by Rob Jones

Created on: December 09, 2006   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

The genius of the Beatles can be traced to the one thing that made them better than many of their peers their musical curiosity.

From the very beginning, each member of the Beatles was interested in adding anything and everything to their musical vocabularies. Some of the many musical styles which the Beatles incorporated into their early career were:

Skiffle: a type of blues-based jug band sound which was popular in Britain at the end of the 1950s. Artists like Lonnie Donnegan were very influential when John Lennon formed the proto-Beatles group, The Quarrymen

Early rock n' roll: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly in particular were the band's musical touchstones. Not only were the sounds of these artists admired, but also the fact that these artists wrote their own material. An artist who wrote their own original material was more an exception than it was a rule even at the beginning of the 1960's. This desire to write original songs would grow as the group gained popularity, but these early rock n' roll writers were a big part of the Beatles' inspiration to do the same.

Phil Spector girl groups like the Ronettes and the Crystals: As shown on the groups version of "Please Mr. Postman", among others

Showtunes The Paul McCartney interpretation of "Till Their Was You" from "The Music Man" as featured on their second album is the best example of this

Motown: Excellent versions of Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me" arguably betters the original

Rockabilly: George Harrison's guitar hero was Carl Perkins as shown on countrified guitar breaks on songs like "All My Loving" as well as the groups cover of the Perkins song "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" on the 1964 LP "Beatles For Sale"

Latin Music: "And I Love Her" is a good example of how the group used latin sounds in their own compositions, as well as the Ringo Starr drum parts in songs like "I Feel Fine" which takes it's cues from latin percussion. But their early cover of songs like "Besame Mucho" shows a love of the latin tradition

And these were only a few musical styles which they celebrated and were able to make their own. That's yet another reason why the Beatles helped to shape and define the way music was made. A lot of thanks must be given to producer George Martin, who famously let them explore the studio to find out how the studio itself could add to their musical repertoires. Martin indulged their curiosity of orchestral instruments, such as the piccolo trumpet heard on "Penny Lane" or the strings used on "Yesterday". Later, Lennon and McCartney would use early tape-loop technology, famously producing the proto-electronica track "Tomorrow Never Knows" on 1966's "Revolver". George Harrison would take Indian classical music and meld it with guitars and string sections to create the first examples of world music in tracks like "Within You Without You". Even choral music was an interest; listen to those voices on the track "Because" on the 1969 album "Abbey Road"! This musical exploration would continue through out the life of the group, feeding their already fertile songwriting, and adding sonic colors to the palettes of their peers too.

Where musical curiosity was characteristic in other groups like The Kinks, The Zombies, The Who, The Byrds, and others, it was the Beatles who made it possible to pursue it. They led the way by showing that great songs could come in all types of packaging. And this influence is still affecting the approach to music-making today, which makes the band's contribution to music as a whole immeasurable on this level alone!

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