| The Beatles      BEATLES
UK pop group formed '59 Liverpool, all born there: John Winston Lennon (b 9 Oct. '40; d 8 Dec. '80, NYC), rhythm guitar; James Paul McCartney (b 18 June '42), rhythm guitar, then bass; George Harrison (b 24 Feb. '43), lead guitar; Ringo Starr (b Richard Starkey, 7 July '40), drums. Lennon had started skiffle group the Quarrymen (after Quarrybank school) '56; asked McCartney to join summer '57; Harrison added late '57; close friend art student Stuart Sutcliffe (b 23 June '40, Edinburgh; d 10 April '62) joined '58 on bass: he couldn't play at first but had money from sale of painting, needed to upgrade the group's equipment. The name changed to Johnny and the Moondogs, then Silver Beetles (after Buddy Holly's Crickets), then the Beatles; they lacked a steady drummer until joined '60 by Pete Best (b 24 Nov. '41, Madras, India); they had played some of their first gigs at the Casbah Club in the Best family's basement. They played four tours in tough Hamburg clubs beginning that year, perfecting covers of Chuck Berry, Little Richard etc; Lennon was infl. by the harmony and the softer style of the Everly Brothers, and also by Holly because (unlike Elvis Presley) Holly played guitar and wrote his own songs; Lennon and McCartney wrote songs together from the beginning. From Jan. '61 they played hundreds of dates at Liverpool's Cavern Club between Hamburg trips. Sutcliffe left the group to paint and settle with photographer Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg '61 (he died in Astrid's arms of a brain haemorrhage, possibly caused by a hooligan's kick in the head '60 after an English gig). Astrid inspired much of Beatle style in dress and haircuts which left a deep imprint on the period; their haircuts were not English 'pudding-basin' haircuts, but modelled after what upper-class German schoolboys wore. They recorded back-up as the Beat Boys for pop singer Tony Sheridan on Polydor; fans in Liverpool sought out the record and Brian Epstein (b 19 Sep. '34; d 26--7 August '67), who managed the record department in his parents' furniture store, went to see them at the Cavern, was enchanted and became their manager. They were turned down by several labels (Decca famously chose Brian Poole and the Tremeloes instead), then got an audition with George Martin at Parlophone, then an EMI catch-all label for Scottish dance bands, comedy records etc. Best played at the audition, but Martin advised Epstein to replace him; Ringo was drafted in from Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. (Best had never cut his hair in the Beatle style; his brooding good looks made him the band's heart-throb and his sacking was controversial in Liverpool. He had a desultory career in music, quit '68 and while the Beatles were the most famous people in the world he wrapped bread in a factory; but he survived, later became a civil servant, served as consultant on US TV movie Birth Of The Beatles '79, pub- lished autobiography Beatle! '85.) A lot of people think Ringo wasn't a very good drummer either, but 'Love Me Do' was re-recorded with him on 11 Sep. '62 for a UK top 20; second single 'Please Please Me' was no. 2 early '63 and a UK LP of that name completed in a marathon session; third single 'From Me To You' was no. 1, succeeded by 'She Loves You', the biggest single in UK history till then and the first time an act had bumped itself out of the top spot, all '63. Beatlemania began and the group could not appear in public without police protection; the press coined the term 'Merseybeat' to describe the phenomenon (incl. other groups from Liverpool, on the river Mersey: the Searchers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc). They toured Europe; at a Royal Command Performance in London Lennon told the royals to rattle their jewellery instead of applauding. Their candour, unforced style and insouciant humour were evident in interviews, and something new had happened: they were real, not a press agent's creation; at the end of a too-long period of post-war austerity in Britain a generation of artists, photographers, playwrights and musicians had been nursed by the welfare state and educated thanks to the 1944 Education Act, and found themselves in a new era of rising prosperity; Britain seemed to have recovered from two world wars, a terrible economic depression and the loss of Empire and was ready to smile again, and Lennon and McCartney became one of the most successful song-writing teams in history. Next came the British Invasion of the USA. EMI's USA outlet Capitol had turned down the records; the first USA issues were on Swan and Vee-Jay. The fourth single 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' and second UK LP With The Beatles (Meet The Beatles in the USA) were issued by Capitol none too soon as the group landed in NYC to mob scenes 7 Feb. '64; millions saw two appearances on the Ed Sullivan TV show (but nobody heard the music for the screaming); in April 'Can't Buy Me Love' became the first single to top USA and UK charts simultaneously. First film A Hard Day's Night opened in USA in August and made $1.3 million the first week: dir. by Richard Lester in monochrome and realistic style, good actors in support (Wilfrid Brambell as the lecherous grandfather), it received two Oscar noms and is still probably the best pop film ever made. Help! '65 co-starred Victor Spinetti, was dir. by Lester and well received but (prophetically) more self-indulgent They received MBE (Member of the British Empire) honours at Buckingham Palace from HM Queen Elizabeth II 26 Oct. '65 (and confessed later that they were so nervous they smoked dope in a rest room there): the 'gongs' are recommended by politicians, in this case Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who wanted credit for 'Swinging London'. The songs improved in craftsmanship and lyrics became more adventurous; 'Day Tripper' and 'Paperback Writer' '65--6 broke new ground: some were puzzled, esp. in USA, by UK idioms, but the records sold automatically. With soundtrack LPs and Beatles For Sale '64 they had five straight no. 1 LPs UK, five slightly different no. 1 USA issues; Help! incl. McCartney's lovely 'Yesterday' accompanied by a string quartet (covered since about 2,000 times) and Lennon's Bob Dylan-infl. 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away'. They no longer wrote together (though by mutual agreement songs published under both names), so that John's acerbity and Paul's prettiness no longer complemented each other. Rubber Soul '65 made full use of four-track studio techniques, polished layer by layer by Martin, who was called 'the fifth Beatle'. Rubber Soul incl. John's boredom ('Nowhere Man'), the sadness of anonymous lust ('Norwegian Wood', with Harrison on sitar), Paul's too-pretty 'Michelle'. Revolver '66 plunged further afield and is regarded by many now as their masterpiece; Harrison was allowed three songs: 'Taxman' (mentioned rapacious interchangeable UK politicians Wilson and Heath by name), 'Love You To' with sitars, 'I Want To Tell You'; there was also the upbeat 'Good Day Sunshine' as well as Paul's 'Eleanor Rigby' (sung alone with a string octet); stunningly simple 'Here, There, And Everywhere'; powerful, brassy 'Got To Get You Into My Life'; title song from Yellow Submarine, '68 animated film by Heinz Edelman, still delighting children today; John's quirky 'I'm Only Sleeping', 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Doctor Robert' and the mysterious 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. The single 'Penny Lane'/'Strawberry Fields Forever' was first not to be no. 1 UK (no. 2 '67); snapshots of Liverpool childhood were too good: 'Penny Lane' was Paul's, 'Fields' had John's surreal lyrics. Their boldest work to date had been intended for a new LP but released because they took so long to make and a new single was due. UK LPs had seven songs on each side; because of the way royalties were paid and the price structure in American market, American LPs had only six (hard-core fans bought the imported editions), but the Beatles changed all that, too: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band '67 was identical everywhere (it cost $1 more in USA than previous Beatles sets). As a concept album it was a carnival of pure entertainment, with an overture, a mixture of music hall, old theatre posters ('Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite'), engaging nonsense ('Lovely Rita'), psychedelia ('Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', LSD mnemonic), Paul's sentimentality ('When I'm Sixty-Four'), Ringo's jolly singing on '(With) A Little Help From My Friends', all strained Martin's then state-of-the-art equipment to its limits: the hurdy-gurdy effect in 'Mr Kite' was obtained by mixing taped bits of steam-organ music at random; the last track 'A Day In The Life' began with leftover lyrics and ended with a 40-piece orch. playing a long improvised chord like a coffin lid, followed by a 20,000 Hz sound only dogs could hear. The collage on sleeve artwork also set fashions, featured marijuana plants (unknown to EMI) amid jungle/jumble. Twenty years later people remembered where they were when they first heard the album, which worked partly because drug-induced bonhomie brought the Fab Four closer together than they had been for a long time or would be again: they had conquered the world but not seen it, prisoners in hotel rooms. In a world-wide satellite broadcast '67 200 million people saw them sing 'All You Need Is Love' two weeks after an Arab--Israeli war. They now extended interest in Eastern music to philosophy, following Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; at a retreat with him in Wales they heard about Epstein's death (probably drug-induced by accident, but enormous fortunes being made had begun to haunt them all, and Epstein, a good manager in the early days, had made a serious mistake in selling Beatles merchandise permissions for practically nothing). Lennon acknowledged that they might never have made it without Epstein.  |
