Can You Beat the Beatles?

If we are to talk about musicians who had made major contribution in the music industry, number one in the list would be the Beatles. Their popularity and music has been welcomed by every generation with different musical genre and had become a legend.

Electro Rock Music

Started in Liverpool during the early 1960′s, the British English rock band with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr dominated the rock era with their amazing song writing and award winning compositions.

Although their music was first categorized as rock and roll, they later on experimented with several genres from pop ballads to psychedelic and hard rock. Their reputation was known as the “Beatlemania”. It was their album Rubber Soul that was dubbed as their first major step in the advancement of their music. It was released in December of 1965, their first album recorded in a recording studio.

During the Summer of Love in San Francisco, their Song “All You Need Is Love” was considered to be the flower power anthem. It was on June 1967 that the Beatles used the same song to perform in their first live global television link on Our World to an approximately 350 million viewers.

Although branded as the most influential rock band, the Beatles itself had its own influences from different musicians such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. In fact, according to John Lennon, there won’t be any Beatles if it won’t for Elvis Presley.

Despite their success in the music industry, the Beatles continued to listen and appreciate other bands including Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, the Bryds and the Beach Boys. It was actually the Beach boys’ album Pet Sounds that inspired McCartney to create Sgt. Pepper. As a matter of fact, it was an experiment on the part of the Beatles to equal Pet Sounds.

The Beatles is recorded as the best-selling band in history with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide and was even drafted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 – it was considered as their first year of eligibility. In the United States, they are also labeled as the best-selling band with 177 million certified units while in the UK their album dominated the British charts and they have sold more singles than any other in the music industry.

Here is the list of awards and recognition that the Beatles had earned throughout the decades:

  • 4 Multi-Platinum Albums (UK)
  • 4 Platinum albums (UK)
  • 8 Gold Albums (UK)
  • 1 Silver Album (UK)
  • 6 Diamond Album (US)
  • 24 Multi-Platinum albums (US)
  • 39 Platinum Albums (US)
  • 45 Gold albums (US)
  • Won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score (film Let It Be)
  • Recipients of 7 Grammy Awards
  • Recipients of 15 Ivor Novello Awards
  • Topped in Billboard magazine’s list of all-time most successful “Hot 100” artists. (2008)
  • Hold the record of most number one hits in the Hot 100 chart (as of 2014)
  • Included in the Time magazines collection of the twentieth century’s 100 Most Influential People
  • Ranked by Rolling Stone as number one on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” (2003)

Their influence with other musicians has become phenomenal and most of them used some of their singles as their album covers, pretty much enjoying the success it brings to them. However, it was the front cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band that became famous and was tagged as the most mimicked album cover worldwide. Their Album “Let It Be” was the band’s final album release and the same titled film was made a year after.