‘A Hard Day’s Night’: Did The Beatles birth the jangly guitar?
The word “jangly” has been used endlessly, some might even say excessively, to describe guitar tones. The happy-go-lucky playing style experienced its heyday alongside the age of post-punk amidst the discographies of gothic outfit The Cure and melancholy Mancunians the Smiths. But the history of jangle pop as a genre, and the guitar sound from which it takes its name, began years before Johnny Marr first picked up a guitar.
A decade before the late 1970s birthed a generation full of jangle-pop lovers, the style had already cropped up in the pop music of the 1960s, particularly in the melodic, jangle-driven stylings of the Byrds. And, like almost every element of the music industry, the genre could also be traced back to a little-known band of scousers called the Beatles.
It will come as no surprise that the Beatles were one of the first bands to employ jangly, jubilant guitars in their sound. The four-piece pulled a number of new styles and techniques into popular music over the course of their ten-year existence, from sampling to psychedelic influences. They also dipped their toes into jangle-pop, perhaps most notably on the iconic ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
The track, which appeared in the opening credits of the band’s film of the same name, could be considered a classic rock tune. Over a toe-tapping beat, John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s voices detail the revitalising effects of a lover. “It’s been a hard day’s night, I should be sleeping like a log,” they sing, “But when I get home to you, I find the things that you do will make me feel alright.”
It’s a stellar 1960s rock song guaranteed to get you up off your feet, but if you listen a little closer, you’ll notice it’s also one of the earliest examples of jangle-pop guitars in use. The opening strum provides a hint at this, and although Lennon and George Harrison’s guitars are buried under playful percussion and double-tracked vocals, they do maintain this bouncy, happy spirit throughout the song.
Perhaps the most obvious example of jangle-pop in its infancy is the short guitar riff that ends the song. After Lennon delivers his final declaration of, “You know I feel alright,” the vocals give way to a twangy guitar that could easily fit into a post-punk song from the early 1980s. It’s a gorgeous ending to the song and a gorgeous piece of guitar playing, kickstarting a style that would become all too popular a decade or two later.
The Beatles never leaned too far into jangle-pop, unlike their peers, the Byrds or the bands that would follow them, but they had staked their claim in the style long before it was popularised. Like many sonic styles and techniques, the Fab Four were one of the first to test out sprightly, optimistic guitars, using them to further enhance their hard day’s night.
Even now, half a century after The Beatles first used the technique and decades after it took over alternative scenes, jangle-pop still finds its way into modern guitar music. Indie darlings Alvvays have employed it in their quaint take on the genre, and even Fontaines DC recently dipped their toes into jangly guitars on ‘Favourite’. It seems that the jangly guitars are here to stay.
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