The Beatles

One thing that stood out to me in my first British Hit Singles book was the sheer quantity of Beatles records that topped the charts. It quickly became apparent that The Beatles were the biggest band to have ever existed.

For years I just didn't get it. At school in the early 90s when me and my friends who were into rock and metal compiled our Top 10 bands I remember someone putting The Beatles in there amongst the likes of Metallica and Megadeth. What I'd call the twang twang twang sound of The Beatles sounded so tame in comparison.

Then my music tastes moved onto music that didn't involve guitars, so far removed from The Beatles that I never gave them a second thought. As a youngster I remember saying old music can have a certain charm but will always be beaten by new music. 

It wasn't until I became disillusioned with new music and started exploring the music archives that I started appreciating what The Beatles brought to the table.

When they first broke through in late 1962 much of the charts looked like it was still in the 50s. There was no psychedelic rock for example to draw comparisons with. That's not to say all the other music was bad, the number one record the first week The Beatles were in the Top 40 was the excellent "Torstar" by Tornado's which does sound futuristic for it's time.

What did happen though was the start of the Merseybeat scene in the mainstream plus several other bands who weren't from Liverpool adopting a similar sound. It wasn't so much that sound that was revolutionary though, it's what it opened it's doors to later on. 

By the end of 1964 The Beatles had moved away from that sound and would continue moving on to different sounds throughout the rest of the decade. The other bands who didn't move away from it were more or less finished by the end of 1965.

When it comes to the most celebrated Beatles albums it's the likes of "Abbey Road" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" that are often mentioned as opposed to those from their twang twang twang era.

Did they make the best psychedelic rock record or folk rock records? No I don't think they did, but if it wasn't for The Beatles then these better bands may not have had the opportunity to make psychedelic rock for the masses.

Some may argue that one band cannot have that much power over what happens in the music world and the truth is we'll never know what the music world without The Beatles would look like. However I can't think of any other band who was there a the start of the beat boom and would make credible albums incorporating various style of music for the rest of the decade.

Now in 2023 we seem to have come full circle. The Beatles released their final single "Now & Then" which topped the charts. It's far from their best but then I wouldn't expect it to be. It was using John Lennon demos and they tried to make it into a song in 1995 but abandoned it because it didn't turn out very well. This was another attempt with better technology. At the same time though, it's much better than the rubbish we have in the charts these days.