Problem: The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they became widely regarded as the foremost and most influential music band. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several musical styles, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. In 1963 their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania"; as the group's music grew in sophistication, led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the band were integral to pop music's evolution into an art form and to the development of the counterculture of the 1960s.

In Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution:  In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work.  In The Beatles as Musicians, Walter Everett describes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: "McCartney may be said to have constantly developed - as a means to entertain - a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility."  Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as "a natural melodist - a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony". His melody lines are characterised as primarily "vertical", employing wide, consonant intervals which express his "extrovert energy and optimism". Conversely, Lennon's "sedentary, ironic personality" is reflected in a "horizontal" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: "Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own." MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his "characterful lines and textural colourings" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts, and describes Starr as "the father of modern pop/rock drumming".

What else is said about these things

Answer with quotes: The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, including folk-rock, country, psychedelia, and baroque pop,


Problem: Mystique (Raven Darkholme) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in the comic book Ms. Marvel #16, published in 1978. Mystique is a member of a subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. Mystique is a shapeshifter who can mimic the appearance and voice of any person with exquisite precision, and her natural appearance includes blue skin and yellow eyes.

Mystique becomes the adoptive mother of the four-year-old girl Rogue. Rogue had run away from her home in rural Caldecott County, Mississippi. The girl was living alone in a wooded area, brandishing a shotgun and trusting no one, when Mystique found her. Destiny foresees that Rogue will be important to them and Mystique seeks her out, gains her trust, and takes her in. She and Destiny raise the girl, and Mystique grows to be very protective of her.  Mystique, as Raven Darkholme, rises rapidly through the United States Civil Service to the trusted position of Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the United States Department of Defense. This position gives her access to military secrets and advanced weaponry, both of which she uses for her own criminal and subversive purposes. In this position, she attempts the theft of the Centurion weaponry from S.H.I.E.L.D. She also beat Ms. Marvel's lover Michael Barnett to death, and sought to kill Ms. Marvel.  To help her in her criminal activities, Mystique organizes her own incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, consisting of herself, Avalanche, the Blob, Destiny, and Pyro. The Brotherhood attempts to assassinate Senator Robert Kelly, a notoriously anti-mutant politician. The X-Men thwart the assassination attempt, and all of the Brotherhood save Mystique herself are incarcerated.  Rogue is trained by Mystique and eventually joins the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Her mutant power is the ability to absorb the memories, personality, and skills or powers of whomever she touches. To free the other members of the Brotherhood, Mystique concocts a plan involving Rogue absorbing the powers of Ms. Marvel and the Avengers. Though the plan is successful, the Avengers ultimately defeat the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, capturing all of them except Rogue and Mystique. Moreover, Rogue finds that she has absorbed Ms. Marvel's memories, personality, and powers permanently. In a further humiliation, a confrontation at the Pentagon ends with Mystique being defeated and turned over to the authorities by a powerless Ms. Marvel.  The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants eventually escape, and battle against Dazzler. In an act of revenge against Mystique, Mastermind unbalances Rogue's psyche with the one she absorbed from Ms. Marvel, which prompts her to defect to the X-Men. Because Rogue left without a word, Mystique assumes that Professor X, the X-Men's mentor, brainwashed her. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants accordingly launches an attempt to kill Professor X. Rogue stops Mystique, and explains that she joined the X-Men because Professor X, as the world's most powerful telepath, is her best hope of healing for her fragmented psyche. Mystique reluctantly relinquishes her guardianship of Rogue.

Were they successful?

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