Paul McCartney announced his departure from the Beatles in a 1970 press release, surprising his bandmates.

After the bitter breakup of the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney only played music together one more time—at an impromptu studio session in 1974, joined by Stevie Wonder.

An American Beatles album featured a bizarre, gruesome image of the band as butchers, which was swiftly recalled.

Explore all 58 famous figures—including artists, thinkers, politicians, athletes, and other pop culture icons—portrayed on the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album cover.

In 1966, Dylan was in a motorcycle accident

At the height of his popularity, Bob Dylan disappeared. The press reported it was due to a near-fatal motorcycle accident, though specifics were never provided. When he returned some time later, with a new album and sound, Dylan fans treated the accident as a pivotal moment in the legendary artist's career. But there's ample proof the accident never happened and, at its core, was little more than a cover story for a burnt-out rock star.

The cover of 'Abbey Road' was shot in a quiet London neighborhood in 1969

The unassuming setting became one of the most famous attractions in the city and was the cover of the Beatles' last-recorded album. It was shot in the late 1960s, when the Fab Four was the most famous band in the world.

Paul McCartney said the Beatles' 'Helter Skelter' was about a playground slide, but Charles Manson said it inspired him to orchestrate 9 murders.

Lorne Michaels jokingly offered the Beatles $3K to reunite on 'Saturday Night Live,' which John Lennon and Paul McCartney briefly considered.

The Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows,' the final track from 1966's 'Revolver,' used innovative recording methods—including a rudimentary form of sampling—to redefine the sound of popular music.

The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, citing frustration with the era's limited sound systems.

The surgeon who tried to save John Lennon says he can’t forget that night

Frank Veteran was a resident in 1980 on the night John Lennon was shot in New York. For years afterward, he tried to process the sight of seeing the Beatle dying in the hospital, including through art, but he says that the memories from the experience are still vivid.

A bootleg video of a 1966 conversation between Bob Dylan and John Lennon has long been a cryptic text for the artists' superfans.

The Beatles were not an immediate success in the US—their label rejected their first two singles, and the band was mocked on the TV show 'American Bandstand.'

The BBC banned the Beatles' song 'A Day in the Life' for 5 years, fearing it encouraged drug use.

Listen to 'Now and Then,' the Beatles' final song

The Beatles released their final song, "Now and Then," in October 2023, featuring a previously hidden John Lennon vocal. The track was initially shelved due to poor audio quality but was revived with the help of AI to enhance Lennon's performance....

Hear how the Beatles became the most influential band on Earth, with guest Conan O'Brien.

Listen to "Yesterday and Today," the 1966 Beatles album only released in the US.

The Beatles' visit with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi helped inspire Western interest in Eastern spirituality

The Fab Four met with the guru—the creator of Transcendental Meditation—in 1968 in Rishikesh, India. The band's George Harrison and his wife had been interested in Indian culture for several years, but the meeting with Maharishi signified a meeting of Western popular culture with Eastern spirituality that would inspire the rising hippie movement.

The American girl groups of the 1950s and '60s had a profound influence on The Beatles, who frequently paid homage to acts like the Marvelettes and the Ronettes

Some believe Princess Diana's fatal car crash in 1997 was planned

The tragedy that killed the Princess of Wales; her partner, Dodi Fayed; and their driver, Henri Paul; in Paris has been the subject of popular conspiracies. Diana, known to have a difficult relationship with the royal family, was believed by many to have been the victim of a murder plot.

Explore Abbey Road Studios, the site that invented stereo recording and was the site of most of the Beatles' recordings.

How AI helped the Beatles win their eighth Grammy

It’s been decades since the legendary British rock band broke up, yet they still managed to snag a Grammy at the 2025 awards ceremony. This feat is thanks to AI, specifically machine-learning technology, to isolate and clean up different components of a late 1970s recording. This mini-documentary shows how the band's surviving members crafted “Now and Then” with the modern technology.

In 2004, Prince paid tribute to George Harrison with a surreal solo

The 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony paid tribute to the recently deceased Beatle with a rendition of one of his most famous songs by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George Harrison's son, Dhani. Several minutes into the performance, Prince suddenly appeared center stage for a virtuosic solo. He ended it by tossing his guitar into the crowd. Tom Petty's drummer would later say, "Everybody wonders where that guitar went, and I gotta tell you, I was on the stage, and I wonder where it went, too."

The Beatles' appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1964 launched Beatlemania in the US after the band struggled to break through to American audiences.

Listen to the Beatles' 'Revolver,' the band's groundbreaking 1966 album.

The Beatles tried to get the rights to make a 'Lord of the Rings' film starring the band members as Gollum, Frodo, Gandalf, and Samwise.

Check out a list of the best Beatles songs, from 'Hey Jude' to 'A Day in the Life.'

The Beatles' song 'Taxman' was inspired by Britain's tax structure.

The Beatles loved Motown Records, covering some of the label's songs while honing their skills as a club act in Germany.

Conspiracy theories persist around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 assassination

Despite multiple investigations—including FBI inquiries and a 1979 House committee report—questions and conspiracy theories have continued to surround the 1968 assassination of Dr. King long after his assassin’s conviction.

The Beatles sued technology company Apple in 1978 to defend naming rights to their record label, Apple Corps.

The Beatles' labels released almost twice as many of the band's records in the US to capitalize on the band's popularity.

Bob Dylan wrote and recorded songs that later became hits when they were covered by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Adele, and Guns N' Roses.

The time Bob Dylan was accused of plagiarizing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’

“Blowin’ in the Wind” is a defining song of the Civil Rights Movement, one that Dylan openly acknowledged was based on a traditional African spiritual. But when Newsweek accused Dylan of stealing the song in 1963, they weren’t talking about influence. They suggested he’d jacked the tune from a helpless high school student. This article breaks down the falsehood and why it was given so much attention while Dylan was becoming a household name.

William Mumler’s spirit photography stunned and bewildered the public

William Mumler’s most famous work is a portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln accompanied by the ghost of her deceased husband, Abraham Lincoln. Other subjects of Mumler's photos claimed that the spirits standing beside them resembled their loved ones. Mumler’s method was never officially proven and continues to mystify viewers.

The long history of Kurt Cobain suicide conspiracy theories

Cobain died by suicide in 1994, but it wasn't long before fans began espousing conspiracy theories alleging that the government or his wife and lead singer of Hole, Courtney Love, had him killed. Seattle police revisited the case in 2014, but determined that it was indeed a suicide.

Watch a 1965 press conference with Bob Dylan where he mocks the media's focus on celebrity.

Read the 1866 story in The Atlantic that put phantom limbs on the map, a fictional story by a Civil War surgeon that was mistaken for being a true account by many readers.

An independent research team believes musician Kurt Cobain's death was not a suicide

Conspiracy theorists have long argued that the Nirvana frontman's 1994 death was a homicide. In 2026, an independent research team reached a similar conclusion. The Seattle Police Department, however, revisited the case in 2014 and maintained that it was a suicide.