An American Beatles album featured a bizarre, gruesome image of the band as butchers, which was swiftly recalled.

The Beatles' labels released almost twice as many of the band's records in the US to capitalize on the band's popularity.

The Beatles were not an immediate success in the US—their label rejected their first two singles, and the band was mocked on the TV show 'American Bandstand.'

Listen to "Yesterday and Today," the 1966 Beatles album only released in the US.

The cover of 'Abbey Road' was shot in a quiet London neighborhood in 1969

The unassuming setting became one of the most famous attractions in the city and was the cover of the Beatles' last-recorded album. It was shot in the late 1960s, when the Fab Four was the most famous band in the world.

The Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows,' the final track from 1966's 'Revolver,' used innovative recording methods—including a rudimentary form of sampling—to redefine the sound of popular music.

The Beatles' appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1964 launched Beatlemania in the US after the band struggled to break through to American audiences.

The BBC banned the Beatles' song 'A Day in the Life' for 5 years, fearing it encouraged drug use.

The American girl groups of the 1950s and '60s had a profound influence on The Beatles, who frequently paid homage to acts like the Marvelettes and the Ronettes

Some people believe Paul McCartney died in a car crash in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike.

After the bitter breakup of the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney only played music together one more time—at an impromptu studio session in 1974, joined by Stevie Wonder.

Explore all 58 famous figures—including artists, thinkers, politicians, athletes, and other pop culture icons—portrayed on the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album cover.

The Clash's 'London Calling' cover parodied Elvis

The English band used Presley’s 1959 debut album as the template for the cover of its third record, an ambitious double album that explored rockabilly, reggae, ska, R&B, jazz and pop.

The Beatles loved Motown Records, covering some of the label's songs while honing their skills as a club act in Germany.

The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, citing frustration with the era's limited sound systems.

Paul McCartney said the Beatles' 'Helter Skelter' was about a playground slide, but Charles Manson said it inspired him to orchestrate 9 murders.

Listen to the Beatles' 'Revolver,' the band's groundbreaking 1966 album.

Paul McCartney announced his departure from the Beatles in a 1970 press release, surprising his bandmates.

The Beatles' song 'Taxman' was inspired by Britain's tax structure.

A bootleg video of a 1966 conversation between Bob Dylan and John Lennon has long been a cryptic text for the artists' superfans.

The Beatles sued technology company Apple in 1978 to defend naming rights to their record label, Apple Corps.

David Bowie tried to hire Norman Rockwell for the cover of 'Young Americans'

The Thin White Duke thought the iconic artist, known for his classic Americana, would be the perfect artist for his campy 1975 album, “Young Americans.” Bowie called the Rockwell residence and made the request, but was told that Rockwell would need around six months to complete the painting, which Bowie felt was too long.

The Beatles tried to get the rights to make a 'Lord of the Rings' film starring the band members as Gollum, Frodo, Gandalf, and Samwise.

Listen to 'Now and Then,' the Beatles' final song

The Beatles released their final song, "Now and Then," in October 2023, featuring a previously hidden John Lennon vocal. The track was initially shelved due to poor audio quality but was revived with the help of AI to enhance Lennon's performance....

Explore Abbey Road Studios, the site that invented stereo recording and was the site of most of the Beatles' recordings.

Hear how the Beatles became the most influential band on Earth, with guest Conan O'Brien.

Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3K to reunite on 'Saturday Night Live,' which John Lennon and Paul McCartney briefly considered.

The surgeon who tried to save John Lennon says he can’t forget that night

Frank Veteran was a resident in 1980 on the night John Lennon was shot in New York. For years afterward, he tried to process the sight of seeing the Beatle dying in the hospital, including through art, but he says that the memories from the experience are still vivid.

Fifty backstage photos of musicians in the 1970s

Elton John, James Brown, Cher, Diana Ross, and many others all have famous photos seen multiple times on album covers, iconic images from events, and more. Rare is the unseen backstage photo of the greats, lounging or rocking out or, like Bo Diddley, frying up some chicken pre-show at the Garden. Peruse this incredible collection of candid shots of 1970s stars waiting in the wings to come on stage.

The Beatles once sued Nike

Nike used The Beatles' "Revolution" in an ad, sparking a $15M lawsuit over the song's use. While The Beatles and Nike ultimately reached an agreement, Nike ushered in the modern practice of using hit songs in advertisements, as opposed to jingles or covers.

The Beatles' visit with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi helped inspire Western interest in Eastern spirituality

The Fab Four met with the guru—the creator of Transcendental Meditation—in 1968 in Rishikesh, India. The band's George Harrison and his wife had been interested in Indian culture for several years, but the meeting with Maharishi signified a meeting of Western popular culture with Eastern spirituality that would inspire the rising hippie movement.

Check out a list of the best Beatles songs, from 'Hey Jude' to 'A Day in the Life.'

Billie Holiday's label refused to release 'Strange Fruit,' a protest song about lynching, because of fears of negative reactions from southern retailers.

How AI helped the Beatles win their eighth Grammy

It’s been decades since the legendary British rock band broke up, yet they still managed to snag a Grammy at the 2025 awards ceremony. This feat is thanks to AI, specifically machine-learning technology, to isolate and clean up different components of a late 1970s recording. This mini-documentary shows how the band's surviving members crafted “Now and Then” with the modern technology.

Both British and American pop art took inspiration from US culture

Pop art emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and the late 1950s in America. American pop art focused on representational art and was directly inspired by living within American popular culture, using hard edges and distinct forms. Its British sibling, on the other hand, took a more academic approach, viewing American culture from a distance and employing irony and parody.

The Clash's breakthrough hit wasn't listed on ‘London Calling’

“Train in Vain” was a hit in the US, something that hadn’t yet happened for other first-wave punk acts. But the song was added to “London Calling” at the last minute, after the record jackets were already printed, making it one of the more popular “hidden tracks” in popular music.

The Shaggs weren't good musicians, but they still made a classic

In 1969, the three sisters recorded "Philosophy of the World"; only 100 copies were publicly distributed. The record became a cult classic thanks to its strange backstory (their father forced them into playing music) and the band's amateurism. Critic Lester Bangs wrote, "They can't play a lick! But mainly they got the right attitude, which is all rock'n'roll's ever been about from day one."

How British youth resurrected overlooked American soul music

Motown released some of the 1960s' biggest soul records and changed the sound of pop music. The label also inspired countless smaller, regional labels that released songs by lesser-known artists that received limited attention. That changed with the rise of British Northern Soul, an underground scene that repurposed these obscure records (including several overlooked Motown releases) for all-night dance parties and, in the process, minted some unexpected American superstars.

Bob Dylan wrote and recorded songs that later became hits when they were covered by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Adele, and Guns N' Roses.

The Beats also influenced the imagery of the 1960s

First editions of Burroughs’s "The Naked Lunch," Kerouac’s "The Dharma Bums," and Ferlinghetti’s "A Coney Island of the Mind" were just as notable for their text as they were for their design, which anticipated the psychedelic imagery of 1960s countercultural touchstones like Ken Kesey, Andy Warhol, and R. Crumb.

Few actual Stamp Act stamps survived, as colonists destroyed nearly all of them in protest

The elaborate stamp bore royal symbols and the word "America" and was printed in Britain and shipped to the colonies to be sold by government officials. Protests erupted in nearly every colony before it could take effect, often violently targeting stamp collectors.

In 1984, Bob Dylan reimagined himself as the front man of a punk band for a performance on David Letterman's late-night talk show.

Dylan's 1965 electric set at the Newport Folk Festival was viewed by some as a betrayal

It's considered a watershed moment in his career and rock ‘n’ roll history, mostly because the audience allegedly booed Dylan’s new electrified songs, believing he had abandoned politically minded folk music for pop stardom.

The surprising and strange sources behind 12 famous songs

Britney Spears's "Toxic" borrowed strings from a 1981 Bollywood film, Billie Eilish sampled The Office, and one duo made an entire album using only the sounds of their Whirlpool washing machine. Explore how sampling can pull from pretty much anywhere.

The band 'The Bangles' was initially named 'The Bangs'

Legal troubles forced the band to change their name. See a slew of other music facts, like how Taylor Swift's "All Too Well (Taylor's Version) is the longest song to reach number one on the US singles chart. The song is over 10 minutes long, and surpassed Don McLean's "American Pie."

How 'Nevermind' realigned the music industry

Nirvana's breakout album inspired other major labels to hunt for similarly loud, countercultural bands. That led to a fascinating period in popular music that found defiantly anticommercial indie acts like the Melvins, the Butthole Surfers, and Ween (among many, many others) suddenly offered lucrative contracts.

Explore a list of the best album covers of all time, featuring iconic covers by Pink Floyd, Cyndi Lauper, Nirvana, and more.

'Bonnie and Clyde,' the 1967 film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was the first major American movie to feature graphic violence.

Director Arthur Penn used the then-new Squibb technology, which triggered realistic and bloody bullet wounds, to portray graphic violence, at the time a taboo in American cinema.

Tour the iconic Sun Studio in Memphis, the studio responsible for hundreds of hours of American music history.

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 1940 concept album about agricultural and economic destruction, 'Dust Bowl Ballads.'

Bruce Springsteen was initially so unhappy with his album 'Born to Run' that he threw it in a swimming pool.