The Little Book of Big Beatles Firsts: The Innovations That Created Modern Music

That the Beatles are the greatest of all time has long been beyond dispute; decades after their break-up, they still sit so high in the rock heavens that no other band has even gotten close.

Mentioned less often but with as much reverence is that they were, in so many areas, the first. They were the prototype for rock, its ultimate pioneers.

Still less common is a grasp of just how revolutionary and ground-breaking they were. The actual list of all the things the Beatles did first is, well, mind-boggling. And it follows, in detail, below.

And where they weren’t first, they were often nonetheless the pioneers – taking a new idea and doing amazing things with it, blazing musical trails for other bands. And, often, when another band or artist was the innovator, they took it to the masses in ways their predecessor hadn’t.

For the sake of posterity, all three of these categories are documented in this little book. The True Firsts of the Beatles will be so designated – as will the innovations they pioneered, and the ones they popularized.

So vast is this collection of innovations and explorations that we can say without hesitation that the very shape of modern music can be safely called their handiwork. There is no point in their all-too-brief career to which one can point and say, “Looks like were slacking off there!” The innovation never stopped; even when they were falling apart, miserable and at each other’s throats, the music just got better and better. The quest for the new-and-different was built into their very genes.

Some of these items will surely be familiar; others may be surprising. All of them, let’s hope, are inspiring.