What makes a legend? The Beatles may shed some light on this question. The Liverpool band not only revolutionised pop music, they also changed history.
Founded in the late 1950s, the Beatles released their first single in 1962. Soon an army of young fans were seen shrieking and chasing the Fab Four around the world. This added a new word to the English language - Beatlemania.
Today the Beatles still have many teenage followers, born more than a decade after the group disbanded in 1970. And the fans are not just following a trend. There have good reasons to like the Beatles.
All the members were gifted. While John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote most of the songs, George Harrison played the guitar and sitar and Ringo Starr the drums. Have you ever heard Yesterday, A Hard Day's Night, Let It Be, or I Want To Hold Your Hand ? They have solid lyrics and tight harmonies.
The Beatles managed their band's identity with skill. They did not allow their music to be used for commercial purposes.
And like us, they had their idols. The Beatles' music was strongly influenced by rock'n'roll stars such as Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry.
The Beatles broke up when they felt they had exhausted their partnership. Yet their music lives on. In the mid-90s, McCartney, Harrison and Starr reunited to breathe new life into two of Lennon's songs, Free As A Bird and Real Love. The songs were unfinished when he was murdered in 1980. Harrison died of cancer in 2001 at the age of 57.