THE BEATLES

Here, there and everywhere

Beatlemania is back! 40 years after the Beatles' last album, ther world's greatest pop group are conquering new fans...

Pop music is the aural equivalent of the fashion industry - transient. So when John Lennon provoked the Beatles split in 1970, he could never have imagined that their albums would still be bestsellers in 2009 (EMI released digitally remastered versions of all 13 Beatles studio albums in September). During those 40 years other bands have come and gone, some selling more records than the Beatlses, having more consectuive number ones, or playing live to more people, and yet no other band has ever been able to equal the Beatles. So what makes them so special?
Firstly, in 1963, they were in the right place at the right time. After decades marked by war, economic depression, social and political conservatism, the world was ready for change. A younger generation was ready, above all, for fun. It found it in the infectious pop of the Beatles first album, Please Please Me, in their shockingly relaced personal style, in their youthful exuberance and good humour. Beatlemania, as the scenes of mass hysteria the Fab Four provoked was called, was the manifestation of a true social revolution. No band will ever be in that position again.

The first celebrity rock stars

In a sense the Beatles paved the way for today's celebrities. As David Hepworth of music magazine The Word says, they were seen as modern stars who controlled their own destinies. They joked during interviews, giving amusing answers that made them seem approachable. They also broke down class barriers as they went from playing dingy venues in Liverpool to performing for the Queen Mother in 1963. Winston Churchill is even said to have wanted their autographs for his granddauthters.

Pop revolution

Then, of course, there is the music. Unlike most bands at that time, the Beatles wrote their own songs. As their music rapidly matured from the simple melodies of the early albums, they redefined the notion of what pop music can achieve. Forced to abandon live performance because they couldn't hear themselves above the...