112-630: Meet the Beatles! is a studio album by the English rock band the Beatles , released as their second album in the United States. It was the group's first American album to be issued by Capitol Records , on 20 January 1964 in both mono and stereo formats. It topped the popular album chart on 15 February 1964 and remained at number one for eleven weeks before being replaced by The Beatles' Second Album . The cover featured Robert Freeman's iconic portrait of
224-569: A December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar , who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos , who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace . When presented with
336-667: A Hold on Me ", " Devil in Her Heart ", " Money (That's What I Want) " and " Please Mr. Postman ". Added to these were " Thank You Girl ", the B-side to the single " From Me to You "; " She Loves You " and its B-side, " I'll Get You "; " You Can't Do That " (the B-side of " Can't Buy Me Love "), from the upcoming A Hard Day's Night UK soundtrack; and two new songs, " Long Tall Sally " and " I Call Your Name ". The latter tracks would be released in June 1964 in
448-405: A backing band and electric instrumentation , and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. During the 1964 US tour , the group were confronted with racial segregation in
560-563: A bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals , as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets . They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles , before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle . By early July, they had refashioned themselves as
672-577: A bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker , a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September, they returned to
784-461: A collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to
896-600: A condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr , who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in
1008-505: A controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region. The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service . Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." He claimed that he
1120-536: A copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold
1232-415: A faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1". In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in
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#17328985845661344-488: A few others. " She Loves You " had been issued in America on the Swan label and also sold poorly. In Britain, Parlophone was already releasing its second Beatles album With the Beatles and had issued several singles which were not included on any UK albums with the exception of the first two ("Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" and " Love Me Do "/"PS I Love You"). While the Beatles' first two British albums each contained 14 tracks, in
1456-434: A further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some of Rubber Soul ' s songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, the album also included distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. " In My Life ", of which each later claimed lead authorship,
1568-449: A million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in
1680-684: A million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles! , while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport , an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show , watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 per cent of
1792-482: A problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described
1904-407: A series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. With the Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack . When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow , used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which
2016-516: A show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley , a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills . Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw
2128-437: A succession of drummers, including Pete Best , before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI Records and achieved their first hit, " Love Me Do ", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed " Beatlemania ",
2240-555: A three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester , A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with
2352-428: Is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album", and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul
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#17328985845662464-456: Is unique to the Second Album . The mono version of "You Can't Do That" is also different from the version on the UK A Hard Day's Night LP. Because "I'll Get You" and "She Loves You" were never mixed in stereo, Duophonic/fake stereo versions were made for this album. Capitol Records issued The Beatles' Second Album on 10 April 1964 with the catalogue number Capitol ST 2080. The tagline in
2576-460: The New York Times of 12 January 1964 that Meet the Beatles! was available for purchase, an ad not authorised by Capitol. In 2004, the album was released for the first time on compact disc in both stereo and mono as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set , containing the original US stereo and mono mixes. In 2014, Meet the Beatles! was reissued on CD, individually and included in
2688-530: The BBC , also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth. On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during
2800-625: The Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to
2912-571: The Marx Brothers . United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night , contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into
3024-595: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone ' s lists of the greatest artists in history . Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people . In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool . They were called
3136-660: The Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre . Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles , which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held
3248-567: The Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand , but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of " I Want to Hold Your Hand " to Capitol's Brown Meggs , who signed the band and arranged for a $ 40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC , in Washington, DC, obtained
3360-403: The album era , as albums became the dominant form of record use over singles . These records also increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality, and furthered advancements in electronic music , album art , and music videos . In 1968, they founded Apple Corps , a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After
3472-471: The " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ". According to Bruce Eder of AllMusic , The Beatles' Second Album "stands as probably the best pure rock & roll album ever issued of the group's music" because it "avoid[s] any trace of the pop ballads favored by Paul McCartney that usually slowed down the group's other early albums, and the result was the longest uninterrupted body of hard rock & roll and R&B in their entire output." In his 2014 review of
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3584-452: The " exi " (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan 's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records . As part of
3696-649: The 2009 remastered edition of the Past Masters compilation. The same stereo mix of "Thank You Girl" on The Beatles' Second Album was included on The Beatles Beat , released in West Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the original 2004 CD issue of The Beatles Second Album as included in The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set. The Capitol album mix of "Thank You Girl" is also unique in that it contains three additional harmonica riffs by John Lennon – two during
3808-528: The American market albums were typically limited to 12 tracks and it was expected for albums to include the current hit single. The first three tracks on the album include the December 1963 Capitol single " I Want to Hold Your Hand " along with the record's B-sides both in the United States, " I Saw Her Standing There ," and in the UK with " This Boy " from the original November 1963 release. Neither "I Want to Hold Your Hand" nor "This Boy" had appeared on album at
3920-565: The American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program ". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum . Back in New York
4032-615: The Animals , Petula Clark , the Kinks , and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five. Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records , encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles
4144-552: The Beach Boys ' Barbara Ann ) but avoided the sodden seriousness of other white imitators." He included the album in his basic rock "library" of 25 albums for Stereo Review that year, and later in a more comprehensive library of essential 1950s and 1960s recordings for Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). In 2020, Christgau voted for the album in his ballot for Rolling Stone magazine's third edition of
4256-459: The Beatles boxed set The U.S. Albums . Although following the running order for Meet the Beatles! , the mixes featured in this reissue are the UK mono and stereo mixes. By November 1963, the Beatles had already recorded over 35 songs for EMI's UK Parlophone label, while Capitol Records in the US planned to release an album and a single, and more at a later date. The US rights to the Beatles' first 14 tracks were held by Vee Jay Records along with
4368-698: The Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan ) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave . "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked
4480-473: The Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me . It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After
4592-475: The Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr , who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of " Love Me Do " featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", " Please Please Me ", and " P.S. I Love You ". Martin initially selected
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4704-621: The Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney , the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen , and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg , Germany, over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass . The core trio of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, together since 1958, went through
4816-575: The Beatles used in the United Kingdom for With the Beatles , with a blue tint added to the original stark black-and-white photograph. After EMI's subsidiary Capitol Records constantly rejected requests by both Brian Epstein and George Martin to release Beatles records in the United States, EMI label head Sir Joseph Lockwood sent a deputy to Los Angeles in November 1963 ordering Capitol Records to commence promoting and releasing Beatles records in
4928-471: The Beatles! at number 1 on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the US. The album was compiled mostly from leftover tracks from the UK album With the Beatles and the forthcoming UK Long Tall Sally EP, which are predominantly rock and roll and R&B covers, and rounded out with several Lennon-McCartney -penned non-album b-sides and the hit single " She Loves You ". Among critics, it is considered
5040-573: The Beatles! were issued in Canada, although the earlier Canadian LPs remained in print (eventually with stereo mixes) until the late 1980s, when the CD era precipitated their deletion. In the US, the album debuted at number 16 on the Billboard Top LPs for the week ending April 25, 1964. It peaked at number one the following week, replacing Meet the Beatles! , which had held the top spot for eleven weeks (for
5152-466: The Beatles' Capitol albums, for Guitar World , Jeff Slate commented that "the oomph of the over-compressed Dexter tracks" had since been removed, but the album was arguably their "first great rock and roll record". Referring to the assortment of tracks assembled by Capitol, Darryl Sterdan of the Toronto Sun wrote: "The hodge-podgery begins [here] ... Surprisingly enough, it holds together OK, thanks to
5264-504: The Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They also performed as the Rainbows . Paul McCartney later told New Musical Express that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!". Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe , who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase
5376-404: The Quarrymen , a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth". Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison , then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison
5488-575: The Seventies (1981). In 2001, the album was inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame . In 2003, the album was ranked at number 59 on Rolling Stone ' s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, re-ranked at number 53 on the 2012 list, and re-ranked at number 197 in 2020. In the U.S., the album debuted at No. 92 on the album chart for the week ending 1 February 1964. Two weeks later, it peaked at #1 where it remained eleven consecutive weeks, eventually replaced by The Beatles' Second Album . It sold 4,045,174 copies by 31 December 1964, and 4,699,348 copies by
5600-560: The Silver Beatles , and by the middle of August simply the Beatles . Allan Williams , the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg . They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August,
5712-583: The Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places . After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at
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#17328985845665824-458: The UK on the Long Tall Sally EP. Capitol's engineers, headed by record executive Dave Dexter, Jr. , added considerable echo and reverb to the songs in order to give the album the atmosphere of a live performance. The inclusion of "Thank You Girl" marked the only stereo version of the song released on any album in the US or UK for over 40 years, until another stereo version was released on
5936-411: The US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 people to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan . Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis . Gould points out
6048-426: The US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison . In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport . Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from
6160-512: The United Kingdom to reach number one. The band's third single, " From Me to You ", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, their fourth single, " She Loves You ", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of
6272-533: The United States. Despite the "first album" claim on the Meet the Beatles! cover, ten days prior to its release, Vee-Jay Records of Chicago beat Capitol to the punch with the release on 10 January 1964 of the Beatles' American debut album Introducing... The Beatles , which had been delayed for release for various reasons since the previous summer. Perhaps as a result of the Vee-Jay release, Liberty Music Shops advertised in
6384-514: The advertising for the release read: "It's Here! It's on Capitol!! and It's ALL Beatles!!!" In Canada, this record could not be called The Beatles' Second Album , since Beatlemania! With the Beatles and Twist and Shout had preceded it. A slightly different track listing was released for the Canadian market with similar cover art, under the title The Beatles' Long Tall Sally . In 1968, The Beatles' Second Album , The Early Beatles and Meet
6496-415: The airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage . Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band , saying, "Guitar groups are on
6608-415: The album Introducing... The Beatles , comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me , but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in
6720-524: The album The Beatles' Long Tall Sally issued by Capitol Records of Canada. With the massive popularity of Meet the Beatles! through the early part of 1964 and a desire for additional Beatles product, Capitol Records decided to compile a follow-up album as soon as possible. For this, a backlog of some 25 songs, issued by EMI in Britain and many other territories across the world from 1962 onwards, had yet to be issued by Capitol. The Beatles' Second Album
6832-494: The album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers , à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant." Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in
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#17328985845666944-552: The album was released on CD again, individually and included in the Beatles boxed set The U.S. Albums , which contained the album's running order but with UK mixes as remastered in 2009. An album with the same title and similar cover art but containing different songs from the US release, was issued on the EMI subsidiary label Odeon in 1964 for the Japanese market. The same cover art was used for
7056-400: The album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of
7168-661: The band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a " fifth Beatle ". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with
7280-607: The band comprised John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison , and Ringo Starr . They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle , beat , and 1950s rock 'n' roll , their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock . As pioneers in recording , songwriting, and artistic presentation,
7392-447: The band members' "now habitual use of marijuana". Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album" and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After Help! ' s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on " Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) " marked
7504-409: The band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at
7616-404: The band's purest rock and roll album and praised for its soulful takes on both contemporary black music hits and original material. In 2004 The Beatles' Second Album was issued for the first time on compact disc as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 boxed set . It was issued in a miniature cardboard replica of the original album sleeve containing the US mono and stereo mixes. In 2014,
7728-421: The bridge and one at the end. For its US album debut, Capitol took this stereo version and transferred it into a two-to-one stereo-to-mono mixdown for the mono LP release, thus creating an alternative mono mix of the song. The stereo version of "Money" also underwent the same two-to-one stereo-to-mono mixdown, creating another alternative mono mix. For the mono version of "I Call Your Name", the cowbell comes in at
7840-461: The burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion . The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five ,
7952-502: The challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded
8064-452: The commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists." Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with
8176-587: The country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida , was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at
8288-405: The customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley -inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann , a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group. The album was preceded by the single " Paperback Writer ", backed by " Rain ". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among
8400-507: The end of the decade. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on 3 February 1964, and 5× Platinum on 26 December 1991. All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney , except where noted. According to Ian MacDonald : The Beatles Additional musician and production Shipments figures based on certification alone. The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of
8512-413: The experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid , it just opened up something in my head that
8624-506: The first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour
8736-551: The first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium , the UK's top variety show. Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in
8848-530: The first true music videos", they aired on The Ed Sullivan Show and Top of the Pops in June. The Beatles%27 Second Album The Beatles' Second Album is the second Capitol Records album by the English rock band the Beatles , and their third album released in the United States including Introducing... The Beatles , which was issued three months earlier by Vee-Jay Records . Following its release in April 1964, The Beatles' Second Album replaced Meet
8960-402: The following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall . The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
9072-412: The following days coined the term " Beatlemania " to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck. Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from
9184-429: The grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry , it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $ 10,500 at
9296-404: The group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and some partial reunions occurred. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time , with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in
9408-524: The group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership , and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist . Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ...". On 11 February 1963,
9520-657: The history of the US Billboard charts , holding the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15), most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades , including seven Grammy Awards , four Brit Awards , an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be ), and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards . They were inducted into
9632-610: The invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home,
9744-401: The last covers the band would include on an album until Let It Be 's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song " Maggie Mae ". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad " Yesterday ". Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on
9856-410: The last nine of which Vee-Jay's Introducing... had placed at number two). The Beatles' Second Album remained atop the chart for five consecutive weeks and stayed in the top 200 until May 1965. It reached 1,668,435 copies sold by 31 December 1964, and 2,051,486 copies by the end of the decade. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on 13 April 1964, and 2× Platinum on 10 January 1997. Second Album
9968-413: The latter LP – which comprised most of the Beatles' EMI debut, Please Please Me – due to Capitol's initial lack of interest in marketing the Beatles' music. Second Album was a collection of material from various UK releases and recording sessions dating back to March 1963. Included were the five remaining tracks, all cover versions , from With the Beatles : " Roll Over Beethoven ", " You Really Got
10080-519: The launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles , that echoed A Hard Day's Night 's slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like
10192-408: The media widely adopted as "the Fab Four". EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records , hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963. Vee-Jay finished preparation for
10304-409: The moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer , where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release,
10416-490: The monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club , they encountered Brian Epstein , a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality." Epstein courted
10528-445: The musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style " contrasted with their fans, "veritable ' teenyboppers ' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in
10640-418: The previous November. Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to
10752-604: The recording – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With Help! , the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year . The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At
10864-542: The sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single " My Bonnie ", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of
10976-560: The time in the UK, while "I Saw Her Standing There" had been the lead-off track to the band's debut album . The other nine tracks on Meet the Beatles! are duplicated from its nearest UK counterpart album With the Beatles . Those were original Beatles songs and not cover versions of songs by other artists with the exception of " Till There Was You ". The remaining five tracks from With the Beatles were songs originally recorded by other artists. Capitol determined that for their first album they would only include original and fresh material. There
11088-478: The time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities." Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club . After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to
11200-529: The top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single " I Want to Hold Your Hand ", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times , who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published
11312-408: The very beginning of the song; the stereo version features the cowbell after the beginning of the vocal. George Harrison 's opening 12-string guitar phrase is also different between the mono and stereo versions. On "Long Tall Sally", reverb was added to the stereo version. The "dry" mono mix of "Long Tall Sally" is noticeably different from the mono mix with a slight echo that was issued in the UK, and
11424-433: The way out, Mr. Epstein". However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI 's Parlophone label. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962. He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal,
11536-454: The whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale , evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended
11648-439: Was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film, Help! , was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond ", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: " Help! was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It
11760-505: Was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right". Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed
11872-593: Was fear that the remakes would turn Americans off of the Beatles. The other five songs would appear on Capitol's next American LP, The Beatles' Second Album , released in April 1964. The songs "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" are in a duophonic [fake] stereo, as Capitol had not been provided proper stereo mixes. The album was included in Robert Christgau 's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of
11984-512: Was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: " Help! " and " Ticket to Ride ". The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, " Act Naturally " and " Dizzy Miss Lizzy "; they were
12096-452: Was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi 's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became
12208-516: Was one of the first four rock albums purchased by future music critic Robert Christgau . Writing of the album in 1969, he said it disproves the fallacy among new rock scholars and listeners that the Beatles had not succeeded artistically until the more melodic period of Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966). Instead, he argued it was their ebullient performing style, as on the Second Album ' s covers of African-American rock and roll songs, which "were touched with soul (compare their Money to
12320-526: Was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry." Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group. The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia . Abandoning
12432-434: Was the first album of the group's work to be assembled by the company exclusively for the US market, Meet the Beatles! having been a reconfigured and shorter version of the band's second EMI LP, With the Beatles . Despite its title, however, Second Album was in fact the third Beatles LP in the United States, since Vee-Jay Records had released Introducing... The Beatles in January 1964. Vee-Jay had been able to issue
12544-496: Was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song " Raunchy " on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as lead guitarist . By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art . The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and
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