The Beatles Are on Hoopla: Start Your Trip with Rubber Soul 

Do you listen to the Beatles “Eight Days a Week”? When people tease you for your Beatles obsession, do you just tell them to “Let It Be,” because your love for the Fab Four stretches “Across the Universe”? (Sorry for that. We couldn’t resist.) Good news for everyone who loves the Beatles, and in our world, that’s just about everyone: the Beatles are on Hoopla. Stream music by the Beatles for free with your library card, right from the Hoopla app or your browser. A newly remixed special edition of Rubber Soul arrived October 2, and it makes a perfect first stop on a tour through the band’s most groundbreaking records. 

The Liverpool Band That Led the British Invasion 

The Beatles started in Liverpool in 1960, an offshoot of the Quarrymen, a group John Lennon formed as a teenager. Paul McCartney and George Harrison were already in the fold when Ringo Starr took over the drums in 1962. In early 1964, the band landed in America and Beatlemania went global, opening the door for a wave of UK acts known as the British Invasion. 

Beatles Albums That Built the Foundation 

A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was the first Beatles album written entirely by Lennon and McCartney, helping make bands writing their own songs the norm. Harrison’s chiming 12-string Rickenbacker went on to shape folk rock. 

Rubber Soul Is the Turning Point 

Rubber Soul (1965) is where the Beatles started treating an album as one complete work instead of a home for hit singles. The lyrics turn inward on “In My Life” and “Nowhere Man,” and folk and soul influences color the arrangements. On “Norwegian Wood,” Harrison’s sitar made the instrument’s first appearance in Western pop. Brian Wilson credited it as the spark for Pet Sounds. 

The new special edition gives you a fresh reason to revisit it. Producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell remixed the album in stereo and Dolby Atmos using de-mixing technology built by the sound team at Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films. The expanded editions add archival session recordings and home demos, including a previously unreleased song sketch from Lennon. You also get the US Capitol version, with its different track count and running order. 

The Adventurous Beatles Albums That Followed 

Everything after Rubber Soul travels down the road it opened. 

Revolver (1966) made the studio the star, with backward tape loops on “Tomorrow Never Knows” and a string octet on “Eleanor Rigby.” Critics regularly rank it among the greatest albums ever made. 

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) came after the band quit touring to focus on the studio. It’s often called rock’s first concept album. 

Magical Mystery Tour (1967) is home to “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “I Am the Walrus,” so it’s an easy entry point if you know the Beatles songs but not the albums. 

The Beatles (1968), better known as the White Album, sprawls across two discs, from the heavy crunch of “Helter Skelter” to the avant-garde sound collage of “Revolution 9.” 

Abbey Road (1969) closes with a side-two medley that rewrote how an album could flow, plus Harrison standouts “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Its crosswalk cover is one of the most recognizable images in music. 

Start Listening on Hoopla 

Kick things off with the new Rubber Soul, then work your way forward. You’ll find the full lineup in the Beatles on Hoopla collection. For the backstory, browse The Beatles: Stories Behind the Songs, and once you reach Abbey Road, keep going with The Beatles: The Solo Albums to hear where John, Paul, George, and Ringo went next. Log in with your library card and press play. 

*Titles may vary by library