The Beatles T-Shirts and Fan Merchandise

The Beatles remain one of the most influential rock acts to this day. Their impact on music and culture was profound, and their record sales reflect that. The band progressed from a little known Liverpool act to major stars watched by millions in just a few years time. Their progression, once famous, only evolved further with albums like Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and finally, Abbey Road.

When the mid 60's arrived, the Beatles made a noticeable shift towards a more psychedelic and folk rock inspired sound. As time went on, they added even more elements, like heaviness, more progressive lyrics, and hidden meanings in the songs

This is when the band went through their most dramatic change. Gone were the days of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and forthcoming were the days of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” and “A Day in the Life.” This is arguably the most popular of all Beatles albums, making it essential for anyone that is a fan of the band!

Everything from the cover art down to the song lyrics of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band was in great detail. The band spent over 4 months recording the album (back then, a long time), and it was clearly meant to be studied, analyzed, and enjoyed thoroughly. Worldwide, over 32 million copies have been shipped. Rolling Stone Magazine in 2003 ranked it the #1 album of all time.

This video version of the song is part of the Yellow Submarine movie, which featured psychedelic style animation and a plot that involved the Beatles restoring the peace of the musical Pepperland. In the movie, the band does not voice the characters, though they do make a live, non-animated appearance at the end of the film.

It’s only natural that the biggest band in the history of the world is going to have some bands wanting to cover their music — and they have. There have been famous versions of the songs and critically acclaimed not-so-famous cover versions. Al Green recorded a famous version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” while Stevie Wonder played “I Want to Work it Out” in a version some people say is even better than the original. In terms of radio hits, here are some that you may have heard:

• Yesterday (over 1600 recorded cover versions – the most of any band ever)
• Come Together – Aerosmith, Ike and Tina Turner, Michael Jackson
• Helter Skelter – U2, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Aerosmith
• Fiona Apple – Across the Universe
• With a Little Help From My Friends – Joe Cocker
• Elanor Rigby – Aretha Franklin
• Blackbird – Dionne Farris
• I Wanna Be Your Man – Rolling Stones

Here are the top ten best selling Beatles albums ever for the United States:

• The Beatles (White Album – 19x platinum
• (1967-1970) – 16x platinum
• (1962-1966) – 15x platinum
• Abbey Road – 12x platinum
• 1 – 11x platinum
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band – 11x platinum
• Anthology 1 – 8x platinum
• Magical Mystery Tour – 6x platinum
• Rubber Soul – 6x platinum
• Meet the Beatles – 5x platinum

In case you wondering, next on the list was Revolver with also 5x platinum sales.

In 1976, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels made an offer to the Beatles to play 3 songs on SNL for $3,000. The date was April 24, 1976, and the Beatles Reunion almost happened…but it didn’t. John and Paul were contemplating going on the program that night, but decided not to at the last minute. It would’ve made music history. Sadly, that day never came. The events that unfolded that night were dramatized by the TV film “Two of Us,” which aired on VH1. It was rumored in the mid 80′s that at Live Aid Julian Lennon would take John’s place in a Beatles reunion, but that too never came to fruition.

“Hey Jude” was originally named “Hey Jules” as Paul McCartney’s way of comforting Julian Lennon through his parents divorce at the time. On the way down to Cynthia (John’s ex-wife) and Julian’s home, Paul composed the song “Hey Jude”. Whether the song is actually about Julian, John, or Paul himself was up for debate amongst many in the band. Regardless, the song remains one of their most popular songs with an upbeat tone and message about trying to change someone’s sad mood into something better.

The album begins with the track “Come Together,” which has been covered by Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, and Soundgarden. From the opening track, it progresses into the first Harrison A-side hit, “Something.” That isn’t Harrison’s only major contribution to the album. Later on, the song “Here Comes the Sun” is the second side, which remains one of the band’s most popular songs. The final track worked on by the band was the song “I Want You (She’s so Heavy), a progressive rock track with moog synthesizers and blues influence.The band went out with a bang with their final studio album, Abbey Road. Though Let it Be was released after Abbey Road, this album was recorded first, making it the last recording sessions of the band. The album features some of the best all time Beatles tracks like “Something,” “Here Comes the Sun,” and “Come Together” all on one disc. The album artwork is is a photo of the band crossing Abbey Road, outside of Apple Studios in the City of Westminster, London.

The Anthology Project was a massive undertaking by the surviving Beatles members to compile interviews, songs, and outtakes into one place, which actually turned out to be a TV special, book, and 3-CD set. The project also included two brand new songs including all four band members, using vocals provided by John Lennon after the breakup of the band. The songs were “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” The project was a huge success, heading straight to the top of the billboard charts once the anthology was released to the public. The set is now available on DVD from the original broadcast on ABC. The three discs and TV special followed the band with archival footage and interviews in between. They are in chronological order, so the first CD focuses on the early career, the second on the middle of their career, and the final album focusing on the White Album, Let it Be, and Abbey Road. There were rumored to have been leftover recordings from the project that were also never released to the public, however no known recordings have ever been heard by anyone other than the band.

Since 2000, the surviving Beatles members had been in discussion with Mirage Entertainment and others to organize a theatrical Cirque de Soleil production in Las Vegas. It was completed in 2006, and LOVE is now a permanent staple at the Mirage hotel and casino. The theater was specially built just for the performances.The album of the same name includes reworked mashups of Beatles songs. It was produced by George Martin, who produced all but one of the original studio recordings of the band. It includes parts of the songs Because, Get Back, Glass Onion, Elanor Rigby, I Am the Walrus, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Drive My Car, Something, Helter Skelter, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Help!, Strawberry Fields Forever, Lady Madonna, Here Comes the Sun, Revolution, Hey Jude, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Back in the USSR, and All You Need is Love, among other songs. There are elements of a total of 130 songs. The album is also a soundtrack to the live performances of the Cirque de Soleil LOVE at the Mirage Las Vegas.

Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour! This was also a movie that was released in the mid 60's, but did not fare as well as their massively successful Yellow Submarine movie.

The band stopped performing in 1966 after some over the top performances where the crowd was just too energetic for them to handle any longer (and for the safety of themselves and the concert goers).

Was the media excitement about a supposed rivarly with the Rolling Stones truth, or complete fiction? It seems as though it was merely a comparison by the public, not the bands actual battling it out with each other. Jagger provided background vocals on "All You Need is Love," while The Beatles penned their hit "I Wanna Be Your Man."

The song “All You Need is Love” was first introduced to the world via the live satellite performance on “Our World,” an event that was broadcast on June 25, 1967. The Beatles were commissioned to do the song by the BBC. The theme of the song was to be one simple message that could be understood by many nationalities. The end result was “All You Need is Love,” which immediately went to #1 in the UK and US when released as a single.

Yellow Submarine (flickr)

Beatles scrapbook (flickr)

Beatles Reunion (flickr)

Beatles Anthology cover (flickr)

All You Need is Love (flickr)

Beatles LOVE sign

Hey Jude (TheBeatles.com)

Abbey Road Psychedelic (DeviantArt)

Beatles Anthology Collage (Wikipedia)

Beatles Help Trailer screenshot (Wikipedia)