The Beatles 1959-1970 John Lennon (Oct. 9, 1940-Dec. 8, 1980) Paul McCartney (June 18, 1942-) George Harrison (Feb. 25, 1943-Nov. 29, 2001) Ringo Starr 1962-1970 (Richard Starkey, Jr. July 7, 1940-) Pete Best 1959-1962 (1941-) Stuart Sutcliffe 1959-1961 (June 23, 1940-Apr. 10, 1962)
“Love is all you need.”
This is my first music page for a reason. These guys were the greatest rock band that ever has been or probably ever will be. As the Rolling Stone Music Guide says, “Not liking The Beatles is like not liking the sun.” It’s hard to say anything about The Beatles without being redundant and I’ve read so many books about them that it’s hard to remember what other people don’t know. But I’ll try to give a really short synopsis of their career together. (Their solo stuff will come later…I promise.)
After meeting in Liverpool, England John and Paul met George and they formed Johnny And The Moondogs. Then The Silver Beetles. Then, finally, The Beatles. They played Liverpool for a while (especially The Cavern Club) and built up a small following there.
This is where they met the man who would change their futures: Brian Epstein. He lead them through the labyrinth of the business and made them the stars that they ended up being. All because John’s pants were tight. (Yes, Brian fell head over heels for John. Well, you take what you can get.) Brian was The Beatles’ manager until his death in 1967.
But back to 1960.
Soon enough they hopped the Channel and went to what was at the time (and still is to some extent) a modern day Gammorrah: Hamburg, Germany. They played all the big clubs and ratholes on the Reeperbahn (Hamburg’s red light district) and built up a following of drunk Germans screaming, “Mach shau! Mach shau!!”
While there not only did the boys grow up, but they lost their bassist when Stu met artist Astrid Kirchherr. Before they left, though, Astrid introduced them to what became known as the Beatle haircut.
Now down to a foursome (with Paul moved to bass) they were back in Liverpool (because George was too young to be in Hamburg alone and got them all deported) and were now a tight band who were ready to take on the world. In fact, December 27, 1960 is the day that most people say that Beatlemania really began. In the Town Hall Ballroom, The Beatles tore the house down. No one saw it coming from this rather shoddy hometown band. But something happened to them in Hamburg. They became The Beatles.
If only they could get a contract.
Things started looking up when they got a shot at backing up popular singer Tony Sheridan on his single “My Bonnie.” The song is unremarkable, but it’s cool to hear the beginnings of the band we all know and love.
After cutting a few demos (all of which show up on the Anthology discs) they tried in vain to get the elusive contract. No one saw anything in them. Until, that is, EMI/Parlophone comedy producer George Martin heard them. He said that he was known for picking up “any nutty thing like The Beatles.”
It turned out to be one of the greatest decisions ever made. But they had to be rid of that drummer who could almost keep a beat. Yes, Pete was holding them back. There was some resistance, but the band had almost come to a consensus before George said anything about it. They, however, had a different idea as to who would take his place. Ringo was a drummer they had met while they were in Hamburg. He was playing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, but now he was looking for a gig.
Martin, however, thought that Andy White would be a better replacement. The other guys were pissed at this decision, but decided to let Martin have his way for a bit. They recorded “Love Me Do” with both drummers. The first version (with Andy on drums and Ringo on tambourine) made it onto the Please Please Me album while the Ringo version became the single.
Obviously, Andy was out and Ringo was in.
The rest of the story can be told in the music, so I’ll start with the albums now. (Unless otherwise noted the songs are written by Lennon/McCartney. Even that’s kind of a misnomer, though. After the first couple of albums they rarely ever actually wrote together. Just kind of an unwritten rule that they would always be credited together. Usually, whoever sang it wrote it.)
These are all their British albums. Up until Sgt. Pepper in 1967, Capitol (their American record company) would chop up their albums to get more product out. This is what caused the boys to take the famous cover picture for Yesterday….And Today that features them in white butcher smocks with hunks of meat and baby doll parts all over them. Capitol pulled the album, replaced the cover with a rather innocuous picture of them sitting around a trunk, and soon decided to leave the albums alone. Sgt. Pepper was the first British album to be released in America with no cuts. Of course, that was probably because The Beatles didn’t want to release it any other way.
Anyway, on to the music:
SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEART’S CLUB BAND (1967)
THE BEATLES (White Album) (1968)
ABBEY ROAD (1969, there’s a reason why this one is last)
For a complete collection, you also need these two:
For completists:
LIVE AT THE BBC (1994)–coming soon
ANTHOLOGY 1 (1995)–coming soon
ANTHOLOGY 2 (1996)–coming soon
ANTHOLOGY 3 (1996)–coming soon
LOVE (2006)–coming soon
Compilations:
1962-1966 (red album) (1973)–coming soon
1967-1970 (blue album) (1973)–coming soon
Beatles: 1 (2000)–coming soon
These Beatle pages are dedicated to the memory of my good friend Jenny Parker. Without her, I never would have seen Paul in concert. Of course, she will always mean a lot more to me than that, too, but it’s hard to listen to The Beatles without thinking of her.
