The most influential band in history. The most successful musical act of all time. What else is to be said about the Beatles? In this course, we will journey on a Magical Mystery Tour of the Beatles’ history and impact, tracking the band’s musical evolution by listening to their music and analyzing their lyrics. We will also position the Beatles in their historical context as a band that broke the American mainstream at the right time and became the figureheads of a socio-cultural rebellion against the Western status quo. Class discussions about the broader impact of their music to the major socio-cultural and political shift of the 1960s hope to shed a critical understanding of this era of Western world history. We will zoom out and look at the Beatles in the modern era. Could there be another Beatles, a musical act revered critically by the masses with monumental commercial success? What does it mean to be the most commercially successful band AND considered “the greatest” band in history? This course hopes to introduce students to mid-20th century England and the United States, and instill further exploration into the Beatles’ extensive discography.