It was golden age of Italian Cinema (1956-1971) and between years 1963 and 1973, over 400 Italian-style Westerns (dubbed "Spaghetti Westerns" by American audiences) were made.

Italian Western director Sergio Leone got tumbleweed rolling. He was first to make a huge impact in United States, with quintessential Spaghetti Western The Good, Bad, and Ugly, making a star out of a young, relatively unknown (but incredibly handsome) American TV actor named Clint Eastwood.

The graphic violence attributed to series of films that Leone would complete may have had something to do with Vietnam War, which took place during this phenomenon.

Leone's first film, 1964's breakthrough hit A Fistful of Dollars (Per un Pugno di Dollari) was based on Akira Kurosawa's samurai epic Yojimbo. Leone was a postmodern mannerist, exaggerating artistic elements of a film to make a profound impact on viewer, like close-up shots that would fill up entire screen and exceedingly slow movements.

In contrast to Spaghetti Western genre, American Westerns abided by an unwritten ethical code called Hays Code, which prevented shooter and victim from being in same frame together (so if frame was focused on victim, shot would come from off-screen for example). But with an eye for arresting violence, Leone had a different view on censorship. The Roman director once said: "My representation of death is moral as well as intellectual."

Beatlemania exploded in America in February, 1964, just months after President Kennedy's assassination, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr arrived at New York's JFK airport. They were greeted by thousands of screaming teen girls, and foursome had no idea that they were there for them. They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show later that week to an audience of 73 million people, still one of highest-rated programs of all time.

Within first few months of Beatlemania in 1964, United Artists quickly produced A Hard Day's Night to capitalize on their infectious popularity. The comedy starred all four Beatles, and is an exaggerated version of 36 hours in life of The Beatles. It was a massive hit and was followed by Help! next year, which was produced in colour, but not nearly as "colourful" as first.

They toured for only a few years, recording their albums in interim. To escape throng of hysterical young girls that followed them around, they were forced to sneak out of bathroom windows and swiftly duck into limousines. Many of their concerts were even drowned out by high-pitched shrieks and squeals of girls.

In a March 1966 interview with The London Standard, John Lennon said, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first? Rock ‘n' roll or Christianity".

Naturally, this upset a lot of people, despite fact that Lennon's tongue-in-cheek remark had been quoted out of context. Lennon was making a social commentary about an overall decline of Christian faith, but nonetheless radio stations in South and Midwestern US banned their music. The Vatican denounced Lennon's words and South Africa banned Beatles music from radio. The media circus surrounding event and stress from touring led to band's decision to quit performing live, and in August 1966 they put their final "official" live concert.

They spent rest of their career as a band, writing and recording music, taking best elements of rock, pop, folk and psychedelia and making it their own. On June 2, 1967, they released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, first popular concept album. This was album that raised their reputations as musical innovators and was a big catalyst, starting art rock movement while remaining incredibly popular.