The Beatles, who could forget those four iconic faces? John; The cool one, Paul; The fun one, George; The quiet one, and finally Ringo; the, well, the fourth one. From their origins as the Quarrymen to their fractured solo careers, everybody remembers these boys from Liverpool, England. The Beatles are frequently listed as the best band in history, only partially rivaled by the Rolling Stones, who they completely destroyed in terms of sales, popularity, style, and basically anything else. 

The Beatles weren’t just a boy band, they were THE boy band. They managed to spread their popularity around the world and reached their peak in 1967 with the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. However,their first album under the name The Beatles was, of course, Please Please Me, arguably their best album. The boys caught a break after performing the song “Please Please Me” and were forced to record all 14 songs in the album in a grueling 12-hour recording period. Yet,before they did this, something needed to change. After their first recording of “Please Please Me,” no one in the band or management was satisfied with the drummer; Pete Best. 

Management decided to stick them with the already popular drummer, Richard Starkey, known affectionately as Ringo Starr. That’s right, ironically, the least popular band member was initially famous while the other three were sleeping in the basements of clubs. Yet,how did they become famous? Well, according to their manager Brian Epstein, “I was immediately struck by their music, their beat and their sense of humor on stage. And even afterward, when I met them, I was struck again by their personal charm, and it was there that it all started.”

Epstein was in some ways part of the band himself. When he died in 1967, it changed the band forever. Epstein isn’t the only one The Beatles truly considered one of their own. John Lennon was also very close friends with fellow musician, Eric Clapton. Clapton contributed numerous creative ideas to the band earning him the moniker of “The Fifth Beatle.” But why did it all fall apart? Well, your average Beatles’ fan will almost always give you the same answer; Yoko Ono. 

Ono was John Lennon’s secret lover until he divorced his wife and married her. Ono was infamously known for her own style of music, which involved long, uncomfortable, screams in the middle of songs. She attempted to push this type of music within The Beatles’ studios and there are numerous reports the other three Beatles did not appreciate this whatsoever. Of course, the death of Brian Epstein didn’t help matters in the slightest. However,the first Beatle to call it quits was Ringo Starr. The band had multiple disagreements within the years leading up to the official breakup in 1970. The band managed to convince Ringo to pull it together for another album; Abbey Road. The Beatles’ final song recorded as a group was, ironically, “Come Together”. Beatles fan Grant Bebow offered his thoughts, “I think they are one of the best bands because of the genres and subsequent bands they influenced greatly.”