Beatle Mania

The Beatles we all know consisted of a four man operation including: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr). The “Fab Four”, as they soon became known, were all from Liverpool England and came together to make some of the best rock music ever heard. The Beatles, however, were not always the Beatles, and the “Fab Four” wasn’t originally the same four. John and Paul were together f

In one day, during a marathon ten hour recording session, the Beatles recorded ten songs to be added to the previously cut "Love Me Do", "P.S. I Love You", "Ask Me Why" and "Please Please Me". These fourteen songs made up their first full album, also titled Please Please Me. The singles “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me” both soared in the British charts and reached number one status. The album itself reached number one on the British charts and stayed for 29 weeks. When it was released in the United States, however, the album title was changed to Introducing the Beatles and it received disappointing sales numbers. The Beatles were then beginning to have some television appearances including one on the popular British show “Sunday Night at the Palladium” which reached an estimated 15 million people and caused a hysterical audience reaction. That is believed to have been the beginning of the Beatles world wide popularity. The group's second album With the Beatles, featuring "All My Loving," "Please Mr. Postman" "Roll Over Beethoven" and others, was then released in the U.K. It shot to the top position on the British charts and stayed there for 21 weeks. It succeeded Please Please Me in the number one spot. Together the two hits topped the album charts for 51 consecutive weeks. They then released the single “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. Within two weeks it reached the number one spot on both the British and American charts. This single was the fastest selling British single in America and sold 500,000 records within the first 10 days.

They were perhaps at the height of their career and they had everything going in their favor. Until John, as a response to his view on Christianity, was quoted as saying "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – Rock and Roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." People everywhere came down on the Beatles quickly. Radio stations in the Netherlands and in Spain banned the playing of Beatle records. So did the South African Broadcasting Corporation. They stated, "The Beatles' arrogance has passed the ultimate limit of decency. It is clowning no longer." Even the Vatican issued an opinion, but allowed that Lennon's

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