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Originally Posted by Conan
You can't forget the work that they did later in studio recordings. Sure they weren't the first to experiment with production techniques, but they were the first with a large enough audience to make it as influential as it ended up being.
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Musically, they popularized backward masking, close miking of acoustic instruments, backwards guitar solos and automatic double-tracking
A John Lennon composition written for the A Hard Day’s Night album, “I’ll Be Back” is the first clue of the genius for musical composition the band would develop. Modulating between major and minor keys–virtually key-shifting as only done in classical works–this song ignores traditional compositional convention by having two bridges, while lacking a chorus entirely.* Additionally, the fade-out ending arrives half a verse early, creating a visceral response in listeners that underscores the story-line. Music journalist Robert Sandall wrote in Mojo Magazine: “‘I’ll Be Back’ was the early Beatles at their most prophetic.* Their grasp of how to color arrangements in darker or more muted tones foreshadowed an inner journey they eventually undertook in the next three albums.”* By all musical and artistic standards, this song is nothing short of pure creative genius.
Tomorrow Never Knows,” the last track on the highly acclaimed Revolver album, marks a turning point in both pop music and well as the Beatles’ blossoming creativity. Based on John’s experience reading the Timothy Leary book, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, this song is technically experimental beyond anything ever attempted in popular music, utilizing a number of techniques never before recorded. Using automatic double tracking (ADT) to double John’s vocals (which were then sent through a Leslie rotating speaker to create a mystical effect), clever tape “loops” designed by Paul (for additional mystical effect), an Indian-inspired modal music structure created my Lennon, it is all held together by a noticeably irregular drum pattern demonstrating Ringo’s rhythmic genius. And if that weren’t enough, “Tomorrow Never Knows” is structurally restricted to just one chord. This song breaks all established convention regarding musical composition, what a song should sound like, and how a song should be recorded–thus marking the inception of “experimental” music