Inspired by the "skiffle
boom", a student at Quarry Bank School in Liverpool named John Lennon decided to form
a group in 1957 and laid the foundation of what was to become the most famous
rock bands of all time. The name John had first come up with was "The
Blackjacks". This name only lasted a week and John used the school name
as inspiration for the name "The Quarry Men" in March 1957. John
sang and played guitar, Colin Hanton played drums, Eric Griffiths on guitar,
Pete Shotton on washboard, Rod Davis on banjo and Bill Smith on tea-chest
bass. Bill was soon replaced by Ivan Vaughan. On July 6,
1957,
Ivan Vaughan invited Paul McCartney to see their gig at The Woolton Parish
Church Fete. The fifteen-year-old McCartney was introduce to sixteen-year-old
Lennon and a unique song writing partnership began.
From October 1959 to
January,1960, John, Paul and
George continued as a trio with Paul on drums. They called themselves
"Johnny & the Moondogs".
By this
time John was enrolled in The Liverpool College of Art. John knew that they
needed a bass player so he asked two students if they would like the
position. The two were Stuart Sutcliffe and Rod Murray. Both could not afford
a guitar. However, Stuart was
able to sell one of his paintings to a John Moores Exhibition and was able to
buy a Hofner bass guitar and join the group in January, 1960. At this time
the group had changed its name to "Silver Beetles". Paul contacted
Pete and offered him the drummer seat, he took it. The group had finally
settled on "The Beatles" just before their first trip to Hamburg in August, 1960. Now John, Paul,
George, Stuart and Pete would head off for Hamburg. At that time The Beatles weren't
considered to be the leading group in Liverpool and in most cases were looked
down upon.
In August of 1962,
Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr.
Their first single "Love Me Do" was issued on October 5, 1962, and was a modest hit. 1963 and 1964 proved to be the most important
years in their careers. In 1963 the "Beatlemania" craze had started
in Britain and The Beatles were no longer support acts
at concerts. Now they were starring in the Royal Variety Show and the highest
rating TV show "Sunday Night At The London Palladium". Their
biggest year was 1964 when they conquered the biggest record market in the
world - America. The group became symbols. America was mourning the death of
President John F. Kennedy and The Beatles appeared on the scene to bring them
fun and excitement and end their mourning. They also brought back rock 'n'
roll to America.

In 1966, The Beatles
were under heavy pressure from the press after John made a remark that The
Beatles were more popular than Jesus. John had to apologize and explain
himself several times. Not only that but their tour of America was plagued with mishaps.
During the sixties, The Beatles not only became a musical phenomenon, they
affected the styles and fashions of the decade. They transformed the record
industry as well. Everyone of their albums, from Please Please Me to Abbey Road were all popular and unique in
their own way. But after the death of their long time manager Brian Epstein,
things would start to fall apart
for The Beatles.
Due to outside interests the
group focused less and less and the band. In late 1964 they were introduced
to marijuana and would experiment with more drugs such as LSD which they were
first introduced to in late 1965. The Beatles played their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August
29, 1966.
In 1967, their manager Brian Epstein died of a accidental drug overdose. Some
friction was caused between John and Paul because Paul was trying to become
the leader of the group after Brian's death.
The
Beatles gave their last public appearance on top of the Apple building on January 30, 1969. However their "Let It Be" album was deemed un-releasable.
In the end, The Beatles became true legends. Their music touched all our
lives. The Beatles wanted more than just to "Be Beatles", they
wanted happiness. A happiness that they once had back when they first
became successful. John found
happiness with his one true love Yoko, his Plastic Ono Band, and son Sean;
Paul found happiness with Linda, his children, and Wings; George found
happiness with his solo career, Olivia, and his son Dhani; and Ringo found
happiness with his solo career, acting career, Barbara, and his sons. They
will always be the greatest rock 'n' roll band in history.
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