The Archives

THE BEATLES

hen the Beatles first toured the U.S. in 1964, predicted, “The odds are that they will fade away.” But as Peter Brown, the group’s business manager, wrote for in 2014, “The Beatles were a once-in-a-lifetime, freakish combination of talent and timing.” When John Lennon, “once the cheeky wit and sardonic soul of the Beatles” was tragically killed 40 years ago on December 8, 1980, reflected that the band was the catalyst for “an epoch-making spasm in Western history, the moment when, at least for a time, the center of creative consciousness shifted to young people.”