The Beatles— Sixty Years Later
One of the highlights from my honeymoon was visiting the Sistine Chapel. Jackie and I learned that this was Michelangelo’s first ever professional assignment as a painter. We learned that his rival, Raphael, lobbied for him to get hired in hopes that the project of painting the chapel would ruin his career. We also learned that Michelangelo painted the entire thing in four years and that he did so with paint dropping into his eyes.
Our modern day Michelangelo is represented by the foursome of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of when the Beatles scored their first number one hit on the U.S. charts, while February 9 marks the sixtieth anniversary of their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.
I first encountered the Beatles in elementary school. My good friend, Dan, introduced me to some of their music, but I didn’t have much interest. When I took guitar lessons in seventh grade, I was bored by the prospect of playing “Yellow Submarine” or “Love Me Do.”
The Beatles made slightly more of an impression in high school. I pined over a female classmate who loved the band. Amanda was hilarious, cute, and a very talented musician. I tried to impress her by purchasing a compilation album of their chart topping hits. She scoffed at my purchase. I was as clueless about the Beatles as I was about dating. I didn’t know that the Beatles birthed the idea of the album as a complete work of art and that the best way to discover their music was through the album.
I didn’t think much of the Beatles until a decade later. Sitting in a doctors office, I remember looking at the poster on the wall. There was an image of each album and a release date…..Please Please Me, Meet the Beatles, A Hard Days Night, Beatles for Sale, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, and Let It Be.
Thirteen albums in seven years!
I started listening to all their music, which also included hit singles like “Paperback Writer,” “Day Tripper,” “Rain,” and “Hey Jude,” and discovered how their sound over time. It wasn’t just that the Beatles introduced new song structures and unconventional chord progressions. They blended Western music with Indian music, psychedelia with classical. Their lyrics evolved from simple love songs to social commentary and existential introspection. Most of all, they turned the studio itself into an instrument.
Until the Beatles, recording sessions were simple. Bands performed songs as they would in a live concert, so whole albums were recorded quickly. For example, the Beatles recorded Please, Please Me in about ten hours, while they spent over 400 hours in the studio to produce Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Prior to the Beatles, albums were seen as collections of singles. The Beatles, starting with Rubber Soul, built the album to be an entire body of work.
If anyone asks me to try and explain the impact of the Beatles, I encourage them to look at the images and clothes of the band in 1963 compared to their look in 1967. It wasn’t just that John, Paul, George, and Ringo made long hair and beards socially acceptable. Whether it was art, fashion, sex, drugs, and civil rights, the Beatles were a catalyst for change. In 2024, the idea that youth culture is separate from adult culture is assumed, but it wasn't until the 1960s that this generational awareness exploded.
In an interview with music producer Rick Rubin, Tom Hanks remembers how America was still reeling from the assassination of JFK. “The funeral service and wake went on for a very long time. But then there was the joy that the Beatles brought along. There were jangly harmonies that you never heard before. It was like getting out of the most smoky, dense, incomprehensible, sad, serious church service for weeks and then there is a carnival right there. It was the birth of the sixties. It was the sound, the cut, the joy.” It is not an overstatement to say that the Beatles were responsible for shaping an entire generation.
All we have left from Michelangelo is the artwork and the statues. With the Beatles, we have videos of their creative process. Here is a clip of McCartney giving birth to what would be come “Get Back.” There is also Peter Jackson’s eight-hour documentary which showcases their creative process.
Sadly we lost Lennon to a shooting in 1980 and Harrison to cancer in 2001. Even with two of the four gone, thanks to AI, McCartney and Ringo were able to complete a final Beatles song that was released a few months ago and a final music video of them playing together. McCarthy is 81 and Ringo is 83. They are still touring. I’m praying they will continue to entertain music fans for many years to come.