January 16 - World Day of the Beatles

"The Beatles" is the only group in the whole world that has been honored to have its international day. According to the decision of UNESCO, starting from 2001, on January 16, the day of the first appearance of the collective on the stage, it becomes a day of honoring the group all over the world.

The favorites of the gods

In the same year, George Harrison, the lead guitarist of the group, died 20 years ago, one of the founders of the Beatles, John Lennon, who was killed in 1980, was not alive. But the glory of this group is such that even now, 45 years after the official disintegration, they become idols of the growing generations. World Day "The Beatles" - a well-deserved tribute to the memory of the team, which, according to the same Lennon, at the peak of his fame was more popular than Jesus Christ. The phrase made a lot of noise, but it has an interesting case. In Texas, in a radio station that called for boycotting the group and publicly burned their records, the next day it was struck by lightning and disabled all the equipment. After that, the radio station director fainted.

Beatlemania

Perhaps this is one of the tales that always accompany the life of celebrities. And they were not just celebrities. The Beatles group is not just idols. The obsession of fans was akin to insanity and was called "Beatlemania". The older generation remembers the documentary footage of the newsreel, which portrays the exit of the group into the garden of the royal residence after the presentation of honorary titles. At the moment of passing the musicians along the park avenue, one of the sections of the cast iron fence several meters high collapsed under the weight of crazed fans clinging to it from the bottom to the top.

Legendary liverpultsy, famous for their city

Who are these musicians, in honor of whom an international day is established? The Beatles is a group of four members. John Lennon (1940-1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) are its founders. A little later, George Harrison joined them (1943-2001). The last, in two years, the team was joined by Ringo Starr (1940-2012). It can be added that sometimes three more musicians appeared in the band: Jimmy Nikol, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, but the legendary Liverpool four were the participants listed above. In this composition, the group lasted 7 years: from 1963, when the world fame came to them, until 1970. Together, 13 albums were released, which included 211 songs, and each became a hit And event.

Why this date?

Day of the Beatles - January 16. On this date, there was a discovery in Liverpool, on Matthew Street, 10, in 1957 by Alan Sinter of the new club "The Cavern" ("The Cave"), which was performed by very young and unknown to John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison .

In favor of January 16 says one more fact from the biography of the team. On this day, in 1964, the magazine "Cashbox" placed the song "I want to hold your hand" on the first line of the hit parade, because in just 10 days the single sold a million copies. Twice in the creative biography meets the same date - than not an occasion to celebrate the World Day of the Beatles on January 16?

The Fifth Beatle

The homeland of the legendary Beatles Liverpool is a large port city, thanks to sailors, new products from all over the world have penetrated, which could not but affect the local music. Absorbing the world's achievements in rock music, the group formed its own style. "The Beatles" loved Elvis Presley, but their work was purely original. Their producer and sound engineer George Henry Martin, although he himself was not inclined to be considered the fifth beat, contributed to the popularity of the band's songs. He combined various styles, used innovative developments in the field of sound recording, used symphonic and psychedelic music, and also produced all the albums of the band.

Unattainable group records

World frenzy began after the release in 1963 of the song "I Want To Like You" ("Please Please Me"). Worldwide, 1 billion of its records were sold, no one else succeeded. There are other records of them, not beaten to this day. This magnificent four is really worthy of its own holiday, such as the World Day of the Beatles.

Singles (CDs with one song) of the group 20 times in America occupied the first places in the lists of hits. For comparison: singles of their idol, officially recognized as the most successful singer - Elvis Presley - took the first line 18 times. The debut album Beatles 62 weeks was in the top ten most sold in the world. And only after 50 years the record was beaten: the album of singer Emeli Sande lasted 63 weeks.

But in many respects the four from Liverpool remain at the Olympic heights. If you do not take into account the genuine love of millions of people belonging to several generations and the contribution they made to the world musical culture, then only according to the above-listed records the magnificent four deserves their personal holiday established by UNESCO, which was named the International Day of the Beatles ".

These stars will shine for a long time

And before and after this musical collective there were many popular and successful performers, for example Madonna. But none of them fell short of the Liverpool four, because the Beatles are not just a group, it is an epoch-making phenomenon of a planetary scale. Without exaggeration in the 60-70s absolutely in all countries of the world hundreds of thousands of people lived by this four, caught every word of it, copied every gesture, laughed at jokes, sobbed under the stage and created other follies. Thousands of analysts have studied this mental state of the masses, called Beatlemania. No other performer held out until the establishment of a dedicated festival, such as the World Day of the Beatles. This group deserved it, because even now, decades after its disintegration, up to 2,000 people work in the industry of the magnificent four. Although some experts argue that the decline of this subculture is taking place.