The Beatles
 Probably the most popular, influential and enduring rock
group of all time, the Beatles almost single-handedly reshaped rock
'n' roll from a genre of throwaway singles by faceless stars to an
artistic medium with recognizable images and idols. The Beatles
placed the emphasis on a group, rather than a single individual (like
Frank Sinatra or Elvis). They also set an example for all rock acts
to follow with their strong sense of self-determination, going against
their record company and management on many issues, even refusing
to tour at the height of their popularity. Of course, their countless
hit singles have become modern-day folk songs, covered by hundreds
of individuals and groups and inspiring countless more, and have sold
more copies than those of any other band in history.
1.idol: n. 偶像, 崇拜物, 幻象, [逻]谬论
The roots of the Beatles date back to Liverpool, England in the
late 1950s. Inspired by the growing British skiffle craze,
John Lennon bought a guitar in March 1957 and formed a skiffle group
called the Quarrymen, named after his high school, Quarry Bank.
The lineup changed frequently, but by October 1959 it consisted
of Lennon, his younger classmate Paul McCartney, George Harrison
and drummer Colin Hanton. By March of 1960, Lennon's art school
classmate Stuart Sutcliffe joined the band on bass and suggested
the name the Beetles, a response to Buddy Holly's group the Crickets.
By that summer they were the Silver Beatles, settling on the Beatles
in August. That month the Beatles departed for Hamburg, West Germany,
with their new drummer Pete Best, to try to establish themselves
in Europe. The band became a popular local act, performing at various
clubs until they were expelled from the country in November because
George Harrison was underage. The Beatles returned to Germany in
early 1961 to record as a backup band for singer Tony Sheridan;
these sessions were later released during the mid-'60s as
"new" Beatles material, taking advantage of unsuspecting fans. Meanwhile
Sutcliffe had left the band to pursue his art career, with McCartney
taking over on bass; Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage
the following year.
1.skiffle: n. 噪音爵士乐(英国的一种摇滚乐)
2.drummer: n. 鼓手, <美> 旅行推销员
3.session: n. 会议, 开庭
4.hemorrhage: n. 出血
Throughout 1961 the Beatles played clubs in Britain, becoming an
underground sensation; they were particularly famous at the Cavern
Club in their native city of Liverpool. Though they played mostly
covers, Lennon and McCartney began writing original songs together,
agreeing to forever share songwriting credits, even though they
only co-wrote a handful of tunes during their entire career as the
Beatles. By the end the year, Liverpool record store owner Brian
Epstein had become the band's manager, and quickly began trying
to find them a record contract. On January 1, 1962 the Beatles auditioned
for Decca Records, performing 12 covers and three originals for
A&R assistant Mike Smith. The group was rejected, however, and
told that "guitar groups are on the way out." Undaunted,
Epstein got the group an audition at Parlophone, an EMI subsidiary,
with producer George Martin, who signed the Beatles on May 9, 1962.
After one recording session, Martin suggested that drummer Pete
Best be replaced, and the Beatles brought in Ringo Starr (born Richard
Starkey), a well-known local drummer, as his replacement. By October
1962 their first single, "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You," was
a U.K. Top 20 hit, allegedly because Epstein bought 10,000 copies
himself to ensure that it would chart. The band began regular guests
on the BBC, performing over fifty times between 1962 and 1964.
1.audition: n. 听, 听力, 试听
2.undaunted: adj. 大无畏的, 勇敢的
3.subsidiary: adj. 辅助的, 补充的
In February of 1963 the Beatles returned to the studio to record
10 songs (in one day!) for their first album, Please Please Please
Me, which was released the following month. It became an instant
hit, staying at No. 1 in Britain for 30 weeks and by October, female
fans were screaming at their performances -- the start of "Beatlemania."
Following an early November performance before the royal family,
Parlophone released a second Beatles album, With The Beatles.
By the end of the year the group had sold over 2.5 million albums
in Britain, and had a string of million-selling singles.
Naturally, word about this amazing new act soon spread to America.
Yet, ignoring the British success of the Fab Four, EMI's U.S. partner,
Capitol, declined to issue the first few Beatles singles, which
were instead picked up by the Chicago-based indie label Vee
Jay Records. Vee Jay packaged the early singles as Introducing
the Beatles, their first U.S. LP. During the second half of
1963 it was the only Beatles material available in America, and
sold incredibly well; by 1964 a court awarded the rights to all
Beatles recordings to EMI/Capitol, and the record went out of print,
only to become one of the most counterfeited albums in music
history.
1.indie: adj. [电影业]独立的 n. 独立经营的电影院等
2.counterfeit: n. adj. 赝品, 伪造品, 伪造的, 假冒的 vt. 伪造, 假冒
In January of 1964 Capitol released their first U.S. Beatles LP,
Meet the Beatles, containing remixed material from their
two British albums. Following a landmark three- weekend stint
on the Ed Sullivan show in February of 1964 (viewed by over 73 million
people), the Beatles were the biggest band in America -- "Beatlemania"
had taken hold of the U.S., also paving the way for other "British
Invasion" groups. To capitalize on their incredible popularity,
the Fab Four were made the stars of a comedy film, A Hard Days
Night, which, surprisingly, earned good reviews and, not surprisingly,
spawned a hit soundtrack album. Following the release of the movie
in July, the band embarked on their first North American tour, performing
25 stadium dates in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of the
year Beatles For Sale was in British stores, part of EMI's
plan to have a new Beatles album out every six months, while their
previous albums and singles still clogged the U.S. and U.K
Top 10. In 1965 the band appeared in a second movie, the James Bond
spoof Help!, which also spawned a soundtrack album.
Another huge U.S. tour followed.
1.stint: v. 紧缩节省
2.stadium: n. 露天大型运动场
3.clog: n. 木底鞋, 障碍 v. 障碍, 阻塞
4.spoof: v. 哄骗
Not content with their unprecedented commercial success, the Beatles
began to take their music more seriously, shifting from covers and
upbeat pop love songs to more introspective, experimental material,
highlighted on December 1965's Rubber Soul. The next U.S.
Beatles album, Yesterday...And Today, was released on June
15, 1966 and featured a shocking cover featuring the handsome Fab
Four surrounded by raw meat and butchered baby dolls, a protest
against Capitol's "butchery" of their albums in the U.S. market.
Complaints from retailers immediately rolled in, and the album was
withdrawn, reissued the following week with a new, mundane
cover of a steamer trunk. (Today copies of the album
with the original cover are worth thousands of dollars.) Further
controversy plagued the group when John Lennon claimed in a newspaper
interview that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." Many
radio stations stopped playing their songs, and protesters appeared
outside their concerts. Meanwhile the group was increasingly under
the influence of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian guru; this
flirtation with Eastern religion soon became common among '60s rock
stars, and, more interestingly, lead the Beatles to experiment with
Indian sitar music on their next few albums. The band also began
using copious amounts of psychedelic drugs, foreshadowing
the "flower children" of the next few years.
1.mundane: adj. 世界的, 世俗的, 平凡的
2.steamer: n. 汽船, 蒸汽机
3.trunk: n. 干线, 树干, 躯干, 箱子, 主干, 象鼻 vt. 把...放入旅行箱内 adj. 树干的,
躯干的, 干线的, 箱形的
4.copious: adj. 很多的, 广识的, 丰富的
5.psychedelic:adj. 起幻觉的, 迷幻的 n. 迷幻剂
Following the release of Revolver, their most mature effort
to date, in August 1966, the Beatles embarked on their final U.S.
tour, playing their last live show at San Francisco's Candlestick
Park on August 29th. Henceforth, the band announced, they were going
to eschew live performances to concentrate on more elaborate
studio recordings. Rumors of a breakup were spread in the media
as the band disappeared from the public. The Beatles spent much
of early 1967 in the studio, recording their magnum opus, Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This groundbreaking concept
album completely changed the way rock albums created: it used numerous
studio effects, placed the emphasis on the album as a whole rather
than on singles, and rewrote the standard for cover art with its
famous mannequin-based photo collage. Sgt. Pepper's
later won four Grammys, including Best Album.
1.eschew: vt. 避开, 远避
2.elaborate: adj. 精心制作的, 详细阐述的, 精细 vt. 精心制作, 详细阐述 v. 详细描述
3.mannequin: n. 服装模特儿, 人体模型
On August 27, 1967 Beatles manger Brian Epstein was found dead
of a drug overdose, possibly intentional. The band
was shaken, but decided not to hire a new manager, assuming complete
control over their own career. Their first project without Epstein's
guidance, the concept album and BBC TV special Magical Mystery
Tour, was attacked by critics, and perhaps was the beginning
of the end for the Beatles. By 1968 the group had formed its own
record label, Apple, and was recording tracks for a new double album.
Sessions were filled with tension as members of the group stormed
out periodically and often failed to record together, turning in
tracks recorded independently. The often bizarre result,
popularly referred to as The White Album but officially called
The Beatles, was released in November of 1968, and featured
a guest appearance by Eric Clapton on the single "While My Guitar
Gently Weeps." That same month John Lennon released a solo album
recorded with his controversial new lover, Japanese-American artist
Yoko Ono, entitled Unfinished Music No. 1 - Two Virgins.
Late in 1968 an animated film inspired by the song "Yellow Submarine"
was released in theaters. Despite the cheery tone of the film, created
with little band involvement, the real Beatles were hardly speaking,
spending more time on their personal lives and own musical projects
than on the group.
1.overdose: n. 配药量过多 vt. 配药过量, 使服药过量
2.intentional: adj. 有意图的, 故意的
3.bizarre: adj. 奇异的(指态度,容貌,款式等)
In January 1969 the weary band began preparing to record a new
album live in the studio, without any overdubs, tentatively
entitled Get Back. For an accompanying film, the Beatles
performed on the roof of their studio, their last public appearance
ever. While preparing the album, the group began to fight over creative
issues, and the project was shelved amid many bad feelings.
On March 12, McCartney married American photographer Linda Eastman;
several days later Lennon formally married Yoko Ono. By May the
Beatles' situation worsened when the group appointed Allen Klein
as their new business manager, despite objections by Paul McCartney,
who wanted to give the job to his new father-in-law. Though conflict
continued to plague the group, the Beatles returned one last
time to EMI Studios to record Abbey Road with George Martin,
an amazingly cohesive album. By early 1970 each of the four
Beatles was working on a solo album, but each publicly denied rumors
of a split. In September 1969, Lennon told his bandmates that he
wanted to quit, but because the group was renegotiating with EMI
at the time, the breakup was temporarily put aside. Meanwhile, rampant
rumors spread across America that Paul McCartney had died in an
auto accident several years earlier and had been secretly replaced
by a look-alike; the alleged "clues" hidden in lyrics and cover
art were quickly proved to be the product of overactive imaginations.
1.dub: vt. [电影]配音, 轻点, 授予称号, 打击 n. 鼓声, 笨蛋
2.amid: prep. 在...中
3.plague: n. 瘟疫, 麻烦, 苦恼, 灾祸 vt. 折磨, 使苦恼, 使得灾祸
4.cohesive: adj. 粘着的
5.rampant: adj. 猖獗的, 蔓生的, 猛烈的, 狂暴的, 跛拱的
Sadly, internal tension resurfaced in the Beatles when Allen Klein
brought in Phil Spector to produce and overdub Get Back (released
in May 1970 as Let It Be) against Paul's wishes, also demanding
that Paul delay the release of McCartney, his solo debut,
in order to avoid detracting from sales of Let It Be. In
anger, McCartney released his album in April, before Let It Be,
and publicly announced that he was quitting the group. On December
31, 1970 McCartney filed suit against Klein to break up the Beatles,
which upset the other three, who had considered periodically recording
as a group while continuing their solo careers -- now any chance
of a reunion was gone, at least for quite a while. Apple Records
became a financial and legal mess.
During the 1970s each of the Beatles released solo albums. McCartney,
performing with wife Linda in the group Wings, was the most commercially
successful; Lennon recorded on and off with Yoko Ono, and continued
to attract attention for his radical politics (though he
semi-retired from music in 1975 to spend time with his newborn son,
Sean). Throughout the decade there was idle talk of a reunion, peaking
around 1976 when a Beatlesque Australian group named Klaatu was
rumored to be the Fab Four under a false name (they weren't, though
their manager and record company encouraged speculation) and Saturday
Night Live producer Lorne Michaels half-seriously offered the Beatles
$3,000 to perform on his show. Though all four Beatles did contribute
to the 1973 Ring Starr song "I'm the Greatest," no genuine
reunion ever took place. On December 8, 1980 all chances of that
happening were ended when deranged fan Mark David Chapman shot and
killed John Lennon outside his New York apartment.
1.radical: adj. 根本的, 基本的, 激进的 n. 激进分子
2.genuine:adj. 真实的, 真正的, 诚恳的
Although the Beatles had not released any new albums since 1970,
interest in the group remained high into the '90s, their backcatalog
selling millions of copies a year and providing Capitol with a large
percentage of its annual income. Publishing rights to all Lennon-McCartney
compositions were sold during the '80s for hundreds of millions
of dollars, at one point passing through the hands of Michael Jackson.
Though Capitol issued singles/out-takes compilations such
as Past Masters and Rarities, a lot more unreleased
material remained unavailable due to ongoing legal problems, and
ended up on illegal bootlegs.
1.compilation: n. 编辑
By the early '90s Paul, George, Ringo and Yoko Ono settled their
contractual disagreements, permitting the re-release of long unavailable
recordings. In 1994 Capitol issued a double CD of early Beatles
recordings for the BBC. Phenomenal sales of Live at the BBC
inspired more exploitation of the Beatles legacy. In 1995 the surviving
Beatles came together to contribute to a TV documentary about the
group and select material for a planned rarities anthology
of out-takes and demos. While together, Paul, George and Ringo laid
down music for two John Lennon demo out-takes, "Free as a Bird"
and "Real Love." Though the sound quality was often abysmal,
the material inferior, and the surrounding hype insulting,
America's aging populace ate up the three 1996 double-album releases,
Beatles Anthology 1, 2, and 3, which sold over
15 million copies in less than a year. Capitol once again insists
that there is no more Beatles material that will be released, but
only time will tell.
1.rarity: n. 稀有
2.abysmal: adj. 深不可测的, 无底的
3.hype: n. <美俚> 皮下注射, 骗局,大肆宣传,大做广告,瘾君子
|
