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

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

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

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

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....

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

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.'

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Explore a critics' list of the 100 best songs of the 1960s, featuring records by the Beach Boys, the Ronettes, Miles Davis, and more.

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.

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.

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

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.

Explore a list of the 40 best obscure albums of the past 40 years, featuring lost classics from Talk Talk, King Sunny Ade, Linda Ronstadt, and more.

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."

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

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 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.

Before becoming a country superstar, Dolly Parton recorded girl group-style singles as a teenager, including one that became a hit outside the US.

Hear 2 jazz pianists analyze 'Getz/Gilberto'

The 1964 bossa nova classic won the Grammy for album of the year, a rare feat for a jazz record. According to jazz pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness, that also makes it one of the last truly popular jazz albums. In this episode of their podcast "You'll Hear It," they break down the musicality of the songs in real time, offering technical insights into every quirk and nuance.

Watch the 1956 jukebox musical movie, 'Rock, Rock, Rock!,' an early rock 'n' roll artifact featuring Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, and others.

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

Listen to Bruce Springsteen's first band, the Castiles, which he joined when he was still a teenager.

Phil Spector's Philles Records was home to several definitive girl group singles

The label, formed by Spector and Lester Sill, released most of Spector's early "wall of sound" recordings, including the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me" and the Ronettes' "Be My Baby." This 1963 compilation, "Philles Records Presents Today's Hits," collects some of the label's early hits.

Phil Spector's 'wall of sound' revolutionized girl groups—and pop music

The method captured a room of live musicians and transmitted the sound into a basement outfitted with more speakers and microphones. That sound was then sent into the central control room, producing a massive recording that sounded unlike anything else in pop music.

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.

Revisiting the milieu of the Greenwich Village music scene

Few neighborhoods of the world stand out as more productive of a robust music scene than New York City's Greenwich Village, the bohemian launchpad of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and other folk artists of the 1960s and '70s. Expert David Browne discusses why it became so significant in this episode of "Sound Opinions."

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 Ronettes' 'Be My Baby' is a quintessential 'wall of sound' record

The 1963 single features one of the most recognizable drumbeats in the world; many critics consider the song the greatest pop recording of all time. If nothing else, it's a definitive example of both the classic girl group sound and Phil Spector's ingenious 'wall of sound.'

Judee Sill's admirers hear a legend gone before her prime

The singer-songwriter released only two albums in her lifetime: 1971's self-titled and 1973's "Heart Food." Critics and contemporaries (including Graham Nash and David Crosby) praised both, though they were commercial flops. She died of a drug overdose in 1979 and had grown so obscure by then that no obituary was published. In the early 2000s, her recordings were reissued and found a new generation of fans.

Check out the records stocked in the jukebox at the Stonewall Inn, the bar responsible for modern Pride celebrations.

The Ramones' debut album went gold 38 years after its release.

Watch a 1965 press conference with Bob Dylan where he mocks the media's focus on celebrity.

An early Sly and the Family Stone live recording was discovered in 2002

A live recording of the legendary funk band in 1967—shortly before their mainstream breakthrough—was found in 2002 by two of the band's unofficial archivists. However, the full recording, "The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967," wasn't released until 2025.

Watch an early performance by Bruce Springsteen at a Greenwich Village coffeehouse in 1972.

Rock 'n' roll's history in 60 seconds

In the late 1940s, rock 'n' roll emerged from a mix of blues, country, gospel, and jazz. It gained traction through radio, rebellious icons, and evolving sound. This overview traces the genre’s roots, rise, and lasting influence—from early pioneers to the British Invasion and beyond.

Listen to the earliest known recording of a whale song

A recording of a humpback whale was taken by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution near Bermuda in 1949, but forgotten for decades. When first captured, researchers didn't know what animal they were hearing, and therefore didn't catalogue the recording. The well-preserved audio was found by the team's archivist in 2025.

Joan Didion interviewed The Grateful Dead in 1967, before they became music icons.

'All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.'

- Musician George Harrison (1943–2001)