[2] The majority of their recordings were produced by George Martin, who also played and composed string arrangements on multiple songs; his influence on the group led him to be referred to as the "Fifth Beatle".
[12] These include "Come Together", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Nowhere Man" (Lennon)[13] and "Hey Jude", "Let It Be" and "Yesterday" (McCartney),[14] the last of which is one of the most covered songs of all time.
[22] Originally rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll music,[1] the group embraced pop music in their early years ("She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand"),[23] but began to branch out into different genres, including folk rock (Help!, Rubber Soul),[24][25] country ("Act Naturally", "Don't Pass Me By")[26][27] and psychedelia (Sgt.
[1] Their 1968 self-titled album (also known as the "White Album") in particular featured a wide range of styles, including ska ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"),[27] blues ("Yer Blues"),[28] hard rock ("Helter Skelter" and the single version of "Revolution"),[29][30] and a musique concrète sound collage ("Revolution 9").
[1] Some of these include one of the first uses of guitar feedback in music ("I Feel Fine"),[33] the first use of a fade-in in a pop song ("Eight Days a Week"),[34][35] use of tape loops ("Tomorrow Never Knows"),[36] using the recording studio as an instrument (Revolver and Sgt.
[39] Abbey Road (1969) featured prominent use of the Moog synthesiser and the Leslie speaker, along with a medley of song fragments edited together to form a single piece.
[40] Along with their main catalogue, over 100 previously unreleased songs have been released on numerous live albums, compilations, and deluxe editions.
[41] Another demo, "Now and Then", was attempted during the Anthology project before being completed in 2023 using AI technology developed by Peter Jackson for The Beatles: Get Back.