The Beatles, a musical group formed in 1960 by four young men, are now widely agreed to be the most influential band of all-time and the epitome of 1960s popular culture.

The Sixties was “the defining decade” (Watson 2016) for not only The Beatles’ native United Kingdom, but the Western World as a whole. With the youth given a never-before-seen freedom, especially in their being the first teenage generation free from conscription, society was about to undergo a dramatic change in cultural zeitgeist. “Nearly half of America’s population [was] under 18 years old” (Oregon Public Broadcasting 2005) in 1960, and these young people, despite not knowing it at the time, would aid in changing pop culture forever. Counterculture was on the rise, fresh ideas were emerging and traditional values were being swept aside. All this new culture needed was a popular figurehead.

The music of The Beatles was the primary factor in them becoming, and remaining, icons of popular culture. The progressive ideology signalled in many of their lyrics is reflective of the zeitgeist of the 1960s. The line in Revolution, “you say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all want to change the world,” could almost act as a one-sentence summary of the youth culture of the era. As well as this, Tax Man’s lyrics expressed outrage at England’s high tax rates at the time, All You Need Is Love showed a strong inclination towards peace, and Drive My Car was possibly the first ‘car song’, written in a time where car ownership was skyrocketing.

Despite it being controversial with conservative and religious groups, John Lennon’s quote in a March 1966 interview published in The Evening Standard that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” not only critiqued one belief of a large group, but also represented the increasingly-held view of the ‘60s that there were doubts to be had over the truth in religion.

The Beatles have influenced pop culture so heavily, there are countless examples of pastiche, where other people or groups pay homage to them. One such example is their iconic Abbey Road album cover being recreated in numerous films, television shows, or even social media posts of everyday people. Additionally, there are hundreds of Beatles-specific cover bands, numerous documentaries and films, and many impersonators of their classic early 60s haircuts and outfits. The band, its members and its songs are also referenced in modern pop culture frequently, such as in Ironman 3, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Sausage Party. These factors highlight how ingrained The Beatles are in the identity of popular culture.

To this day, The Beatles bring people together. People attend cover shows, watch videos, film, and TV, discuss the band on forums and, above all, listen to their music. Not many musical acts have reflected, critiqued, reinforced, and reacted to the cultural situation of the time like The Beatles. The band was so popular, fanaticism of it was dubbed ‘Beatlemania’. Their huge audience helped them earn seventeen UK chart-topping singles, with sixteen of their albums, including one only five years ago, hitting Number One.

Their reputation as being ‘of the people’ and close ties with the culture of their era exemplify The Beatles’ status, both in the past and in contemporary society, as a juggernaut of popular culture.