Cultural impact of the Beatles

• 1. Beatlemania And Global Fandom

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  In late 1963, the British press coined the term Beatlemania to describe a phenomenon that had never been seen before. The word first appeared widely after the band's appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium on the 13th of October. Fifteen million viewers watched the broadcast and Britain was said to be in the grip of this new hysteria. Crowds outside the venue were so wild that local police had to smuggle the group into the building. The four members wore collarless Pierre Cardin suits and sported mid-length haircuts known as moptops. Their signature refrain yeah, yeah, yeah! from She Loves You elicited further delirium when accompanied by McCartney and Harrison shaking their hair. This intensity surpassed any previous examples of fan worship including those for Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra. When the group toured Australia in June 1964, a crowd of 300,000 people welcomed them to Adelaide. That gathering remains the largest recorded assembly of Australians in one place. Promoter Sid Bernstein later claimed only Adolf Hitler had such power over the masses. He believed the group could sway a presidential election if they wanted to. Around 4,000 fans gathered outside Buckingham Palace when the Beatles received their MBEs from Queen Elizabeth II. Some fans jostled with police officers and scaled the palace gates while chanting God save the Beatles. Journalist Robert Sandall noted that never had a ruling monarch been so thoroughly upstaged by her subjects.

• 2. British Invasion And Chart Dominance

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  Most Americans first heard the band through the single I Want to Hold Your Hand which rose to number one on US charts on the 1st of February 1964. The song featured a harder-edged guitar sound that stood out against novelty songs and teen idols occupying American radio. On the 9th of February the group gave their first live US television performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Approximately 73 million viewers watched the broadcast across 23 million households representing 34 percent of the US population. This was the largest audience ever recorded for an American television show at that time. Their second appearance on the same program on the 16th of February drew around 70 million viewers. By mid 1964 one-third of all top ten hits in the United States were performed by British acts. The Beatles subsequently sparked the British Invasion of the US market and became a globally influential phenomenon. From 1964 to 1970 they held the top-selling US single one out of every six weeks. They also topped the Billboard Top LPs chart for 116 weeks during that period. In other words they had the top-selling album one out of every three weeks. On the 4th of April 1964 the band occupied the top five US chart positions simultaneously. For nine consecutive weeks they held the top two places on the Billboard Top LPs chart with reconfigured versions of their first two albums. Until 2018 they remained the only act to have filled the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. In Australia their songs filled the top six chart positions while during one week they held nine positions in Canada's top ten.

• 3. Fashion And Visual Identity

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  The group initially wore black leather jackets and pants before manager Brian Epstein persuaded them to adopt more presentable stage suits. Their moptop haircuts were dubbed by some British tabloids as a style that was unusually long for the era. This look became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture and was widely mocked by adults. Russian historian Mikhail Safonov wrote that in the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union mimicking the Beatles' hairstyle was seen as highly rebellious. Young people called hairies were arrested and forced to have their hair cut in police stations. The traditional American male look of crewcuts or combed-back hair was replaced by a preference for long hair following their arrival. Clothing styles were influenced firstly by the band's Pierre Cardin suits and Cuban-heeled Beatle boots. Later they adopted Carnaby Street mod fashions and Nehru jackets which were highly influential on Western fashion. Lennon complained in his 1970 Lennon Remembers interview that Americans were walking around in Bermuda shorts with Boston crew cuts when he arrived. He stated there was no conception of dress or any of that jazz among the youth at the time. Chinese characters chosen for the band's name reflect their hairdos with the first two characters referring to unruly hair. Teen fan magazines such as 16 Magazines and DIG covered the group extensively while merchandise included Beatles wigs which became the best-selling novelty since yo-yos.

• 4. Songwriting And Artistic Legitimacy

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  Through early success the Lennon-McCartney partnership revolutionised songwriting in Britain by usurping the Denmark Street tradition of in-house writers. They combined the roles of writer and performer which threatened professional songwriters dominating the American music industry. From 1963 to 1967 the band increasingly broke with established rock and pop conventions using modal mixture and wider chord palettes. One hallmark of their experimental period is their use of the flattened subtonic chord which further developed its function in popular music. Few electric beat artists wrote songs with bridge sections until the group's breakthrough after which the practice became ubiquitous. The album Rubber Soul released in December 1965 marked a progression in lyrical content and recording sophistication. It was viewed as the first serious effort by a rock and roll act to produce an LP as an artistic statement. Revolver issued in August 1966 was seen as avant-garde and initiated a second pop revolution galvanising existing rivals. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released in May 1967 achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music. Its win in Album of the Year at the 1968 Grammys Awards marked the first time a rock LP received this award. By November 1968 the White Album opened the way for musicians to extend their horizons beyond the standard LP format.

• 5. Social Activism And Civil Rights

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  During the Beatles' US tour in August and September 1964 the group spoke out against racial segregation particularly in the South. When informed that the venue for their the 11th of September concert at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville Florida was segregated they refused to perform unless the audience was integrated. City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. They cancelled reservations at the whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville during the same trip. Documents reveal that for tours in 1965 and 1966 the band included clauses in contracts stipulating shows be integrated. McCartney stated in 1966 they had avoided performing in South Africa or any places where blacks would be separated. The group repeatedly voiced admiration for Little Richard Chuck Berry and Fats Domino as well as soul artists like Marvin Gaye. Miracles leader Smokey Robinson said he was especially grateful for the Beatles championing Motown music. He added they were the first white artists to ever admit that they grew up and honed themselves on black music. The band subsequently invited Mary Wells to be their support act on a UK tour and arranged for Esther Phillips to give her first performances outside the US.

• 6. Technological Innovation In Recording

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  Recording for Rubber Soul took place over a four-week period uninterrupted by touring filming or radio engagements making its creation highly unusual for the time. The band incorporated influences from the English counterculture more readily than any of their pop rivals. 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 terms a revolution in expressive capacity. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is described by Doggett as the biggest pop happening between February 1964 and Lennon's murder in December 1980. The album achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music through attention received from rock press and culturally elite publications. It provided a crucial locus in popular culture and modernism while remaining commercially successful. The standard of all-original compositions was responsible for a widespread shift in focus from singles to creating albums without filler tracks. The band pioneered with record sleeves and music videos which informed styles such as jangle folk rock power pop psychedelia art pop progressive rock heavy metal and electronic music. Their advances in production writing and artistic presentation were soon widespread across the industry.