“It’s one of the earliest heavy metal records made. Paul’s contribution was the way Ringo played the drums”: Did the Beatles really pioneer hard rock as early as 1965? John Lennon certainly thought so

Beatles ticket.

At the very mid-point of the 1960s, The Beatles’ second feature film, Help! was released. Although a more out-and-out comedy than its artsier predecessor A Hard Day's Night (which did a better job of balancing absurdism with style) Help! did arguably sport a richer songbook.

You only need to look as far as its rollocking title track, now understood to have been Lennon's anguished admission of depression, then there’s the Dylan-esque wisdom of the exquisite You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, and of course, one of McCartney’s all-time masterworks, Yesterday. The Help! LP revealed a marked progression in the Beatles’ fortitude as songwriters.