The Bee Gees This Is Where I Came In

The Rolling Stones, self-acclaimed and fan-supported, is “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” The Rolling Stones is well into its fifth decade performing together as a group. They are the longest lived, continuous performing band in the history of music. From the band’s early British beginnings through the present, The Rolling Stones has continued to adapt its music to the sounds and styles of the past five decades, to remain ever visible and popular in the eyes of the world. The “Stones,” as the band has become known by, was formed by the blues-loving London born, childhood friends, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Over the period following Jagger’s and Richards’ chance reunion on a train at the Dartford

The Beatles are one of the most innovative rock bands of all time. They have not only changed the way rock and roll is looked at, but also the way that the music is recorded. They have influenced the artists of the 60s and the 70s, and also many generations later and to come. Originating from Liverpool, England, the Beatles, or the Fab Four, consists of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Topping the charts in ’63 with “Love Me Do,” and bringing in the highest rated viewing in history while performing on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles are definitely a band that broke the sound barrier of rock

The day is June 14, 1964 and outside the Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne are three hundred policeman and one hundred soldiers trying to hold back some ten thousand screaming, hysterical fans in what can only be called Beatlemania. The Beatles were a pop music group who gained such popularity that they caused mass hysteria wherever they went. John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney were the four members of the Beatles who worked together between the years of 1962 and 1970. Within those eight years, the Beatles produced many albums, each evolving from the last due to changes and experimentation with recording technology. The albums Please, Please Me and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band are the two albums that

The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville Tennessee started out as a small radio broadcasting station, but has since then turned into a massive variety show that people claim “made country music famous.” I visited and toured the Grand Ole Opry this past winter and was inspired to explore its history, what the small radio broadcasting station used to be like, and what made it grow into such a huge success that has attracted millions.

Music is such a beautiful creation, the way the melody, rhythm, tempo, all mix together to become a masterpiece. One specific genre of music, the blues, was heavily popular in the early 20th century. The blues is a tradition-oriented music style from the rural Southern African-American origin (“Jazz in America”, n.d. ). It usually had secular content, which is disparate from how it was when it first began. Blues music originated in plantations, where slaves sung, using it as a mental escape method from their oppression. Even though it started off in a simple way, it eventually turned into a serious entertainment. Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday, two well-known blues female singers, became hit sensations.

On February 9, 1964, Over 45% of America (roughly 73 million people) watched the Beatles’ debut US performance on the Ed Sullivan show. By the next morning, they had become the next big thing in America. Celebrities and schoolchildren alike were wearing Beatles wigs so that they could imitate their new favorite musical act. They had brought a cheeky sense of humor, long recognizable hair, and a new upbeat pop sound that appealed to the general public. By April 6, they owned the top five hits on the billboard hot 100 list. At one point, the Beatles sang 14 of the Billboard top 100 songs in the country. On the Billboard top selling albums list, they owned the top two albums on the billboard charts at the same time. They won two Grammy’s for 1964: one for best new artist and one for best group performance. They toured in Britain, Australia, and a blockbuster North American tour. Women wanted them and men wanted to be like them. Their fame was completely unrivaled. And that was their success simply in the sphere of music. (Kaplan, 2004).

The groups first album released after Jimmy Stokley’s forced departure was not one that the group enjoyed recording. All There Is was full of disco influence; a style that was being forced on many groups at the time. As a group that did not even like disco,

After a long tragic four-year break-up the boys are back and determined to save rock and roll. If their comeback suggests delusion of grandeur, they’re only picking up where they left off.

Under the presidency of Richard Nixon, a wide-spread of fear within the public prevailed. From the reporters’ point of view many people working in the White House or having high standing political jobs in the government, many of them were afraid to tell the horrors they saw, and worked with. During the re-election time of Nixon, “his men” would do anything to get what they needed: “Following members of Democratic candidates’ families; assembling dossier of their personal lives; forging letters and distributing them under the candidates’ letterheads (Bernstein 143). “Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees, a trio of brothers who wrote and produced six consecutive Number One hits, and stayed on the top charts for six months (Eells). They describe how the people acted during the whole Watergate scandal. The lines: “I 'll live to see another day. We can try to understand. The New York Times ' effect on man,” they tell of how people are literally just trying to stay alive during this time, and The New York Times revealed some of the dirty work

Music plays a significant role in societies all over the world. It allows people of all ethnicities and backgrounds to express themselves. Different music genres help to inspire other artists to create new music that they would not have thought of before. In various ways, Britain and America have influenced and inspired one another for many years. Music was, and still is, a huge connecting factor between the two countries. The Beatles and Bob Dylan, two of the most famous artists of all time, demonstrate how Britain and America had a profound influence on each country’s music culture.

The pop trio consists of Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb. All of them were brothers who grew up in Queensland, Australia. Though noted as a pop/disco group they also fall under the soul and rock genre as well. Due to their large, different use of genre, the Bee Gees have influenced many artists, noted are Brit Daniel and Brian Wilson. The Bee Gees are arguably the only pop group to write, produce and record as many top charting hits as they did. They had placed 5 songs on the top 10’s all at the same time. This can be credited to their soundtrack in Saturday night live (1977) a movie with a soundtrack that influenced many like that of Michael Jackson's thriller.

One of the most influential groups of the 20th Century—the Beatles revolutionized rock and roll into what we know it as today. Not only were they great musicians, they wrote and composed each of their songs. The band proved to be popular and exciting causing mass hysteria at each of their public performances. The “Fab Four’s” talent was so great that the phenomenon was termed “Beatlemania” in Britain and eventually erupted in the United States being called the British Invasion of the Beatles (Britannica Online, 2005).

Gaining some popularity with a few hit singles, the Beatles slowly started their climb to the top. It wasn 't until they

Believe it or not, on January 1st of 1962, the group known as The Beatles flunked their audition at Decca Records in London, England. The label’s executive, Dick Rowe, brushed them off like they were nothing. He simply stated that “guitar groups are on the way out.” Little did Rowe know, The Beatles would soon conquer modern society and alter the course of pop and rock music. There have been no other entertainers in the history of music that has been so popular, influential, or as groundbreaking as The Beatles. In the early 1960’s, their popularity was often called “Beatlemania,” as thousands of screaming fans would crowd their concerts and sing-along with the Fab Four. They sold over 600 million albums internationally and had 20 Number One hit singles – a Billboard record that has yet to be broken. The band took over the entertainment media with music videos and films, but also influenced sociocultural, political, and fashion movements throughout the sixties and seventies. From experimenting with several different genres to incorporating classical elements into their melodies, The Beatles still reigns as one of the most creative and successful bands several decades later. Today, fifty years later, The Beatles and their music are still engraved in the hearts of many.

Everyone, Americans and Europeans alike, have heard-of, if not grown off of, a generation and culture started by an ensemble of four shaggy-haired Liverpool musicians that the world went mad over; no one can deny that no greater event impacted today's pop culture than "Beatlemania". But not everyone has heard the story behind the Beatles, who were they? How did they become the band and how did they make it big? What's the story of their struggle?