The Beatles, who led the rock-music movement called the "British Invasion," revolutionized popular music around the world and achieved unprecedented popularity. The band started as Johnny and the Moondogs, featuring Liverpool musicians John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. When Stu Sutcliffe joined as their bassist, they changed their name to the Silver Beetles, later modified to The Beatles. Tommy Moore joined the band as drummer, but Pete Best replaced him in 1960. Sutcliffe left in 1961 to become a painter (he died of a brain hemorrhage less than a year later), and the band returned to Liverpool as the quartet that would rock the world.

 

Label after label rejected them in Europe. Then in 1962, Best left the band, Ringo Starr joined up, and they recorded "Love Me Do," their first Top 20 hit in the United Kingdom. In 1964, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and Beatlemania began in the United States.

 

The band's shaggy-haired stars, boasting an unrivaled playful and eclectic synergy, were among the first rock bands to write most of their own material. As the band evolved, its members experimented with a variety of different musical styles that ranged from the simple ("I Want to Hold Your Hand") to the innovative ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,"which used electronic music and a sitar to achieve an eerie sound to go along with its unconventional lyrics).

 

The Beatles received the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 at Buckingham Palace, and their immense popularity prompted Lennon to tell a newspaper reporter, "We're more popular than Jesus Christ right now." Beatlemaniacs searched for hidden meanings in Beatles songs and album covers, and the release of Abbey Road, allegedly filled with coded clues, sparked rumors that McCartney was dead.