I need you guys to help me, specially those who love the Beatles and find them to be an incredibly original band that ignored some many of the imposed barriers of rock music and explored so many different grounds.

I need to do a work for college about my creative profile and I chose to compare the Beatles discography to my projects and my evolution as an artist. Just thought that maybe you guys could help me a bit and tell me how you view their evolution through times and how they developed from their first to their last album. I don't want you guys to write me a gigantic view on the Beatles career and how much it means to you, but I would be thankful if you could just explain your views on this band in a simple and clear way. This would be a good help for me to complete my work. Like I said, I don't need anything too detailed (you can write as much as you wish of course).

Thanks in advance.

To me:

They started as a simple pop/rock group with a good sense of rhythm and pop sensibility. They did standard covers very well, and they were also very charming and mostly good looking. For some reason they were in the right place at the right time and they caught on. I think for the most part they remained a bubble gum pop group for most of 1962-65. They evolved a bit and had some interesting original in that period, but nothing like what they would eventually come to be known for. To me, "Help!" was the first album that started straying from that path. Help starts off with a bunch of originals before they move to the cover songs. But the next album, Rubber Soul, is where The Beatlea truly began as far as I am concerned. They finally realized their full potential and struck out to change the face of music, even though they probably didn't see it that way at the time. They remained a unified creativity force for the next few albums, up to and including Magical Mystery Tour I'd say. But then tensions crept it. John got sidetracked with Yoko, Paul's ego took off a bit, George started to feel a little left out, etc etc. The White Album was amazing, but it was largely Paul influenced. The tensions really came to a head during the recordings of the Let It Be documentary. Though not released until after Abbey Road, you can hear the band was falling apart at the time it was being recorded. If you watch the video, you can especially see the collapse happening right before your eyes. Let It Be was shelved, and George Martin thought The Beatles were done. That is why he was surprised when they decided to give it a go one last time. They knew going into the Abbey Road recording sessions that this would be their last album. But they largely put their differences aside and recorded yet another absolutely brilliant album. What a way to go out. From Rubber Soul to Abbey Road, you will not find a stronger string of albums, nor a more evolutionary and groundbreaking era from any band in rock history. Some will say that The Beatles merely capitalized on trends at the time (i.e. folk rock and psychadelic rock), but the fact the remains that, copy cats or not, The Beatles took in all their influences and produced music that changed the world and the face of rock music. It's like saying Nirvana was just a blatant Pixies rip off. That's fine if you believe that, but they also did something The Pixies never could accomplish...bring their sound to the mainstream and usher in a wave of 'alternative' bands that would dominate the airwaves for years to come. The Beatles took their influences and turned out great songs and music that will be around for centuries.