They consolidated their following in 1961 with constant gigging in the Merseyside area, most often at the legendary Cavern Club, the incubator of the Merseybeat sound. When they returned to Liverpool at the end of 1960, the band - formerly also-rans on the exploding Liverpudlian 'beat' scene - were suddenly the most exciting act on the local circuit. Playing grueling sessions for hours on end in one of the most notorious red-light districts in the world, the group was forced to expand its repertoire, tighten up its chops, and invest its show with enough manic energy to keep the rowdy crowds satisfied. Hamburg was the Beatles' baptism by fire. He successfully auditioned for the combo just before they left for a several-month stint in Hamburg, Germany. Lennon's art college friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass, but finding a permanent drummer was a vexing problem until Pete Best joined in the summer of 1960. The Quarrymen changed their name to the Silver Beatles in 1960, quickly dropping the 'Silver' to become just the Beatles. the Quarrymen would change lineups constantly in the late '50s, eventually reducing to the core trio of guitarists, who'd proven themselves to be the best musicians and most personally compatible individuals within the band. A bit later they were joined by another guitarist, George Harrison, a friend of McCartney. Around mid-1957, the Quarrymen were joined by another guitarist, Paul McCartney, nearly two years Lennon's junior. Guitarist and teenage rebel John Lennon got hooked on rock & roll in the mid-'50s, and formed a band, the Quarrymen, at his high school. Their phenomenal cohesion was due in large degree to most of the group having known each other and played together in Liverpool for about five years before they began to have hit records. More than any other top group, the Beatles' success was very much a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. They were also the first British rock group to achieve worldwide prominence, launching a British Invasion that made rock truly an international phenomenon. As performers, they were (at least until touring had ground them down) exciting and photogenic when they retreated into the studio, they were instrumental in pioneering advanced techniques and multi-layered arrangements. As singers, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were among the best and most expressive vocalists in rock the group's harmonies were intricate and exhilarating. As composers, their craft and melodic inventiveness were second to none, and key to the evolution of rock from its blues/R&B-based forms into a style that was far more eclectic, but equally visceral. They established the prototype for the self-contained rock group that wrote and performed its own material.

They synthesized all that was good about early rock & roll, and changed it into something original and even more exciting. It's hard to convey the scope of the Beatles' achievements in a mere paragraph or two.

Their supremacy as rock icons remains unchallenged to this day, decades after their breakup in 1970. Relentlessly imaginative and experimental, the Beatles grabbed a hold of the international mass consciousness in 1964 and never let go for the next six years, always staying ahead of the pack in terms of creativity but never losing their ability to communicate their increasingly sophisticated ideas to a mass audience. Moreover, they were among the few artists of any discipline that were simultaneously the best at what they did and the most popular at what they did. To start with the obvious, they were the greatest and most influential act of the rock era, and introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century. So much has been said and written about the Beatles - and their story is so mythic in its sweep - that it's difficult to summarize their career without restating clichГ©s that have already been digested by tens of millions of rock fans. So much has been said and written about the Beatles - and their story is so mythic in its sweep - that it's difficult to summarize their career without restating clichГ©s that have already been digested by tens of

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