[The initial meeting between John and Paul] in the late 'fifties led to events that shook the world.

This is no exaggeration. How many of us can look around and deny that the Beatles at least seemed to initiate many of those changes in our social attitudes and tastes that took place in the 'sixties and which still reverberate today? Possibly it was just the group's good luck to be so closely identified with these mass changes in consciousness. Yet many who still view the whole Beatle Phenomenon through wistfully pink-lensed spectacles will always secretly be convinced that the Beatles were behind the whole thing from the start. (p. 5)

With the release of [the] superb and historic single ['I Want to Hold Your Hand'], the Beatles proved themselves masters of the difficult art of writing original, memorable and commercial pop singles. The musical structure of 'I Want To...