The Beatles and Abbey Road: a legend and a street

Stephen Zweig said: “Dramatic and fateful moments are rare in an individual’s life and in the course of history; such moments often only occur on a certain day or on a certain day. Hours often only occur within a single minute, but their decisive impact transcends time."

With the Beatles' enduring influence, they clearly have more than one such moment. But at least one of them belongs to the autumn of 1969.

In 1969, the Beatles were about to usher in their last studio album, and it was no surprise that the recording location was Abbey Road Studio. Producer George Martin commented that this is a happy album, and the reason why it is happy is "probably because everyone knows that this is the last one."

In fact, as early as 1962, the Beatles' first studio single "Love Me Do/P.S.I Love You" was also recorded at Abbey Road Recording Studio. In the seven years from 1962 to 1969, more than 90% of the songs in the band's 12 official albums were recorded here. Abbey Road and the Beatles are closely connected.

According to the previous plan, the Beatles, who are full of internal conflicts, will shoot the album cover at the foot of Mount Fuji. But then the band decided to find a random place nearby to shoot, and use the street where it was shot as the record title. One day, Paul McCartney had a sudden idea. Since most of the band's music was recorded in the recording studio on Abbey Road, why not shoot the cover on the street? This idea was unanimously supported by others (otherwise, it was said that the band had become inseparable). In fact, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money to shoot the cover, so I temporarily decided to shoot on the road outside the recording studio - more believable but more cold-blooded). So John Lennon and Yoko contacted their Scottish photographer friend Iain Macmillan.

At 11:35 on August 8, the police temporarily blocked traffic and members of the Beatles lined up to cross the Abbey Road zebra crossing in North London. Iain Macmillan used only ten minutes to create six wonderful photographs. As a result, this set of shortest and most sudden photos became the Beatles' most famous and imitated album cover, as well as one of the most discussed and interpreted covers in the history of music. It also became the Beatles' first unrecorded album cover. Name, Untitled Cover. So much so that when a Beatles wax figure was installed in a Berlin hotel in 2012, the band's look was in the classic "crossing the road" style.

The Abbey Road album was finally released in the UK on September 26, 1969. The huge success of the album did not keep the band in turmoil, so this record also objectively put a perfect end to the great Beatles. . The band named the album after a street that was meaningful to them, and the recording studio was renamed "Abbey Road Studio" after the classic. There probably couldn't be a better ending or beginning than this.

The greatness of the Abbey Road album, like the Beatles themselves, no longer needs elaboration. In this seemingly relaxed farewell, the band members all showed their unique musical outlook, leaving fans with endless aftertaste. In 2012, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Abbey Road at No. 14 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

The effect of the Beatles and Abbey Road albums continues to this day. Abbey Road Studio has also witnessed countless bands such as Pink Floyd, Elton John, U2, Oasis, Adele, Suede, Coldplay, and even "Lord of the Rings". ", "Harry Potter" and other classic movie soundtracks were also born here. Years later, it also gave birth to the pursuit of live studio performances and program formats Live from Abbey Road. From record covers to music styles, the Beatles are still leading countless followers.

Abbey Road, a small road of only 2 kilometers, has long become a holy place in the hearts of Beatles fans and even rock fans. In December 2010, the British government listed it as an important cultural attraction with a second-level architectural preservation monument. Later, with the London Olympics held, the significance of Abbey Road as a rock cultural landmark became more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.