The Beatles broke many records in the music industry - in the American history, no one else sold as many recordings as they did. But their beginnings were far from easy. They were mostly playing in clubs (in "The Cavern" among other places) and the Decca Records label turned them down. This decision is still considered the biggest mistake in the history of the recording industry.

The band’s first studio album, "Please Please Me," was released in 1963, shortly after they followed the advice of their manager Brian Epstein and changed their style, abandoning the "bad boys" look and switching from leather to suits.
The song that you will hear in a second comes from this album.

In February 1964, with the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" single, they finally captured the attention of the biggest audience in music industry - America. Their performance at The Ed Sullivan Show was watched by 73 million people, which was 45% of the American population.

"Yesterday" was released on September 6, 1965. The melody is said to have come to McCartney in a dream. The song broke many records. For example, it’s one of the most covered songs in history.

From 1965 to 1966 the band changed significantly. Their music became more complex, their lyrics - more serious. The "Revolver" album, released in 1966, included an innovative experiment: the first song recorded by a pop music group that used only instruments typical for classical music.

During an interview in March 1966, one of the members said these unfortunate words: "We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first – rock ’n’ roll or Christianity." In the UK, people didn’t pay much attention to this claim. However, in the USA – especially in the south – quoted out of context, this phrase made the audience so angry that people burned The Beatles’ records publicly.

They played their last concert on August 29, 1966 in San Francisco. Then, they focused on studio work. One of the reasons why they stopped touring was that the screams and shrieks of their fans were often louder than the music.

The album that was released on June 1, 1967 was the first one recorded after the last concert. Most critics consider this release to be the most important album in history. It’s one of the first concept albums and it set the stage for progressive rock. It’a s rock opera that is a substitute of a concert.

The band composed and recorded the soundtrack to a movie that was released in 1967. The soundtrack was also released on an album, with the same title as the movie. Even though the movie turned out to be an artistic and commercial failure, the soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy award. The release included such tracks as "I Am the Walrus", "All My Loving" or "Strawberry Fields Forever".

"The White Album" was released in 1968. The pressings were numbered in order to create "the ironic situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies," according to the artist who designed the sleeve. Eric Clapton played in one of the songs. You can listen to a fragment of this track in the clip.

When the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, died, it was the beginning of the end. The musicians panicked and didn’t know what to do in this new situation. They finished recording their last album without John Lennon. April 10, 1970, when McCartney publicly said he was leaving, is considered to be the official date of their break-up.