LONDON — From Tony Blair to Bob Geldof the message was the same—The Beatles were the soundtrack of the Sixties.
Their songs, their suits, their mop-top haircuts: four young working class heroes changed the face of pop music forever. No image of the swinging sixties—a decade that changed so much more than music—is complete without them.
"Their music, the band and the personalities of the band were the background to our lives," said Prime Minister Blair, reflecting on the death of "Quiet Beatle" George Harrison at the age of 58.
Fellow musicians remembered a gentle soul who sought meaning in religion once he tired of Beatlemania.
"He wasn't a reluctant Beatle. He knew that his place in popular culture was absolutely secure," Geldof said of the guitarist and songwriter.
John Lennon once infamously said The Beatles were more popular than Jesus and, blasphemy aside, few can dispute their domination of late 20th century culture.
Elvis Presley was the first bad boy of rock. The Rolling Stones followed. But it was The Beatles who took the world by storm. Their mass appeal, which cut across sex, age and state, eluded other pop groups.
Like the model Twiggy and actor Terence Stamp, they were working-class icons who broke down class barriers in "Stiff Upper Lip" Britain.
Nor did the appeal wane. Thirty years on, an album of their number one hits topped charts around the world.
"They are famous in the way the Queen is famous," journalist Maureen Cleave reflected at the height of their fame. A whole generation can remember the day President Kennedy died. Beatle songs are just as indelibly imprinted on their collective memory.
As Americans grieved their president, the timing was perfect for The Beatles to take the country by storm.
"The nation wanted desperately to hear something happy, to find a diversion, some distraction from the morbid tragedy that had intruded into their lives," Peter Brown and Steven Gaines wrote in pop history book "The Love You Make."
"All You Need Is Love" was broadcast live to 200 million people around the world in a historic live TV linkup. It became an anthem for the peace-and-love generation.
Their concerts reduced girls to quivering, hysterical wrecks. Beatlemania was born in a cacophony of screaming. The noise was so overwhelming, the Fab Four just mouthed the words.
The 1967 classic "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was hailed as the world's first concept album. The world sang along to tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Three-minute pop classics, psychedelic extravaganzas, poignant love songs, raucous rock—The Beatles were the complete package.
"I'll light a candle, say a little prayer," said one teary-eyed fan drawn magnetically after Harrison's death to Abbey Road, site of the studio where The Beatles cut pop history.
And despite the bitterness of the band's break-up, it was the music, the ebullience and the wit that lived on.
"The most impressive thing was their engaging personalities," said producer George Martin, often dubbed The Fifth Beatle. "They were just great people to be with."