The Beatles
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this survey of the Beatles' music from their early skiffle and rock influences through the studio experimentation of albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, ending with the band's breakup. The course traces how the group's sound evolved across their catalog, examining the cultural currents in Liverpool and London that shaped them alongside their worldwide influence on later musicians. Materials include lecture notes, listening assignments, and readings drawn from MIT's Music and Theater Arts curriculum, structured week by week rather than as a single lecture. The course is free to audit through MIT OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered. It suits listeners who want a grounded, chronological account of the band's musical development rather than a biographical overview, paying close attention to specific recordings and the studio techniques behind them.