During their ten-year career, The Beatles were responsible for more seismic shifts in music than any other band. But they rarely get the credit for playing such a formative part in the development of rock music. Here are a dozen tracks that show just how important they were - and how much they rocked.

I’m Down

Tired of having Long Tall Sally and Twist And Shout as their usual set-closers, Paul McCartney decided to write something where he could really let rip and rival John Lennon as the Beatle with the rock’n’roll edge. “I could do Little Richard’s voice,” he told Barry Miles in 1997. “Wild, hoarse, like an out-of-body experience.”

I’m Down (the B-side of the seven-inch of 1965’s Help!) was a last blast (for the time being) of the raucous stylings typified by Lennon’s versions of Money (That’s What I Want) and Chuck Berry’s Rock And Roll Music.

From 1966’s Revolver, it’s the one time a George Harrison track would open a Beatles album, but what a statement, and what an album. As biting musically as it is lyrically – thanks to a little help from a reluctant Lennon – it snapped at the heels of HM Treasury and signalled the baby boomer generation’s post-austerity awakening. A wild guitar break (by McCartney, at George Martin’s request) and wired mod groove still pays off today. Tomorrow Never Knows.

Here’s where LSD, The Tibetan Book Of The Dead and one of Ringo Starr’s malapropisms collide. Debuting a one-chord drone, Lennon attempts to sound “like a thousand Tibetan monks”, intoning lyrics inspired by Timothy Leary through a swirling Leslie speaker. Add McCartney’s avant-garde tape loops, processed beats and backwards instrumentation (that Taxman solo, reversed) and rock music shifted course once again.

Back In The USSR

This time Paul tried out his “Jerry Lee Lewis voice, to get my mind set on a particular feeling” on the lead track from The Beatles (1968). Fusing Chuck Berry’s Back In The USA with the Beach Boys’ California Girls, it sets off at quite a lick, tongue firmly in cheek as McCartney romanticises Iron Curtain life in a Cold War climate. Although ashram buddy and Beach Boy Mike Love was instrumental to the concept, in the US the track went over like a fart in church.

Source: loudersound.com/Jo Kendall

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 Directed by Simon Hilton and David Frearson (with graphics and guerilla street art animation by Frearson) and produced by Sean Ono Lennon, Delphine Lamandé-Frearson, Sophie Hilton, Faye Jordan and Grace Davyd, the captivating video illustrates, through a kinetic text narrative and statistics of how many civilians and soldier's lives have been tragically lost from violent conflicts around the world, and the perpetually escalating financial costs incurred - including The Troubles in Ireland, the Vietnam War, the Iran-Iraq War, Lebanon, Tiananmen Square, the Lockerbie bombing, the Bosnian War, the Rwanda and Darfur genocides, the Chechen Wars, 9/11, the Iraq War, Syria, the Ukraine War, the War in Gaza and from mass shootings in the United States of America.

It poignantly ends with the reminder that more than 1.5 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S.A. since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 December 1980. He would have been 85 on 9 October 2025.

Written about Bloody Sunday, the January 30, 1972, massacre of 13 unarmed protesters, including six children, by British soldiers during a protest march in Derry, Northern Ireland. The tragedy also famously inspired U2’s classic 1983 song of the same name.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is featured on the new box set, POWER TO THE PEOPLE, a 12-disc collection that chronicles and celebrates John & Yoko’s non-violent political activism in NYC in the early ‘70s. Songs from Sometime In New York City have been reordered, rejuvenated and completely reimagined as a new set of Ultimate Mixes, entitled New York City.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE was produced by Sean Ono Lennon and his 5x Grammy Award-winning production team. The centerpiece of the collection is the One To One Concert that took place on 30 August 1972, at Madison Square Garden in NYC featuring John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory and Special Guests. These two performances were John’s only full-length concerts after leaving The Beatles.

Source: Tyler Damara Kelly/thelineofbestfit.com

Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late John Lennon by performing Beatles hit Help for the first time in almost four decades amid his US tour in California on Friday.

The music icon, 83, who wrote the track alongside Lennon in 1965, included a whole host of the band's songs in his setlist, with Help featuring for the first time since way back in 1990. McCartney took to the stage for a one-off show at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Palm Desert ahead of the North American leg of his Got Back tour kicking off on Monday.

The Beatles legend also performed a string of the other band's hits including Hey Jude, Let It Be and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lennon was tragically shot dead at the age of 40 by fan Mark Chapman outside his home in New York City in 1980.

He had left the Beatles in 1969 and in 1970 the split hit headlines when McCartney announced publicly that he was no longer working with the group. Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late John Lennon by performing Beatles hit Help for the first time in almost four decades amid his US tour in California on Friday.

The icon, who wrote the track alongside Lennon in 1965, sang Help for the first time since way back in 1990 (L-R Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison 1963) The late musician would go on to become embroiled in legal battles over the band's back catalogue which caused tension between him, his wife and former song-writing partner.

Back in 2022 McCartney projected documentary footage of his late bandmate as he took to stage at Spokane Arena, Washington. He projected footage of the late Lennon behind him and 'duetted' with his bandmate for a touching rendition of I've Got A Feeling.

A touching photograph of the incredible moment showed he performed on stage as Lennon sang and played the guitar on a huge screen behind him. The footage was taken from Peter Jackson's Disney+ documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which aired in November 2021 and followed the making of the band's 1970 album Let It Be.

McCartney told the crowds: 'Peter Jackson said, "I can pull John's voice out if you'd like me to".' Earlier this year the cast for Sam Mendes' upcoming Beatles biopics have been announced, with four huge names set to take on the roles of the Fab Four.

At CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas, Sony confirmed the cast for the four Beatles projects following a sea of speculation, with all four films set to be released in April 2028.

McCartney took to the stage for a one-off show at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Palm Desert ahead of the North American leg of his Got Back tour kicking off on Monday.

Source: dailymail.co.uk/Geraint Llewellyn

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Autographs of all four Beatles, collected by a teenage fan in 1963, have been sold at auction.

A photograph of the group – signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Starr also writing a personal dedication at the top – went for £1,900.

It was taken before a gig in Coventry at the start of the Beatlemania era, and went under the hammer on Monday with Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Lichfield.

Seller Chris Barrows, 74, said his late brother Phil collected the signatures during a trip out with their father Ron, who was a piano tuner.

"My dad came home one day and said he was going to tune the piano ahead of The Beatles' show and other performances," said Mr Barrows.

"I didn't go as at that time I was more interested in football, but my brother had been playing guitar for six months and went along."

Richard Winterton Auctioneers A close-up image of the signed black-and-white photo of the Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are wearing suits with white shirts and black tiesRichard Winterton Auctioneers

Mr Barrows' late brother Phil, obtained the autographs after meeting the band in Coventry.  The Beatles were already there when the pair arrived – and the boys' dad had to ask Ringo to stop playing the drums so he could work.

It gave Mr Barrows' brother, who died in September, the chance to visit the band in their dressing room and even enjoy a quick jam with the stars. "He played guitar with John Lennon and Paul McCartney and even had a go on Paul's left-handed bass," Mr Barrow said.

He returned with a photo signed by the group, with the personal message: "To Philip best wishes from The Beatles."

The photograph had been valued between £1,500 and £2,000.

Source: Shannen Headley/bbc.com

Ringo Starr shared his vision for the Beatles' enduring legacy, expressing delight that their music continues to reach every generation.

In a new interview with the Financial Times, Starr spoke fondly of the Beatles' enduring popularity, and gave a compelling reason for their continued popularity.

"Every generation, if they like music, listens to us. And you know, we still sell records. We have billions of streams a year! It's incredible. I know why. The music was great, the songs were great, the attitude was great," Ringo said.

He took the opportunity to praise his original collaborator, Paul McCartney.

"Paul and I are still doing what we were doing back then. We're touring, we're making records," Ringo stated.

During the interview, he also reflected on the success of the album "Abbey Road", commenting:

"I love the Abbey Road story because we all sat in a circle and said, 'We have this album, let's go to India and do it, let's go to Everest, let's go to the Pyramids or just cross the street.' And that's exactly what we did. A lot of times the Beatles would just sit around and talk about big ideas and then say, 'Let's just cross the crosswalk.' And it turned out great."

Source: Vijesti/en.vijesti.me

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A song written by legendary musician Jimmy Page was done so in response to criticism from The Beatles‘ George Harrison.

Led Zeppelin member Page would take on the challenge set by the so-called quiet one of The Beatles. Harrison would be an accidental influence of sorts on one of Led Zeppelin’s best-known songs, Rain Song. Page would tell biographer Brad Tolinski the All Things Must Pass hitmaker had effectively challenged him to write a “ballad” instead of the usual rock and roll work. Harrison had seemed to know of Page from The Yardbirds, being told of Led Zeppelin’s formation by engineer Glyn Johns. Harrison would ask: “Is he the one that was in The Yardbirds?” It may have been an exciting time on the music scene, but it seems a passing comment from Harrison pushed the band into writing one of their very best tracks.

Page would say: “George was talking to Bonzo one evening and said, ‘The problem with you guys is that you never do ballads,’ I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad,’ and I wrote Rain Song, which appears Houses of the Holy. In fact, you’ll notice I even quote Something in the song’s first two chords.”

nother song featured on Houses of the Holy, No Quarter, has been hailed as a “perfect” version of the track by fans. Some believe the earlier recording of the song is much superior to the one which would feature on the album.

Fans have speculated that this early version was played and recorded in time to feature on Led Zeppelin IV, but was cut. While there is no confirmation of this, it proves to be a popular theory among fans in the comment section of the early version shared YouTube.

Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow

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