What If The Beatles Never Broke Up?
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What If The Beatles Never Broke Up?

What Would Have Happened If The Greatest Band Ever Stayed Together

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What If The Beatles Never Broke Up?
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It’s one of music’s greatest questions. What if The Beatles, universally regarded as the greatest music group of all-time, didn’t infamously drift apart into solo careers?

The Beatles released their first record in 1962 with Please Please Me. They released their last in 1970 with Let It Be. A timespan of just less than eight years, yet in that span they released 13 albums, over a dozen number one hits, made multiple movies, and revolutionized music and art forever.

But what could have happened if the break-up never occurred?

What if they managed to get past the tensions within the band?

What if they had better financial circumstances with Apple Corps?

What if they decided to take a break, rather than terminate the band permanently, as other groups have done after them?

We’ll never know for sure of course, and it’s too late for a complete reunion with the passing of John and George, but it does merit discussion: What if things had worked out better for The Beatles existence and the group could endure?


The thing about The Beatles towards their end was that each member was already branching out creatively. Looking at the solo careers John, Paul, George, and Ringo, there are similarities in their material:

Each went through individual and somewhat spiritual journeys of self-discovery. Crafting their own unique path to fulfillment and enlightenment after being on a long high as apart of the biggest band in the world. They went from that to suddenly being 30-something adults, all married, and hardly knowing what to do next.

In a way, their solo careers were apart of the hard process of growing up because they didn’t really have to mature when in The Beatles. Their musical creativity and genius evolved remarkably, but not as much on the outside world. The band started while all four members were teenagers and their overnight success delayed some of that social maturity and wisdom everyone gains in life. (Although John already had a son and was married to his first wife when the band broke out.)

By the end, George was on par with John and Paul as a songwriter with classics like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" "Something", and "Here Comes The Sun." His eastern spiritual journey began during The Beatle days as he began to experiment with the sitar in songs like “Norwegian Wood” and “Within You, Without You.” It continued with his debut solo album "All Things Must Pass."

John was already distancing himself from the group with his new love Yoko Ono and abandoned the pop style of The Beatles to the raw and emotional tone of his iconic solo career. There are as many young adults who wear tee-shirts of John Post-Beatles as there are of The Beatles themselves.

Paul himself also found love with his wife Linda Eastman, who inspired him to become an activist for animal rights and advocate vegetarianism. He tours and makes music to this day.

And while Ringo was obviously the weakest songwriter and singer of them all because he’s primarily a drummer, he still crafted solid songs as a solo artist and deserves immense credit for his masterful drumming with The Beatles. He had both a singing and acting career in the aftermath of the band and still tours with his "All-Starr Band."

If you were to take the best songs from each Beatle solo career, the result would be some of the greatest albums of all-time. Each Beatle became their own brand with their art being made in a unique and unconventional style. Yet they all preached the same thing in their work: Peace and Love.

Here’s a list I wrote earlier this year of the 25 best songs from The Beatles solo, in the list, I argue that the best Beatles album ever would be a compilation of their best solo songs in one record.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/25-song s-https://www.theodysseyonline.com/25-songs-beatles-...-...

Some of the most famous bands of all-time ended prematurely such as Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, The Clash, Cream, The Sex Pistols. For some, their demise had to do with the death of a key member. For others, it involved clashing egos and creative differences.

For other great groups, there is that inevitable fallout where they begin to fade away rather than burn out. Some people do say that “you can’t make a great rock record after you’re forty” and The Beatles were just hitting their thirties by the time they were done. Perhaps their legacy would be watered down if they had years of material in the 70s and 80s that didn’t match their prime in the 60s. Their talent could guide them through decades of peaks and valleys, but the inspiration to capture great music they had in their youth would likely have disappeared. The best-case scenario of The Beatles surviving would be taking the same path as The Rolling Stones: All old, but still playing together and going strong.


For believers of The Butterfly Effect, The Beatles remaining together could possibly change the terrible fate of John Lennon. Considering that John loved New York City, he could still have his own place there. His occupation with working with The Beatles, however, could keep him busy enough to stay away from the man who killed him in 1980, Mark David Chapman. There’s no real answer as to whether or not the band remaining together literally saves John's life. It could've endangered him even more, he could have been compelled to harm himself, no one knows. George, who died of throat cancer in 2001 likely for years of smoking, could have died sooner. The stress of keeping the band together and not having time to focus on kicking the smoking habit could have shortened the time he had left. In my opinion, The Beatles would cease to be The Beatles the moment any one of the four passes, regardless whether they continued making music and found a replacement. John, Paul, Geroge, and Ringo are forever linked together, any addition or subtraction to that core four would disrupt The Beatles entirely.

For better or worse, The Beatles remain immortal as the undisputed greatest band of all-time in part because their existence didn’t last. Their material was made and released almost entirely in the 1960s, the decade which saw the most rapid cultural and societal changes of the 20th century. From the black-and-white look of the early 60s to the colorful spirit of the mid-60s to the sobering reality of the late-60s, The Beatles defined all of that time with their music. It’s hard to imagine them being apart of any time before or beyond that.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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