It was forty
years ago today that Paul McCartney walked out on The Beatles, to announce the end of the most beautiful musical
idyll of all time. And with their disintegration went all the possibilities of witnessing
a similar experience anymore because, although I’m not saying that music died
with The Beatles, the event marked the end of an era of innocence and hope, especially
for the people that dreamed about peace and love being conquered through
music.
As some may remember,
Charles Manson’s family murders were still fresh in people’s minds and hearts,
and rock 'n' roll had also yielded its first casualty of renown in the person
of Rolling Stone, Brian Jones, in a mysterious death that involved drowning,
intrigue, and drugs. Rock 'n' roll wouldn’t be the same anymore.
By the time of
their official break-up, all of the Beatles had been working on solo projects, John
and George the first to put out their own music. Although the split might have
not come as a surprise to many, the shock was still there, caused by the
confirmation, once and for all, that the Beatles were through as a family, and the
concept of the Fab Four was no more.
The feud that
followed amongst the former band mates was legendary, with myriad sordid
characters such as lawyers, judges, media people, and eccentric record producers
(like Phil Spector) parading through their new lives as single artists; and also
their new individual dilemma of, “what’s going to be life like after The Beatles.”
Not to mention people’s
fixation with trying to figure out who the fifth Beatle had been: Pete Best,
Stu Sutcliffe, or Billy Preston. To which I’d reply that it was actually George
Martin, their producer, since it was he the only one who contributed creatively
with the other four on a consistent basis.
Two records would
epitomize the end of The Beatles era: Let it Be and Abbey Road. The former an excuse to return to their roots,
which was also in tune with the kind of music that bands like The Band --and Derek
and the Dominoes, later-- were making; the latter being the fulfillment of
their promise to Martin, that this time they would make a well produced
top-of-the-line album. And they had what
it took, because at this point they had reached the top of their musical
maturity that had been in constant evolution since the years of “Love me Do,”
the song with which they greeted audiences on a big scale for the first time.
The rest is history.
All four had successful solo careers, with their normal ups and downs, and gave
us music that was not confined, in its quality, to what they could do together
as a band. There were those who thought John, Paul, George and Ringo wouldn’t be able to pull it off individually, but they proved them
wrong, because they all had number-one hits in their solo
careers --are you listening Mick Jagger?--; and there was even a time when all
four of them were in the charts simultaneously. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make…”
Note: This article appeared originally on a now
defunct online magazine and I wrote it on April 10, 2010, on account of the 40th
anniversary of the Beatles split.
Music for
appreciation, probably on YouTube:
“There’s a Place”
“She’s a Woman”
“You Can’t do That”
“Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)”
“I want to Tell You”
“Taxman”
“For the Benefit of Mr. Kite”
“She’s Leaving Home”
“A Day in the Life”
“The Inner Light”
“I Am the Walrus”
“Hey Bulldog”
“Birthday”
“Happiness is a Warm gun”
“Rocky Raccoon”
“Dear Prudence”
“Julia”
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“One After 909”
“Two of us”
“Because”
“I Want You”
“Something”
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