By Nathan Gellman
29th of August 1966, The Beatles played a sold-out concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Their United States tour followed the release of their 7th studio album, Revolver and came at the height of their popularity, a period aptly named Beatlemania. This made the band’s decision to stop performing live shows bewildering to fans, but perhaps it was the best decision they ever made.
1966 was a tumultuous time for the band. Their world tour, which saw them play in West Germany, Japan, the Philippines, Canada and the United States was rife with controversy following John Lennon’s claim that the band was more popular than Jesus. They endured threats and physical danger, throughout their tour, with former fans burning vinyls and t-shirts in the streets. This was the final straw for the band with the physical and emotional exhaustion of over 1400 concert appearances internationally taking its toll.
This coincided with the self-revelation that the band’s strengths weren’t best utilised as performers, as Paul McCartney famously remarked after their final show: “We’re not very good performers, actually. We’re better in a recording studio where we can control things and work on it until it’s right. With performing, there’s so much that can go wrong, and you can’t go back over it and do it right”.
Following their decision to stop live performances, they entered the studio in late 1966 to record their 8th studio album. For the first time, the band were not restricted by the parameters of performing these songs live – this album would be perfected and immortalised on vinyl. This allowed them to use the studio in ways that were uncommon during the 60s, implementing tape loops, orchestras and the surreal sound of backwards guitars.
What resulted was The Beatles’ magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album was hailed as revolutionary at the time, announcing the 1967 Summer of Love. The album’s stellar reputation stuck with it into the 21st century, with the Rolling Stone ranking it as the best album ever recorded in its 2003 top 500 albums of all time, despite it dropping to 24 in the 2020 edition.
Beyond Sgt, Pepper’s, the band continued their innovation with the Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album and Abbey Road. In these further three albums they were able to experiment with more untraditional studio techniques. Ironically their final studio album Let It Be signposted the band’s desire to return to live performances which never quite happened as planned. What is clear is that none of these albums would have been possible under the constraints of a touring schedule and having to perform these songs live.
The Beatles helped redefine what a band could be, not entertainers but artists. Their inventive and imaginative methods in the studio paved the way for other albums such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Radiohead’s OK Computer. They set a precedent that albums are a cohesive statement not a collection of singles and stop gaps. Every song had a meaning, not a word was wasted, the singles were the headliners, but the album tracks were more than just fillers. They didn’t merely hold the album together, they elevated it to a whole new level.
The decision to quit touring was unbelievable, but it was the turning point that allowed The Beatles to reach new artistic heights. When looking back at The Beatles’ legacy, it is impossible to try and define it. However, if I had to try and pin it down, it wouldn’t be their early work and the crazed Beatlemania, but what came after it. What the Beatles made clear in a way that only they could: the best way forward is to stop.
Image credit: vinterior.co
