The Beatles

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The Beatles
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Brian Epstein

• Bob Wooler and My Bonnie by the Beatles
• Pride in his ability
• Decca, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes
• Stu Sutcliffe dies

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George Martin and the Parlophone

• June 1962, Beatles audition
• Pete Best
• Richard Starkey and Ringo

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The Heroes of Liverpool

• Radio, television and tour appearances

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BeatlemaniaAmerican Style

• Real Rock n Roll was not exclusively American
  music
• Ed Sullivan

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I Want to Hold Your Hand

• Recorded in October 1963
• Opening a compendium of 50s Rock and Roll
• First two musical phrases demonstrate this

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BeatlemaniaAmerican Style

• Mass popularity in America
• Top 5 April 4, 1964
• International popularity
• Lifestyle
• Drugs
• Third tour to the United States

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The Middle Period Experimentation
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Yesterday

• Written January 1964 but recorded June 1965
• Pre-rock pop song
• Melody develops from a short, simple riff
• Six sections in AABABA pattern
• 32-measure AABA form

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Yesterday

• McCartneys singing
• Simple acoustic guitar accompaniment outlines a
  delicate eight-beat rhythm
• String accompaniment updated
• Gone is the nuclear rock band of 2 guitars, bass
  and drums
• Stronger connection between words and music

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Rubber Soul Drive My Car
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Rubber Soul Drive My Car

• Cinematic
• Sexual tension
• Humorous possibility
• Accompaniment shows collaboration
• McCartney, all the details in place

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Rubber Soul Drive My Car

• Otis Reddings Respect
• No rhythm guitar
• Only chorus has solid chords (heard on piano)
• Sounds like soul music

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Yesterday and Today
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Revolver Eleanor Rigby
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Revolver Eleanor Rigby

• Unprecedented topic
• Broke sharply with pop song conventions
• Detached delivery
• Time passes, without apparent purpose

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Revolver Eleanor Rigby

• Musical setting as bleak as the words
• String octet (four violins, two violas, two
  cellos)
• String sound is sparse

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Revolver Eleanor Rigby

• Chord progressions emulate rock accompaniment
• Static melody and harmony
• Repetitive rhythm of accompaniment

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Revolver Eleanor Rigby

• Pop becoming Art?
• Classical-style string accompaniment
• Comparable to Schuberts art songs

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Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields
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The Later Beatles Revolution
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Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
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Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

• Verse creates dreamy state
• Lyrics contain numerous psychedelic images
  (marmalade skies)
• Music floats in waltz time

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Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

• Impression of a person in the middle of an acid
  trip
• Chorus is straight-ahead Rock and Roll
• Conveys normalcy

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A Day in the Life

• Mundane vs. elevated consciousness
• Music with words vs. instrumental

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A Day in the Life

• Four Scenes
• Lennons response to a man who dies in his car
  while, Lennon suspects, he was tripping
• Lennon attending a film
• Lennon in modern lifework is mundane and
  competitive
• Lennons commentary on counting potholes

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A Day in the Life

• Starts with soloist and guitar
• Other instruments layer
• Juxtaposed to massive orchestral block of sound
• Echoes of Penderckis Threnody for Victims of
  Hiroshima (1960)

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A Day in the Life

• Well-known vs. obscure music
• Tasteful drumming inventive bass lines
• Doubling of the tempo in the Woke up section
• Trills on Laugh and photograph
• Transition to the acid trip

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A Day in the Life

• Melodic leap followed by trill blends seamlessly
  into orchestral texture
• Final chord
• An OM
• Striking ending

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The White Album
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Abbey Road
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The Death of Paul and the Beatles Break-Up

• Back masking
• The Paul-is-Dead hoax
• By 1970, it was clear that the Beatles were each
  going separate ways

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Summary

• Their influence on the music is undeniable
• Other influences
• Hard mainstream rock, avant-garde rock,
  psychedelic rock, symphonic rock, and
  light-hearted rock

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Summary

• No longer was Rock simply fun music it was
  serious
• Four directions
• John Lennon in the 1970s
• Superstitions
• Beatlemania end?

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