-19827438 |access-date=June 25, 2024 |work=[[BBC]] |archive-date=24 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240624152649/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-19827438 |url-status=live }}</ref> Russian musician [[Aleksandr Lipnitsky|Sasha Lipnitsky]] later recalled: "The Beatles brought us the idea of democracy&nbsp;... For many of us, it was the first hole in the [[Iron Curtain]]."<ref name="O'Callaghan/RB" /> In Japan, the Beatles influenced what was dubbed the "[[Group Sounds]]" era, before which Japanese bands were mainly imitations of acts such as Presley and [[Pat Boone]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sathian |first=Sanjena |author-link=Sanjena Sathian |date=30 June 2016 |title=When the Beatles Took On Japan's Right-Wing |url=https://www.ozy.com/flashback/when-the-beatles-took-on-japans-right-wing/69958 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824091152/https://www.ozy.com/flashback/when-the-beatles-took-on-japans-right-wing/69958 |archive-date=24 August 2019 |access-date=24 August 2019 |website=[[Ozy Media|Ozy]]}}</ref> According to music-industry executive Aki Tanaka, the Beatles' 1966 concerts in Tokyo inspired "the birth of a real Japanese rock music scene", in which local artists wrote their material rather than merely covering Western rock songs.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://features.japantimes.co.jp/beatles-in-budokan/|first=Steve|last=McClure|title=Yesterday: When the 'Beatles typhoon' hit Japan|newspaper=[[The Japan Times]]|date=June 2016|access-date=20 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619105756/http://features.japantimes.co.jp/beatles-in-budokan/|archive-date=19 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Artistry and recognition of popular music==

===Songwriting===
[[File:1964-Lennon-McCartney (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Lennon–McCartney|Paul McCartney and John Lennon]], the principal songwriters of the Beatles]]

Through the Beatles' early success, the [[Lennon–McCartney]] partnership revolutionised songwriting in Britain by usurping the [[Denmark Street]] tradition of in-house songwriters.{{sfn|MacDonald|2002b|p=87}} In the US, they similarly inspired changes to the music industry, as did the British Invasion songwriters they influenced, by combining the roles of writer and performer.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2000|p=53}} This trend threatened the [[Brill Building]] writers and other professional songwriters that dominated the American music industry.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2000|p=53}}{{sfn|Stanley|2014|pp=78–79}}{{refn|group=nb|[[Ellie Greenwich]], a Brill Building songwriter, said: "When the Beatles and the entire British Invasion came in, we were all ready to say, 'Look, it's been nice, there's no more room for us … It's now the self-contained group – males, certain type of material. What do we do?'"{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2000|p=53}}}} According to ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s editors, the Beatles thereby "inaugurated the era of self-contained bands and forever centralized pop".{{sfn|George-Warren|2001|p=56}} Lennon and McCartney also supplied hit songs for several other artists up to 1966, including [[Cilla Black]], Billy J. Kramer, [[the Fourmost]] and the Rolling Stones,{{sfn|Clayson|2003b|pp=100, 103}} and they opened up opportunities in the US that were previously unavailable for non-performing British songwriters, such as [[Tony Hatch]].{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2000|pp=54–55, 81}} Direct collaboration between Lennon and McCartney was limited from 1964, but their songs continued to be credited to the partnership.{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=166}}

From 1963 to 1967, the Beatles increasingly broke with established rock and pop conventions.{{sfn|Womack|Davis|2012|p=51}} Adding to their sophistication as composers was the application of [[mode (music)|modal]] mixture, wider chord palettes, and [[extended form]].{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} One of the hallmarks of the Beatles' experimental period is their use of the flattened [[subtonic]] chord ({{music|flat}}VII).<ref name="Reising2002">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME09/A_flood_of_flat-sevenths.shtml|last=Tillekens|first=Ger|editor=Russell Reusing|title=Every sound there is: the Beatles' Revolver and the transformation of rock and roll|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r44ZAQAAIAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-0556-0|pages=121–136|chapter=A flood of flat-sevenths. Or, what are all those flat-sevenths doing in the Beatles' Revolver?}}</ref> Although it was already a staple of rock 'n' roll, the Beatles further developed and popularised the chord's function in popular music.<ref name="Soundscape">{{cite web |last1=Pinter |first1=D. |title=The magnificent flat-seventh |url=http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME22/Magnificent_flat-seventh.shtml |website=Soundscapes |access-date=17 November 2019 |date=May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117054240/http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME22/Magnificent_flat-seventh.shtml |archive-date=17 November 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Another is their subversions of pop's standard AABA form.{{sfn|Womack|Davis|2012|p=43}} Few electric beat artists wrote songs with [[bridge (music)|bridge sections]] until the group's breakthrough, after which the practice became ubiquitous.<ref name="Sommer18">{{cite web |last1=Sommer |first1=Tim |author-link=Tim Sommer |title=How the Beatles Scalped American Music |url=https://www.insidehook.com/article/music/how-the-beatles-scalped-american-music |website=[[Inside Hook]] |access-date=18 November 2019 |date=13 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118054249/https://www.insidehook.com/article/music/how-the-beatles-scalped-american-music |archive-date=18 November 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

MacDonald describes Lennon and McCartney's growing articulacy and ambition from 1962 to 1967 as "quite vertiginous" and says that, with Harrison and Starr's collaboration in the recording studio, they "led a revolution in the very ethos of songwriting which consisted in seeing the song as a part of something larger: the record".{{sfn|MacDonald|2002b|p=87}} Luhrssen and Larson describe the pair's songwriting as "more melodically and harmonically unpredictable than that of their peers", and say that the Beatles' sound "struck many ears as outrageous, especially the falsetto leaps in songs such as 'She Loves You,' which might have been inspired by [[Little Richard]] but sounded unprecedented".{{sfn|Luhrssen|Larson|2017|p=25}}

{{listen
| filename     = A Hard Day's Night opening chord.ogg
| title        = The opening chord from "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
| description  = The introductory chord to "[[A Hard Day's Night (song)|A Hard Day's Night]]" inspired much analysis and debate among music writers.{{sfn|Pedler|2003|pp=}}
}}

"[[A Hard Day's Night (song)|A Hard Day's Night]]", written primarily by Lennon, begins with a ringing chord most commonly identified as G7sus4. The specifics of its harmonic construction are often scrutinised, with many writers offering different interpretations of the chord.{{sfn|Pedler|2003|pp=}} In 2001, ''Rolling Stone'' referred to the "Hard Day's Night" chord as the most famous in rock history.{{sfn|Pedler|2003|pp=}} Another chord described as among the "most famous" in history is the sustained [[E major]] heard at the end of "[[A Day in the Life]]" from ''Sgt. Pepper''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.applecorp.com/aditl/notes3.htm |title=Recording 'A Day in the Life':A Remarkable Session |last=Bona |first=Anda Mitchell-Dala |access-date=5 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104230914/http://www.applecorp.com/aditl/notes3.htm |archive-date=4 January 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Principally through McCartney's melody writing, the Beatles created many songs that became the most widely recorded of all time, including "[[And I Love Her]]", "Yesterday", "[[Michelle (song)|Michelle]]", "[[Eleanor Rigby]]", "[[Here, There and Everywhere]]", "[[The Fool on the Hill]]", "[[Hey Jude]]", "[[Blackbird (Beatles song)|Blackbird]]",<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elmes |first1=John |title=The 10 Most Covered Songs |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-10-most-covered-songs-1052165.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=5 December 2008 |access-date=8 January 2020 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024174557/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-10-most-covered-songs-1052165.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Conradt |first1=Stacy |title=10 of the Most Covered Songs in Music History |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/20811/most-covered-songs-in-music-history |website=[[Mental Floss]] |date=30 November 2017 |access-date=8 January 2020 |archive-date=31 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231213927/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/20811/most-covered-songs-in-music-history |url-status=live }}</ref> "[[Let It Be (song)|Let It Be]]" and "[[The Long and Winding Road]]".{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=390}} According to Doggett, these mainly McCartney-written songs provided contemporary relevance for "light orchestras and crooners" in the easy listening category, persuaded adults that the new generation's musical tastes had merit, and "ensured that Lennon and McCartney would become the highest-earning composers in history".{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=390}} Harrison's songwriting widened the Beatles' range further,{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=28}} although his level of contribution remained limited by Lennon and McCartney's dominance throughout the band's career.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=172, 186}} His song "[[Something (Beatles song)|Something]]" was also widely covered, and earned rare praise from Sinatra, who described it as "the greatest love song of the past fifty years".{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=348}}

===Competition===
Before the mid-1960s, competition between popular recording artists was typically measured by popularity and record sales, with artistic rivalries usually only occurring between jazz or classical musicians. Comparing its effect on 1960s popular music to [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s on 1920s filmmaking, Gould credits the Beatles' increasing ambition "to write better songs" with inspiring "intense creative rivalries" between themselves and other acts who "felt a need to validate their success by experimenting with songwriting and record-making in ways that would have seemed unimaginable only a few years before."{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=330–31}} Author Robert Rodriguez writes that "The Beatles, Dylan, and the Rolling Stones have long been viewed as the Holy Trinity of 1960s rock, from whom every important development and innovation flowed."{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=45}} Author Carys Wyn Jones states that the "competition, interaction, and influence" between those acts (plus the Beach Boys) became "central to histories of rock".{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=56}} The Byrds also figured highly in their importance, to the extent that they were widely celebrated as the American answer to the Beatles.{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|pp=257–258}}{{refn|group=nb|While their long-term influence has proven to be comparable to the Beatles and the Beach Boys, the Byrds' record sales totaled considerably less.{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|pp=257–258}}}}

[[File:Joan Baez Bob Dylan crop.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Bob Dylan]], 1963]]
Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones were symbolic of the nascent youth revolt against institutional authority, something that was not immediately recognisable within the Beatles until 1966.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=28}} The Beatles' initial clean-cut personas contrasted with the Rolling Stones' "bad boy" image, and so the music press forged a rivalry between the two acts.{{sfn|Fried|Titone|Weiner|1980|p=185}}{{refn|group=nb|Throughout [[Britpop]]'s peak in the 1990s, comparisons were often drawn between the Beatles–Stones rivalry and the rivalry of the bands [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]] and [[Blur (band)|Blur]].<ref>{{cite news|date=1995|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=POP MUSIC : Blur vs. Oasis : The Battle of Britain : Bitter rivals Blur and Oasis, the two hottest groups on the revived British rock scene, are taking their best shots at the American market--and a few at each other.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-01-ca-51888-story.html|access-date=25 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725062008/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-01-ca-51888-story.html|archive-date=25 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> }} From 1964 onwards, the Beatles and Dylan partook in a mutual dialogue and exchange of ideas.{{sfn|Kaiser|1988|p=199}} Their engagement is referred to by Chris Smith, author of ''[[101 Albums That Changed Popular Music]]'', as the "single phenomenon that defined the tone of 1960s popular music and the future of music in America".{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=24}}

In August 1964, at the [[Delmonico Hotel]] in New York City, the Beatles met Dylan in person and were introduced to [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]]. Many commentators have referenced this meeting as a cultural turning point.<ref name="Dylanmeeting">{{cite news |last1=Harrison |first1=Andrew |title=When Dylan met the Beatles – history in a handshake? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/27/when-bob-dylan-met-the-beatles |access-date=3 August 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803175604/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/27/when-bob-dylan-met-the-beatles |archive-date=3 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Gould explains that, before then, the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style" contrasted with their fans, "veritable '[[teenybopper]]s' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. They were seen as idolaters, not idealists."{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=252–53}} He writes that within a year of the Beatles' first meeting with Dylan, "the distinctions between the folk and rock audiences would have nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fanbase began to grow in sophistication and Dylan's audience re-engaged with adolescent concerns presented in the "newly energized and autonomous pop culture".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=253}}{{refn|group=nb|Rock journalist [[Al Aronowitz]], who brokered the meeting, said that "Until the advent of [[hip-hop music|rap]], pop music remained largely derivative of that night at the Delmonico."<ref name="Dylanmeeting"/>}}

In July 1966, Dylan suffered a motorcycle accident and spent a period in convalescence, and principally for McCartney, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys subsequently took his place as the Beatles' chief artistic rival.<ref>{{harvnb|Gould|2007|pp=332–33}}; {{harvnb|Philo|2015|p=105}}.</ref> The two bands inspired and endeavoured to top each other with their artistry and recording techniques,{{sfn|Cook|Pople|2004|p=441}}{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=280}} but the Beach Boys failed to maintain their career momentum after 1967.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=3, 184, 187–190}} According to Jones, the interplay between the two bands during the ''[[Pet Sounds]]'' era remains one of the most noteworthy episodes in rock history.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=56}}{{refn|group=nb|In 2003, when ''Rolling Stone'' created its list of the [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]], the top 10 included four Beatles albums, one Beach Boys album, and one Rolling Stones album.<ref>{{cite magazine |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/|title= 500 Greatest Albums of All Time| magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=31 May 2012|access-date=15 January 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190529154250/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/|archive-date=29 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Pet Sounds'' was ranked second explicitly to honour its influence on the highest ranked album, ''Sgt. Pepper's''.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=57}}}}

==={{Anchor|Cultural legitimisation of pop music}} Cultural legitimisation of pop music===

In Britain, music journalists started including pop and rock music in serious discussion as a direct consequence of the Beatles' 1964 breakthrough.{{sfn|Jones|2002|p=45}} Pop gained its first exposure in the arts section of one of the country's broadsheet newspapers when [[William Mann (critic)|William Mann]], ''[[The Times]]''{{'}}s [[classical music]] critic, wrote an appreciation of the Beatles in December 1963.{{sfn|Lindberg et al.|2005|p=72}} In the United States, the Beatles were the main beneficiaries of a new widespread appreciation for pop and rock over 1966–67 among journalists and intellectuals,{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=193–94}}{{sfn|Lindberg et al.|2005|p=118}} coinciding with the emergence there of a dedicated rock press and serious coverage of the genre in the cultural mainstream.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=223}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-was-a-masterpiece-of-timing.html|first=Jack|last=Hamilton|title=''Sgt. Pepper''{{'}}s Timing Was As Good As Its Music|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=24 May 2017|access-date=3 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103131708/https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-was-a-masterpiece-of-timing.html|archive-date=3 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Music critic [[Tim Riley (music critic)|Tim Riley]] identifies the Beatles as pop music's "first recording ''artists''", whose body of work represents "very intricate art".{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=144}} Luhrssen and Larson say the Beatles "[made] it mandatory that serious rock bands aspire to be artists, not merely entertainers".{{sfn|Luhrssen|Larson|2017|p=27}}

With ''[[A Hard Day's Night (album)|A Hard Day's Night]]'' in July 1964, the band became the first pop act since [[Buddy Holly]] to issue an album consisting entirely of original compositions.<ref>{{cite book|first=Robert|last=Sandall|chapter=A Hard Day's Night: Soundtrack of Their Lives|title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years – April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964)|year=2002|publisher=Emap|location=London|page=115|title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref>{{dubious|reason=What about Billy Fury's ''The Sound of Fury'' (1960) and Jerry Lordan's ''All My Own Work'' (1960)?|date=May 2022}} The accompanying feature film endeared the Beatles to intellectuals in Britain.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=93}} Lennon's artistic standing was furthered by the critical and commercial success of his book of prose ''[[In His Own Write]]'' and its 1965 sequel, ''[[A Spaniard in the Works]]''.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=27, 41}} Now feted by London society, Lennon and McCartney found inspiration among a network of non-mainstream writers, poets, comedians, film-makers and other arts-related individuals. According to Doggett, their social milieu in 1964 represented "new territory for pop" and a challenge to British class delineation as the Beatles introduced an "arty middle-class" sensibility to pop music.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=327}} The albums ''[[Beatles for Sale]]'' and ''[[Help!]]'' (issued in December 1964 and August 1965, respectively) each marked a progression in the band's development, in terms of lyrical content and recording sophistication.{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=170}} With ''Help!'', the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/grammy-awards-album-year-winners-steely-dan-426569|first=Zach|last=Schonfeld|title=The Most Ridiculous 'Album of the Year' Winners in Grammy History|publisher=[[newsweek.com]]|date=15 February 2016|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108065752/https://www.newsweek.com/grammy-awards-album-year-winners-steely-dan-426569|archive-date=8 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Recording for ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' took place over a four-week period uninterrupted by touring, filming or radio engagements,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|p=202}} making its creation highly unusual for the time.{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=269}} By the time of the album's release in December 1965, according to author Michael Frontani, each new Beatles record was received as "an expansion of the parameters of popular music, and the [group's] image reflected and promoted notions of the Beatles' artistry and importance".{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=5}} Simonelli describes ''Rubber Soul'' as "the first serious effort by a rock and roll act to produce an LP as an artistic statement",{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=96}} while author Christopher Bray deems it "the first long-playing pop record to really merit the term 'album'" and the LP that "turned pop music into high art".{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=269 & pic. section p. 8}} The standard of its all-original compositions was also responsible for a widespread shift in focus from singles to creating albums without the usual [[filler (media)|filler]] tracks.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=96}}{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}}

[[File:WCFL Sound 10 survey October 1966 Beatles Jim Stagg (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The group, with Chicago disc jockey [[Jimmy Staggs|Jim Stagg]] (front row, second from left), around the time of ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]''{{'}}s release in August 1966]]
The Beatles incorporated influences from the English counterculture (or [[UK underground|London underground]]) more readily than any of their pop rivals.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=xv}} Led by McCartney's absorption in the London arts scene and interest in the work of Stockhausen and Bach, this resulted in what musicologist [[Walter Everett (musicologist)|Walter Everett]] terms a "revolution in the expressive capacity of mainstream rock music".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=10}} The band's August 1966 album ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' was viewed as avant-garde{{sfn|Marcus|1992|p=211}} and, in MacDonald's description, "initiated a second pop revolution&nbsp;... galvanising their existing rivals and inspiring many new ones".{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=192}} According to music historian Simon Philo, ''Revolver'' announced "underground London"'s arrival in pop, supplanting the sound associated with Swinging London.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=112}}

Released in May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is described by Doggett as "the biggest pop happening" to take place between the Beatles' debut on American television in February 1964 and [[Murder of John Lennon|Lennon's murder]] in December 1980.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=373}} The album was a major critical and commercial success;{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=418}} through the level of attention it received from the rock press and more culturally elite publications, ''Sgt. Pepper'' achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form.{{sfn|Julien|2008|p=9}}{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=162–63}} Its win in the Album of the Year category at the [[10th Annual Grammy Awards|1968 Grammys Awards]] marked the first time that a rock LP had received this award.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/02/24/grammys-one-track-mind/04cd977e-b44a-461c-817b-ef8b66b472a0/|first=Richard|last=Harrington|title=Grammy's One-Track Mind|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=24 February 1993|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419233357/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/02/24/grammys-one-track-mind/04cd977e-b44a-461c-817b-ef8b66b472a0/|archive-date=19 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> According to author Doyle Greene, the album provided "a crucial locus in the assemblage of popular music and avant-garde/experimental music – and popular culture and [[modernism]]".{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=28}} Chris Smith highlights ''Sgt. Pepper'' as one of the most "obvious" choices for inclusion in ''101 Albums That Changed Popular Music'', due to its continued commercial success, the wealth of imitative works it inspired, and its ongoing recognition as "a defining moment in the history of music".{{sfn|Smith|2009|pp=xiii–xiv}}

''The Beatles'' represented a diverse collection of musical styles that one critic likened to a history of Western music,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}} and its November 1968 release was viewed as a major cultural event.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=795}} The album failed to inspire the level of creative writing that ''Sgt. Pepper'' had introduced to rock criticism,{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=528}} as reviewers were unable to locate it within the Beatles' canon.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=795}} Music critic [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]] wrote of the White Album: "it was these 30 songs that decisively opened the way for musicians to extend their horizons beyond the standard LP format."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jordan|last=Orlando|title=The Accidental Perfection of the Beatles' White Album|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-accidental-perfection-of-the-beatles-white-album|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=10 November 2018|access-date=8 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803015738/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-accidental-perfection-of-the-beatles-white-album|archive-date=3 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Social movements==
===Generational awareness===
{{quote box
| quote = The '60s saw a revolution&nbsp;... in a whole way of thinking. The Beatles were part of the revolution, which is really an evolution, and is continuing. We were all on this ship – a ship going to discover the New World. And the Beatles were in the crow's nest.<ref name="Nash/FiscalTimes">{{cite news|first=Alanna|last=Nash|title=The Beatles: 7 Ways the Fab Four Changed America|url=https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/07/Beatles-7-Ways-Fab-Four-Changed-America|newspaper=[[The Fiscal Times]]|date=7 February 2014|access-date=23 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822233617/https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/07/Beatles-7-Ways-Fab-Four-Changed-America|archive-date=22 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
| source = – John Lennon, 1974
| width = 25%
| align = left
| style = padding:8px;
}}
From 1963, the Beatles provided one of the first opportunities for female teenagers to exhibit spending power and publicly express sexual desire, while the group's image suggested a disregard for adults' opinions and parents' ideas of morality.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=19, 22–23}} Simonelli writes of the Beatles' emergence and its impact on 1960s youth: "British young people experimented with music, art, politics, sexual morality, fashion and the like, and the rest of the Western world watched, absorbed the changes and contributed to the process."{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=37}} The band's sociocultural impact in the US began with their February 1964 visit, which served as a key moment in the development of generational awareness.<ref name="Gilmore/RS/60s">{{cite magazine|last1=Gilmore|first1=Mikal|title=Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rock of the Sixties|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-the-beatles-and-the-rock-roll-of-the-60s-19900823|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=19 February 2018|date=23 August 1990|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219151727/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-the-beatles-and-the-rock-roll-of-the-60s-19900823|archive-date=19 February 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Leopold/CNN">{{cite web|last1=Leopold|first1=Todd|title=Beatles + Sullivan = Revolution: Why Beatlemania Could Never Happen Today|url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/30/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/beatles-ed-sullivan-50-years-anniversary/|website=[[CNN]]|access-date=23 February 2018|date=31 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223110942/https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/30/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/beatles-ed-sullivan-50-years-anniversary/|archive-date=23 February 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Writing that same month, American sociologist [[David Riesman]] said the Beatles' success was "a form of protest against the adult world";{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=334}} later in 1964, ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' described Beatlemania as a "religion of teenage culture" that was indicative of how American youth now looked to their own age group for social values and role models.{{sfn|Romanowski|2006|p=214}} According to historian Michael James Roberts, even though their early songs avoided such issues, the band represented "cultural change and the oppositional stance of the youth culture against the establishment".{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=193}}

The group's popularity subsequently grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade,{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=8–9}} and their artistic maturation reflected the era's social developments.{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=161}} They were widely viewed as leaders of the youth culture and such a sentiment was echoed by the mainstream press.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=17}} Their 1966 songs "Paperback Writer", "[[Rain (Beatles song)|Rain]]", "[[Taxman]]" and "Eleanor Rigby" provided [[social commentary]],{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=53}} with the lyrics of "Rain" making explicit the delineation between the socially aware and those who were not.{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=41}} By contrast, ''Sgt. Pepper'' achieved a cross-generational appeal;{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|pp=249–50}} in "[[She's Leaving Home]]", McCartney and Lennon sang of a real-life teenage runaway but gave an unusually sympathetic perspective on the parents' sense of loss.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=114, 217–18}}

According to Stark, the social unity conveyed by the Beatles from the start of their career inspired the framework for the [[Collectivism and individualism|collectivist]] thinking that distinguished the 1960s and the emergence of the [[1960s counterculture|counterculture]] movement.{{sfn|Stark|2005|p=65}} He sees their English sense of humour as a defining trait of the counterculture and an inspiration for [[Yippie]] activists [[Abbie Hoffman]] and [[Jerry Rubin]].{{sfn|Stark|2005|pp=110–11}} Gould similarly writes that, from the band's arrival in the US, teenagers were aware of the "social dimension" implicit in the group's camaraderie, matching clothes and hair, and ensemble playing.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=10}} In Gould's view, as icons of the 1960s counterculture, the band became a catalyst for [[bohemianism]] and activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such as [[feminist movement|women's liberation]], [[gay liberation]] and [[environmental movement|environmentalism]].{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=8–9}}{{refn|group=nb|Ehrenreich, Hess and Jacobs comment that, but for the girls' hairstyles and clothing, the photos and footage of young Beatles fans in confrontation with police suggest a women's liberation demonstration from the late 1960s rather than a 1964 pop event. The authors add: "Yet if it was not the 'movement,' or a clear-cut protest of any kind, Beatlemania was the first mass outburst of the '60s to feature women – in this case girls, who would not reach full adulthood until the '70s – and the emergence of a genuinely political movement for women's liberation."<ref name="Ehrenreich/Hess/Jacobs" />}}

According to documentary filmmaker [[Leslie Woodhead]], a former Cold War spy, the Beatles' music helped persuade young Russians to defy communist ideology and begin the process that led to the [[fall of communism]] throughout Eastern Europe.<ref name="Walsh/NYDailyNews" /> He said the extent of the band's influence became apparent in the 1990s when local rock musicians told him that "not only were the Beatles colossal from the Berlin Wall to Vladivostok but that they'd played a really significant part in helping to wash away totalitarianism&nbsp;... They liberated a certain spiritual energy so that two generations of Soviet kids simply gave up on building socialism and started to realise that the Cold War enemy, instead of being a threat, made wonderful music."<ref name="Keal/DailyRecord">{{cite news|first=Graham|last=Keal|title=Revealed: How the Beatles brought down communism|url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/revealed-how-the-beatles-brought-down-1034955|newspaper=[[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]]|date=27 August 2009|access-date=15 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115075843/https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/revealed-how-the-beatles-brought-down-1034955|archive-date=15 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Many young Russians learnt to speak English through the Beatles' lyrics,<ref name="Walsh/NYDailyNews" /> and the band's songs helped spread the English language throughout Europe{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=388}} and the rest of the world.{{sfn|MacDonald|2002b|p=87}}

===Civil rights and support for African-American musicians===
Marwick writes that while American folk singers Dylan and [[Joan Baez]] were more identifiable with [[civil rights]] issues, in Beatles songs, "it was a case of music and lyrics together constructing – constantly changing – moods which never failed, it seemed, to evoke responses in large numbers of listeners of the day."{{sfn|Marwick|2012|p=415}} Roberts highlights the significance of their US breakthrough occurring in the same year that the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights Act]] was passed, and also that their first US LP, ''[[Introducing... The Beatles|Introducing&nbsp;... The Beatles]]'', was released by the African-American–owned label [[Vee-Jay Records]]. Through the album's preponderance of cover versions of recordings by black R&B artists, Roberts continues, the Beatles introduced this music to a new audience of white Americans and helped to "relegitimate" an aspect of African-American musical history.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=193}}

[[File:Beatles at the George Washington Hotel, September 1964.jpg|thumb|[[George Harrison]] and McCartney being escorted through fans before the Beatles performed at the [[Gator Bowl Stadium|Gator Bowl]] in Jacksonville, Florida]]
During the Beatles' US tour in August–September 1964, the group spoke out against [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] in the country at the time, particularly in the [[Southern United States|South]]. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the [[Gator Bowl Stadium|Gator Bowl]] in [[Jacksonville, Florida]], was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|p=171}} City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.<ref name="Integration (BBC)">{{Cite web|title=The Beatles Banned Segregated Audiences, Contract Shows|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-14963752|date=18 September 2011|access-date=17 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214193031/http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-14963752|archive-date=14 February 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Runtagh/RS/EightDays">{{cite magazine|last=Runtagh|first=Jordan|title=Ron Howard's Beatles Doc 'Eight Days a Week': 10 Things We Learned|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ron-howards-beatles-doc-eight-days-a-week-10-things-we-learned-129475/|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=15 September 2016|access-date=19 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819044431/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ron-howards-beatles-doc-eight-days-a-week-10-things-we-learned-129475/|archive-date=19 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Although the group held their press conference there before the concert,{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=168}} they cancelled their reservations at the whites-only [[Hotel George Washington (Jacksonville)|Hotel George Washington]] in Jacksonville.<ref name="Mirkin/Greenlining">{{cite web|last1=Mirken|first1=Bruce|title=1964, Civil Rights – and the Beatles?|website=[[Greenlining Institute]]|url=http://greenlining.org/blog/2013/1964-civil-rights-and-the-beatles/|date=11 September 2013|access-date=18 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220034646/http://greenlining.org/blog/2013/1964-civil-rights-and-the-beatles/|archive-date=20 February 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> According to music journalist Bill DeMain, the Beatles' stand "gave pop music a new-found social conscience"; American singer [[Brian Hyland]] recalled of the episode: "They were really the first group to have the power to do that. They used that platform really well&nbsp;... It took a lot of courage."<ref name="DeMain/MojoSpecial">{{cite book|first=Bill|last=DeMain|chapter=Come Together|title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years – April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964)|year=2002|publisher=Emap|location=London|page=128|title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref> During the tour, the band repeatedly voiced their admiration of [[Little Richard]], [[Chuck Berry]] and [[Fats Domino]], and particularly soul artists such as [[the Miracles]], [[Marvin Gaye]] and [[Chuck Jackson]]. Miracles leader [[Smokey Robinson]] said he was especially grateful for the Beatles' championing of [[Motown]] music and their choosing to cover songs by Motown artists. He added that they "were the first white artists to ever admit that they grew up and honed themselves on black music. I loved the fact that they did that, that they were honest".<ref name="DeMain/MojoSpecial" />

The Beatles subsequently invited [[Mary Wells]] to be their support act on a UK tour<ref name="DeMain/MojoSpecial" />{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=171}} and in 1965 arranged for [[Esther Phillips]] to give her first performances outside the US.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/esther-phillips-mn0000271029/biography|first=Steve|last=Huey|title=Esther Phillips|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=19 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819053428/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/esther-phillips-mn0000271029/biography|archive-date=19 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Lewisohn, documents reveal that for their tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated.<ref>{{cite news|title=Beatles Refused to Play for Segregated Audiences, Contract Reveal|newspaper=[[The Huffington Post]]|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/beatles-refused-to-play-segregated-audiences_n_966541.html|date=16 November 2011|access-date=18 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516112443/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/beatles-refused-to-play-segregated-audiences_n_966541.html|archive-date=16 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1966, McCartney said they had avoided performing in South Africa "or any places where blacks would be separated", adding, "It wasn't out of any goody-goody thing; we just thought, 'Why should you separate black people from white?'"<ref name="Mirkin/Greenlining" />{{refn|group=nb|Although he has given alternative sources of inspiration for the song,{{sfn|Turner|1999|p=160}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/115751-re-meet-the-beatles-the-records-day-four-1968-1969-2496121185.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2|title=The Records, Day Four: 1968–1969 (''The Beatles'' take two)|date=11 November 2009|first=James|last=Flemming|website=[[PopMatters]]|access-date=9 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009061313/https://www.popmatters.com/115751-re-meet-the-beatles-the-records-day-four-1968-1969-2496121185.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2|archive-date=9 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> McCartney said he wrote "Blackbird" in response to racial tensions escalating in the US during the spring of 1968.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=190}}}} According to Moore, the Beatles and the British Invasion bands that followed them to the US initiated the process whereby Americans "gradually encountered and accepted the return of their black heritage".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=10}}

===Opposition from conservatives===
[[File:Los Beatles (19266969775) Recortado.jpg|thumb|alt=The English rock band Beatles arriving for concerts in Madrid in July 1965|The Beatles arriving for concerts in Madrid, July 1965]]
The Beatles were widely condemned by conservative elements of society, as Presley and other symbols of rock and roll had been during the 1950s.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=93–94}} Israel refused to let the band perform there in early 1964, wary of "attacks of mass hysteria" being inflicted on the country's youth. In August 1965, the Indonesian government burned the group's records in order to "preserve the national identity in the field of culture" as part of that country's twentieth anniversary celebrations of independence.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=94}} In East Germany, the Beatles were blamed for a "cultural crisis" that saw artists and intellectuals pushing for more leniency from the state; by April 1966, however, the government were supportive of the Beatles and instead targeted the Rolling Stones.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=94}}

The [[United States Department of Labor|US Labor Department]] attempted to ban the Beatles from performing in the country, motivated by cultural conservatism and after lobbying from the [[American Federation of Musicians]].{{sfn|Roberts|2014|pp=175–77, 188}} The government sought to ban all British acts in 1965, but the financial opportunities presented by the Beatles ensured that their [[The Beatles' 1965 US tour|second North American tour]] went ahead.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=154}} From that year onwards, right-wing Christian leaders such as [[Bob Larson]] and [[David A. Noebel|David Noebel]] were vocal in their condemnation of the Beatles' influence in the US.{{sfn|Doggett|2007|p=55}} As a spokesman for the anti-communist Christian Crusade,{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=195}} Noebel denounced the band as "four mop-headed anti-Christ beatniks",{{sfn|Doggett|2007|p=55}} and published pamphlets warning that they were destroying the morals of America's youth to facilitate a communist takeover orchestrated from Moscow.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=265–66}}{{refn|group=nb|Following the release of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album in 1967, some American fans and parents thought the Beatles were part of a communist plot because they could not believe that the band were capable of creating music of such a high standard.{{sfn|Romanowski|2006|p=364}}}} By contrast, ''[[Pravda]]'', the official newspaper of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], said the Beatles represented "a plot by the ruling classes to distract&nbsp;... youngsters from politics and bitter pondering over disgraced and shattered hopes".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=53}}

In the UK, criticism largely faded with the band's international breakthrough, as commentators recognised the Beatles' value to the economy.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=26–27}} Some traditionalists were nevertheless outraged by the group being awarded MBEs,{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=170}}{{sfn|Bray|2014|pp=264–65}} and the Beatles, as with rock music in general, remained the target of figures such as ''Daily Mail'' columnist [[Monica Furlong]] and conservative activist [[Mary Whitehouse]].{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|pp=xv, 29}} In 1967, Whitehouse campaigned against the lyric "Boy, you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down" in the Beatles' song "[[I Am the Walrus]]" after the BBC had aired the song as part of the band's TV film ''[[Magical Mystery Tour (film)|Magical Mystery Tour]]''.{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=228}} The BBC duly banned the song.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=268}} The following year, Lennon's relationship with Japanese avant-garde artist [[Yoko Ono]], for whom he abandoned his wife and son, was met with strong public disapproval and racial abuse.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|p=52}} Lennon received further condemnation from conservatives when he returned his MBE to the Queen in November 1969.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|p=109}}{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=360}} He cited his opposition to the British government's support of both [[Role of United States in the Vietnam War|US involvement in the Vietnam War]] and [[Nigerian Civil War|Nigeria's role in the Biafra conflict]], in addition to the poor chart performance of his and Ono's second [[Plastic Ono Band]] single, "[[Cold Turkey]]".{{sfn|Woffinden|1981|pp=28, 30}}

====Budokan, Manila and "Jesus" controversies====
{{See also|The Beatles' 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines}}

{{quote box
| quote = The polarity had flipped from positive to negative [in 1966]. In Japan, Manila and America, they seemed to have become a lightning rod for all sorts of tensions – the penetration of Western culture into previously untouched markets, the decline of religion in the face of pluralistic consumerism&nbsp;... They were also a target for all those who resisted the pace of change.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=325}}
| source = – Author [[Jon Savage]]
| width = 25%
| align = left
| style = padding:8px;
}}

The Japanese authorities viewed the band as subversive before they were appointed as MBEs in 1965.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=212fn}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=225}} In the lead-up to the Beatles' concerts in Tokyo the following year, the visit was the subject of national debate as traditionalists were opposed to the group's influence and the decision to allow them to perform at the [[Nippon Budokan]],{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=225}}<ref name="Nabhan/JT">{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2006/07/02/life/showdown-at-budokan/#.WILTvUsxLHg|first=Shibly|last=Nabhan|title=Showdown at Budokan|newspaper=[[The Japan Times]]|date=2 July 2006|access-date=20 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503025245/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2006/07/02/life/showdown-at-budokan/#.WILTvUsxLHg|archive-date=3 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> a venue reserved for [[martial arts]] and a shrine to Japan's war dead.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=235}} The Beatles received death threats<ref name="Irvin/Strokes">{{cite book |last=Irvin |first=Jim |chapter=Different Strokes |title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years – April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964) |year=2002 |publisher=Emap |location=London |page=53 |title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref> and ultranationalist students demonstrated outside the Budokan during their stay.<ref name="Nabhan/JT" />

Shortly afterwards, the band played in Manila in the Philippines, at a time when the country was keen to project a pro-Western image with the recent inauguration of President [[Ferdinand Marcos]].{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=338–39}} There, the Beatles' nonattendance at an official function organised by [[Imelda Marcos]] was perceived as an insult to the nation's first family; it led to recrimination in the local press, the band's security detail being withdrawn,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=69}} and mob violence against them as they attempted to leave the country.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|pp=37–38}}{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=322}} Filipino writer [[Nick Joaquin]] said the situation was indicative of how the Philippines had been attracted to the Beatles' image without appreciating that their message was one advocating individuality, adventurousness and originality over the qualities that still defined the country: tradition and order. Joaquin likened the group's presence in Manila to [[Batman]] being transplanted to [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] in Ancient Greece.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=253–54}}

[[File:Beatles burning.jpg|thumb|A "Beatle burning" in [[Waycross, Georgia]], August 1966. The image is one of the most famous photographs of the anti-rock movement.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Mark|last=Sullivan|title='More Popular Than Jesus': The Beatles and the Religious Far Right|journal=Popular Music|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=6|number=3|date=October 1987|pages=313–326|doi=10.1017/S0261143000002348|s2cid=190680105 }}</ref>]]

The band enjoyed what Epstein termed a "special relationship" with the US until late July 1966,{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=108}} when ''Datebook'' magazine published an interview that Lennon gave for the London ''[[Evening Standard]]''{{'s}} "How Does a Beatle Live?" series.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=307, 339–40}} In the interview, Lennon said the Beatles were "[[more popular than Jesus]]", such was the decline of Christianity. His comments caused no significant reaction in the UK,{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=227}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=16}} but radio stations in the US [[Bible Belt]] soon launched a boycott of Beatles music and organised bonfires of the band's records and merchandise.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=108}}{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=70}} For some Southern commentators, the furore over Lennon's alleged blasphemy allowed them to air their suppressed grievances regarding the Beatles' long hair and the group's support for African-American musicians.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=170}} Spain and South Africa joined in the radio ban, as did other stations in the US, and the [[Holy See|Vatican]] issued a statement condemning Lennon's remark.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=58}}

At Epstein's insistence, Lennon apologised during a press conference at the start of the band's US tour.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=108}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=281}} Members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] threatened reprisals against the Beatles,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=70}} particularly when they were due to play in Memphis,{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=453}} but the tour passed without major incident.<ref name="Runtagh/RS">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/when-john-lennons-more-popular-than-jesus-controversy-turned-ugly-106430/|first=Jordan|last=Runtagh|title=When John Lennon's 'More Popular Than Jesus' Controversy Turned Ugly|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=29 July 2016|access-date=19 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505080607/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/when-john-lennons-more-popular-than-jesus-controversy-turned-ugly-106430/|archive-date=5 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Further to their experiences in Tokyo and Manila, the "Jesus" controversy confirmed the Beatles' decision to retire as live performers in 1966.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=176–77, 189}} Another religious controversy ensued in the US in reaction to the band's 1969 single "[[The Ballad of John and Yoko]]", due to Lennon's use of the word "Christ" and reference to crucifixion.{{sfn|Stark|2005|pp=260–61}}{{refn|group=nb|Before then, some religious groups in the US had attacked "She's Leaving Home" for its supposed pro-abortion sentiments.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=250}}}}

===Idealism and the counterculture===
''Rubber Soul'' included Lennon's "[[The Word (song)|The Word]]", the lyrics of which anticipated the ethos behind the counterculture's 1967 [[Summer of Love]],{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=162}} while ''Revolver'' included a number of songs whose lyrics address themes of death, isolation{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=230–231}} and transcendence from material concerns.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} Of "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]", Lennon's evocation of an [[LSD]] trip, MacDonald writes that the song's message "launched the till-then élite-preserved concept of mind-expansion into pop, simultaneously drawing attention to consciousness-enhancing drugs and the ancient religious philosophies of the Orient, utterly alien to Western thought in their anti-materialism, rapt passivity, and world-sceptical focus on visionary consciousness".<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2007|p=192}}; {{harvnb|Larkin|2006|p=489}}: evocation of LSD trip</ref> In author [[Shawn Levy (writer)|Shawn Levy]]'s description, ''Revolver'' presented the Beatles as "the world's first household [[psychedelia|psychedelics]], avatars of something wilder and more revolutionary than anything pop culture had ever delivered before".{{sfn|Levy|2002|pp=240–41}}

From 1966, the Beatles began to promulgate a world view espousing LSD-inspired higher consciousness, led by Lennon and Harrison defying Epstein's insistence that the group refrain from commenting on political issues such as the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=198–99}} The controversy surrounding Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remark reinforced their determination to speak out and furthered their standing in the emerging counterculture.{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=108–09}} Cultural commentator [[Mark Hertsgaard]] writes that the band did not directly address racism, war or social justice in their songs from this period, yet a "sensibility&nbsp;... permeated their music" and "The essence of the Beatles' message was not simply that the world ''had'' to change, but, more importantly, that it ''could'' change."{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=199–200}} He sees this best exemplified in ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' and says that Harrison's song "[[Within You Without You]]" "contained the album's most overt expression of the Beatles' shared belief in spiritual awareness and social change".{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=199, 219}} Abbie Hoffman likened ''Sgt. Pepper'' to "Beethoven coming to the supermarket", adding: "It summed up so much of what we were saying politically, culturally, artistically, expressing our inner feelings and our view of the world in a way that was so revolutionary."{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=199}}

[[File:Beatles-our-world.jpg|thumb|right|Colourised frame from the ''[[Our World (1967 TV program)|Our World]]'' broadcast of "All You Need Is Love", June 1967. Author [[Peter Doggett]] described the performance as "one of the strongest visual impressions" from the [[Summer of Love]].{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=272}}]]
On 25 June 1967, the Beatles premiered "[[All You Need Is Love]]" live on the [[BBC]]'s ''[[Our World (1967 TV program)|Our World]]'' satellite broadcast before an international audience estimated at 400&nbsp;million. In his feature on the song in ''Rolling Stone'', [[Gavin Edwards (writer)|Gavin Edwards]] writes that when "All You Need Is Love" was issued as a single weeks later, it reached "Number One all over the world, providing the sing-song anthem for the Summer of Love, with a sentiment that was simple but profound".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-beatles-make-history-with-all-you-need-is-love-a-minute-by-minute-breakdown-20140828|title=The Beatles Make History With 'All You Need Is Love': A Minute-by-Minute Breakdown|last=Edwards|first=Gavin|author-link=Gavin Edwards (writer)|date=28 August 2014|publisher=[[rollingstone.com]]|access-date=27 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106034625/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-beatles-make-history-with-all-you-need-is-love-a-minute-by-minute-breakdown-20140828|archive-date=6 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Simonelli credits the song with formally announcing the arrival of [[flower power]] ideology as a mainstream concept.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=105}} Psychiatrist [[R.D. Laing]], who incorporated the Beatles' and Dylan's music and LSD in his treatment at his [[Kingsley Hall]] practice,{{sfn|Bray|2014|pp=151–52}} recalled of the song's relevance: "Everyone was getting the feel of the world as a global village – as us, one species&nbsp;... One of the most heartening things about the Beatles was that they gave expression to a shared sense of celebration around the world, a sense of the same sensibility."{{sfn|Jones|2014|p=139}}

In response to the political events and [[Protests of 1968|more turbulent atmosphere of 1968]], the Beatles released "[[Revolution (Beatles song)|Revolution]]", in the lyrics to which Lennon espoused a pacifist agenda over violent confrontation.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=173}}{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=17}} The song inspired the first in-depth debate regarding the connection between rock music and politics,{{sfn|Wiener|1991|pp=37–38}} where beforehand music journalists and political radicals in the US had mostly viewed their respective fields in isolation.{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=216–18}} Lennon's stance drew heavy criticism from New Left writers{{sfn|Wiener|1991|pp=61–63}} as the single's release coincided with the violent subjugation of Vietnam War protestors at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]] in Chicago, and condemnation in the West of the Soviet-led [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invasion of Czechoslovakia]] and its crushing of attempts to introduce democratic reforms there.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=493–94}}{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=138}} With its more universal message, McCartney's "Hey Jude", the A-side of the single, was adopted as an anthem by Czech citizens in their struggle.{{sfn|Courrier|2009|pp=207–08}} ''The Beatles'' was similarly attacked by the radical left.{{sfn|Wiener|1991|p=65}} While the counterculture adopted "[[Piggies]]" as an anti-establishment anthem,{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=317}} many radicals viewed the band's use of parody and satire throughout the album as evidence of their disengagement with pressing political issues.{{sfn|Wiener|1991|p=65}}{{refn|group=nb|"[[Back in the U.S.S.R.]]", the opening track, was criticised by the New Left for its apparent trivialising of the Soviet Union's actions in Czechoslovakia.<ref name="O'Callaghan/RB">{{cite web|url=https://www.rbth.com/arts/329455-the-story-of-the-beatles-back-in-ussr|first=Tommy|last=O'Callaghan|title=The Beatles' 'Back in the U.S.S.R.': The parody that became a peace offering|website=[[Russia Beyond]]|date=7 November 2018|access-date=14 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404224817/https://www.rbth.com/arts/329455-the-story-of-the-beatles-back-in-ussr|archive-date=4 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The song's sympathetic portrayal of Russians was more widely condemned by far-right commentators in the US,<ref name="O'Callaghan/RB" /> particularly Noebel{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}}{{sfn|Turner|1999|pp=150–51}} and the [[John Birch Society]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=309}}}}

The Beatles' influence on the more radicalised sectors of the counterculture and the New Left declined as the band refused to engage in direct activism against the establishment.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=18–19}} Lennon furthered his stance by campaigning for world peace with Ono in 1969{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=60}} and, in Simonelli's description, remained the "most popular political voice in rock music" until 1972.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=144}}{{refn|group=nb|Lennon and Ono's campaign was given credibility when they were granted an audience with Canadian prime minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] in late 1969.{{sfn|Woffinden|1981|p=30}} Soon afterwards, Lennon was the subject of a documentary on BBC television's ''[[24 Hours (TV programme)|24 Hours]]'' and was one of the three individuals (along with Kennedy and [[Chairman Mao]]) featured in the [[Associated Television|ATV]] series ''Men of the Decade''.{{sfn|Woffinden|1981|p=30}}}} The Beatles retained their social influence through to the band's break-up,{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=18–19}} and their idealism continued to resonate in the politics of the Vietnam War era.<ref name="Noden/MojoSpecialRevolution" /> Released in September 1969, ''[[Abbey Road]]'' included "[[Come Together]]", which Lennon began writing as a campaign song for [[Timothy Leary]]'s bid to become governor of California.{{sfn|Courrier|2009|p=248}} Harrison's "[[Here Comes the Sun]]" was adopted by [[George McGovern]] in his campaign for the US presidency, the initial success of which, according to Schaffner, was a "triumph for the counterculture's attempt to wield power via conventional electoral politics".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=154}}{{refn|group=nb|In the mid 1970s, "Here Comes the Sun" was chosen, along with recordings by Beethoven and Chuck Berry, for inclusion on astronomer [[Carl Sagan]]'s [[Voyager Gold Record]], which would accompany the ''Voyager'' space probe and provide aliens with a document of human life. Copyright issues prevented Sagan's team from including the song, however.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/28apr_voyager2|first=Tony|last=Phillips|title=Voyager, The Love Story|publisher=NASA Science|date=28 April 2011|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102052552/https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/28apr_voyager2|archive-date=2 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

====Manson, "Paul is dead" and break-up====
From ''Revolver'' onwards, analysing the Beatles' lyrics for hidden meaning became a popular trend in the US.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=115}} The lyrics on the band's 1968 double album progressed from being vague to open-ended and prone to misinterpretation, such as "[[Glass Onion (song)|Glass Onion]]" (the line "the walrus was Paul") and "Piggies" ("what they need's a damn good whacking").{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|pp=275, 278}} In August 1969, Hollywood actress [[Sharon Tate]] and six other individuals were murdered by members of the [[Manson Family]],{{sfn|Whiteley|Sklower|2016|p=98}} acting on [[Charles Manson]]'s interpretation of White Album songs such as "[[Helter Skelter (song)|Helter Skelter]]", "Piggies" and "[[Revolution 9]]".{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=228}} Within weeks, unrelated rumours of [[Paul is dead|McCartney's death]] began to spread, based on perceived clues left in the Beatles' lyrics and record sleeves. It was alleged that he had been replaced by a [[look-alike]].{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=128}}

MacDonald cites Manson's [[Helter Skelter (scenario)|Helter Skelter scenario]] as an example of the many "crackpot fixations" that the Beatles inspired in their drug-influenced audience, and a dangerous escalation of the otherwise harmless obsession that encouraged rumours such as the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|pp=311–12, 313–14}} Schaffner described the latter as "the most monumental hoax since [[Orson Welles]]' [[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|''War of the Worlds'' broadcast]] persuaded thousands of panicky New Jerseyites that Martian invaders were in the vicinity".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=128}} Its escalation in 1969, particularly in the US, was informed by the counterculture's disillusionment with society and, according to American broadcaster [[Vin Scelsa]], indicative of how songs by the Beatles, Dylan and the Rolling Stones were received as "personal message[s], worthy of endless scrutiny" and "guidelines on how to live your life".<ref name="Noden/MojoSpecialRevolution">{{cite book|first=Merrell|last=Noden|chapter=Dead Man Walking|year=2003|title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970)|location=London|publisher=Emap|page=114|title-link=The Mojo Collection}}</ref>

Both the Manson murders and the Beatles' break-up are often cited as marking the decade's closure.{{sfn|Whiteley|Sklower|2016|p=98}} According to Burns, the break-up in April 1970 was "like the Kennedy assassination all over again, or one's parents divorcing".{{sfn|Burns|2000|p=178}} The event was afforded the attention of a presidential assassination or the [[1969 Moon landing]], as commentators analysed the causes and speculated about the possibilities of a reunion.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=277–78}} Burns writes that, throughout the 1970s, there persisted a sense that if the Beatles re-formed, it might revive "the 'era' that had seemed to have passed. When Lennon died, that truly was the end of&nbsp;... the innocent, comforting, naive belief that the world at large could, somehow, be 'together' in the 1960s sense of the term."{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=224}}

===Drug culture===
According to music critic [[Jim DeRogatis]], the Beatles are seen as the "Acid Apostles of the New Age".{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|p=40}} The band's connection with recreational drugs was important to their position as leaders of the counterculture, as was their embrace of Indian religion.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=198}} According to Kureishi, drugs had long been connected to music, but "the Beatles were the first to parade their particular drug use – marijuana and LSD – without shame&nbsp;... The Beatles made taking drugs seem an enjoyable, fashionable and liberating experience, like them, you would see and feel in ways you hadn't imagined possible."<ref name="Kureishi/Guardian" />

The band's drug-taking became public knowledge with the release of ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=196}}{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=215}}{{refn|group=nb|Before then, ''Rubber Soul'' had resonated with students in San Francisco, who guessed that the album was inspired by drugs.{{sfn|Sheffield|2017|p=97}} According to Levy, no knowledgeable listener could have missed the allusions on ''Revolver'' – particularly in Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows", "[[I'm Only Sleeping]]" and "[[She Said She Said]]" – which he describes as "the first true drug album, not [just] a pop record with some druggy insinuations".{{sfn|Levy|2002|pp=241–42}}}} "A Day in the Life", the album's closing track, was banned by the BBC for an alleged drug reference in the line "I'd love to turn you on"; with "[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]", the title was widely read as a code for LSD.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=240}} Although he had long resisted Lennon and Harrison's urging before trying the drug,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=54–56}}{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=388–89}} McCartney announced in a ''Life'' article in June 1967 that he had taken LSD.{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=215}} When asked to confirm his statement by an [[ITN]] reporter, McCartney repeated that he had taken the drug.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=270}} In the UK, according to MacDonald, the admission "brought howls of righteous anger on their heads" in a manner similar to the 1966 Jesus controversy.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=22}} As a show of support, Lennon, Harrison and Epstein announced that they too had taken LSD.{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=499}}{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=430}} In July 1967, all four Beatles added their signatures to a petition demanding the legalisation of marijuana and paid for its publication in a full-page ad in ''The Times''.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=197}}

McCartney's admission formalised the link between rock music and drugs, and, as in the 1966 controversy, attracted scorn from American religious leaders and conservatives.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=194}} In early August 1967, Harrison made a well-publicised visit to the [[Haight-Ashbury]] district of San Francisco, the epicentre of the counterculture during the Summer of Love,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=86}} which was viewed as a further endorsement of the drug culture.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=195}}{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|pp=217–18}}{{refn|group=nb|Harrison was dismayed that Haight-Ashbury appeared to be full of dropouts, however, rather than people looking to create an alternative society. After returning to England he privately decided to stop taking LSD.{{sfn|Tillery|2011|p=54}}}} Leary, an LSD advocate whose text ''[[The Psychedelic Experience|The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead]]'' Lennon had used in his lyrics for "Tomorrow Never Knows",{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=111–12}} declared the Beatles to be "the wisest, holiest, most effective avatars (Divine Incarnate, God Agents) that the human race has ever produced".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=82}} A [[United Nations]] report stated that the Beatles, along with the Rolling Stones and other rock bands, promoted drug use through their music, and that young listeners were following their lead.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=115}} Bray writes that, rather than advocating drug-taking as a road to "mindless oblivion", the Beatles' espousal of LSD was focused on enlightenment and was therefore one of their "key legacies to the counterculture".{{sfn|Bray|2014|pp=178–79}}

In early 1967, the Beatles' elevated status as MBEs ensured that Harrison and his wife, English model [[Pattie Boyd]], were allowed to leave a party in Sussex before [[Mick Jagger]] and [[Keith Richards]] of the Rolling Stones were arrested on drugs charges.{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=211}}{{sfn|Norman|2008|pp=492–93}} As a result of McCartney's LSD admission, however, the British authorities' indulgence of the band started to wane significantly.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=197}} According to Harris, the turning point was ''Magical Mystery Tour'', which was broadcast on Boxing Day 1967 and earned the group their first scathing reviews.{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=44}}{{refn|group=nb|At this time, ''Yellow Submarine'' was pulled from its UK cinema run due to what the [[Rank Organisation]] claimed were poor attendance figures. According to author Stephen Glynn, the published box-office receipts refute this explanation, and Rank most likely withdrew the film because of its drug-inspired content and sequences evoking the hallucinogenic state.{{sfn|Glynn|2013|pp=136–37}}}} In October 1968, Lennon and Ono were arrested on charges of cannabis possession;{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=312}} Lennon maintained he had been warned of the raid and that the drugs were planted by the arresting officers from the London Drug Squad.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|p=55}}{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=107}}{{refn|group=nb|MacDonald cites Lennon's failure to continue playing "a sort of eccentric national jester" – namely, by appearing naked with Ono on the cover of their 1968 avant-garde album ''[[Two Virgins]]'' – as the reason he was the only one in the band arrested at the time.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=266}}}} The same senior officer, [[Norman Pilcher]], arrested Harrison and Boyd for possession in March 1969.{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|pp=265–66}}{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=45}} Harrison also said that the evidence, which was found on a carpet, was planted, since: "I keep my socks in the sock drawer and my stash in the stash box. Anything else they must have brought."{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|p=266}}

With the release of "Cold Turkey", which the other Beatles had rejected as a possible single, Lennon made [[heroin addiction]] the subject of a pop hit for the first time.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|pp=100, 106–07}} As part of an escalating national debate that had triggered an investigation by the [[United States Congress|US Congress]],{{sfn|Roberts|2014|pp=195–96}} Vice-president [[Spiro Agnew]] launched a campaign in 1970{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=77}} to address the issue of American youth being "brainwashed" into taking drugs through the music of the Beatles and other rock artists.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=440}}{{refn|group=nb|Agnew contended that the "friends" referred to in the ''Sgt. Pepper'' track "[[With a Little Help from My Friends]]" were "assorted drugs".{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=196}}{{sfn|Wiener|1991|pp=139–40}} "[[Yellow Submarine (song)|Yellow Submarine]]" was another Beatles song that was scrutinised due to the pressure he applied on US radio programmers.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=440}}}}

===Spirituality and Transcendental Meditation===
{{Main|The Beatles in Bangor|The Beatles in India}}

[[File:Aankomst Maharish Makesh Yogi op Schiphol. M. M. Yogi vergezeld van Dramayari Do, Bestanddeelnr 920-6591.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|[[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] (left), pictured in Amsterdam in September 1967]]
The Beatles' interest in Eastern religions is described by MacDonald as arguably the "most striking example" of the band's ability to transform a minor social trend into a world-wide phenomenon and thereby "magnify" cultural developments during the second half of the 1960s.{{sfn|MacDonald|2002a|p=31}} From 1967 to 1968, the group were promoters of [[Transcendental Meditation]] and the teachings of [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], which resulted in Transcendental Meditation becoming a worldwide phenomenon.{{sfn|Doggett|2007|p=101}}{{sfn|Shouler|Anthony|2009|pp=222–23}} As a result of the coverage given to the Beatles' interest, words such as "[[mantra]]" and "[[guru]]" became commonly used in the West for the first time.{{sfn|Goldberg|2010|pp=18–19}} While the band's new, anti-LSD message was met with approval,{{sfn|Goldberg|2010|p=152}} their championing of the Maharishi and his TM technique was often the subject of confusion and ridicule in the mainstream press,{{sfn|Doggett|2007|p=101}}{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=252}} particularly in Britain.{{sfn|Norman|1996|p=310}}{{refn|group=nb|At a court event in October, [[Queen Elizabeth II]] remarked to [[Joseph Lockwood|Sir Joseph Lockwood]], the chairman of [[EMI]]: "The Beatles are turning awfully ''funny'', aren't they?"{{sfn|Norman|1996|p=310}}{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=42}}}}

Before departing for the Maharishi's ashram in [[Rishikesh]] in February 1968, the Beatles recorded two songs that reflected their interest in TM: Lennon's "[[Across the Universe]]" and Harrison's "[[The Inner Light (song)|The Inner Light]]".{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=402–03}} Philip Goldberg, in his book ''American Veda'', writes that the band's stay in Rishikesh "may have been the most momentous spiritual retreat since Jesus spent those forty days in the wilderness".{{sfn|Goldberg|2010|p=7}} Despite their later rejection of the Maharishi, the Beatles generated wider interest in Transcendental Meditation, which encouraged the study of Eastern spirituality in Western popular culture.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=180}}{{sfn|Goldberg|2010|pp=7–8}}

MacDonald credits Harrison with inspiring "the West's mainstream acquaintance with Hindu religion and creat[ing] the late-'60s so-called Spiritual Revival", and he deems this "a fundamental cultural sea-change&nbsp;... [and] an abiding testimony to Harrison's importance as a counter-cultural figure".{{sfn|MacDonald|2002a|p=36}} Spiritual biographer [[Gary Tillery]] also recognises the Beatles, or more specifically Harrison, as having "abruptly brought Indian spirituality to everyday awareness" through their association with the Maharishi. Tillery writes that, while the influence of Indian gurus such as [[Vivekananda]], [[Paramahansa Yogananda|Yogananda]], the Maharishi and Prabhupada was well established by the late 1960s, it was the Beatles' endorsement of their respective philosophies that most contributed to yoga and meditation centres becoming ubiquitous in Western cities and towns over subsequent decades.{{sfn|Tillery|2011|p=151}} According to author Andrew Grant Jackson:

<blockquote>The [[Beat Generation|Beats]] had promoted Buddhism since the 1950s, but it was George Harrison's songs espousing Hindu philosophy and featuring Indian musicians, and the Beatles' study of Transcendental Meditation, that truly kick-started the [[human potential movement]] of the 1970s (rebranded [[New Age]] in the 1980s). In this way, the musicians helped expand the freedom of religion the United States was founded on to encompass options outside the Judeo-Christian tradition.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=282}}</blockquote>

==Artistic presentation==
The Beatles introduced new methods of artistic presentation for pop musicians.{{sfn|Millard|2012|p=38}} They were the first band to be fully marketed through television{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=90}} and continued to find new ways to disseminate their music through the medium.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=9}} As live performers, they pioneered the world tour and stadium concerts,{{sfn|Millard|2012|p=38}} as sports stadiums became the primary venues for rock tours.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=91}} Gould says that, aside from their influence on pop songwriting, the Beatles played "a leading role in revolutionizing the way that popular records were made, the way that popular records were listened to&nbsp;... and the role that popular music itself would play in people's lives".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=8}}

The band's achievements were a key factor in the music industry becoming a multi-million-dollar enterprise{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=161}} and one that approached Hollywood film-making in terms of worldwide influence and turnover.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=8}} In 1965, the Beatles' music publishing company [[Northern Songs]] was floated on the [[London Stock Exchange]], a move that was unprecedented for a band's song catalogue.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Brian|last1=Southall|first2=Rupert|last2=with Perry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vX5SckOt3jEC&q=Beatles+%22Northern+Songs%22+stock+exchange&pg=PT58|title=Northern Songs: The True Story of the Beatles Song Publishing Empire|publisher=[[Omnibus Press]]|location=London|year=2009|isbn=978-0-85712-027-4}}</ref> The flotation defied analysts' predictions by becoming a major financial success.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=96}}

===Record formats===
{{See also|Double A-side|Album era}}

Both sides of the Beatles' singles were often major US hits, an achievement that helped elevate the perception of a B-side from its role as a disposable song.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=10}} The group's December 1965 single pairing "[[Day Tripper]]" and "We Can Work It Out" was the first example of a double A-side single in Britain. Its success popularised the format and, in giving equal treatment to two songs, allowed recording artists to show their versatility.<ref name="White/OCC">{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/is-the-double-a-side-making-a-comeback-dual-singles-are-on-the-rise-and-heres-why__23074/|first=Jack|last=White|title=Is the double A-side making a comeback? Dual singles are on the rise, and here's why|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|date=5 June 2018|access-date=11 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501113922/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/is-the-double-a-side-making-a-comeback-dual-singles-are-on-the-rise-and-heres-why__23074/|archive-date=1 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The band issued further double A-sides – "Eleanor Rigby" / "[[Yellow Submarine (song)|Yellow Submarine]]", "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" and "Something" / "Come Together" – when they thought that both songs in the pairing were equally strong.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=196}} Their ''[[Magical Mystery Tour]]'' [[double EP]], containing the six new songs from the TV film, was also the first example of that format being used in the UK.{{sfn|Larkin|2006|p=488}}{{sfn|Neaverson|1997|p=53}}

In January 1966, ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine cited the initial US sales of ''Rubber Soul'' (1.2&nbsp;million copies over nine days) as evidence of teenage record-buyers increasingly moving towards the LP format.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SgEAAAAMBAJ&q=Rolontz |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Teen Market Is Album Market|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=18 March 2016|page=36|date=15 January 1966}}</ref> According to Gould, ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'}}s impact was such that it "revolutionize[d] both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=418}} Although ''The Beatles'' was not the first rock double album, it was the longest up to that time, at close to 94 minutes.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=111}}

===Album artwork===
The Beatles' [[album cover]]s furthered the medium as an art form{{sfn|Luhrssen|Larson|2017|p=27}} and were widely imitated.{{sfn|Miles|Morgan|2005|p=50}} Doggett recognises the cover photos for ''With the Beatles'' and ''Rubber Soul'' as examples of the band's image being used to "test the limits of the portrait", a movement that was also reflected in the cover designs for contemporary albums by Dylan and the Rolling Stones.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=393}} [[Robert Freeman (photographer)|Robert Freeman]]'s monochrome cover shot for ''With the Beatles'' (or Capitol's ''[[Meet the Beatles!]]'' in the US){{sfn|Morgan|Wardle|2015|p=16}} departed from convention, and alarmed EMI, by showing the band members looking austere and unsmiling.{{sfn|Miles|Morgan|2005|p=50}} This stance was heightened in Freeman's cover portrait for ''Beatles for Sale'',{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=255}} which departed further from the standard pop LP by reducing the album title to minuscule type and otherwise making no mention of the band's name.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=''Beatles for Sale'': Some Product|first=Neil|last=Spencer |year=2002 |title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Beatlemania (The Early Years – April 1, 1962 to December 31, 1964)|location=London |publisher=Emap|page=132|title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref> According to Schaffner, each Beatles LP cover represented a "revolution in artwork" starting with ''Rubber Soul''. The latter featured a distorted image of the band's faces, which were nevertheless so instantly recognisable by 1965 that no artist credit was necessary.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=49}}

For the US LP ''[[Yesterday and Today]]'' in 1966, the Beatles supplied Capitol with a cover showing them in butcher's white coats and clutching raw meat and dismembered dolls.{{sfn|Savage|2015|pp=318–19}} Known as the "butcher cover", it was intended as a comment on the Vietnam War, although the photo was also interpreted as a criticism of Capitol's policy of altering the content of Beatles albums for the North American market.{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=171}}{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=69}} American disc jockeys and retailers were appalled by the image; ''[[KRLA Beat]]'' magazine described it as "the most nauseating album cover ever seen in the US".{{sfn|Savage|2015|pp=319–20}} Capitol soon recalled all copies of the album and replaced the cover with a less provocative band portrait.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=202–03}}{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=329–30}} The episode predated cover controversies such as those for LPs by the Rolling Stones (with ''[[Beggars Banquet]]'') and [[Blind Faith]] in the late 1960s and by [[Alice Cooper]], [[Mom's Apple Pie]], [[Roxy Music]] and [[Golden Earring]] in the 1970s.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=55–56}}

[[File:Revolver (album cover).jpg|thumb|right|The cover for ''Revolver'' was one of several Beatles LP covers that furthered the medium as an art form. Designed by German musician and artist [[Klaus Voormann]], it won the 1967 [[Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts]].{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=259}}]]
Writing in their book ''The Art of the LP'', Johnny Morgan and Ben Wardle say the Beatles were arguably the leaders in "creating identity" through album artwork, an approach they consider motivated by the group's retirement as live performers, as well as the catalyst for record company art designers to incorporate drug allusions in their LP covers following the example set by ''Revolver'' and ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Morgan|Wardle|2015|pp=147, 179}} The design for ''Revolver'' was markedly different from LP covers of 1966,{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=210}} particularly in its eschewing of vibrant psychedelic colours for black-and-white;{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=157}} in Gould's view, it supported the aesthetic of the music and the Beatles' determination to reinvent themselves on record.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=348}} Created by [[Klaus Voormann]], the band's friend from their [[The Beatles in Hamburg|years in Hamburg]], the cover combined line-drawing caricatures of the Beatles' faces with a collage of older photos.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=156–57}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=209–10}} In the line drawings, Voormann drew inspiration from the work of the nineteenth-century illustrator [[Aubrey Beardsley]],{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=348}} who was the subject of a long-running exhibition at London's [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] and highly influential on fashion and design themes of the time.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=210}}{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=134}} Voormann placed the various photos within the tangle of hair connecting the four faces,{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=348}} thereby, in Rodriguez's description, capturing both the long hair synonymous with the band's public image and "the explosion of ideas that were pouring out of their heads".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=157, 158–59}}

According to author Ian Inglis, the cover for ''Sgt. Pepper'' is widely recognised for demonstrating an "unprecedented correspondence between music and art, time and space", and it initiated an acceptance of album artwork as an "integral component" of the listening experience.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=101}} The LP's gatefold packaging included cardboard cutouts and, for the first time in a pop album, printed lyrics.{{sfn|Larkin|2006|p=487}} The inclusion of the lyrics infuriated sheet music publishers, who lost the revenue from sales of the songs' sheet music.{{sfn|Miles|Morgan|2005|p=50}} In the late 1990s, the BBC included the ''Sgt. Pepper'' cover in its list of British masterpieces of twentieth-century art and design, placing it ahead of the [[red telephone box]], [[Mary Quant]]'s [[miniskirt]], and the [[Mini]] motorcar.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=96}} The cover of ''The Beatles'' contrasted with that of ''Sgt. Pepper'' by featuring a [[Minimalism|minimalist]] concept of plain white, with the title rendered in plain type. Each copy was individually numbered on the cover, thereby lending a uniqueness to each one and reflecting a tenet of [[conceptual art]].{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}}

===Film and music videos===
''A Hard Day's Night'' broke new ground in the field of British and American musical feature films,{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=93}} particularly in its abandoning of the genre's standard rags-to-riches premise for a comedic presentation of the artists playing themselves.{{sfn|Marwick|2012|pp=426–27}} Film historian Stephen Glynn describes it as "the canonical pop music film".{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=82}} He highlights the innovative techniques Lester uses in the sequence for "Can't Buy Me Love",{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=92}} as does Saul Austerlitz, who deems it the precursor to the modern [[music video]].{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|pp=17–18}} Lester's use of devices from the European art-house tradition, combined with the film's comedic and satirical qualities, ensured that ''A Hard Day's Night'' defied easy categorisation and won critical recognition for the rock music film. [[Andrew Sarris]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' called it "the ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' of jukebox musicals".{{sfn|Romanowski|2006|p=218}}

[[File:TrailerUSHelp.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|alt=The Beatles performing music in a field. In the foreground, the drums are played by Starr (only the top of his head is visible). Beyond him, the other three stand in a column with their guitars. In the rear, Harrison, head down, strikes a chord. In the front, Lennon smiles and gives a little wave towards camera, holding his pick. Between them, McCartney is jocularly about to choke Lennon.|A still from the 1965 trailer for ''[[Help! (film)|Help!]]'', the Beatles' second film for [[United Artists]]]]
With ''Help!'', Lester presented the Beatles in "one of the central surrealist texts" of the 1960s, according to Bray.{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=25}} The film uses pop art visuals{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=159}} and satirises [[James Bond]] films,{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=161}}{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=275–76}} particularly the latter's depiction of the [[Secret Intelligence Service|British Secret Service]] as an efficiently run organisation, and one enjoying a level of influence equal to its US counterpart in their shared operations.{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=102}}{{refn|group=nb|Less critically lauded than its predecessor,{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=159}} ''Help!'' is described by Glynn as "the colonial pop music film" for its conveying of the "clear racial undertones" and imperialism evident in Bond films from the period, and the clash that results with the Beatles' Swinging London personas.{{sfn|Glynn|2013|pp=94, 102–03}}}} In addition to inspiring ''The Monkees'', the film influenced the ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV series.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=159}}{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=164}}

Starting with "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" in late 1965, the band filmed promotional clips for their singles to circumvent the industry norm of having to make numerous personal appearances on television shows.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=159–60}} The Beatles' promotional clips anticipated the music video{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=9–10}}{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=609–10}}{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=8, 212}} and the rise of [[MTV]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news|first=Neil|last=McCormick|title=Did the Beatles invent the pop video?|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=11 November 2015|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/did-the-beatles-invent-the-pop-video/|access-date=15 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329195138/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/did-the-beatles-invent-the-pop-video/|archive-date=29 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The clips for "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" are considered pioneering works in the medium.{{sfn|Burns|2000|p=176}} Both avoided performance of the song in response to the 1966 [[Musicians' Union (United Kingdom)|Musicians' Union]]'s ban on miming on TV;<ref name="Wawzenek/UCR" />{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=200}} in the case of "Strawberry Fields Forever", the clip employs abstract imagery and features reverse film effects, [[stop motion]] animation, jump-cuts from day- to night-time, [[superimposition]] and [[close-up]] shots.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=36}} Referring to the 1968 clip for "Hey Jude" and the sight of the Beatles engulfed by a crowd made up of "young, old, male, female, black, brown, and white" fans, Hertsgaard describes it as "a quintessential sixties moment, a touching tableau of contentment and togetherness".{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=250}}

''Yellow Submarine'', the Beatles' third film for [[United Artists]], provided a revolution in animated film<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/review/160246-yellow-submarine/|last=Massengale|first=Jeremiah|title=Animation Never Said It Wanted a Revolution, but It Got One With the Beatles 'Yellow Submarine'|date=2 July 2012|website=[[PopMatters]]|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223084923/http://www.popmatters.com/review/160246-yellow-submarine/|archive-date=23 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and allowed animators to fully express ideas using psychedelic visuals.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/06/yellow-submarine-psychedelic-animation/|last=Thill|first=Scott|title=''Yellow Submarine'' Sparks Deep Drive into Psychedelic Animation|date=5 June 2012|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|access-date=15 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020013038/https://www.wired.com/2012/06/yellow-submarine-psychedelic-animation/|archive-date=20 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Glynn|2013|p=134}} It marked a departure from the confines of [[Disney]]'s productions and was credited with saving the feature-length animated film.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=175–76}} Austerlitz describes the Beatles' rooftop performance of "[[Get Back]]" as "legendary".{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|p=66}} Filmed in January 1969 for the finale to the United Artists documentary film ''[[Let It Be (1970 film)|Let It Be]]'',{{sfn|Doggett|2011|pp=63–64}} the clip was homaged by [[U2]] in the video for their 1987 single "[[Where the Streets Have No Name]]"{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|p=66}} and by [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] in the video for their 2011 single "[[The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie]]".<ref>{{cite web |last=Elias |first=Matt |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669115/red-hot-chili-peppers-rain-dance-maggie-music-video.jhtml |title=Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Maggie' Director Aimed For 'Simple And Iconic' – Music, Celebrity, Artist News |publisher=MTV |date=16 August 2011 |access-date=8 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111090149/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669115/red-hot-chili-peppers-rain-dance-maggie-music-video.jhtml |archive-date=11 November 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===As dedicated recording artists===
In Gould's description, the Beatles' career trajectory was largely self-determined and free of the [[show business]] considerations that had limited and defined the model of stardom represented by Presley and Sinatra.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=7–8}} The band's decision to retire from live performance in 1966 and become a group focused solely on studio recording had no precedent.{{sfn|Unterberger|2006|p=139}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=6}} Given the premium placed on concerts, the press assumed the Beatles were due to break up.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=391}} From that year onwards, according to Everett, their albums "each suggested&nbsp;... a different set of rules and that these rules were dictated by the artists".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=5}} [[Barry Miles]], a leading figure in the 1960s London underground, described ''Revolver'' as the "step-change" that signalled "the way forward for all rock musicians who wondered if there was life after teen scream status".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Miles|first=Barry|title=The Tripping Point|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=July 2006|page=77}}</ref>

According to Doyle Greene, while academics disagree on whether the Beatles were modernists or [[Postmodernism|postmodernists]], ''Sgt. Pepper'' "arguably marked rock's music's entry into postmodernism as opposed to high-modernism".{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=30–31}} At McCartney's suggestion, the group adopted [[alter ego]]s as members of the fictitious Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, an approach that inspired similar practices by [[glam rock]] acts of the 1970s.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=232}} McCartney assumed an unofficial leadership role of the Beatles following Epstein's death in August 1967, but his bandmates soon challenged this position after the critical failure of ''Magical Mystery Tour''.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=42}} Stark cites the TV film as the first example of the Beatles being afflicted by "[[Michael Jordan]] syndrome", in that they excelled as songwriters and recording artists but mistakenly believed that their talents would transfer effectively to film and business projects.{{sfn|Stark|2005|pp=215–16, 218–19}}

[[File:Abbey road studios.jpg|thumb|right|The Beatles recorded the majority of their music at EMI's [[Abbey Road Studios]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8531054.stm|title=Abbey Road Studios given listed building status|work=[[BBC News]]|date=23 February 2010|access-date=3 November 2019|archive-date=14 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614040214/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8531054.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The facility officially changed its name from EMI Studios in the early 1970s in acknowledgement of the Beatles' 1969 album ''[[Abbey Road]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Justin|last=Lancy|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-technical-constraints-that-made-abbey-road-so-good/381820/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023231140/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-technical-constraints-that-made-abbey-road-so-good/381820/|title=The Technical Constraints That Made Abbey Road So Good|magazine=[[The Atlantic]]|date=23 October 2014|archive-date=23 October 2014|access-date=3 November 2019}}</ref>]]
The group recorded their 1968 double album in an often divisive atmosphere, which was partly a backlash against the level of McCartney's involvement in the band's activities.{{sfn|Tillery|2011|p=85}}{{sfn|Schinder|Schwartz|2008|p=174}} The postmodern traits of politics, parody and pastiche were the subject of adverse scrutiny on ''The Beatles''.{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=30–31}} Everett says that for the majority of baby boomers, the White Album represents "the double album" of the era.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=207}}{{refn|group=nb|More often than ''Sgt. Pepper'', generations of musicians continuing into the 2000s celebrated the subversion of pop conventions and diverse showcase of genres as seen on the White Album.{{sfn|Julien|2008|p=41}}}} Cultural critic [[Camille Paglia]] likened the Beatles' final recording projects – the ''Get Back'' filmed rehearsals, which subsequently produced ''[[Let It Be (album)|Let It Be]]'', and ''Abbey Road'' – to the last phase in a "tripartite pattern" that typified the early, high and late periods of painters such as [[Picasso]] and [[Donatello]]; within this final phase, just as "major artists revolt, resimplify", the band sought to abandon the studio sophistication of ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Miles|1998|pp=533–34}} ''Abbey Road'' reflected a compromise in the diverging artistic visions of Lennon and McCartney but became the Beatles' best-selling album.{{sfn|Stark|2005|pp=261–62}} In Stark's description, some critics came to view the LP as the band's "farewell to their fans and an attack on 'selfishness and self-gratification'", particularly through McCartney's closing statement in the side two "[[Abbey Road#Medley|Long Medley]]".{{sfn|Stark|2005|p=262}}

===Apple Corps===
The Beatles founded [[Apple Corps]] in January 1968. The company was intended as an alternative system of cultural production and consumption,{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=10}} run on countercultural principles whereby artists would not have to conform to established industry practice.{{sfn|Doggett|2007|p=173}} McCartney likened its ethos to "Western communism".{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=43}} Schaffner described Apple Corps as "a Pepperland of their own" and "the first multi-million dollar, multi-media conglomerate to be operated both by and for the turned-on generation without any interference from the 'men in suits'".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=101}}

[[File:Mary Hopkin, Bestanddeelnr 923-3712.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Welsh singer [[Mary Hopkin]] was among the artists who enjoyed success on Apple Records.]]
One of several divisions within the conglomerate was [[Apple Records]], which Burns calls "the first record label of any consequence started by a band".{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=222}} The EMI-distributed label allowed the band members to further their individual interests and support artists of their choice,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=103}} and it was a rare example of an artist-run label that progressed beyond a vanity project.<ref name="Rose/NPR">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90437894|first=Joel|last=Rose|title=The Beatles' Apple Records: 40 Years Later|publisher=[[NPR]]|date=14 May 2008|access-date=15 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815054647/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90437894|archive-date=15 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Philo writes that, with the international success of the singles "Hey Jude" and [[Mary Hopkin]]'s "[[Those Were the Days (song)|Those Were the Days]]", "Apple's launch was comfortably the most successful label launch of all time."{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=133}} By 1970, with Harrison and McCartney as its principal producers, it had launched the international careers of acts such as [[Billy Preston]], [[James Taylor]] and [[Badfinger]].{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=103}}

Along with its subsidiary [[Zapple Records]], Apple provided an outlet for Lennon to present himself as a fully fledged avant-garde artist in his collaborations with Ono, a direction that was at odds with the Beatles' work.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=60}} In doing so, according to Schaffner, Lennon attracted ridicule and admiration alike as his work resembled "a one-way mirror that offered the world a clearer, more intimate picture of a celebrity than it had ever before known on such a scale".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=106}} Harrison also issued solo albums on the label in the late 1960s, starting with the ''[[Wonderwall Music]]'' soundtrack.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|pp=126, 132}} Author Peter Lavezzoli's describes the top 20 UK chart placing of the [[Radha Krishna Temple]]'s "[[Hare Krishna Mantra (song)|Hare Krishna Mantra]]" single, which Harrison produced in 1969, as an "astonishing achievement" that was indicative of the Beatles' ability to influence by association.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=195}} Until the label's closure in the mid-1970s, Apple had the highest success rate of any British record company with regard to UK chart hits.{{sfn|Woffinden|1981|p=26}}

While Apple Corps soon floundered, it provided the inspiration for corporate philosophies adopted by companies such as [[Ben & Jerry's]], [[Apple Computer, Inc.]] and [[Google]].{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=252}} Beatles historian [[Bruce Spizer]] identifies the [[iPod|Apple iPod]] as the realisation of Lennon's idea of combining music, film and electronics.<ref name="Rose/NPR" />
{{Clear}}

==Music and recording aesthetics==
===Jangle, folk rock and power pop===
[[File:Beatles ad 1965 just the beatles crop (George).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Harrison with his [[Rickenbacker 360/12]], 1965]]

Music journalist [[Mark Kemp]] credits the Beatles with leading pop music's expansion into styles such as [[world music]], psychedelia, [[avant-pop]] and [[electronica]], and attracting a bohemian audience that had previously focused on jazz and folk.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Kemp|first=Mark|url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/09/the-beatles-the-long-and-winding-repertoire.html|title=The Beatles: The Long and Winding Repertoire|magazine=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]|date=8 September 2009|pages=58–59|access-date=25 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023065059/http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/09/the-beatles-the-long-and-winding-repertoire.html|archive-date=23 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Luhrssen and Larson, the Beatles affected every genre of rock music except [[jazz rock]].{{sfn|Luhrssen|Larson|2017|p=23}} Together with the Byrds, they are commonly credited with launching the popularity of the "jangly" sound that defined [[Jangle|jangle pop]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/12/jangle-bell-rock-a-chronological-non-holiday-antho.html |title=Jangle Bell Rock: A Chronological (Non-Holiday) Anthology … from The Beatles and Byrds to R.E.M. and Beyond |last=LaBate |first=Steve |magazine=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] |date=18 December 2009 |access-date=24 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816171739/https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/12/jangle-bell-rock-a-chronological-non-holiday-antho.html |archive-date=16 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Harrison was one of the first people to own a [[Rickenbacker 360/12]], an electric guitar with twelve strings.{{sfn|Everett|2001|pp=134–135}}{{refn|group=nb|The Rickenbacker is unique among twelve-string guitars in having the lower octave string of each of the first four pairs placed above the higher tuned string. This, and the naturally rich harmonics produced by a twelve-string guitar provided the distinctive overtones found on many of the Beatles' recordings.{{sfn|Everett|2001|pp=134–135}}}} His use of this guitar during the recording of ''A Hard Day's Night'' helped to popularise the model, and the jangly sound became so prominent that ''[[Melody Maker]]'' termed it the Beatles' "secret weapon".<ref>{{harvnb|Babiuk|2002|p=120}}: "secret weapon"; {{harvnb|Leng|2006|p=14}}: Harrison helped to popularise the model.</ref> [[Roger McGuinn]] liked the effect so much that he made it his signature guitar sound with the Byrds.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=150, 168}}{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=168}}

Within a year of their 1964 meeting, the Beatles and Dylan adopted elements of each other's respective genres, rock and folk, into their music.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=253}} Both acts became a significant influence on the [[folk rock]] movement that followed in 1965.<ref name="AMUnter" /> In Jackson's view, it was Harrison's twelve-string [[arpeggio]]s at the end of the Beatles' July 1964 single, "[[A Hard Day's Night (song)|A Hard Day's Night]]", that "birthed" the folk-rock sound.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=256}} Dubbed for the Byrds' debut single, a cover of Dylan's "[[Mr. Tambourine Man]]", the term "folk rock" referred to "Dylanesque lyrics combined with rock rhythm and [[Beatlesque]] harmonies".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=287}} In response to the Byrds, the Beatles developed the jangle-pop sound of folk rock with the treble-heavy guitars on the ''Rubber Soul'' tracks "[[If I Needed Someone]]" and "[[Nowhere Man (song)|Nowhere Man]]".{{sfn|Jackson|2015|pp=168, 261–62}} Gould describes the altered US edition of ''Rubber Soul'' as the release that encouraged "legions of folk-music enthusiasts" to embrace pop.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=296}} According to ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music'', building on the ''Beatles for Sale'' track "[[I Don't Want to Spoil the Party]]", ''Rubber Soul'' was as an early example of [[country rock]], anticipating the Byrds' 1968 album ''[[Sweetheart of the Rodeo]]''.{{sfn|Kingsbury|McCall|Rumble|2012|p=106}}

According to author Carl Caferelli, while the Who have been credited for heralding the [[power pop]] genre, "the story really begins circa 1964, with the commercial ascension of the Beatles in America."{{sfn|Borack|2007|p=8}} He recognises the Beatles as the embodiment of the "pop band" ideal.{{sfn|Borack|2007|pp=9–10}} Only a few acts continued the tradition of Beatles-style pop during the first half of the 1970s,{{sfn|Borack|2007|pp=9–10}} but late in the decade, there was a renewed interest in the music and culture of the 1960s, with examples such as the ''[[Beatlemania (musical)|Beatlemania]]'' musical and the growing [[mod revival]].{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|pp=124, 127}} From the mid-1970s onwards, power pop bands drew inspiration from the jangle guitars, vocal harmonies and sense of "teenage innocence" that had been characteristics of the Merseybeat sound first popularised by the Beatles.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Patricia|last1=Romanowski|first2=Holly|last2=George-Warren|title=The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll|publisher=Fireside/Rolling Stone Press|location=New York, NY|year=1995|isbn=0-684-81044-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonee00patr/page/117 117]|url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonee00patr/page/117|access-date=27 August 2019}}</ref>   In a 1991 ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' article covering newer power pop bands, Chris Willman wrote that many of the groups were "very" influenced by the Beatles, although "not always directly", as some of the musicians said that they were instead predominately influenced by 1970s and 1980s artists who emulated the Beatles.<ref name="Willman">{{cite news |last1=Willman |first1=Chris |title=Pop Music: Rediscovering the Beatles (Sort of) |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-18-ca-1425-story.html |access-date=5 October 2018 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=18 August 1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009013201/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-18/entertainment/ca-1425_1_power-pop |archive-date=9 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Recording practices and electronic music===
{{See also|Recording practices of the Beatles}}
[[File:Beatles and George Martin in studio 1966.JPG|thumb|Harrison, McCartney and Lennon with [[George Martin]] at EMI Studios, {{Circa|1965}}]]

In his role as the Beatles' record producer, [[George Martin]] is generally credited with helping to popularise the idea of the [[recording studio as an instrument]] used for in-studio composition.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=890}} Although he was nominally the Beatles' producer, however, from 1964 he ceded control to the band, allowing them to use the studio as a workshop for their ideas and later as a sound laboratory.{{sfn|Millard|2012|pp=178–79}} Musicologist Olivier Julien writes that the Beatles' "gradual integration of arranging and recording into one and the same process" began as early as 1963, but developed in earnest during the sessions for ''Rubber Soul'' and ''Revolver'' and "ultimately blossomed" during the sessions for ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Julien|2008|p=162}} In acquiring control over the recording process, whereby Martin and his engineers became facilitators of the musicians' ideas, the Beatles reversed the strict hierarchy that had long been in place at [[EMI]].{{sfn|Millard|2012|pp=176–77, 181–82}} In addition to inspiring other artists, their example helped break the hold that EMI and [[Decca Records]] had on the British recording industry, leading to the growth of independent studios there, including the Beatles' own [[Apple Studios (recording studio)|Apple Studio]].{{sfn|Millard|2012|pp=182–83}}

In Everett's description, ''Revolver'' was both an "innovative example" of [[electronic music]] and a work that "advanced the leading edge of the rock world".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=31}} The album makes full use of an assortment of studio tricks such as [[varispeed]] and backwards (or [[backmasking|backmasked]]) taping;{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=111}} according to authors Kevin Ryan and [[Brian Kehew]], [[artificial double tracking]] (ADT), backwards recording, and close-miked drums were among the nine techniques that the ''Revolver'' sessions introduced into the recording world for the first time.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=405}} The 1966 B-side "Rain", recorded during the ''Revolver'' sessions, was the first pop recording to include reversed sounds,{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|p=95}} while the album track "[[I'm Only Sleeping]]" included the first example of backwards lead guitar on a pop recording.<ref name="GilmoreAcidTest">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beatles-revolver-how-lsd-opened-the-door-to-a-masterpiece-w436062|first=Mikal|last=Gilmore|title=Beatles' Acid Test: How LSD Opened the Door to 'Revolver'|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=25 August 2016|access-date=16 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713204456/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/beatles-acid-test-how-lsd-opened-the-door-to-revolver-251417/|archive-date=13 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="McCormick/Tele">{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/6150301/The-Beatles-Revolver-review.html | location=London | newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | first=Neil | last=McCormick | title=The Beatles – Revolver, review | date=7 September 2009 | access-date=16 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517152241/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/6150301/The-Beatles-Revolver-review.html | archive-date=17 May 2017 | url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Harrison wrote and arranged his parts for the song with a view to how the notes would sound when the tape direction was corrected after recording.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=131}}{{sfn|Brend|2005|p=56}}}}

{{Listen
| filename     = Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles song - sample).ogg
| title        = "Tomorrow Never Knows" from ''Revolver'' (1966)
| pos          = left
| description  = "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]" featured multiple [[tape loops]] overdubbed live onto a rhythm track, reversed sounds and extreme tape manipulation, thereby introducing into pop music techniques that were commonly used in the electronic genre.{{sfn|Holmes|2012|pp=443–44, 468}}
}}

Citing composer and producer [[Virgil Moorefield]]'s book ''The Producer as Composer'', author Jay Hodgson highlights ''Revolver'' as representing a "dramatic turning point" in recording history through its dedication to studio exploration over the "performability" of the songs, as this and subsequent Beatles albums reshaped listeners' preconceptions of a pop recording.{{sfn|Hodgson|2010|pp=viii–ix}} "Tomorrow Never Knows", according to author David Howard, was one of two pop recordings that ensured that the studio "was now its own instrument" (the other being [[Phil Spector]]'s "[[River Deep – Mountain High]]").{{sfn|Howard|2004|pp=2–3}} ADT soon became a standard pop production technique, and led to related developments such as the artificial [[chorus effect]].{{sfn|Bishop|2010|p=202}} MacDonald credits the use of [[Damping (music)|damping]] and close-miking on Starr's drums with creating a "three-dimensional" sound that, along with other Beatles innovations, engineers in the US would soon adopt as standard practice.{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|pp=233–234}}{{refn|group=nb|American producer [[Tony Visconti]] has cited ''Revolver'' as a work that "showed how the studio could be used as an instrument" and partly inspired his relocation to London in the late 1960s, "to learn how people made records like this".<ref>{{cite web|first=Julian|last=Marszalek |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/10534-tony-visconti-favourite-albums?page=2 |title=Prophets, Seers & Sages: Tony Visconti's Favourite Albums |work=[[The Quietus]]|date=31 October 2012|access-date=24 June 2017}}</ref>}}

''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', according to Julien, represents the "epitome of the transformation of the recording studio into a compositional tool", marking the moment when "popular music entered the era of phonographic composition."{{sfn|Julien|2008|pp=166–67}} Quoting a composer from the [[UCLA]] School of Music, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's appreciation of ''Sgt. Pepper'' recognised the Beatles as having adopted concepts first pioneered by the [[Electronic music#Elektronische Musik|Cologne group]], thereby making an "enormous contribution to electronic music".{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=150}} Musician and producer [[Alan Parsons]] believed that with ''Sgt. Pepper'', "people then started thinking that you could spend a year making an album and they began to consider an album as a sound composition and not just a musical composition. The idea was gradually forming of a record being a performance in its own right and not just a reproduction of a live performance."{{sfn|Julien|2008|p=167}}

Released on ''The Beatles'', the eight-minute "[[Revolution 9]]" was an overt exercise in electronic music and the avant-garde.{{sfn|Millard|2012|p=182}} MacDonald identifies the track as another example of the Beatles introducing a previously elite scene to a mainstream audience{{sfn|MacDonald|2002a|p=31}} and describes it as "the world's most widely distributed avant-garde artifact".{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=170}} In early 1969, Harrison became one of the first musicians in the UK to own a [[Moog synthesizer]], which the Beatles went on to use on ''Abbey Road'' tracks such as "Here Comes the Sun" and "[[I Want You (She's So Heavy)]]". Writing in his book on electronic music, author Thom Holmes says that in this way the Beatles were "one of the first groups to effectively integrate the sounds of the Moog into their music".{{sfn|Holmes|2012|p=446}}

===Psychedelia and progressive music===
====Western classical fusion====

Music critics [[Robert Christgau]] and [[Mark Ellen]] each identify ''Rubber Soul'' as the album that laid the foundations for [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]].{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=36}}<ref>{{cite web|first=Harvey|last=Kubernik|title=''Rubber Soul'' 50 Years On|publisher=[[Rock's Backpages]]|date=December 2015|url=http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/irubber-souli-50-years-on-|url-access=subscription|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629230900/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/irubber-souli-50-years-on-|archive-date=29 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Citing a quantitative study of [[tempo]]s in music from the era, Everett identifies it as a work that was "made more to be thought about than danced to", and an album that "began a far-reaching trend" in its slowing-down of the tempos typically used in pop and rock music.{{sfn|Everett|2001|pp=311–12}} Many [[baroque rock|baroque-rock]] works appeared soon afterwards, particularly due to Martin's harpsichord-like solo on the track "[[In My Life]]",{{sfn|Harrington|2002|p=191}} while the album also marked the introduction into pop of the [[pump organ]] or harmonium.{{sfn|Kruth|2015|p=195}}{{refn|group=nb|On "In My Life", the solo instrument was actually a piano taped at half speed.<ref name="WSJBach2013">{{cite news|last1=Myers|first1=Marc|title=Bach & Roll: How the Unsexy Harpsichord Got Hip|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579163670969242120|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=30 October 2013|access-date=6 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425052438/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579163670969242120|archive-date=25 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>}} ''Revolver'' ensured that [[psychedelic pop]] emerged from its underground roots and into the mainstream,<ref name="AMPop">{{cite web|author=Anon|title=Psychedelic Pop|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/psychedelic-pop-ma0000011915|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=29 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208111908/http://www.allmusic.com/style/psychedelic-pop-ma0000011915|archive-date=8 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> while "Rain" originated British [[psychedelic rock]].{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=111}} The chamber-orchestrated "Eleanor Rigby" is cited by Simonelli as an example of the Beatles' influence being such that, whatever the style of song, it helped to define the parameters of rock music.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=105}}

The 1967 double A-side single "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" comprised two songs in which Lennon and McCartney, respectively, celebrated their Liverpool upbringing. Simonelli writes that the songs instilled the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] artistic tradition as a central tenet of psychedelic rock.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=106}} In MacDonald's view, "Strawberry Fields Forever" launched both the "English pop-pastoral mood" typified by bands such as [[Pink Floyd]], [[Family (band)|Family]], [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]] and [[Fairport Convention]], and English psychedelia's LSD-inspired preoccupation with "nostalgia for the innocent vision of a child".{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=216}} The [[Mellotron]]'s appearance on the track remains the most celebrated use of the instrument on a pop or rock recording.{{sfn|Brend|2005|p=57}}{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=83}} Together with the resonant tone of Starr's drums, the cello arrangement on "Strawberry Fields Forever" (as with "I Am the Walrus" from ''Magical Mystery Tour'') was much admired by other musicians and producers, and proved highly influential on 1970s bands such as [[Electric Light Orchestra]] and [[Wizzard]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2007|p=219}}

According to Everett, the Beatles' "experimental timbres, rhythms, tonal structures, and poetic texts" on ''Rubber Soul'' and ''Revolver'' "encouraged a legion of young bands that were to create [[progressive rock]] in the early 1970s".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=95}} ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (along with ''Pet Sounds'') is largely viewed as originating the progressive rock genre due to the album's lyrical unity, extended structure, complexity, eclecticism, experimentalism and influences derived from classical music forms.{{sfn|Macan|1997|pp=15,20}} For several years following its release, straightforward rock and roll was supplanted by a growing interest in [[Cyclic form|extended form]],{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=72}} and numerous English psychedelic bands developed characteristics of the Beatles' music (specifically their classical influence) further than either the Beatles or contemporaneous West Coast psychedelic bands.{{sfn|Macan|1997|p=21}}

[[Art pop]] is often traced to the Beatles' first recording with a string quartet ("Yesterday") in conjunction with the group's mid-1960s contemporaries.<ref>{{cite news|last=Holden|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Holden|date=28 February 1999|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/arts/music-they-re-recording-but-are-they-artists.html|title=Music: They're Recording, but Are They Artists?|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=17 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130144527/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/arts/music-they-re-recording-but-are-they-artists.html|archive-date=30 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> AllMusic states that the first wave of [[art rock]] musicians were inspired by ''Sgt. Pepper'' and believed that for rock music to grow artistically, they should incorporate elements of [[European music|European]] and classical music to the genre.<ref name="prog-rockAM">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/prog-rock-ma0000002798|website=[[AllMusic]]|title=Prog-Rock|access-date=29 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921085311/http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/prog-rock-ma0000002798|archive-date=21 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Sgt. Pepper'' is also frequently cited as the first true [[concept album]],{{sfn|Moore|2016|pp=143–44}} a medium that became central to progressive rock.{{sfn|Macan|1997|p=13}} According to Moore, "Even though previous albums had set a unified mood (notably Sinatra's ''[[Songs for Swingin' Lovers!]]''), it was on the basis of the influence of ''Sgt. Pepper'' that the penchant for the concept album was born."{{sfn|Moore|2016|p=144}}

[[Progressive soul]] artists at the turn of the 1970s, such as [[Stevie Wonder]], [[George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton]], and [[War (American band)|War]], drew on the Beatles' album-oriented approach and experimentation with non-traditional music influences.{{sfn|Martin|1998|p=41}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Politis|first=John|date=Winter 1983|volume=19|journal=Drexel Library Quarterly|title=Rock Music's Place in the Library|page=81}}</ref> As bandleader for [[Parliament (band)|Parliament]] and [[Funkadelic]], Clinton specifically pointed to how the Beatles "made an art out of nonsense" on songs such as "I Am the Walrus", alongside other influences from Bob Dylan's music and "[[Black Power]]" literature.{{sfn|Keister|2019|p=12}}

====Raga rock and Eastern fusion====
{{listen
| filename     = "Within You Without You" by the Beatles, written by George Harrison, 1967.ogg
| pos          = 
| title        = "Within You Without You" from ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967)
| description  = The combination of Eastern and rock idioms in "[[Within You Without You]]" showcased the Beatles as forerunners in [[progressive rock]] with their concern for [[eclecticism (music)|eclecticism]], one of the genre's key attributes.{{sfn|Cotner|2000|pp=90–93}}
}}

Indian culture, in the form of music and mysticism, was a significant component of the Beatles' image.{{sfn|Burns|2000|p=177}} Following on from [[the Kinks]], [[the Yardbirds]] and the Beatles themselves (with "Ticket to Ride"){{sfn|MacDonald|2007|pp=143–44}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://louderthanwar.com/rubber-soul-50th-anniversary-beatles-classic-album/|first=Michael|last=Halpin|title=Rubber Soul – 50th Anniversary of The Beatles Classic Album|website=[[Louder Than War (website)|Louder Than War]]|date=3 December 2015|access-date=9 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026222045/http://louderthanwar.com/rubber-soul-50th-anniversary-beatles-classic-album/|archive-date=26 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> incorporating droning guitars to mimic the qualities of the Indian [[sitar]], ''Rubber Soul''{{'}}s "[[Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)|Norwegian Wood]]" featured the first use of the instrument by a Western pop musician.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=173}}{{sfn|Bellman|1998|pp=292, 294, 297}} Played by Harrison, the sitar part launched a craze that [[Indian classical music]]ian [[Ravi Shankar]] termed "the great sitar explosion",{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=171}} as the instrument became a popular feature in [[raga rock]] and psychedelic music.{{sfn|Brend|2005|pp=146, 147, 154}}{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=256}} The song is often identified as the first example of raga rock,<ref name="Bag/LiveMint">{{cite news|first=Shamik|last=Bag|title=The Beatles' magical mystery tour of India|work=[[Live Mint]]|date=20 January 2018|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ShOyoU6g0Rs5TPKxfOgwxK/The-Beatles-magical-mystery-tour-of-India.html|access-date=29 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429160532/https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ShOyoU6g0Rs5TPKxfOgwxK/The-Beatles-magical-mystery-tour-of-India.html|archive-date=29 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Bellman|1998|p=294}} a subgenre that was officially launched by the Byrds{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=345}} with their March 1966 single "[[Eight Miles High]]".{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=157, 162}}

''Revolver'' featured two overtly [[Music of India|Indian]]-styled songs: "Tomorrow Never Knows", with its foundation of heavy [[Tanpura|tambura]] drone, and "[[Love You To]]".{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=174–75}} According to the ''[[Garland Encyclopedia of World Music]]'', ''Revolver'' was the first major American-derived popular music to incorporate Asian techniques and instrumentation.{{sfn|Miller|2000|p=955}} In his book ''Popular World Music'', Andrew Shahriari writes that the Beatles are not usually recognised as [[world music]] artists, yet their use of Indian musical instruments, which was led by Harrison's interest, was "revolutionary" in the context of 1960s European and American popular music.{{sfn|Shahriari|2016|pp=150–51}} While Harrison was not the only rock musician to experiment with Indian styles in the mid-1960s,{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=102}} the Beatles' association with the genre ensured that Indian classical music reached its widest audience, through songs such as "Within You Without You".{{sfn|Hunt|2000|pp=109–10}}{{refn|group=nb|Lavezzoli groups Harrison with [[Paul Simon]] and [[Peter Gabriel]] as the three rock musicians who have given the most "mainstream exposure to non-Western musics, or the concept of 'world music'".{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=81}}}} In his 1997 book ''Indian Music and the West'', ethnomusicologist Gerry Farrell said that "nearly thirty years on, the Beatles' 'Indian' songs remain among the most imaginative and successful examples of this type of fusion – for example, '[[Blue Jay Way]]' and 'The Inner Light.'"{{sfn|Leng|2006|p=316}}

===Rock 'n' roll revival and heavy metal===
The Beatles' March 1968 single "[[Lady Madonna]]" was at the forefront of a contemporary rock 'n' roll revival,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=154}}{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=211–12}} which marked the end of the psychedelic era.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=462}} In the song, McCartney sought to create a [[boogie-woogie]] piece in the style of [[Fats Domino]].{{sfn|Miles|1998|p=449}} Harris says that in addition to anticipating similar revival recordings by the Rolling Stones and [[Eric Clapton]], "Lady Madonna" ensured that Berry and Little Richard returned to "the rarified pedestals where the British Invasion groups had originally placed them".<ref>{{cite book |last=Harris |first=John |chapter=Back to the Future |title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970) |year=2003b |publisher=Emap |location=London |page=19 |title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions}}</ref>

The Beatles directly influenced the development of [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] in the late 1960s.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=145}} "Helter Skelter" was a product of McCartney's attempt to create a sound as loud and dirty as possible, and the recording has been noted for its "[[proto-metal]] roar" by AllMusic's [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]].<ref>{{cite web| last=Erlewine| first=Stephen Thomas| year=2007| author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine| title=The Beatles ''The Beatles [White Album]''| publisher=[[AllMusic]]| url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-beatles-white-album-r1523/review| access-date=25 September 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424122716/http://allmusic.com/album/the-beatles-white-album-r1523/review| archive-date=24 April 2011| url-status=live}}</ref> Recorded in the [[hard rock]] style with heavily distorted guitars,{{sfn|Doggett|2007|p=176}} "Revolution" was the subject of complaints at retail level in 1968, since many listeners assumed the sound was the result of a manufacturing error.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=108–09}}{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=202}}

Discussing Lennon's "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", ''[[Guitar World]]''{{'}}s Josh Hart and Damien Fanelli called the song a "bluesy rocker" that "might have inadvertently started [[doom metal]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/50-heaviest-songs-black-sabbath-40-31?page=0,6|title=The 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath: #40-31|last1=Hart|first1=Josh|last2=Fanelli|first2=Damian|date=11 October 2015|work=[[Guitar World]]|access-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723011202/http://www.guitarworld.com/50-heaviest-songs-black-sabbath-40-31?page=0,6|archive-date=23 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Jo Kendall of ''[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]'' magazine similarly commented that the song predated "[[Black Sabbath]]'s creation of doom rock by several months" and noted the "[[Santana (band)|Santana]]-like Latin blues section" in the song.<ref>''[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]'', September 2014</ref> James Manning, of ''[[Time Out London]]'', describes the song as the foundation for [[stoner rock]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/music/the-best-beatles-songs|title=The 50 Best Beatles songs|date=24 May 2018|website=[[Time Out London]]|access-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215173746/https://www.timeout.com/london/music/the-best-beatles-songs|archive-date=15 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Continued interest and influence==

===Literature, academia and science===

{{Multiple image
| image1            = Beatles - Abbey Road.jpg
| image2            = Cassini team Abbey road.jpg
| footer            = [[Cassini probe]] team recreating the cover of ''[[Abbey Road]]'', one of the most famous and imitated album covers in history<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8188475.stm|title=Revisiting Abbey Road 40 years on|work=BBC News|first=Lawrence|last=Pollard|date=7 August 2009|access-date=4 February 2014|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020204726/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8188475.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| total_width       = 300
}}

In his biographical article on the Beatles for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger states, "Their supremacy as rock icons remains unchallenged to this day, decades after their breakup in 1970."<ref name="AMUnter" /> Writing in 2009, Gary Burns commented that the Beatles continue to "enjoy a canonized status" unprecedented for popular musicians and that they are "canonical figures" in each of the three categories within the rock canon: sociological, literary and musicological.{{sfn|Burns|2009|pp=223, 228}} He identifies them as a key influence in the foundation of hundreds of organisations and publications dedicated to serious appreciation of rock music, including the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]], [[Cambridge University Press]]'s journal ''Popular Music'', the [[International Association for the Study of Popular Music]], and the [[University of Liverpool]]'s Institute of Popular Music.{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=223}}{{refn|group=nb| According to author Michael Frontani, the Beatles formed the basis of [[Jann Wenner]]'s scope on countercultural issues when launching ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in late 1967.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=125, 178–80}} Wenner's beliefs of the Beatles' superiority as artists – argued predominately on the influence of ''Sgt. Pepper'' – were shared by many and repeated in the vast majority of articles for ''Rolling Stone'', whilst the magazine itself maintained an influence and preeminence over every other rock journal founded in the decade.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=2–3, 186–187, 189–190, 192}}}}

Hundreds of books have been written about the Beatles' career. Jonathan Gould says that the band "represent a bibliographical phenomenon as well as a musical one", with the group's history having become a folk tale that "has been put to many different uses by its many different narrators".{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=11, 13}} He comments that the range and variety of literature is "all the more remarkable considering that, prior to the Beatles, not a single significant book had been written on the subject of rock 'n' roll".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=11}} Burns states that the quality and preponderance of "scholarly, quasi-scholarly, journalistic, and fan attention" given to the band far surpasses that given to Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=228}} In her book ''The Rock Canon'', Carys Wyn Jones affords them an elevated status akin to [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s position of eminence in [[Harold Bloom]]'s canon of Western literature.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=120}}

Relevant scholarly studies range from discussions of the band's history and cultural impact to musicological work on such subjects as chord progressions, melody and automated analysis.<ref name="Palmer"/>
* In 2009, [[Liverpool Hope University]] started to offer a [[Master's degree]] in "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society". The program focuses on the political, social, and cultural aspects related to the Beatles and their music.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2011-01-26|title=First Master of Beatles graduates|language=en-GB|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9376000/9376984.stm|access-date=2021-02-25}}</ref>
* In 2014, [[Thomson Reuters]] analyst and ''ScienceWatch'' editor Christopher King investigated 12,000 journals and books and found that 500 mentioned the Beatles in their topics or titles.<ref name="Palmer">{{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=Roxanne |title=Happiness Is A Warm Citation: A Look At 50 Years Of The Beatles In Academic Journals |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/happiness-warm-citation-look-50-years-beatles-academic-journals-1555396 |website=[[International Business Times]] |access-date=6 January 2020 |date=13 February 2014 |archive-date=5 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705005614/https://www.ibtimes.com/happiness-warm-citation-look-50-years-beatles-academic-journals-1555396 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Of these, the three most frequently cited were:
* {{cite journal|ref=none|author1=I.E. Hyman|author2=D.C. Rubin|author-link1=Ira Hyman|author-link2=David Rubin (psychologist)|title=Memorabeatlia - A naturalistic study of long-term memory|year=1990|journal=[[Memory & Cognition]]|volume=18|issue=2|pages=205–14|doi=10.3758/BF03197096|pmid=2319962|s2cid=16506774|doi-access=free|hdl=10161/10162|hdl-access=free}} (26 citations)
* {{cite journal|ref=none|author=C. Whissell|year=1996|title=Traditional and emotional stylometric analysis of the songs of Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon|journal=[[Computers and the Humanities]]|volume=30|issue=3|pages=257–265|doi=10.1007/BF00055109|s2cid=20632134}} (15 citations)
* {{cite book|ref=none|author=S. Cohen|year=1997|title=Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places|chapter=More than the Beatles: Popular music, tourism and urban regeneration}} (12 citations)<ref>{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Christopher |title=A Hard Day's Write: The Beatles' Continuing Impact on Scholarly Literature |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-hard-days-write-the-beatles_b_4776277 |website=[[Huffington Post]] |access-date=6 January 2020 |date=6 December 2017}}</ref>}}
* A 2017 study of AllMusic's catalogue indicated the band as the most frequently cited artist influence in its database. Of the 2000 artists selected for the study, 1230 were stated to be influenced by the Beatles, ahead of Dylan, with 669.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kopf|first1=Dan|last2=Wong|first2=Amy X.|title=A definitive list of the musicians who influenced our lives most|url=https://qz.com/1094962/a-definitive-list-of-the-musicians-who-influenced-our-lives-most/|website=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]]|date=7 October 2017|access-date=13 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811015937/https://qz.com/1094962/a-definitive-list-of-the-musicians-who-influenced-our-lives-most/|archive-date=11 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2019, a scientific study involving over 80,000 different chord progressions and conducted by the [[Max Planck Institute]] in Germany indicated "[[Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da]]" as "the perfect pop song" based on how enjoyable recipients found its chord changes.<ref name="obladi"/>{{refn|group=nb|For the study, researchers gathered 700 songs recorded between 1958 and 1991 and played the various chord progressions to volunteers, absent from their music and lyrics.<ref name="obladi">{{cite web |last1=Corcoran |first1=Nina |title=The Beatles' 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' is 'the perfect pop song' according to science |url=https://consequence.net/2019/11/the-beatles-ob-la-di-ob-la-da-perfect-pop-song-science/ |website=[[Consequence of Sound]] |access-date=6 January 2020 |date=8 November 2019}}</ref>}}
* In 2021, the University of Liverpool announced a "The Beatles: Music Industry and Heritage" MA, which would examine the group's influence on popular music and culture and how the band's influence could be replicated in different places, industries and contexts around the world. That same year, [[Liverpool University Press]] announced an upcoming ''Journal of Beatles Studies''. The first issue was released in September 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=2021-10-01 |title=A Year in the Life: Who Gets a Master's Degree in the Beatles? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/arts/music/beatles-masters-degree-liverpool-university.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223004805/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/arts/music/beatles-masters-degree-liverpool-university.html |archive-date=23 December 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Journal of Beatles Studies |url=http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/id/113/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk |language=en |archive-date=2 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802232405/https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/id/113/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Since the early 2000s, historian Mark Lewisohn has been writing ''[[The Beatles: All These Years]]'', a three-part set of Beatles biographies whose first volume exceeds 1,700 pages. The impetus for the project was his disappointment that none of the group's biographies had approached a depth or breadth comparable to [[Robert A. Caro]]'s ongoing book series, ''[[The Years of Lyndon Johnson]]''.<ref name="artsbeat13">{{cite news|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/tune-in-and-turn-on-the-reading-light/?_r=0|title=Tune In, and Turn on the Reading Light|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=27 December 2013|access-date=31 December 2013|archive-date=1 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101195204/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/tune-in-and-turn-on-the-reading-light/?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Twenty-first-century relevance===

The Beatles continue to be viewed as representing the ideals of the 1960s.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=19}} In Inglis's description, "their voices and faces were the most recognized symbols of the 'swinging sixties' and they became – and remain – the iconic images of the decade."{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=21}}  In 2004, the band were the most-represented act in ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s list of the "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|500 Greatest Songs of All Time]]", with seven out of 23 Beatles songs making the top 30.<ref name=rs>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407 |title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=10 April 2008 |date=9 December 2004 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080622142703/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs|archive-date=22 June 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2009, [[Global Beatles Day]] was founded as an international celebration of the band's music and social message.<ref name="GBD/IndianExpress">{{cite news|author=Lifestyle Desk|title=Global Beatles Day: What is it and why is it celebrated|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/global-beatles-day-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-celebrated-5232622/|newspaper=[[The Indian Express]]|date=25 June 2018|access-date=11 December 2019|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804084855/https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/global-beatles-day-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-celebrated-5232622/|url-status=live}}</ref> The event takes place on 25 June each year in memory of the ''Our World'' performance of "All You Need Is Love".<ref name="GBD/IndianExpress" /><ref>{{cite news|first=Natalie|last=Roterman|title=Global Beatles Day Quotes: 25 Sayings to Remember One of the Biggest Bands of All Time|url=https://www.latintimes.com/global-beatles-day-quotes-25-sayings-remember-one-biggest-bands-all-time-391904|newspaper=[[Latin Times]]|date=25 June 2016|access-date=11 December 2019|archive-date=11 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211132602/https://www.latintimes.com/global-beatles-day-quotes-25-sayings-remember-one-biggest-bands-all-time-391904|url-status=live}}</ref>

Writing in ''The New York Times Magazine'' in 2016, cultural commentator [[Chuck Klosterman]] said that the group were "only slightly less popular now" than they were in the 1960s. He wrote that the group were "arguably" responsible for everything related to rock music, "including the very notion of a band's breaking up", and noted that no other rock group had faced unrelated assassination attempts against half its members. Klosterman concluded that, "In any reasonable world, the Beatles are the answer to the question "Who will be the [[John Philip Sousa|Sousa]] of rock?"<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/which-rock-star-will-historians-of-the-future-remember.html|first=Chuck|last=Klosterman|title=Which Rock Star Will Historians of the Future Remember?|magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|date=23 May 2016|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211144215/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/which-rock-star-will-historians-of-the-future-remember.html|archive-date=11 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 2000s, [[Elvis Presley]] had been the only other defunct musical act to generate as much continued news and interest as the Beatles.{{sfn|Burns|2009|p=217}} His mass appeal curtailed significantly by the end of the 2010s, while the Beatles' popularity has endured with younger generations.<ref name="cnbc2019"/> The amount of [[Google]] searches for "Beatles" spiked by 48.59% in 2019, relative to the previous four years. That same year, the Beatles' music was streamed on [[Spotify]] 1.7&nbsp;billion times; 30% of listeners were between the ages of 18 and 24, followed by 25- to 29-year-olds, at 17%. In other words, almost half of listeners were aged under 30.<ref name="cnbc2019">{{cite web |last1=Bukzpan |first1=Daniel |title=The Beatles remain a pop culture phenomenon even among Gen Z fans. Here's why |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/26/the-beatles-remain-a-pop-culture-phenomenon-even-among-gen-z-fans.html |website=CNBC |date=26 October 2019 |access-date=16 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102154558/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/26/the-beatles-remain-a-pop-culture-phenomenon-even-among-gen-z-fans.html |archive-date=2 November 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As of June 2019, "Yesterday" remained one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music, with over 2,200 versions. According to figures published by [[Broadcast Music, Inc.|Broadcast Music Incorporated]] (BMI), the song was played over 7&nbsp;million times on American radio during the twentieth century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schaal |first1=Eric |title=Is The Beatles' 'Yesterday' Really the Most-Covered Song of All Time? |url=https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/is-the-beatles-yesterday-really-the-most-covered-song-of-all-time.html/ |website=Cheatsheet |access-date=6 January 2020 |date=29 June 2019 |archive-date=7 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507104239/https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/is-the-beatles-yesterday-really-the-most-covered-song-of-all-time.html/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|The BMI report placed "Yesterday" as the seventh most performed song of the century. The Beatles were also represented in this top 100 by "Something" at number 17 and "Michelle" at number 42 (both with over 5 million performances), and "Let It Be" at number 89 (over 4 million).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bmi.com/awards/1999/top100.asp |title=Awards: The BMI Top 100 Songs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040211190114/http://www.bmi.com/awards/1999/top100.asp |archive-date=11 February 2004 |publisher=[[Broadcast Music, Inc.|BMI]]|access-date=26 February 2015}}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Outline of the Beatles]]
* [[The Beatles timeline]]
* [[List of awards and nominations received by the Beatles]]
* [[The Beatles in popular culture]]
* [[The Beatles in film]]
* [[Tributes to the Beatles]]
* [[Cultural impact of Elvis Presley]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
''' Citations '''
{{Reflist|20em}}

'''Sources'''
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* {{cite book|last=Moore|first=Allan F.|year=1997|title=The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0-521-57484-6|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=4y-oDmH2YzYC}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Moore|first=Allan F.|title=Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6DeCwAAQBAJ|year=2016|orig-year=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, UK; New York, NY|isbn=978-1-4094-3802-1}}
* {{cite book|last2=Wardle|first2=Ben|last1=Morgan|first1=Johnny|title=The Art of the LP: Classic Album Covers 1955–1995|year=2015|orig-year=2010|publisher=Sterling|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-1-4549-1806-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Neaverson|first=Bob|title=The Beatles Movies|publisher=Cassell|location=London|year=1997|isbn=978-0-304337965|url=http://www.beatlesmovies.co.uk/magical-mystery-tour/background.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002072940/http://www.beatlesmovies.co.uk/magical-mystery-tour/background.asp|archive-date=2 October 2009|via=beatlesmovies.co.uk (chapter: "Magical Mystery Tour Part 1 – Background and Production")}}
* {{cite book|last=Norman|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Norman (author)|title=Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation|publisher=Fireside|location=New York, NY|year=1996|orig-year=1981|isbn=0-684-83067-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Norman|first=Philip|title=John Lennon: The Life|year=2008|publisher=Ecco|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-075402-0|url=https://archive.org/details/johnlennonlife00norm}}
* {{cite book|last=Pedler|first=Dominic|year=2003|title=The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fts1uK4ceJ8C&pg=PP1|publisher=Omnibus|location=London|isbn=978-0-7119-8167-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Philo|first=Simon|title=British Invasion: The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqiDBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA105|year=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-8108-8627-8}}
* {{cite book|first=Mark|last=Prendergast|title=The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby – The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=New York, NY|year=2003|isbn=1-58234-323-3|url=https://archive.org/details/ambientcenturyfr00pren}}
* {{cite book|last1= Reising|first1=Russell|first2=Jim|last2=LeBlanc|chapter=Magical Mystery Tours, and Other Trips: Yellow submarines, newspaper taxis, and the Beatles' psychedelic years|editor-last=Womack |editor-first=Kenneth |year=2009|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-68976-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Riley |first1=Tim |author1-link=Tim Riley (music critic) |title=Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After |date=2002 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0-306-81120-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Michael James|title=Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Rock 'n' Roll, the Labor Question, and the Musicians' Union, 1942–1968|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pIBXAwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, NC|isbn=978-0-8223-5475-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=Robert|title=Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll|year=2012|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=Milwaukee, WI|isbn=978-1-61713-009-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=farlJScWrTMC}}
* {{cite book|last=Romanowski|first=William D.|author-link=William D. Romanowski|title=Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D41LAwAAQBAJ|year=2006|orig-year=1996|publisher=Wipf and Stock|location=Eugene, OR|isbn=978-1-59752-577-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Sanchez|first=Luis|title=The Beach Boys' Smile|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=FC0_AwAAQBAJ}}|year=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-62356-956-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Savage|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Savage|title=1966: The Year the Decade Exploded|publisher=Faber & Faber|location=London|year=2015|isbn=978-0-571-27763-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Schaffner|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Schaffner|title=The Beatles Forever|year=1978|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=0-07-055087-5|url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesforever00scha}}
* {{cite book|last1=Schinder|first1=Scott|last2=Schwartz|first2=Andy|title=Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever|url=https://archive.org/details/iconsofrockencyc0000schi|url-access=registration|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, CT|isbn=978-0-313-33845-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Shahriari|first=Andrew|title=Popular World Music|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, UK; New York, NY|year=2016|orig-year=2011|isbn=978-0-136128984}}
* {{cite book|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|author-link=Rob Sheffield|year=2017|title=Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-220765-4}}
*{{cite book|first1=Kenneth|last1=Shouler|first2=Susai|last2=Anthony|title=The Everything Hinduism Book: Learn the Traditions and Rituals of the "Religion of Peace"|publisher=Adams Media|location=Avon, MA|year=2009|isbn=978-1-59869-862-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Simonelli|first=David|title=Working Class Heroes: Rock Music and British Society in the 1960s and 1970s|year=2013|publisher=Lexington Books|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-7391-7051-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Chris|title=101 Albums That Changed Popular Music|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-537371-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Spitz|first1=Bob|editor1-last=Koepp|editor1-first=Stephen|title=The Beatles Invasion: The Inside Story of the Two-Week Tour That Rocked America|date=2013|publisher=Time Home Entertainment |location=New York |isbn=978-1618931146}}
* {{cite book|last=Spitz|first=Bob|year=2005|author-link=Bob Spitz|title=The Beatles: The Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesbiography00spit|url-access=registration|publisher=Little, Brown|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-316-80352-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Stanley|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Stanley (musician)|title=Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kebvrQEACAAJ|year=2014|publisher=W.W. Norton|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-393-24269-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Stark|first=Steven D.|author-link=Steven D. Stark|title=Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band That Shook Youth, Gender, and the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2j9WO1jVqdsC&pg=PT40|year=2005|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-000893-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Tillery|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Tillery|title=Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison|publisher=Quest Books|location=Wheaton, IL|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8356-0900-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Steve|author-link=Steve Turner (writer)|year=1999|title=A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song|publisher=Carlton/HarperCollins|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-06-273698-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Steve|title=Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year|year=2016|publisher=Ecco|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-247558-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|title=The Unreleased Beatles: Music & Film|publisher=Backbeat Books|year=2006|isbn=0-87930-892-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Weber|first=Erin Torkelson|title=The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l7cfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31|year=2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-6266-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Whiteley |first1=Sheila |last2=Sklower |first2=Jedediah |title=Countercultures and Popular Music |date=13 May 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-15892-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5x4pDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |language=en }}
* {{cite book|last=Wiener|first=Jon|title=Come Together: John Lennon in His Time|year=1991|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana, IL|isbn=978-0-252-06131-8|url=https://archive.org/details/cometogetherjohn00jonw}}
* {{cite book|last=Woffinden|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Woffinden|title=The Beatles Apart|publisher=Proteus|location=London|year=1981|isbn=0-906071-89-5}}
* {{cite book|last1=Womack|first1=Kenneth|last2=Davis|first2=Todd F.|title=Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8Ob1bL_ongC|year=2012|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8196-7}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web|last1=Hamilton|first1=Jon|title=The Beatles' Surprising Contribution To Brain Science|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/11/08/164101652/the-beatles-surprising-contribution-to-brain-science|website=[[NPR]]|access-date=6 January 2020|date=8 November 2012|ref=none}}
* {{cite web|last1=Kot|first1=Greg|author-link1=Greg Kot|title=Were The Rolling Stones Better Than The Beatles?|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130607-were-the-stones-underrated|website=[[BBC]]|date=21 October 2014|ref=none}}
* {{cite news|last1=Lewisohn|first1=Mark|author-link1=Mark Lewisohn|title=The Beatles: the Sixties Start Here|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10323120/The-Beatles-the-Sixties-Start-Here.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10323120/The-Beatles-the-Sixties-Start-Here.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website=The Daily Telegraph|date=20 September 2013|ref=none}}{{cbignore}}
* {{cite news|last1=McMillian|first1=John|title=Age-old debate: Beatles vs. Stones|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/age-old-debate-beatles-vs-stones/|work=[[CBS News]]|date=4 February 2014|ref=none}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Tessler |first1=Holly |last2=Long |first2=Paul |date=2 November 2022 |title=Introduction |journal=Journal of Beatles Studies |language=en |volume=2022 |issue=Autumn |pages=3–9 |doi=10.3828/jbs.2022.2 |issn=2754-7019 |doi-access=free}}

{{The Beatles main}}{{Historiography}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatles' Influence On Popular Culture, The}}
[[Category:The Beatles|Influence on Popular Culture]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of the Beatles|Beatles, The]]
[[Category:1960s in music]]
[[Category:1970s in music]]
[[Category:Cultural impact by musician]]
[[Category:Music and fashion]]