On the Beatles - Research Paper Example

In November of 1960, they met the rock and roller Tony Sheridan, and they became friends. The next year, they met again and this time they performed a song together, “My Bonnie”, which was really, their coming-out song, so to speak, because performing this song brought them to the attention of Brian Epstein. He was a music entrepreneur and he became their manager. Epstein worked on getting them a record deal and label, but they got rejected by almost every British record company (Spitz, 15-20).

One day, Epstein persuaded George Martin to listen to a recording the Beatles had done, and after convincing him that they would one day become very famous, he signed them on with Parlophone. They released their first eight albums with Parlophone. In August of 1962, Pete Best left the Beatles and he was replaced by Ringo Starr as the drummer. He also contributed as a vocalist on a number of successful songs. In January 11, 1963, The Beatles released “My Bonnie” which was an instant hit, and Beatlemania began in England (The Beatles, 23-35).

After this, there was almost a non-stop series of concerts and tours for about a year. This was the year for the Beatles. Everybody was talking about them, they were everywhere. They got intense media interest. They had TV shows, press interviews, and a weekly radio show. They appeared on ABC’s TV show “Thank Your Lucky Stars”, they were on BBC’s Here We Go, and many others. They were literally on the show every day. That year, they had four nationwide tours; they would finish one show and leave immediately for another, or even do two shows in one day.

Two of the four tours were led by American Stars, but at almost every show during them, the crowd was wild for the Beatles, which made the Beatles to be embarrassed for the American singers (The Beatles, 37-39). The Beatles hit the United States the next year, early 1964. However, weeks before their arrival, the fateful assassination of President John F. Kennedy took place, and the nation was in grief. This was a critical time in American history, and it affected many Americans, many of whom were the youth.

The Beatles wanted to be able to reach out to them through their music. In the span of the next few days they flew over Miami, where they spent time with Ed Sullivan again and got to catch up with him. On the 22nd of February, they left America victorious and arrived at Heathrow Airport, where again they were met by thousands of fans. The same year, the Beatles went back again to America for yet another tour, this time much longer. They performed thirty concerts in twenty three cities, attracting thousands of fans, making millions of dollars, and paving the way for other British groups to wow America (Davies, 15-19).

The next year, 1965, Beatlemania still continued on and after having attending a premiere of their film, “Help”, they went back to America to Shea Stadium where they had their biggest concert, attended by fifty five thousand fans. After that successful concert, they met with Elvis Presley and after, flew back to the UK (Miles, 24-25). The next year was one that proved to be rough for the Beatles. Lead singer John Lennon was interviewed where he said “We are bigger than Jesus. Christianity will vanish and shrink; I don’t know what will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.

” The British people didn’t say much of it, but the Americans were shocked. It ignited a lot of anger and hostility and the Beatles were