The Beatles were organized by John Winston Lennon from Liverpool, England. The second person to join Lennon and the Beatles was Paul McCartney. The third and also youngest member to join the Beatles was George Harrison. The last member to join and to bring about the completion of the Beatles was Ringo Starr.
Two aspects of the music industry that were influenced by the Beatles were the lengths of songs and album covers. In that day and time songs generally lasted no longer than three minutes. One of the Beatles most popular songs, "Hey Jude," ran over seven minutes surpassing most typical songs by four minutes. As a result, music changed dramatically allowing for songs to grow longer and to become more reflective. Album covers also changed with sleeves featuring song lyrics and elaborate photographs. The packaging of records rapidly became an art form of its own.
Another aspect of the music industry that was influenced by the Beatles was the lyrics to their ever-popular songs. The songs began to deal with a particular them. Most were based on the conflicts that occur between parents and children, the effects of drugs, the middle-class structure as a whole and life in general in the modern industrial society. The Beatles songs began to reflect emotional states and also expressed their point of view on success and
popularity. Unlike many of the popular American songs, they dealt with love in a more casual way. The generally adopted a lighthearted attitude that was expressed in several of their songs. The Beatles sound was fresh and often lyrics were like secrets being shared among friends. More imaginative and meaningful lyrics were a strong tradition that the Beatles brought about through their music.
Once the Beatles began to produce their own style music the industry would never be the same. Earlier bands had based their music mostly on a strong beat but the Beatles introduced a new sense of melody. They produced an amplified, new range of sounds, and a definite beat that set many standards for later rock and roll groups. The Beatles also began using more revolutionary and complex studio techniques. On several accounts they were known to add sections of tape running backward to a song to produce a muffled sound. The Beatles also introduced romantic ballads in which only an acoustic guitar and a long singer were used instead of a full band.
This style was copied several times by other groups. The group used several different types of melodies. Repeating melodies, that emphasize one of two pitches equally heard over chord progressions, were used on such songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Things We Say Today". Scalar melodies are rare but generally pose a strong directional contour. Examples of scalar melodies can be found in "Please, Please Me" and "Thank You Girl". The next, blues-influenced melodies naturally occur in songs influenced by early rhythm and blues songs. These can be found in "I Want to Be Your Man", and "I Saw Her Standing There". The last, and most dominate in most of John Lennon's songs, was pentatonic melodies found in songs like "All I've Got To Do".
Although most bands produced their own style most originate back to the original works of the Beatles. |
