October 1997

Roll Up for the Mystery Tour There is no doubting the Beatles' influence on the music world. They will be remembered not only for their incredible contributions in recording and songwriting, but also for the remarkable cultural and sociological impact they made. They transformed the look, sound, and style of not only their generation, but also of the ones that followed. However, The Beatles also very much influenced the fashion of the time. Swinging London was the style center of the world in the 60's and The Beatles were at the center of Swinging London. Back in the beginning of Beatlemania, John, Paul, George, and Ringo were asked as many questions about their hair as their music. The boys paid very close attention to their appearence and were very particular about what clothes they wore. As George Harrison once remarked, they were responsible for increased sales of corduroy. Now over three decades after the Beatle break-up, they are back at the forefront of pop culture (as if they ever really left), selling millions more albums than they did while they were together and influencing yet another new generation of followers. From the mid-90's release of their Anthology albums to the more recent collection of number-one hits, The Beatles are never that far from the public's consciousness. Plus, the shaggy mop-top and any of it's various incarnations is still the foxiest hair-cut on the planet.

	ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC They played the sweaty Cavern Club in Liverpool and raised a lot of hell at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg. These five leather clad, greasy-haired Gene Vincent-wannabes were hooked on American rhythm & blues and tried their very best to imitate every aspect of it, from the sound to the look (that's Pete Best on second from the left).
	BABY'S IN BLACK When Brian Epstein became the Beatles' manager, he convinced the boys to wash their hair and retire the leather. Therefore, they dressed in dark, matching, impeccably tailored suits, and eventually, the famous Pierre Cardin-inspired collarless number(at right). The Beatle mop-top became such an issue that the Beatle wig became the hottest novelty since the hula hoop.