Short History Of... - The Beatles

Episode Date: July 21, 2024

The Beatles - made up of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison - were the biggest band the world has ever seen. Recording together for just over seven years, setting unprecedented sales, and revolutionising songwriting, theirs was a stardom that burned brightly, but quickly.  So who were the four ordinary Liverpudlian teenagers before they created a band that would change the music industry forever? How did their music, and fame, affect them? And what caused ‘Beatlemania’ to all come crumbling down so soon, and in such dramatic fashion? This is a Short History Of…The Beatles. A Noiser production, written by Olivia Jordan. With thanks to Kenneth Womack, Professor of English and Popular Music at Monmouth University, and author of The Cambridge Companion to The Beatles. Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is the 6th of July 1957 in suburban Liverpool. Two schoolboys, Ivan and Paul, are wandering around the local village fete. As the midsummer sun beats down, the boys pass a group of young children taking turns at the coconut shy, while their mothers watch on, rocking prams. Around a corner, a group of girl guides attempt the hoopla, alongside teenage boys, all slicked hair and leather jackets, who are trying their hand at the strongman game. Up ahead, Paul spies a candy floss stand,

spinning glistening sugar into voluminous clouds of pink. But there is a sound on the breeze that's more intriguing than any of that, and the boys keep walking towards it. Pushing through a crowd that's gathered at the end of the aisle of stalls, they see a makeshift stage with a group of young men crammed onto it. A skiffle band. Playing an upbeat song, they're using a range of unusual improvised instruments.

A washboard with a wooden spoon for percussion a guitar with a missing string Ivan knows the boys in the band they're from a rival school called quarry bank from which they get their name the quarry man he's brought his friend Paul along to the fete just to hear them play because Paul plays the guitar too. Together, Ivan and Paul get right to the front, finding themselves in the direct gaze of the band's frontman, standing tall in a checked shirt, his curly hair slicked with grease, playing with gusto.

Ivan doesn't recognize the song, but when he turns to Paul, he finds he's singing along. Later, cooling off in the shade of the stage, Ivan introduces Paul to the band telling them that his friend is a great musician too. Spotting that Paul fortuitously has brought his guitar along, the musicians ask him to play them a tune. And Paul doesn't need asking twice. He stands, swings his guitar around to the front of his body, and launches straight into effortless song. He is, quite simply, brilliant. Note-perfect, masterful, and exuding both the confidence and unteachable musicality that most of the band could only dream of.

As he sings, the frontman nods, impressed, but he's also suddenly aware of the shortcomings of his band. When he finishes, the Quarryman's singer strides over to Paul as the others get the instruments ready for their evening slot. He puts out his hand and properly introduces himself to the talented teenager. Paul takes the hand, shakes, and soon the two boys are talking like old friends, the fair forgotten, the summer stretching out before them. This is the very first time Paul McCartney and John Lennon meet.

And the world of pop music is about to change forever. In just a few short years, these two boys will have established themselves as the leading songwriters of their generation. two boys will have established themselves as the leading songwriters of their generation. Along with Ringo Starr and George Harrison, they will become The Beatles, the biggest band the world has ever seen. Theirs was a stardom that burned brightly but quickly. Recording together for just over seven years, they released 13 era-defining studio albums and performed live over a thousand times. From the building of the Beatlemania phenomenon in 1963 until their breakup in 1970, they continued to produce music. Setting unprecedented sales and audience records as a live act, it revolutionized songwriting and continued to occupy a unique place in the canon of pop music.

songwriting and continue to occupy a unique place in the canon of pop music. So who were the four ordinary Liverpudlian teenagers before they created a band that would change the face of the music industry forever? How did the music and the unprecedented fame change them? And what caused it all to come crumbling down so soon and in such dramatic fashion? caused it all to come crumbling down so soon and in such dramatic fashion. I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Network. This is a short history of The Beatles. It is late 1940 and Britain is at war. In the northwest, the Liverpool Blitz is underway, a sustained, destructive bombing campaign by the German Luftwaffe. Nightly, air raid sirens ring out, warning the people of the city to seek refuge.

Against the backdrop of this assault, one night in November, 26-year-old Julia Lennon gives birth to a baby boy, whom she names John. Julia is vivacious and talented, with striking long red hair and a sharp sense of humor. But with her husband Alf away at sea, life is difficult, and by the time little John is four, he's passed into the care of an aunt. The years pass and John becomes a bright, talented, but uncommitted student. However, it becomes clear he's inherited his mother's playful showmanship. By the age of 15, he started a band. Kenneth Womack is professor of English and popular music at Monmouth University and author of The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles.

So John essentially recruits his friends. If you were a friend of John Lennon, you were in his band. It was just about that simple. He wasn't necessarily interested in talent. He was just excited by the sound. Being a great guitar player didn't seem to be important to him. He just liked the idea of doing it, right? Which is what a lot of the skiffle bands were like in England in the mid-1950s.

Skiffle, a jazz, blues, and folk hybrid, is a new craze from America. Its popularity partly due to its inexpensive accessibility. Any instrument will do. An upside-down saucepan can be a percussion. A tin kazoo can hold the melody. For John, the band creates a feeling of belonging, which he will spend a lifetime recreating. But the happiness is blown apart in 1958, when his mother is killed in a car accident. He's just 17 years old, and it is a trauma from which he will

never recover. Julia's death occurs just after John's life-changing first meeting with Paul McCartney. What John doesn't know yet is that Paul harbors a similar sadness of his own. Paul McCartney's childhood was spent in a poor but happy home with his mother, father and younger brother. But when Paul was 14, Mary McCartney, his beloved mother, died after surgery for cancer. This shared experience of grief will be integral to Paul and John's songwriting partnership in the years to come. But right now it is 1958 and another young guitarist is about to come to their attention. Born to an Irish Catholic mother and English Protestant father, George Harrison has the most stable childhood of the core band members. The youngest child,

George, is swathed in the influence of his older brothers, and most importantly, their record collection. Aged 13, he's in hospital with a kidney infection when he hears that a school friend is selling a guitar. George's mother, who has little excess income for luxuries, is weakened by the pleas of her bed-bound son and finds the money for the instrument. Once out of hospital and on the mend, he begins guitar lessons. But a teacher soon becomes superfluous as George is learning popular tunes by ear. Though he's academic enough to attend a local grammar school, he's more interested in music than the other subjects and takes to carrying his guitar around so he can practice wherever possible. He's soon noticed by a boy in the year above who gets the same bus.

Like George, this older boy is often seen with his guitar. He introduces himself as Paul McCartney. And it's not long before Paul wants him for the band. And it's not long before Paul wants him for the band. Paul begins the process of saying, there's a younger guy I know who can really play guitar. We need to bring him in. And, you know, John's objection is really just the fact that he's a younger guy.

It's like hanging out with somebody's preteen brother. Nobody wants to do that. And for John, it just seems ridiculous. And it takes Paul, I believe, more than one audition to get George into the band when finally John can't really resist any longer. And that's when Paul and George begin the process of getting rid of all the other quarrymen. I mean, George was very open about the fact that these guys weren't any good and he and Paul needed to get rid of them. John never gets rid of those guys, right? I mean, they were his friends. John was in it to hang out with friends. John grew up feeling abandoned, right? Because of the schism in his own family. He felt that nobody wanted him. And now he's got this group of kids. He's

not going to abandon them. That's not what you do when you're a guy with his background. Once the deeds are done, though, John and Paul start writing together. Bunking off school, they sit with guitars at the ready at the McCartney family's kitchen table while Paul's dad is out at work. With a few songs practiced to perfection, armed with five pounds pooled together from their pocket money, the Quarrymen go to a tiny local studio. There, they hand the cash to the engineer and cut a record. The A-side is a cover of their idol, Buddy Holly with That'll Be the Day. But the B-side is their first original song, the Elvis-inspired In Spite of All the Danger. As the 1950s end, John begins studying at the Liverpool College of Art, having displayed

an early flair for illustration. His classmate, Stuart Sutcliffe, is a talented painter and sells a painting at the college exhibit for £65, a large sum for a teenage boy in the 1950s. Spotting an opportunity, John uses his powers of persuasion to convince Stu to spend the money on a bass guitar. Despite the fact that Stu cannot actually play, he is influenced enough by John's promises of glamour, rock and roll, and most convincingly girls, to buy the instrument and join the band. They begin performing in City Haunts, the Casbah, the Jacaranda, and the Cavern. It's soon regular work, and it's certainly fun,

but it's not enough to live on. Now, past school age, the boys begin feeling the demands of adulthood. George takes a labouring job, demoting the band to a hobby and leaving the others to wonder whether they too should find employment elsewhere. But then serendipity intervenes. One evening, after another late-night show at the Jacaranda Club, the owner tells the boys of a residency opportunity he's heard about through the grapevine.

Miranda Club, the owner tells the boys of a residency opportunity he's heard about through the grapevine. A club in Hamburg, West Germany, is looking for a British band. It's neither exciting nor glamorous, but it'll pay well and they'll get accommodation. Maybe even a great adventure. It all sounds perfect, except there's a catch. The Germans want a drummer. It all sounds perfect, except there's a catch. The Germans want a drummer. Wasting no time, George goes to the only person he can think of. Pete Best, whose mother runs the Casbah, has been given a set of drums for Christmas. They have an audition with him, one of those auditions where he could not possibly fail.

And most importantly, he is willing to go to West Germany. I mean, that's the price of admission in a lot of ways this is an uncertain kind of future it's not like let's just go to west germany it'll be a lark it's not a lark it's serious business to go off and play these clubs they thought they were these tough kids but you're going to one of the seediest places on earth with pete best on drums they are five a full house and having gone through several name changes they are now the beatles spelled with an a and so to germany summer 1960 is said to make or break them in more ways than one is said to make or break them in more ways than one. Hamburg is grueling.

It chews up these boys and spits out five worldly-wise but weary young men. Hours and hours of on-the-job learning turns the band into a unit, tightly rehearsed and well-drilled in the rigors of nightly sets. Days, then weeks, pass by in a haze of hedonism. The band discovers pills that give them surges of energy,

seeing them through eight-hour stage shifts. They become partially almost nocturnal, but tensions arise when Pete begins to miss shows, leaving the rest scrambling to borrow drummers from other bands. It's trial by fire, and they do not escape without some burns. One night, guards storm the club where the band are playing, taking George into custody. At 17, George is underage and doesn't have a work permit. He is deported, and after Paul and Pete upset a venue manager by burning a condom,

they're sent straight back to Liverpool too. But Stu Sutcliffe stays behind for a while, having found love in Hamburg. A foursome once more, the Beatles' most formative summer is over. Back on the Mersey music scene, they secure gig slots by advertising themselves as an exotic band direct from Germany. They earn a living from their performances and as backing musicians for more successful artists, such as Hamburg-based Tony Sheridan, whose track My Bonnie gives them their first credited release, though initially they are named as The Beat Brothers.

By now Stu has left the band for good, though tragically just a year later he'll die in Germany of a brain aneurysm. In Liverpool though, an important chain of events has been set in motion. Brian Epstein is the 27-year-old son of the owner of North End Music Stores. The Epstein family was known for the department stores. They're a venerable Jewish family in Liverpool and were quite important of some wealth. Brian is their eldest son who fails at everything he ever tries to do. He happened to be gay, which was illegal, criminalized in Great Britain at this time.

So he's definitely living in a kind of closeted lifestyle. There's no doubt he's talented, smart, canny, but he fails in his military stint. He goes to RADA and blows that. He finally begins to create some success when he works the music department, right? In the family stores. This is something he can do. He's good at it. Brian's in charge of the record shop 200 yards from the Cavern Club on Matthew Street, where the Beatles have become regular performers. The band hang out in the shop most weekends, browsing the music, then leaving without buying.

Brian takes no notice of them, and for their part they dismiss him as posh, quiet and unassuming. But he's about to change their lives. It's November 1961, the end of another busy Saturday for Brian Epstein at NEMS record shop. He's preparing to close for the night when a final customer rushes through the door and immediately approaches the till. The boy, no more than 13, unwinds his scarf from his face. Come to spend his pocket money, he asks for a single called My Bonnie by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers. Unusually, it's a title Brian's never heard of, so he asks the boy to repeat the names and scribbles down the request, promising to investigate.

Disappointed, his young customer shrugs, then turns and trudges out of the store. A week later, Brian has been doing some digging. Since the boy's visit, My Bonnie has been requested by more customers, and NEMS has placed an order with the stockist for a box full of copies. But Brian's intrigued by this new band on the block. Asking around, he finds that the Beat Brothers are a Liverpool band who actually go by The Beatles. And as luck would have it, they're regulars at the Cavern Club just a few doors down, and they're playing today. At lunchtime on the 9th of November, Brian takes a break from the shop. He then strolls a few yards down Matthew Street before arriving at the door to the venue.

Inside, he descends the stairs into the basement venue, the floor under his feet sticky as usual with spilled drinks. Brian is instantly recognized. Bob Wooler, the club's DJ, announces his arrival, and the audience crane their necks to spot the infamous Mr. Epstein. Brian buys a drink and finds the perfect table tucked into a corner with a clear view of the stage. drink and finds the perfect table tucked into a corner with a clear view of the stage. He settles in just as they appear, four unruly-looking young men clambering onto the tiny stage, guitars slung across their backs. When they begin, the place is transformed. The music is loud, the musicians full of confidence, heckling the audience and falling about laughing

at indistinct jokes they seem to share without words. One of them even tucks into a corned beef sandwich between songs. Brian doesn't stay seated for long. He's mesmerized. The enthralled audience lap up the energy. It's impossible to watch an act so energetic, so joyfully uninhibited, without it rubbing off on you. And when eventually they play their final chord and take a last bow, everyone in the room is grinning. Brian pushes through the crowd to find them backstage.

He follows the trail of chatter to a tiny dressing room, opening the door to reveal all four Beatles squeezed inside, cigarette smoke billowing about them. George is the first to recognize their visitor and greets Brian with a cheeky grin. What brings Mr. Epstein here? It's quickly apparent that all four boys possess this same electric sense

of humor, the same effortless charisma. And Brian Epstein wants to be a part of it. Over the next few weeks, he sees them play several times. With each show, that magnetism pulls him closer until one day in December, he has made up his mind. With utter sincerity, Brian offers to manage the Beatles. Say yes, he tells them. Say yes, and you'll be bigger than Elvis Presley. The boys are sold. The Beatles sign a five-year contract with Brian Epstein. But their new manager is shrewd.

It's time to clean up the act. No more messing about, no more swearing on stage. Definitely no more sandwiches. Almost immediately, he doubles their fee at the Cavern and begins pulling every string at his disposal to get their demo heard by music labels in London. All the while, with their new, slick appearance, donning jet-black drainpipe suits and thin, tightly knotted ties, the Beatles rack up performances. Brian travels back and forth between London and Liverpool, presenting the demo he so deeply believes in, but to no avail.

The Beatles are rejected by every major label. The biggest of them all, Decca, asserts that guitar bands are on the way out and that the Beatles have no future in show business. Months pass in the same way. Summer soon rolls around again and they take the offer of another pocketful of Deutschmarks for a second season of slogging away in Hamburg. But no sooner have they arrived in West Germany, the band receives a telegram from Brian,

summoning them to London for a recording session at Abbey Road Studios. They have a record deal with EMI's Parlophone label. But they can't celebrate yet. It's time to prove themselves. It is June 1962, and finally, the tide is beginning to turn. In the studio, the Beatles play every song in their repertoire for their new producer, George Martin. Martin is smitten with their personalities and repartee, but less convinced by the technical ability of one particular band member.

He will say to Brian Epstein, you know, I'm not sure about the drummer. You can use him on stage if you want, but I'd like a different guy, a professional in the studio. So much has been made about this. This is a band who is desperate. They've made it this far. There's one guy in the world who's saying, I don't like your drummer, so what do they do?

They replace the drummer. Pete's done. He was done as soon as George took Brian Epstein aside. The rest unravels quickly. George Harrison is confident in the decision, convinced that Pete had always been the weakest link. John and Paul outsource, asking Brian to do the deed. With promises of pastures new offering little consolation, Pete is sacked and left devastated. A trio once more, the remaining Beatles seek a new drummer.

Enter Richard Henry Parkin Starkey Jr. A few months older than the band's eldest member, John Lennon, Richard is a native of Dingle, a notoriously impoverished area of Liverpool. Most of his childhood was overshadowed by illness. At 12 years old he was stricken with tuberculosis and hospitalized for over a year. When eventually discharged, he had fallen so disastrously behind at school that he eventually dropped out altogether. Instead, his teenage years were spent playing with various local skiffle groups.

By the age of 20, in 1961, Richard Starkey became Ringo Starr, earning his stripes as a drummer in Hamburg. Though officially a member of the Hurricanes, he stood in for another band on the occasions their drummer failed to show up. Luckily for him, that band was The Beatles. And as far as they were concerned, Ringo had been an upgrade of an understudy. So when the time comes to replace Pete, Ringo is the standout favorite. They want the greatest, and in their eyes the greatest is Ringo Starr. They make him an offer, which he accepts in an instant. Within weeks,

they release their debut single, Love Me Do. The train now firmly in motion, they release Please Please Me, before embarking on a UK tour as the support act of Roy Orbison. On the tour bus, John and Paul write From Me To You, which is released in April, and another single, She Loves You, comes out in August. Each is a smash hit. In October 1963, Brian books the Beatles their biggest opportunity yet. Their televised performance on Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium reaches a national audience of 15 million. Overnight, their household names.

By the end of the year, they have performed for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance and released their first album along with another number one single, I Wanna Hold Your Hand. The band are being swept along a current, and a passionate following is blooming. By now, the Beatles find they can go nowhere without an entourage of screaming fans. It's time for the next big step. The draw to break America is huge, and the Beatles are ready. But Brian wants everything to be perfect. Bands get one chance across the pond,

and he's determined that by the time the boys land on American soil, it'll be so well prepared that nothing can go wrong. He spends a week in New York, taking meetings and ensuring that all appearances, press and performances are perfectly organized. Maybe it's because of his work, and maybe it was superfluous, but the Beatles' American reception is even bigger than Brian could have imagined. Their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show is monumental. The 15 million of Val Parnell now seems small fry. Ed Sullivan's show reaches 74 million.

They perform live as the camera pans from Paul to Ringo to George, the audience screaming with every flash of Liverpudlian smile. When the camera finally moves to John, the caption below bears the words, Sorry girls, he's married. Until now, this has been a closely guarded secret. He'd been with Cynthia for a long time, but I think all the indicators are that he never planned to get married. Certainly not at that time.

And for the rest of his life, he would talk about how so many children are born out of a whiskey bottle on a Saturday night. I think that his hand was forced by the unexpected pregnancy, and that created that moment that found John being married. He described it as something that made him very concerned. Sure, it changed the dynamic for them. And of course, with all of the changes that the Beatles would go through over the next several years, any hope that they were going to have some kind of normal marriage was probably out the window anyway. At this point, it's 1964, and Beatlemania is well and truly underway. In breaking America, they now have access to the biggest economic marketplace in the world, an extraordinary success, and all before any of the four have reached their 25th birthdays. And the wheel continues to turn.

In June, they embark on their first world tour. Alongside this comes A Hard Day's Night, a watershed release comprised entirely of original Lennon and McCartney compositions. A movie of the same name is released simultaneously, allowing the band to bring their songs to life through cinema. While their tour takes them to 30 cities, from Auckland, New Zealand to Washington DC, their film takes them just about everywhere. And it's not just teens and 20-somethings who love them. In a pre-emptive act of honour, the Beatles are conferred MBEs,

British Empire Awards presented by the Queen to recognise their service to the music industry and popular culture. Though those receiving the accolades are usually nearing the end of their careers, these serve as real-time acknowledgements of achievement. the end of their careers, these serve as real-time acknowledgements of achievement. In a press conference, Paul affirms that MBE must stand for Mr. Brian Epstein. Certain members of the establishment are less impressed, though, with some previous recipients returning their own MBEs in disgust. Mass crowds turn out everywhere they go,

and the hysteria reaches frightening levels of intensity. Celebrated playwright and actor Noel Coward writes of attending a Beatles concert in his diary. The noise was deafening throughout, he notes, adding, I was truly horrified and shocked by the audience. Law enforcement is often precariousious and crowd control non-existent Constance alongside Brian and the Beatles are Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall

both friends of the band who join the travelling party as road managers They work tirelessly to move the band from place to place safely with varying success. In Houston, Brian falls off the back of an airplane, as staff lower a baggage mechanism, jostled by crowds uncontrolled by police. Their appearance at New York City's Shea Stadium makes history. The audience of 55,600 breaks the record of seats sold by any artist in history. But from the moment they walk out on the stage and play the opening notes of

Twist and Shout, the screaming starts. Neither John, Paul, George, nor Ringo can hear their instruments, and as the hysteria continues throughout, nor can the audience. It's later reported that the noise inside the stadium reached 131.35 decibels, louder than a jumbo jet. But rather than being elated by the power of their fans' adulation, the band are unnerved. The sense of threat is only heightened by the general panic with which they are taken by a police van, screeching from stage straight to hotel room. What was once novel, funny or flattering has become scary and too close for comfort. It is a wonder that no one was killed in those early years, that they were able to move mostly safely through the United States, especially and highly particularly down under, right, in New Zealand and Australia,

where the biggest crowds who would ever come out for the Beatles were arriving. Just outstanding, massive groups would be there, and it would be Mal and Neil against the world and whatever police managed to scramble. There were some moments that were kind of touch and go where fans started to become unruly, right? Throwing chairs and that sort of thing. For the first time, there really was this kind of dark side of Beatlemania showing itself. An incredibly tight schedule keeps the Beatles

in a constant state of movement. The band take to hiding in hotel bathrooms in the pursuit of five minutes peace. And while the fame is increasingly claustrophobic, the strain of being away from their grounding influences is stretching them far too thinly. Three of the four Beatles are now married. John to Cynthia, Ringo to Maureen Cox, George to Patty Boyd For each of the ceremonies, the role of best man fell to their balancing paternal manager, Brian The American tour comes with some tough decisions too

They discover that they're booked to play to a racially segregated crowd and refuse to go ahead. We never play to segregated audiences, John says, and we are going to start now. I'd sooner lose our appearance money. In the end, the city officials capitulate and the band play to a racially mixed crowd. And it's not the only culture clash.

John's claim from an earlier interview that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus resurfaces, triggering mass burnings of Beatles records across the US Bible Belt. Christian groups take to the streets demanding that radio stations ban their music. With the repercussions potentially hitting stations in the US and even South Africa and Southwestern Europe, John is forced to explain himself in a tense press meeting. He wasn't saying it was good or bad. He was just noting it and what it meant in his life and in the world. Religion had always been this big firmament and still is for certain parts of our society. And he commented on this and they seized on that.

In an already fraught tour, controversy is the final nail in the coffin. They never tour again. The decision to stop touring is seismic, not least for Brian. No longer directing and in demand, he finds himself unmoored, fearing for his role in the group's dynamics. Brian, I mean, goes into a full-on depression because, of course, he believes that the purpose of him as manager is to navigate the seas of world touring. He turns to drugs, which only makes things worse. After a suicide attempt, he checks into a private clinic for mental health treatment. Despite the concern about their manager, the band's relationships with one another remain

remarkably strong. The expanse of studio time freed up by stepping back from all the traveling and performance brings a reopening of creativity. Far from peaceful, creative downtime, the band creates space for other forces, both intellectual and spiritual, to enter their lives. They cross paths with the Hindu guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and, inspired by his teachings on transcendental meditation,

they follow him on his spiritual lecture tour. Alongside this, the band spend thousands of hours developing new work. Change is visual, too, with monochrome suits making way for color, eccentricity, and texture. The bright and unexpected Sergeant Pepper costumes worn on the now iconic record cover designed by a prominent pop artist, Peter Blake, usher in a new era of experimentation for the Beatles. Brian, though, continues to spiral.

Brian, I think, misread his role in the band. He is having a mental breakdown after they stop touring. He's wondering what his role is going to be, but he's missing the forest for the trees. His role has been very successful. He's actually building something. And if Brian had been able to continue that past August 1967, I think the Beatles would have been in much better ship shape.

But of course, that doesn't happen. On the 27th of August 1967, Brian Epstein is found dead in his London apartment. The Beatles are with a Maharishian, Bangor, Wales, but immediately return to London. Brian's death is ruled an accidental suicide by overdose. Devastated, the band meet at Paul's to regroup. It is decided that they will continue working on their current project, but postpone their following of the Maharishi. As for management, no one can replace Brian, so they will go it alone.

No one can replace Brian, so they will go it alone. For a while, things push on quietly, and in February 1968, the band and their partners, including the newly engaged Paul and Jane, travel to India to deepen their philosophical understanding. And it pays off. Their newly embraced education translates into their increasingly mystical music. The Beatles keep upping the ante and changing their sound in ways that most bands would dare to do because they want to keep their audience, right? It's risky. The Beatles are so big and so driven and ambitious in a creative sense that they don't care. I mean, otherwise, you never make the White Album. You only do this if you are so comfortable and certain

about the importance of your art and the foundation of your fame. You don't do this. I mean, it is a gutsy, gutsy record. And of course, like everything else, number one, right? Just an absolutely dominant masterwork. You don't do that unless you are driven as they were by their art. Returning to England, they begin to shed the psychedelia of the magical mystery tour, paving the way for the album simply called The Beatles, which becomes known as The White Album, thanks to its completely blank cover. An album unlike any other, it is genre-defying, ambitious, rich with multiplicity,

and it awes critics globally. rich with multiplicity, and it awes critics globally. The band convene for increasingly intense and lengthy sessions in the studio, but this period of productivity is offset by the grief of Brian's death and the stressful personal lives of the band. John scandalizes the press by spending time in public with artist Yoko Ono when both are married to other people. Cynthia files for divorce on adultery grounds. Paul and Jane's engagement ends, George and Patty are struggling amidst a rumored infidelity, and Ringo and Maureen are doing much

better. These private strains begin to seep into the mechanisms of the band. Friendship has always been the force field keeping the Beatle bubble intact. But the boys are growing up. Without Brian, as George will note, everything is different. Their business affairs are now their problem to solve. Money management proves complex, and the band begin to bristle. In an attempt to cope alone, they have by now naively created Apple Corp, a quick fix which had been part of Brian's plan to create a tax-effective business structure.

But the Beatles are fish out of water and it shows. Disagreements over the appointment of a business manager encroach into studio sessions, and tensions continue to brew. Even so, in January 1969, they begin rehearsing for an intended live TV special, with the sessions being filmed for what will become the biopic Let It Be.

But there are continuous disagreements about all aspects of the music, choices of material, and who's calling the shots. The fact that Yoko is always at the studio doesn't always go down well either. By the end of the first week, George has had enough and walks out.

His diary for the day reads, rehearsed until lunchtime, left the Beatles, went home. Crisis talks begin, and within a few days he's back, but the plans for the live show are dropped. Another musician joins the rehearsals, Billy Preston, a pianist admired by the group in part for his work with their shared idol, Little Richard.

As John observes, Billy is sophisticated, wise and measured, unknowingly encouraging best behavior from the bickering band. In these fleeting moments, it's possible to imagine they are back at the start, relishing the experimentation and creativity. They record several tracks, including The Long and Winding Road and what will eventually become Let It Be, their final studio album.

In a spontaneous moment of rock and roll, they perform these songs live on the rooftop of their Apple offices in London. It will be the final time they ever perform together for an audience.

Let It Be includes songs written by both John and Paul as tributes to their mothers. After these glances behind, it is time to head into the future. In March 1969, Paul marries Linda Eastman, whose family are entertainment lawyers, and Paul's preferred choice to appoint as managers of the Beatles' affairs. But John has other ideas. Newly friendly with John and Yoko, Alan Klein is a notable and pugnacious New York businessman. Though already managing artists like the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke,

Klein has been in pursuit of the Beatles since Brian's death. Charmed nonetheless, John relays Klein's proposed terms to his fellow Beatles, but Paul is unconvinced. Pressure is mounting. It is Friday, the 9th of May, 1969. The Beatles are at Olympic Studios in London, finalizing tracks for Let It Be. They're not alone. John has invited Alan Klein.

Visitors are commonplace in the studio, but Paul is wary of this one. Visitors are commonplace in the studio, but Paul is wary of this one. There's something about Klein's greasy, brash manner that seems at odds with all the Beatles stand for. Towards the end of the day, the group make their way to the control room for a playback of completed songs. Paul scans the room for a place to sit. His bandmates look uneasy. Ringo sits fidgeting in a studio chair. George is perched awkwardly on the edge of the mixing desk. Opting for a space on an upturned speaker beside John,

who's nervously running a hand through his beard, Paul begins tapping a worried foot against the ground. Something's wrong. Just as the sound engineer hits play, John bursts from his seat, unable to hold in whatever he's been hiding any longer. Hurriedly, he announces that he, George, and Ringo want to sign Klein as financial manager. Paul looks across at Klein, leaning against the doorframe,

a predatory twinkle in his eye. Paul knows that he has asked for more commission than Brian ever took from the Beatles' earnings. He's certainly only in it for the cash. But the others are unbending. Alan straightens up and addresses the room. He asserts the urgency of the matter. The agreement needs to be signed today. He's catching a plane back to New York and must meet with his company board first thing tomorrow. If not, the deal's off the table.

John, George and Ringo, their nervous energy palpable, urge Paul to sign before it is too late. Alan pulls a red-cased fountain pen from his blazer pocket, then takes the contracts from the envelope and hands them to Paul. For a moment, the musician considers. But then he blinks, realizing something. Tomorrow is Saturday. What board meeting takes place at the weekend? Rising to his feet now, Paul says no. Firmly, no.

A huge row unfolds. John is shouting. George tries to reason. Ringo pushes his way to the center, urging them to calm down. Paul hears himself shouting back now. The four are angry, arguing until there's no space left for understanding. And then, with a single sentence that carries over the noise, the course of Beatles' history is forever changed.

John tells him that they have already signed the deal. With that, the eyes have it. Outnumbered, Paul is forced to concede. Having dropped the bomb, John storms out of the studio, swiftly followed by Ringo and George. Klein is the last to leave, throwing a knowing glance over his shoulder, catching Paul's eye just as the door slams shut behind him. With what will be one of their last ever tracks still playing from the tape decks, Paul slumps in shock. The loss of Brian is felt keenly in these moments of disarray. His harmonizing wisdom and business efficacy, so vital to the early success of the band, is now hopelessly missing. Ultimately, with the power dynamics so dramatically altered

Alan Klein's inclusion is the disaster that will destroy the Beatles The band don't even try to pretend anymore During one of their final sessions, George says with solemnity I think we should have a divorce To which Paul replies, it's getting near. But before they go, there is one last project to complete. Though Let It Be is released later, Abbey Road is the Beatles' swan song, the last music they ever record, and they'll go out with a bang. and they'll go out with a bang.

They've continued to change and grow, and now they produce this new kind of masterwork with eight-track recording. It's a thing of beauty, really. And it does end with this symphonic suite that has several songs that are talking about human-related generative issues. It's like Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man and As You Like It,

this kind of growth and this experience. And it has regret in it, too. The sadness that Paul reflects upon about friendship and his own failures in friendship and carry that weight are heartbreaking. They end with a rock and roll review, with a drum solo and three guitar solos, multiple segmented guitar solos for the ages,

and then that explosion into a single piano note and that wonderful, as John said, cosmic philosophical line. It's such a powerful way to cap their legacy. And of course, what do they do? They walk across that street and off of the world stage forever. They do not come back. that street and off of the world stage forever. They do not come back. The Abbey Road medley ends with a Shakespearean couplet through which the Beatles give their final message. And in the end, the loveartney announces the breakup of the Beatles.

Though their band is no more, the individuals all go on to release celebrated solo music. go on to release celebrated solo music. Paul McCartney later reveals that eventually, and just in time, all four Beatles were able to recover what was lost in their breakup, and rediscover the childhood friendships at the heart of all that came before. For John Lennon, the story comes to a horrifying end when he is murdered in New York City in December 1980. He's just 40 years old. His delusional killer, inspired by the novel The Catcher in the Rye and enraged by John's atheism and earlier claim about the band being bigger than Jesus, remains in prison to this day. Though he survives much longer, George Harrison dies of cancer in 2001.

Though he survives much longer, George Harrison dies of cancer in 2001. In Liverpool, the Beatles leave a city eternally changed. In 2001, the city's international airport is renamed after John Lennon. Moreover, a 2014 cultural report found that the direct impact of Beatles-specific activities within the city had created 690 jobs and over £39 million in annual turnover. In 2023, Paul and Ringo worked together to release a newly discovered Beatles single, progressively altered to restore John's vocals and George's guitar stems. Fifty years after their final studio album, Now and Then becomes the Beatles' 28th number one hit. Over half a century later, the Beatles are arguably the most popular and influential

music act of all time. And what endures just as powerfully as their music is their message of friendship, love, and togetherness, forged between adolescence and propelling them to the very pinnacle of artistic achievement. These are real people, and it's a true story. This is how life transpires. We all have hopes and dreams, but one guy know, one guy will die of cancer. Another will be murdered. Friendships will be torn asunder, never to be put back together again. There'll be bittersweet reunions. It's all here. These things are going to be real, but what makes it so special is that they harnessed this incredible power that they have. They grew as musicians,

as songwriters at an incredible clip, and they did it for as long as they possibly could. And when they finally leave, it breaks our heart over and over again in all the ways we like our hearts to be broken. Next time on Short History, I will bring you a short history of the ancient Olympics. Once you've got an Olympic victory, you probably could have, if you wanted to, lived for the rest of your life on the kudos, the rewards that came from it. And we know that some of the sponsoring cities basically extended the privileges of an Olympic victor to the victor's family. That would extend possibly even beyond your lifetime.

I think the Olympics is best described as agony and ecstasy or paradise and hell on earth at the same time. That's next time.