The following article is from an unknown newspaper. It is from United Press International.The Beatles were the '60s.
John Lennon once said the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." Considering their impact on the era, he had a persuasive argument.
What is called "The '60" really began in 1963 with dawn of Beatlemania.
The Beatles played music no one else was playing, in a way no else was playing it. They didn't even look like anyone else. And they became the single most important influence on the youth of the time.
The core of the group was John Lennon and Paul McCartney who collaborated on more hit songs than any other popular composers.
As Richard Williams, a leading authority on pupular music, said, "It was McCartney who wrote pretty tunes, but it was Lennon who gave it its hard edge."
Their work caught the imagination not only the screaming, weeping teen-age girls but also the musical establishment. As American composer Aaron Copland noted, "When people ask to re-create the mood of the 1960s, they will play Beatles' music."
Their arrival in the United States created a sensation that temporarily overshadowed American rock 'n' roll stars. Teen-age girls, in America as well in England, screamed, cried and fainted during their concerts.
Their appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" was reminiscent-though more dramatic-then Elvis Presely's first appearance on the same show a decade earlier. But where Elvis was an electrifying performer, the Beatles' impact went far beyond their music.
In the words of Carl Belz, who wrote "Story of Rock," the Beatles' "accomplishments in the rock idiom have completely altered the course of the music's development, and their songs provolked critical issues from which rock was formerly immune.
And they had long hair. Eventually, so did millions of teen-age boys.
The soul of the Beatles was Lennon, even though he shared top billing with McCartney. As the group grew, it was clear that Lennon was behind that growth.
The first major change came in 1965 with the album "Rubber Soul," laced with puzzling lyrics, more complicated instrumentation and even the introduction of the sitar to popular music.
Interest in Eastern music was only one manifestation of the group's interest in Eastern thought and led them to create "Revolver" and the even more revolutionary "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," perhaps the most important rock album ever recorded.
By this point the Beatles had stopped touring.
"Sgt. Pepper" was clearly influenced by the band's use of hallucinogenic drugs and marijuana.