Beatles Break UpAs they walked off the plane, thousands of people stood there to welcome them. They were screaming their names and singing their songs.
Everyone had heard ofthem, they were the true meaning of rock and roll; they defined it. They werethe biggest sensation since Elvis; they called themselves The Beatles. They hadnever expected to be the next sensation. No one ever expects to become a greatlegend in national or world history. It had taken them two years to establishthe final four members, but once they joined together they were known around theworld.
Even though they were not the greatest guitarists, drummers, singers ormusicians (Professor Joel Friedman, personal interview). As a whole they cametogether as a world champion team, like a finely tuned machine. But just asevery dynasty has its finest hour they came to an end, just like any greatthing. No one ever wanted or thought this miraculous band would ever cease tobe.
However, they did, but why is the question many people still ask today. Theywere four young men with a dream to play in a band. The members consisted ofJohn Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. The band wascreated in nineteen sixty, but the group was not fully established untilnineteen sixty-two. This is when the name British Invasion first started to takeacclaim.
They toured around the world performing everywhere. Not wanting to everstop for a second because of the love they all had for music and because of howhard they had worked to finally achieve what all human beings want, success. They had about seven great years together, at least from what the world new, butsoon things started to change. The group began to have difficulties withinthemselves.
Internal conflict is what brings all great things to stop workinglike clockwork. The question is what was so bad that this extremely talentedgroup had to break up? There is much controversy to why the group broke up. Manypeople believed different things, the problems varied; the problems ranged fromdrugs to personal differences among one another. The group gave many interviewsand had many discussions to why they had broken up, but still there are debates. People now are starting to come to the conclusion, that there is not onespecific reason to why the exceptional band ended. Could the Beatles just havenot had anything left to do with their music? According to The Beatles, writtenby Allan Kozinn, the Beatles had given seven great years of music, but the wholegroup wanted different things.
In a personal interview done with ProfessorFriedman, the possibilities were endless to why they ended. Lennon had begunrecording a record with his wife and felt it was in his best interests to gosolo. McCartney, one of the key writers for the band, began creating songs solo. The band no longer worked as a group to accomplish things; they would just cometogether as one when they needed to record. The band started to feel that itwould just be better to go on their own paths and see where they would end. Manypeople say this reason could not be true because all of the Beatles songs saywritten by McCartney-Lennon.
McCartney and Lennon would no longer try to createsongs together, or try to put music to what they had written. It got to thepoint were the only reason the songs were McCartney-Lennon was because Lennonmight give his opinion if McCartney needed help, not because he wanted to helphim write (Friedman). According to the web site, on March 30, 2000,www. askjeeves. com, Harrison had wanted more artistic freedom with his work,which was not possible. Harrison had become very interested in Indian music,culture and philosophy; he wanted to incorporate it into the Beatles music, butLennon and McCartney would have no part of that.
(Kozinn, 162). They believedthat they were the two writers for the group, and did not want to incorporateHarrison’s music into their band, therefore he felt as though he was beingshunned from the group. This intimidated Harrison, which is not something thathelped the band. When a member of a group does not feel 100% involved, it causesaggression and can lead to more controversy.
Everyone in the group wanted to putin what they believed in, but they felt as though they could not. Which causestension and controversy. Through out their entire career the Beatles have alwayshad an idolization with Bob Dylan. While spending more and more time with Dylanthe Beatles began to experiment in drug use along with him.
However, Dylan andthe Beatles are totally different personalities. Dylan being able to use drugsand still accomplishes his goals and in contrast the Beatles were not able tomix work with pleasure in that respect (VH-1, Behind the Music). Lennon hadbecome too entangled into the drug scene. Lennon was having a very tough time inhis life. He became bored with all the things that he used to love, touring andrecording.
He soon found something to replace the feeling of emptiness;experimenting with drugs. He was no longer part of the Beatles world; he was inhis own. The drug use started fights among the members and soon it wasimpossible to establish any kind of agreement (Orman 12-13). The Beatles weresoon unable to work together. By all consuming drugs and having that one thingin common led to a split between members because they all had differentattachments to it. Another main reason that was speculated to why the Beatleshad to come to an end was because of marriage and/or girlfriends.
Lennon becamevery close with Ono. The two lovers became inseparable. They also wanted tostart a family together and move on in life instead of staying in the sameplace. Their time together began cutting into their recording time, which madethe others frustrated. The fact that Lennon had began recording an album withOno caused much tension among the group. The group preferred recording inprivacy, which Lennon did not understand.
According to Kozinn it is ridiculousto blame Ono for the break up. Though she caused much tension, the reasons weremuch more complex and way beyond her (Konzinn 175). The group had always workedalone, and once things got tough and the group began to develop more and moretrouble, Ono began to interfere more with the group, causing more problems(Friedman). Also, Harrison and Starr were married, and both of their familieslived outside of London, which made recording and touring difficult. The Beatleswanted to spend time with their families and not have to leave all the time. Lennon especially was a main factor in the fact that the touring ended.
He didnot like to go out on tours; he also lost the desire to record music within theband. It had become routine to him, and he was sick of it. In an interview donewith George and John in 1967 referring to stop touring, it was said that it waslike an end of a cycle. When they were in Liverpool, it was like they understoodthe crowd, but once out touring around the world, it was different. There was anew different type of audience each day; it was no longer what they were use to(www.
askjeeves. com March 30, 2000). As many old bands experience today when theygo on tour they seem to not have the same crowd following. There include someold fans, new ones, and other people who would just go to see them because theynever saw them and figured it would be fun. They were losing their fan base thatbelieved in their music, and gained fans that just wanted to hear something. According to John, “When we were away from it for a while it was likeschool holidays.
You hadn’t done any work for a bit and you just remembered thelaughs. You looked forward to it again. . . until you got back and were fed up.
But we’ve had enough performing now. I can’t imagine a reason that would make usdo any sort of tour ever again (www. davidsbeatles. com).
Though the fans weredisappointed and touring was hard on the members in the band. They wanted tomake music and have fun, but touring was no longer fun for them, which henceforth, made creating new music no longer fun. In reference to the web page,www. ask. com as of March 24, 2000, in 1969 the group began to discuss ending thegroup and going there separate ways.
Paul wanted perfection, John had Yoko,George wanted more artistic freedom and Ringo was tired of being just a drummer. They all urged for something more that could not be given to them if they keptdoing what they were doing. Although it does not sound selfish and greedy itreally was. Just as a dynasty begins to lose power because they want to keepexpanding on what they already had their band lost power because of what theywanted to become.
When Paul was asked to explain why the group had broken up hestated, “Personal differences, business differences, musical differences,but most of all because I have a better time with my family. ” The otherquestions those many during this time were wondering; was it temporary orpermanent? Paul answered, “I don’t really know. ” George Harrison wasinterviewed in 1971 about one year after the break- up. He stated that Paul Johnand himself have made so many songs of their own, that it is a good idea if theyall go and make their own albums.
Each of them wanted to play their songs theirown way and not the way the others want. The only way to go about it was forthem to break -up. George also said that they all have to try somethingdifferent, and once they had maybe the Beatles’ will work together again. It wasall about compromise for George.
Slowly the screams started to fade and soon theBeatles were no more. If only the group had learned to compromise to what theothers wanted, and had stopped being selfish, the miraculous band would not haveended, but their stubbornness and their inability to listen is where theirdownfall was. There were so many reasons to why the band had to end, but themost prominent to me, was because they no longer were a band together; they werea band that had drifted and no longer combined their work, they just did whatthey had to do. Who knows where and what they could have done with thereincredible talent.
This amazing band changed rock and roll forever, and theywill never be forgotten. Though the screams have stopped and the fans no longerare at the airport to greet them when they get off the plane, they will alwaysbe known as the band that changed music for the better. They will always live inthe memories of what once was and of what became. They changed music to bettersuite the people of the day and they laid the foundation for the future of allmusicians across the globe from present to future.
People should not sit andponder about why the Beatles broke up, but should think about the great memoriesthey have provided for the entire world. How they helped make music what it istoday for all music fans and for the children who will once listen to the greatsounds which come out of the same stereos which once played the great music thatLennon, Harrison, McCartney, and Star magically fabricated. BibliographyCording, Robert. . . Ed.
In My Life. Fromm International Publishing Co. NewYork. 1998 This book talks about how the Beatles influenced everyday peopleslives.
Which is important to how they took the world by storm and how the peoplefelt when they fell apart. It was because of the fans they were so great, sowhat they think and how they felt is substantial. Kozinn, Allan. The Beatles. Phaidon Press Limited.
London, 1995 The Beatles whole history is recorded inthis book. It contains how they started, became famous, and how they fell apart. Orman, John. The Politics of Rock Music. Nelson- Hall, Chicago.
1984 This bookdeals with the issues of John Lennon and his problem with drugs. This is analleged reason that the Beatles broke up. www. ariz. com/beatles/index. html March7, 2000 The Beatles dominated rock music in the 1960s, eventually broke up whenthey felt their possibilities as a group were exhausted http://www.
getback. org/breflib/breakup. htmlMarch 7, 2000 this site explains why the Beatles broke up. It expresses thateach one of The Beatles wanted to do there own thing.
Paul had made theannouncement there was a lawsuit issued by him. Which caused much controversy. He also stated that the Beatles would never again work together. http://rollingstone. tunes.
com/sections/artists/text/bio. asp?afl=;LookUpString=868March 7, 2000 John Lennon had wanted to part from the group before there actualbreak- up in 1970. Just before the group broke up, he had started recording withOno, his wife. Because of Lennon’s relationship with Ono, would cause greattension among the Beatles. In April McCartney — in a move that Lennon felt wasan act of betrayal — announced his departure from the Beatles and released hissolo LP. From this point on (if not earlier), Ono replaced McCartney as Lennon’smain collaborator.
The Beatles were no more. At the time, much attention wasfocused on Ono’s alleged role in the band’s end.
