Comment: Abbey Road at 50 shows how pop music grew up in the 1960s Published on: 30 September 2019 Writing for The Conversation, Adam Behr discusses the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' Abbey Road. Imma Gambardella via Shutterstock , The 50th anniversary re-issue of the seminal Beatles album Abbey Road 鈥� remixed and with a slew of alternative takes 鈥� along with the and fans alike, illustrates the recording industry鈥檚 preoccupation with . It鈥檚 also an opportunity to cash in on both the that accompanies the canonisation of Baby Boomer rock pioneers. The Beatles lead the pack but and have also put out anniversary re-releases and documentaries. It鈥檚 easy to be cynical but Abbey Road is a musical moment with an anniversary that warrants marking. It received mixed reviews on release in September 1969. The Guardian found the record 鈥溾��, although Rolling Stone remarked that it showed that the band was 鈥溾��. Commercially, there was no question. It entered the UK charts at number one, where it spent a total of 17 weeks, with similar performance internationally. The album鈥檚 effect on musicians was both immediate and longstanding. Booker T and the MG鈥檚 recorded and released an instrumental cover of the album 鈥� 鈥� within a year, featuring themselves crossing the road outside their own Stax Studios. Frank Sinatra, meanwhile, made 鈥淪omething鈥� a feature of his concerts for years, recording it twice and calling it 鈥溾��. Sublime swansong Abbey Road鈥檚 reach into the popular consciousness is long. It has immortalised the former EMI studios, now taking the name of their address, and the zebra crossing that featured on the iconic cover is today. Its real emotional and musical weight, though, comes through the combination of songwriting and production craft with historical placement. Although Let It Be was released in 1970, Abbey Road was the 鈥� a mixing session for Lennon鈥檚 portentous 鈥淚 Want You (She鈥檚 So Heavy)鈥� was all four members were in the studio together. They were mired in financial difficulties 鈥� their (a portfolio of ventures from record label to a shortlived boutique) was struggling after a ramshackle launch period. Their increasingly divergent social and musical lives were also shot through with legal disagreements, and whether to take on Allen Klein as their manager 鈥� as favoured by Lennon, Starr and Harrison 鈥� or, McCartney鈥檚 preference, the Eastman family of his new wife Linda. Their recording swansong followed fragmentary, disparate work on and the fractious Get Back sessions in the early months of 1969. That was an attempt to rekindle their early, live energy first in Twickenham film studios and latterly their Apple building on Saville Row although it collapsed into discord, leaving hours of tape that would eventually surface as the 1970 album Let It Be, with . Work on Abbey Road in summer 1969 wasn鈥檛 free of discord but, unlike the preceding Twickenham sessions, it didn鈥檛 result in sloppy and incomplete recordings. This was due in no small part to the reinstatement of George Martin as producer and the band鈥檚 return to EMI studios. Martin instilled a sense of discipline. His involvement came that the band 鈥渓et me produce it the way we used to鈥�. The band, 鈥� 鈥渘one of us would go near them鈥�, remarked Lennon 鈥� concurred. As Harrison : 鈥淲e decided, 鈥楲et鈥檚 make a good album again鈥�.鈥� It鈥檚 plausible that, sensing the end was near, they wanted to go out on a high. The extent to which Abbey Road was planned as a finale is debatable. As with much of the Beatles鈥� final days, matters are shrouded in contradiction. The mix of schoolboy friendships, working relationships, a strained legal partnership and creative inspiration meant that the months of recording were unlikely to be either unremitting contention or unbroken harmony. It鈥檚 also almost impossible to discount hindsight and the tendency to read their final moments as a band into the music 鈥� 鈥淭he End"鈥檚 elegiac conclusion to the medley on side two in particular. Regardless, they were reaching the end of the road. All were involved in solo projects by the time they recorded Abbey Road and Harrison and Starr had already temporarily left the band during recordings for the White Album and Get Back. End of an era Abbey Road, though, reveals the possibilities and 鈥� the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. It鈥檚 the first time after perhaps Sergeant Pepper that their creative impetus is audible as merging across one another鈥檚 songs 鈥� the Beatles as an entity, beyond the group of individual musicians. Abbey Road fuses song-craft and recording innovation with the confidence that the group dynamic brought to the table. Their first forays into eight-track tape and transistor technology gave the album a fuller sound than previously, while it was one of . Sonically, it was as much the first album of the 1970s as an artefact of the late 1960s. Few, acts are as synonymous with a decade as the Beatles are with the 1960s. And while this is party historical accident 鈥� their creative collaboration ended with the decade 鈥� it also means that Abbey Road signposts the passing of one era into another. As we stumble uncertainly towards a new decade ourselves, there鈥檚 comfort in that album鈥檚 uneasy synthesis of sunshine and strife into a coherent musical statement. In 1963, The Beatles had recorded their first album Please Please Me in one lightning 13-hour session. By the time they walked out onto the zebra crossing in 1969, they had expanded the parameters of popular music, helping to turn it a recording art form. Their success also solidified the concept of the band as a preeminent creative unit in popular music. Even at the end, they continued to point the way forward. , Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . Share: Latest News 缅北禁地 recognised with geography award 缅北禁地 has been awarded the Highly Commended Geographical Association Publishers Award for its collaboration with Time for Geography, the UK鈥檚 open-access, dedicated video platform. published on: 16 April 2026 缅北禁地 historians mark General Strike centenary To mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike and miners鈥� lock-out of 1926, historians at 缅北禁地 are organising a series of events on its enduring legacy. published on: 16 April 2026 Comment: NCP is in administration Writing for The Conversation, Erwei (David) Xiang discusses how some big companies like NCP are so dependent on debt that they can鈥檛 adjust to change. published on: 16 April 2026 Facts and figures
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