Speaker 1: Ah, Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Colin Louder.
Speaker 2: And I'm Alice Irasari. Spotlight uses a special English method
Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: In many ways, it all started with them. Generations of
Speaker 1: children grew up dreaming of being just like them. They
Speaker 1: wanted to play music just like they did. They wanted
Speaker 1: to be rich and famous. They wanted to travel the
Speaker 1: world singing to excited fans, and they wanted to do
Speaker 1: it with their friends just like they did. They wanted
Speaker 1: to be like four teenage boys from Liverpool, England who
Speaker 1: grew up to change the world.
Speaker 2: On today's Spotlight, we look at the music group the Beatles.
Speaker 2: We examined their great success. We discussed their cultural impact
Speaker 2: around the world. We will talk about their influence on
Speaker 2: other musicians. We explore a sound that will be remembered
Speaker 2: for generations to come.
Speaker 1: Rock and roll is a popular form of music that
Speaker 1: formed in the United States. Many songs are fast and
Speaker 1: repeat key phrases. Some of the first rock and roll
Speaker 1: musicians to gain success were Bill Hayley and the Comets,
Speaker 1: Buddy Holly and the Crickets, and Elvis Presley.
Speaker 2: John Lennon, one of the founding members of the Beatles, said.
Speaker 3: Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there
Speaker 3: had not been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles.
Speaker 1: John Lennon's first band was called the quarry Men. He
Speaker 1: invited his friends Paul McCartney and George Harrison to join.
Speaker 1: Over the next few years, the band played their music
Speaker 1: around Liverpool and Hamburg. A few other musicians joined and
Speaker 1: then left the band.
Speaker 2: Ringo Star became their fourth and final member. He played
Speaker 2: an instrument called drums. These were round instruments with thin
Speaker 2: plastic stretched over them. Ringo hit the drums with sticks.
Speaker 2: John and Paul did most of the singing for the band.
Speaker 2: John also played an instrument called a guitar that had
Speaker 2: six strings. He played it with his fingers or with
Speaker 2: a pick. A pick is a small plastic tool shaped
Speaker 2: like a triangle. George also played guitar and sang sometimes
Speaker 2: besides singing. Paul played an instrument called the bass guitar.
Speaker 2: It only had four strings and made low notes. He
Speaker 2: played it with a pick.
Speaker 1: They decided on a new name, the Beatles. It was
Speaker 1: spelled b E A E T L E s. It
Speaker 1: was connected to the word beat. Beat was another word
Speaker 1: for what Ringo played on the drums. The musicians had
Speaker 1: to play consistently with the drummers beat. The Insect Beatle
Speaker 1: is spelled b E E T l E. During the
Speaker 1: band's early years, other people sometimes misspelled their name like
Speaker 1: the insect.
Speaker 2: Brian Epstein saw the group play and offered to manage them.
Speaker 2: He thought they could become successful. He thought that many
Speaker 2: people were like their music. He was able to get
Speaker 2: them a contract with a recording company. A recording company
Speaker 2: is a business that makes and sells music. The band
Speaker 2: started recording songs in professional studios. One of their songs,
Speaker 2: called Love Me Do, became successful in the United Kingdom.
Speaker 2: Epstein traveled to the United States. He got them a
Speaker 2: spot on the popular TV program The Ed Sullivan Show.
Speaker 2: By the time the Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show,
Speaker 2: many people in the United States had heard their music.
Speaker 2: They wanted to see them in person. Everyone was excited.
Speaker 2: When the Beatles played on the show, over seventy million
Speaker 2: people watched it. Ed Sullivan said.
Speaker 4: I have never seen anything compared to the wild behavior
Speaker 4: and uncontrolled excitement they caused the streets outside our studio
Speaker 4: were filled with people. They screamed, yelled, and stopped traffic.
Speaker 4: It was impossible to describe. There has never been anything
Speaker 4: like it in show business.
Speaker 1: The Beatles began playing shows all over the world. They
Speaker 1: recorded more of their music. Many of their songs became
Speaker 1: very popular, including Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night,
Speaker 1: and We Can Work It Out. They were always in
Speaker 1: demand for interviews and shows. Their pictures appeared on the
Speaker 1: covers of many magazines. They traveled all the time. Fans
Speaker 1: chased them whenever they spotted a band member at their shows.
Speaker 1: It was difficult to hear their music over the audience
Speaker 1: shouting so loudly slowly. The Beatles were tired of being
Speaker 1: away from home, traveling endlessly and dealing with very intense
Speaker 1: fans became too exhausting. They decided to focus on making
Speaker 1: recordings in the studio. They stopped playing in front of people.
Speaker 2: This extra time allowed the Beatles to experiment on studio albums.
Speaker 2: An album is a collection of songs that are recorded
Speaker 2: and released together in a single group. The Beatles' next
Speaker 2: two albums, Revolver and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
Speaker 2: are considered two of the most influential albums ever recorded.
Speaker 2: The Beatles be began using the studio to invent recording
Speaker 2: styles never tried in popular music. Many of their new
Speaker 2: songs were impossible to play at a live concert. These
Speaker 2: songs had too many parts to recreate outside of the studio.
Speaker 2: The words in their songs also became more thought provoking.
Speaker 2: They spoke about important issues in society. These albums were
Speaker 2: very successful. It was the first time that music writers
Speaker 2: considered rock and roll great art. Other popular musicians of
Speaker 2: the time, like The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, and The Birds,
Speaker 2: copied the Beatles' new recording methods.
Speaker 1: The Beatles even influenced fashion. If they wore one kind
Speaker 1: of clothes, everyone wanted them. When they grew their hair long,
Speaker 1: fans and other musicians grew theirs two. When John Lennon
Speaker 1: spoke in interviews about his political beliefs, many listeners changed
Speaker 1: their minds. They were the first band to make videos
Speaker 1: for their songs. They even made two films to advertise
Speaker 1: their music.
Speaker 2: The Beatles recorded twelve albums in the studio, but they
Speaker 2: decided to end their band after only seven years together.
Speaker 2: All four members wanted to release albums with their own songs.
Speaker 2: There was not enough room on a Beatles album for
Speaker 2: all four members songs. They had tried to release a
Speaker 2: double album with twice as many songs, but there was
Speaker 2: still not enough room. Also, the world's passion for the
Speaker 2: Beatles was too much for its members. Each was known
Speaker 2: more for being a Beatle than for being a musician.
Speaker 1: It was time for the Beatles to go their separate ways.
Speaker 1: Despite their enormous, unmatched success, the Beatles broke up. Their
Speaker 1: fans begged them to stay together, but it was over.
Speaker 2: However, they were not done. Each member began writing and
Speaker 2: recording albums on their own. Some of them were very successful.
Speaker 2: They each continued playing shows around the world. They inspired
Speaker 2: future generations of musicians. Every band was influenced by the Beatles.
Speaker 1: The Beatles were the first rock band to become globally successful.
Speaker 1: Solo artists like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry had achieved
Speaker 1: success before the Beatles, but there had never been a
Speaker 1: band as famous as the Beatles. For the first time,
Speaker 1: people grew up wanting to play in a band. They
Speaker 1: wanted to write their own songs like the Beatles. Followers
Speaker 1: liked the fact that The Beatles were friends from the
Speaker 1: same hard working town. They did not seem mean or prideful.
Speaker 1: They played fun, exciting music. They had the courage to
Speaker 1: take chances with their music. They did not repeat the
Speaker 1: same style that had already worked for them. They changed
Speaker 1: rock and roll from simple dance music to more creative music.
Speaker 1: Famous singer David Bowie said, the Beatles opened the door
Speaker 1: for everybody else.
Speaker 2: Only two of the Beatles are still alive as of
Speaker 2: this writing. They are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. They
Speaker 2: each continue to make music. When they play a show,
Speaker 2: many fans come to hear them. Some are new followers,
Speaker 2: others have cheered for them since those seven short years
Speaker 2: when four boys from Liverpool changed the world.
Speaker 1: Have you ever heard any Beatles songs? If so, which
Speaker 1: are your favorites? Have you ever dreamed of being in
Speaker 1: a successful band? Have you ever played an instrument? You
Speaker 1: can leave a comment on our website at www dot
Speaker 1: Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok,
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Speaker 1: directly to your Android or Apple device through our free
Speaker 1: official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer
Speaker 2: was Michyo Osaki. The voices you heard were from the
Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
Speaker 2: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this program. Spotlight programs are written, voiced,
Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This program is called
Speaker 2: The Beatles.
Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,