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The Beatles influence on rock music and popular culture was, and remains, immense. Their commercial success commenced an immediate wave of changes—including a shift from US global dominance of rock and roll to UK acts, from soloists to groups, from professional songwritersto self-penned songs, and to changes in fashion and lifestyle.

Album format and covers

Prior to The Beatles' influence, record albums were of secondary consideration to singles ("45s") in mass marketing, generally devised to contain "filler" material along with one or two hits. As their career proceeded, however, The Beatles began to increasingly focus on the album as an artistic medium in its own right. In general the Beatles did not include their singles on their albums. Several Beatles album covers have been copied or parodied, for example:

• All of the band's album covers were spoofed by the parody band The Rutles in their 1978 mockumentary All You Need Is Cash.
• With The Beatles was defaced by Meet The Residents (The Residents) and more or less loosely imitated by Get The Knack (The Knack), Meet The Smithereens! (The Smithereens), Young Black Teenagers self-titled debut album, Kiss's self-titled debut album, and Deface the Music(Utopia) – itself an album of pastiches spanning The Beatles' career. As well, the Japanese anime soundtrack Meet the Tenchi Muyo! parodies the cover, though no Beatles songs are used. The artwork of the 1986 Genesis single Land of Confusion, is a parody of the original Beatles cover, with puppet versions of the members of Genesis.
• A Hard Day's Night was imitated by House of Heroes Meets The Beatles (House of Heroes).
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was imitated by The Yellow Album (The Simpsons), We're Only in It for the Money (Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention), Cripple Crow (Devendra Banhart), Sinister Slaughter (Macabre), Electric Circus (Common), and Let's Eat (The Wiggles)^[1]
• The Beatles ("the White Album") was imitated by Boyd Rice, Prince, The Damned, Metallica, and Jay-Z, who all released albums with black covers called "The Black Album". There is also a SpongeBob SquarePants soundtrack called The Yellow Album. Weezer also has three self-titled albums that are known better as the Red, Blue and Green Albums.
• Abbey Road was imitated by The Abbey Road E.P. (Red Hot Chili Peppers). The cover of the Booker T. and the MGs album, McLemore Avenue is an homage to Abbey Road.
• Let It Be was imitated by Demon Days (Gorillaz), and Shout at the Devil (Mötley Crüe).
  • The title of Let It Be is similar to that of Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones, which was released six months before, but had begun recording just nine months after.

Music videos

Richard Lester received a formal letter from MTV declaring him the father of the modern pop video, for the work he did directing both of the early Beatles films, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965). His revolutionary camera techniques together with short lines of dialogue and rapid editing cuts to the beat were all seen as the precursor to the modern rock video.

In the mid-1960s, The Beatles began filming promotional music videos for their songs, which they sent to television networks in lieu of appearing in person. Starting with the promotional clip for "Rain" in 1966, these films began using many techniques previously only seen in experimental film, such as intensive use of slow-motion and reversed film. This approach was further taken to new heights with the groundbreaking promo clip for "Strawberry Fields Forever", directed by Swedish television director Peter Goldman in January 1967 which, besides the techniques already seen in "Rain", also used intricate jump-cuts that rapidly alternated between night and day, switching colour temperature filters during the song's outro extensive post-production colour filtering and other avant-garde devices. These techniques were later copied and the use of such film and videos started the now common practice of releasing a video clip to accompany singles.

Cover versions

Although many artists have performed covers of songs by The Beatles, the following are among the most notable:

Jimi Hendrix

On 4 June 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played their last show in England, at London's Saville Theatre,^[3] before heading to America. Two Beatles (Paul McCartney and George Harrison) were in attendance, along with: Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton, Spencer Davis, Jack Bruce, and pop singer Lulu.

Hendrix opened the show with his own rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which he had learned in the few days leading up to the show. Harrison and McCartney were extremely impressed by this, especially because it was played on the Sunday after the release of Sgt. Pepper the previous Friday. McCartney had publicly endorsed Hendrix for months, before Hendrix broke into the UK music scene.^[4] Hendrix also played "Day Tripper," which can be found on the live albums Radio One and BBC Sessions.

Joe Cocker

Joe Cocker's first album was called With a Little Help from My Friends and contained a song with the same name. He had completely revamped the Lennon/McCartney song by changing it to a 12/8 blues/rock song. The Beatles heard it before its release, as the producer was uncertain as to how they would react to such a radical overhaul of one of their tracks. The Beatles agreed that it was a great version.

Cocker's version was later used as the theme song for the TV show The Wonder Years.

In the album "Joe Cocker!" he also sang: "She came in through the bathroom window" and "Something".

Cocker later sang and acted the song "Come Together" in the feature film Across the Universe.

David Bowie

David Bowie covered "Across the Universe" on his 1975 album Young Americans. John Lennon was partly involved in the making of the album. Bowie revamped the song into a soul version, eliminating the monotone vocals used in the Beatles version (and other covers of the song), as well as eliminating the "jai guru deva om" part of the chorus.

Also, in the title track from Young Americans, a chorus sings "I read the news today oh boy" alluding to "A Day in the Life".

Keith Moon

In 1976, Keith Moon of The Who covered the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" for the soundtrack of the documentary All This and World War II, and sang backing vocals (with many others) on "All You Need Is Love".^[5] Moon also covered "In My Life" on his album Two Sides of the Moon.

Moon once approached the Beatles' table at a London nightclub. "Can I join you?" he asked. "Yeah, sure," said Starr, as he pulled up a seat for Moon. Moon then said, "No, can I join you?", implying that he wanted to join the band. Ringo replied with, "No, we've already got a drummer." The last photo of Lennon and McCartney together was owned by Moon.

Moon's final night out was as a guest of McCartney at the preview of the film The Buddy Holly Story. After dinner with Paul and Linda McCartney, Moon and his girlfriend—Annette Walter-Lax—left the party early and they returned to his flat in Curzon Place, London. He later died in his sleep.

Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers recited the lyrics of "A Hard Day's Night" in a "Shakespearian" voice, (in the style of Laurence Olivier playing Richard III) with minimal backing music. Sellers' recording reached #14 on the UK charts in 1965.

He deliberately changed the tempo and dynamics of the original lyrics to make them comical. He left definite pauses between words, such as:

"But when I get home to you... I find the things that you do... will make me feel (pause) all right."

This version was re-issued in 1993, and reached Number 52 in the UK Top 75 Singles chart. He covered several other Beatles hits, including "Help!" and "She Loves You".

Sellers had casual friendships with Harrison and Starr. Harrison told occasional Sellers stories in interviews, and Starr appeared with Sellers in the anarchic movie, The Magic Christian (1970), whose theme song was Badfinger's cover version of McCartney's "Come and Get It". Starr also gave Sellers a rough mix of songs from The Beatles. The tape was auctioned, and bootlegged, after his death.

Other successful cover versions

• Elton John collaborated with John Lennon in 1974 and recorded "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", while Elton John appeared in Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night". (For more information, see Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds#Elton John version.)
• Earth, Wind & Fire recorded "Got to Get You into My Life".
• Stevie Wonder covered "We Can Work It Out" on his 1970 album Signed, Sealed, and Delivered. The single reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned him his second Grammy Award nomination in 1972, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
• Frank Sinatra covered "Yesterday" and George Harrison's "Something" even though he once famously said (at a live concert) that it was his favourite Lennon and McCartney song.^{[citation needed]}
• Ray Charles covered "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yesterday" and was known for his appreciation of The Beatles' music.
• Siouxsie and the Banshees featuring Robert Smith of The Cure on guitars, recorded a cover of "Dear Prudence" in 1983 and peaked at number 3 in the UK singles charts.
• Wet Wet Wet had their first Number 1 hit with "With a Little Help from My Friends" in 1988.
• Rosanne Cash topped the Country charts with a cover of "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" in 1989.
• Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple covered "Across the Universe" (the latter for the Pleasantville soundtrack).
• Franz Ferdinand covered "It Won't Be Long" live.
• A number of artists have rerecorded the whole Sgt. Pepper album, such as Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs, Travis, Bryan Adams, and Cheap Trick.
• Elliott Smith recorded a version of "Because", which was played over the end credits of the film American Beauty.
• Aimee Mann and Michael Penn recorded a cover of "Two of Us" on the I Am Sam soundtrack. Also, Mann recorded a version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
• Also, singer-songwriter Ben Folds covered "Golden Slumbers" on the I Am Sam soundtrack.
• Phish covered the White Album in its entirety on 31 October 1994 in Glens Falls, NY as part of their Halloween "musical costume." The show was later released as Live Phish Volume 13. Phish also covered "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "A Day In The Life" regularly in their live performances.
• Wilson Pickett covered "Hey Jude", which was a #16 pop hit.
• In 1995, the Argentine band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs did a reggae cover of the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" with Blondie's Debbie Harry.
• In 2004, Styx covered "I Am the Walrus". The cover hit the top 10 on the Mediabase Classic Rock chart just 2 weeks after being released.
• In 2006, Os Mutantes played a version of "I feel a little spaced out (Ando meio desligado)" which included a guitar solo that cited "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"'s solo, together with voices that sang The Beatles' song's chorus. It was recorded on the live album Mutantes Ao Vivo - Barbican Theatre, Londres 2006.
• Mae's 2006 album The Everglow: Special Edition featured a cover of "A Day In The Life"
• In December 2007, Ozzy Osbourne covered "In My Life", for a video clip
• Silverstien's 2009 album Shipwreck in the Sand featured a cover of "Help!"
• In 2010, One Direction biggest boy band, covered their song 'All You Need Is Love' in The X Factor UK

Live concerts

The Beatles were the first entertainment act to stage a large stadium concert. At Shea Stadium, New York City on Sunday, 15 August 1965 the group opened their 1965 North American tour to a record audience of 55,600. The event sold out in 17 minutes.^[8] It was the first concert to be held at a major outdoor stadium and set records for attendance and revenue generation, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable. The Beatles returned to Shea for a very successful encore in August 1966.

Fashion

The mop-top haircut

The Beatle haircut, also known as the mop-top (or moptop) — because of its resemblance to a mop — or Arthur amongst fans, is a mid-length hairstyle named after and popularised by the Beatles. It is a straight cut – collar-length at the back and over the ears at the sides, with a straight fringe (bangs).

As a schoolboy in the mid '50s, Jürgen Vollmer had left his hair hanging down over his forehead one day after he had gone swimming, not bothering to style it. John Lennon is quoted in The Beatles Anthology as follows: "Jürgen had a flattened-down hairstyle with a fringe in the back, which we rather took to."

In late 1961, Vollmer moved to Paris. McCartney said in a 1979 radio interview: "We saw a guy in Hamburg whose hair we liked. John and I were hitchhiking to Paris. We asked him to cut our hair like he cut his." McCartney also wrote in a letter to Vollmer in 1989: "George explained in a 60s interview that it was John and I having our hair cut in Paris which prompted him to do the same…. We were the first to take the plunge."

Because of the immense popularity of the Beatles, the haircut was widely imitated worldwide between 1964 and 1966. Their hair-style led toy manufacturers to begin producing real-hair and plastic "Beatle Wigs". Lowell Toy Manufacturing Corp. of New York was licensed to make "the only AUTHENTIC Beatle Wig". There have been many attempts at counterfeiting, but in its original packaging this wig has become highly collectible. At a press conference at the Plaza Hotel in New York, shortly after the Beatles' arrival in the United States, Harrison was asked by a reporter, "What do you call your hairstyle?" He replied "Arthur". The scene was recreated in the movie A Hard Day's Night with the reporter asking George Harrison, "What would you call that, uh, hairstyle you're wearing?"

Mikhail Safonov wrote in 2003 that in the Brezhnev-dominated Soviet Union, mimicking The Beatles' hairstyle was seen as extremely rebellious. Young people were called "hairies" by their elders, and were arrested and forced to have their hair cut in police stations.

In 1967, most memorably on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, all four of The Beatles sported prominent moustaches, sparking a trend for facial hair towards the end of the 60s and through the 1970s; additionally, Harrison also began to sport long hair while Lennon began to wear his signature round glasses. This look signalled a new, more mature image for the "mop tops." By the late 1960s, The Beatles generally had much longer hair than they had during the Beatlemania era, and often wore full beards, much like rock stars such as Jeff Lynne andPhil Collins would do so in the 1970s.

Suits

In the early Beatle-mania years, The Beatles would occasionally wear black, and then later grey, Edwardian collarless suits. This style of suit was adopted from the Mod youth cult, then at its peak in the UK. These suits (instead of leather trousers, plaid shirts, and slacks) became extremely common for new bands to wear after 1964.

Later, during the psychedelic era of 1967–1968, The Beatles popularised bright colours, and wore paisley suits and shirts and trousers with floral patterns. The Beatles also popularised Indian-influenced fashions such as collarless shirts and sandals.

By the late 1960s, The Beatles had adopted trends toward more casual fashions, with t-shirts, blue jeans, and denim jackets. Lennon also popularised wearing solid white suits, reflecting an interest in minimalist design that also influenced the cover of the album The Beatles. This mixture of casual wear and unconventional formal clothing could be seen in The Beatles' later years as they grew beards and drifted towards more hippie and Indian clothing.

Footwear

Beatle boots are tight-fitting, Cuban-heeled, ankle-length boots with a pointed toe which originated in 1963 when Brian Epstein discovered Chelsea boots while browsing in the London footwear company Anello & Davide, and consequently commissioned four pairs (with the addition of Cuban heels) for The Beatles to complement their new suit image upon their return from Hamburg, who wore them under drainpipe trousers.

Other fashions

The style of hat worn by Lennon and his wife Cynthia on the Beatles' tour of the U.S. in 1964 was adopted widely by both men and women. In 1966, during the filming of How I Won the War, Lennon adopted round, thin-rimmed "teashade glasses," which became a signature element of Lennon's look. This style of eyewear is still popularly known as "John Lennon glasses."