Legacy

Discography

            
The Beatles released a total of 12 studio albums, 13 EPs, and 22 singles. We have to take into account that the band international discography is complicated, since The Beatles albums bought by fans in the United States were not the same as the Beatles albums bought by fans in the United Kingdom. Their first single in UK and the United States was “Hey Jude” and the album “The Beatles”, also known as the “White Album”. (Sullivan 2014). Not until 1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" did the countries get in sync.

            It was the 1980s when The Beatles’ UK discography was released on CD, and from 2005 over a four-year period, the original recordings were re-mastered using the latest technology. (“The Beatles Discography.” Wikipedia.org)

We can see a list of the Beatles´ albums below: 

•    Please Please Me (1963)
•   With The Beatles (1963)
•  A Hard Day´s Night (1964)
•  Beatles For Sale (1964)
•  Help (1965)
• Rubber Soul (1965)
• Revolver (1966)
• Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
•  Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart´s Club  Band (1967)
•  White Album (196
• White Album 2 (1968)                      
•  Yellow Submarine (1969)                      
•  Abbey Road (1969)
• Let it be (1969)

      Influences

We can enumerate several important contributions that this band brought along the music level: from innovations in music to popular, fashion and cultural influences.

     POPULAR INFLUENCES

        

     The Beatles had a large influence on popular culture, and it continues nowadays.They did not only were successful during the British Invasion of the US, but their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide becoming so an influential phenomenon.

      The Beatles performed the first concert played at an outdoor stadium at Shea stadium, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable.

    FASHION INFLUENCES

      Concerning fashion influences, we can emphasize their clothing and hairstyles, which had a global impact on fashion, and it was imitated worldwide between 1964 and 1966. The Beatles´ haircut was also known as the mop-top, due to it suggests the idea of a mop, it consisted in a straight cut-collar-length at the back and over the ears at the sides, with a straight fringe. (Freeman 2013)

      One of the members, Lennon, later began to wear his signature round glasses which gave a more mature image for the “mop-tops”, and this style of eyewear is still popularly known as "John Lennon glasses."

   

    During their next stage, known as the psychedelic era, the members of the group brought into fashion coloring suits and shirts, and trousers with floral patterns imitating the hippy style wearing also collars and sandals. Finally, in the last period of their career, the Beatles decided to wear t-shirts, blue jeans and denim jackets presenting so a more casual style
.

    SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES

       

         The Beatles changed people fashion style and the way people listened to popular music, even they had a great popularity in sociocultural movements of its period; they became icons of the 1960s counterculture, they acquired an activist role in various social and political arenas, including movements such as hippy movement, women´s liberation, gay liberation, and environmentalism.

   
Within The Beatles´ influences we can emphasize artists such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Roy Orbison. (Hecl 2006: 34)

Awards

            The Beatles have been conceded a large amount of achievements and awards. The Beatles have been granted with 28 Grammy Awards, American Music Awards and Brit Awards, 6 Diamond albums among others.

            

They were presented in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and even in 1965, the four members of the band were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. The Beatles sold between 600 million and over one billion units worldwide, being so the best-selling band in history. As well as being included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century´s 100 most influential people. (Van Dyk 1998)

After their break-up, The Beatles have been recognized as a popular music icon, and we could say The Beatles to be the most successful band in history due to their best-selling albums, and their amount of Nº 1 songs in world wide.


References

Aceshowbiz.“the ace in entertainment zone – The Beatles Awards.” June 27 2013.<http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/the_beatles/awards.html>.[Consulted 21st March 2014]

Freeman, Larry.”Hairstyle: the Story Behind the Beatles Mop Top Haircut”.2013.<http://larryfreeman.hubpages.com/hub/The-Mop-Top>.[Consulted 21st March 2014]

“Discography.” Wikipedia “The Beatles discography.”2014.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_discography>[Consulted 21st March 2014]

“Fashion Influences.” Wikipedia “The Beatles´ Influence on popular culture.”August 2009.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles'_influence_on_popular_culture> [Consulted 21st March 2014]

Gerber, Jonathan.”TheBeatles: A Legacy of Innovation and Elusiveness.” Nov 2009.<http://www.popmatters.com/feature/115697-the-beatles-a-legacy-of-innovation-and- elusiveness/>[Consulted 21st March 2014]

“Popular Influences.” Wikipedia “The Beatles: History.”2014.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles#Musical_style_and_development>[Consulted 21st March 2014)

Rudolf Hecl. Masaryk University, Brno Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies. "The Beatles and Their Influence on Culture." 2006. <http://is.muni.cz/th/108918/ff_b/The_Beatles_and_Their_Influence_on_Culture.txt?lang=en.> [Consulted 21st March 2014]

“Socio cultural influences.” Wikipedia “Counterculture of the 1960s.”2014, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960s> [Consulted 21st March 2014]

Sullivan,Jim.“USNews: The Beatles Discography: Album by Album.”Jan.23th.2014. <http://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/articles/2014/01/23/the-beatles-discography- album-by-album>.[Consulted 21st March 2014]

“The Beatles Discography”<http://todomusica.org/beatles/discos.shtml>. [Consulted 21st March 2014]

"The Mersey Beatles: The Beatles Legacy".<http://www.themerseybeatles.com/legacy.htm>. [Consulted 21st March 2014]

Van Dyk, Bill. “The 100 most influential people of the 20th century.” 1998. <http://www.chromehorse.net/lists/100most.htm> [Consulted 21st March 2014]