Without question, The Beatles - Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon are amongst the most important single influences in the development of popular and modern rock music of the 20th century. They were initially an English skiffle band. British skiffle developed in the post-war jazz scene. A transformational skiffle version of Leadbelly’s “Rock Island Line” and “John Henry”, stimulated British musicians to transform music into a more exciting form. John Lennon’s skiffle band, “the Quarrymen”, was the original band that eventually became The Beatles. In the early 60’s, playing and practicing as a rock band in Hamburg, Germany on long, non-stop shows in various clubs. It was during these long hours of practice that The Beatles developed their early musical and vocal style. Beatles history is filled with stories of debauchery, crime and sensation during this period. One of their earliest recordings was “My Bonnie” ( My Bonnie lies over the ocean…), a traditional folk song transformed to their burgeoning rock style in January of 1962. It was a local hit but failed to ever gain widespread play.
After honing their skills as Liverpool’s leading band by 1963, The Beatles concentrated on the theme of “Love” in their songwriting. Their melodies were in singable keys and the chord progressions were generally simple derivations of folk-rock, such as their top twenty hit of 1962, “Love Me Do”. Their songs of finding and losing love gained great popularity with their first release of “Please Please Me” in 1961. The catchy tunes, singable and upbeat, led to “Beatlemania” and several years of non-stop touring around Europe and the United States. The Beatles became quickly disassociated with touring due to its exhausting schedule and the inability of them to hear themselves play and further develop their sound. The fans would scream in delight beyond the capability of the sound equipment, Vox amplifiers, used by the band to generate enough discernable sound. The pressures placed upon the band by the record label to produce more and more original music was only possible due to the exceptional capabilities of all four band members to write and compose simultaneously and due to the magic of the band’s producer, Mr. George Martin.
As a result of their dissatisfaction with touring despite unprecedented popularity and effect on the music industry as a whole, they were not satisfied with themselves. Enter drug experimentation. They first were introduced to marijuana in 1964 and in 1965, their dentist, Dr. Albert Hall, introduced them to the hallucinogen, LSD. John Lennon was transformed by this experience. This led to the others “taking the trip”. As a result of their new perception of life and the world as experienced by their drug experimentation, their seventh album, a studio project, Revolver, was released in 1966 and gained recognition as a radical departure from their “love” themes and folk-rock style.
“Revolver, Pet Sounds and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, relics of the first era of psychedelic rock and shining testaments to what can be accomplished in the recording studio when folks are fuelled on the potent drug of rampant imagination.”
—J. DeRogatis, Milk it!: collected musings on the alternative music explosion of the 90s[19]
Every song on the Revolver album is innovative in its own way, and the style is ranging from the orchestral song of the plight of the elderly in England after the war, Eleanor Rigby, to John Lennon’s psychedelic “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Their innovations were endless. In Eleanor Rigby, the only musical accompaniment to the insightful lyrics penned by all four Beatles was a string octet. Through the use of strings as percussion and melody, a bass and drum are not even missed. It has yet to be classified as a recognizable style of music. In “Taxman”, lyrically the Beatles were one of the first bands to openly defy British authority, even by name and present an anti-authority and anti-establishment position due to the taxation imposed upon the band subsequent to their success. As the Revolver album progresses, it reaches a pinnacle with the last psychedelic track, “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Two fantastic innovative recording techniques on this track were the use of various pre-recorded guitar tape loops placed within the song, playing some of those loops backwards, and the use of vocal doubling on John Lennon’s vocals and then routing it through a Leslie speaker, thus creating one of the earliest filtered “chorus” effects. At times it seemed these techniques were “stumbled” upon; however, it was the creative nature of their intentions and work that produced this landmark sound.
This album made a profound impact upon the music industry and even today, it is considered innovative. The Beatles produced a sound so different and new , without the use of digital media and the endless processing capabilities of today’s tracking gear. Their collective talents in songwriting, composing and production merged to produce a musical project that changed history. They challenged other artists to be better and as well the still encourage musicians and producers of today to strive for better than expected.
I would like to address the issue of drug experimentation. Their desire to change for the better along with instances of fate, such as their encounter with Bob Dylan and experimentation with marijuana (Dylan misinterpreted some of the lyrics of one of their songs) led to “illuminating” their perception of life and the world. This led to demonization by religious groups as well as other hate groups such as the Ku Klux Clan, who espoused their work was the work of the Devil. If we look at many of the great innovators in songwriting and musical innovation, this seems to be a commonality. The Beatles, Hendrix, Dylan, The Stones, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys – all used the drug experience to enhance their creativity. It has been demonstrated scientifically that the hippocampus and amygdala, anatomical portions of the human mid-brain, are responsible for spontaneous and inventive behavior as well as pleasure, rage and sexuality. Newer medical imaging techniques, such as PET scanning have demonstrated more development of these areas of the brain in persons with higher than average auditory and visual artistic aptitudes. Possibly a common thread that explains but does not excuse the florid use of drugs, alcohol, and hallucinogens amongst musical geniuses is the need to stimulate these areas of the brain more effectively, thus fueling the creative process, at least from the perspective of the artist. Are there other “fuels” to satisfy the needs of the limbic system of artists and musicians? How can we get more satisfaction without the inherent risk to life?
References
Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver . (n.d.). Public Radio Exchange . Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.prx.org/pieces/15368-everything-was-right-the-beatles-revolver
THE BEATLES BIOGRAPHY. (n.d.). Lyrics. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/the-beatles-biography/9b5665a6978fdf4b4825685d00067ce3
Skiffle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2011, December 25). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiffle
The FIRST record to feature The Beatles name. (n.d.). What's New at rarebeatles.com. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.rarebeatles.com/photospg/bon64.htm
Revolver (album) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2012, January 7). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver_(album)
"Revolution, n. t. (2012, January 8). The Beatles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles
The Beatles and drugs | The Beatles Bible. The Beatles Bible: songs, albums, history, profiles, places, photos and more.. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/drugs/
Ph.D., R. J. (n.d.). Hallucinations. http://brainmind.com/Hallucinations88.html. Retrieved January 6, 2012, from brainmind.com/Hallucinations88.html
Black, H. (2001). Amygdala's Inner Workings. The Scientist, 15(19), 20.
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