The Beatles
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John
Lennon | Paul McCartney | George
Harrison | Ringo Star
| Inspired by the
"skiffle boom", a student at Quarry Bank School in
Liverpool named John Lennon decided to form a group in 1957 and laid
the foundation of what was to become the most famous rock bands of
all time. The name John had first come up with was "The
Blackjacks". This name only lasted a week and John used the
school name as inspiration for the
name |
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| "The Quarry Men" in March 1957. John sang and played
guitar, Colin Hanton played drums, Eric Griffiths on guitar, Pete
Shotton on washboard, Rod Davis on banjo and Bill Smith on tea-chest
bass. Bill was soon replaced by Ivan Vaughan. John
was inspired by "Heartbreak Hotel" and became a fan of
American rock 'n' roll music. He introduced songs by Buddy Holly ,
Carl Perkins, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene
Vincent into their repertoire. On July 6, 1957, Ivan Vaughan invited
Paul McCartney to see their gig at The Woolton Parish Church Fete.
The fifteen-year-old McCartney was introduce to sixteen-year-old
Lennon and a unique song writing partnership began.
The line-up of The Quarry Men
increased to seven with Paul on guitar and vocals, John Lowe on
piano and George Harrison on guitar and vocals. Soon Griffiths and
another member would leave, leaving a five-piece band. The group
appeared at several local talent contests but had very few gigs. By
January 1959, the group wasn't operating. Although John and Paul
kept in touch, George had joined the Les Stewart Quartet. That
might have been the end of The Quarry Men but they had a stroke of
luck. The Les Stewart Quartet had been booked as a resident band at
a new club called "The Casbah". It was run by Mrs. Mona
Best to support her son's Pete and Rory. Stewart, upset because his
guitarist Ken Brown help decorate the club, refused to play there.
Ken and George walked out of the group and George contacted John and
Paul, and The Quarry Men were reunited as a quartet. After about
seven gigs at the club, Ken Brown left over a disagreement about
money. From October 1959 to January 1960 John, Paul and George
continued as a trio with Paul on drums. They called themselves
"Johnny & the Moondogs". |
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By this time John was
enrolled in The Liverpool College of Art. John knew that they needed
a bass player so he asked two students if they would like the
position. The two were Stuart Sutcliffe and Rod Murray. Both could
not afford a guitar, so Rod started to make one by hand. However,
Stuart was able to sell one of his paintings to a John Moores |
| Exhibition and was able
to buy a Hofner bass guitar and join the group in January, 1960. At
this time the group had changed its name to "Silver
Beetles". They also began shifting drummers around, the first
was Tommy Moore who toured with them through Scotland and then left.
The next was Norman Chapman but he left after only a few weeks.
Finally, George suggested that Pete Best, the son of club owner Mrs.
Mona Best, become the group's drummer.
Paul contacted Pete and offered him
the drummer seat, he took it. The group had finally settled on
"The Beatles" just before their first trip to Hamburg in
August, 1960. Now John, Paul, George, Stuart and Pete would head off
for Hamburg. At that time The Beatles weren't considered to be the
leading group in Liverpool and in most cases were looked down upon.
In Hamburg they pulled their act together musically. This was caused
by the fact that they had to play such long hours and were bullied
by the club owner Bruno Koschimider to "make a show". It
wasn't just Hamburg that made them special. The fact that Liverpool
had so many venues for local acts to play at, coupled with the
rivalry between more than 300 Merseyside groups, continued to forge
The Beatles until they were to be regarded as Liverpool's top band.
At the time, Pete Best was regarded
as the most potent symbol in the band. After Hamburg, Stuart
Sutcliffe had left and now The Beatles were a four-piece band and
Paul took over as bass guitarist. John, Paul and George were the
three front-line guitarists and they alternated as lead singers and
also performed vocal harmony with either John and Paul or all three.
Pete Best played drums and occasionally sang one song but he had
developed a distinctive drum sound called "the atom beat"
which many other drummers tried to copy.
By this time, The Beatles had hired
Brian Epstein as their manager and he signed them up for an audition
with Decca Records. The head of Decca Records told The Beatles
manager, "Guitar groups are on their way out Mr.
Epstein.". The Beatles were devastated by their failed audition
but Epstien secured them a contract with Parlophone Records. George
Martin became their A&R Man. In August of 1962, Pete Best was
replaced by Ringo Starr. |
| Their first single
"Love Me Do" was issued on October 5, 1962, and was a
modest hit. 1963 and 1964 proved to be the most important years in
their careers. In 1963 the "Beatlemania" craze had started
in Britain and The Beatles were no longer support acts at concerts.
Now they were starring in the Royal Variety Show and the highest
rating TV show "Sunday Night At The London Palladium". Their
biggest year was 1964 when they conquered the biggest record market
in the world - America. The group became symbols. America was
mourning the death of |
 |
| President John F.
Kennedy and The Beatles appeared on the scene to bring them fun and
excitement and end their mourning. They also brought back rock 'n'
roll to America. After Elvis
had join the army, he lost much of his early rebelliousness. Jerry
Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were rocked by scandals and their careers
suffered. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had been
killed in an plane crash. The American media was promoting what The
Beatles called "One-Hit-Wonders" such as Frankie Avalon,
Tab Hunter, James Darren, etc.
Ed Sullivan had been at London
airport when The Beatles return from Sweden and saw all the girls
screaming, the boys cheering and the media taking pictures. He knew
they were something special and he booked them on his TV show
"The Ed Sullivan Show". That show received the highest
ratings in the history of television up to then. That same year The
Beatles toured America for the first time and starred in their first
motion picture "A Hard Day's Night". In 1965, The Beatles
second motion picture "HELP!" premiered. Later that year,
The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of
55,000 screaming fans. The largest live audience in history. Their
tours did have their darker moments. The first being in Tokyo, Japan
where The Beatles were locked up in their hotel and were not allowed
to come out until show time. The next was in the Philippines when,
on a day off, Madam Marcos asked them to attend a Royal dinner. The
Beatles politely turned down the invitation and the public was
furious. The Beatles quickly left.
In 1966, The Beatles were under
heavy pressure from the press after John made a remark that The
Beatles were more popular than Jesus. John had to apologize and
explain himself several times. Not only that but their tour of
America was plagued with mishaps. On August 19, 1966 they receive a
death threat in Memphis and a firecracker went off during the show
terrifying The Beatles. The next day in Cincinnati a concert
promoter failed to provide a stage canopy and can't understand why
The Beatles were unwilling to play electric guitars in a rainstorm.
Paul becomes so agitated he becomes ill. On August 28, 1966 at
Dodger Stadium, L.A. cops are seen beating teenage girls. Dozens are
trampled in the chaos.
During the sixties, The Beatles not
only became a musical phenomenon, they affected the styles and
fashions of the decade. They transformed the record industry as
well. They brought about royalties for artists and producers,
revolutionized music tours, and started the Pop promo film or what
we know today as "The Music Video". Everyone of their
albums, from Please Please Me to Abbey Road were all popular and
unique in their own way. But after the death of their long time
manager Brian Epstein, things would start to fall apart for The
Beatles. |
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Due to outside interests
the group focused less and less and the band. In late 1964 they were
introduced to marijuana and would experiment with more drugs such as
LSD which they were first introduced to in late 1965. The Beatles
played their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on
August 29, 1966. In 1967, their manager Brian Epstein died of a
accidental drug overdose. Some friction was caused between John and
Paul because Paul was trying to become the leader of the group after
Brian's death. Ties were still strong at this point between the band
members despite Ringo leaving the band for a |
| short time during The
White Album because he felt left out. When Ringo decided to return
he found his drum kit decked with flowers and the others tried to
include him more. After The White Album they embarked on the
"Let It Be" project. The idea was to see The Beatles jam,
rehearse and record a whole new album of songs. At the end they
would give a concert from some spectacular place. Tensions were high
between Paul and George as they started recording at Twickenham Film
Studios. John was off in his land of love with Yoko and Ringo was
left in the background. One day George walked out on a session after
a disagreement with Paul. George came back to finish up the album
but as John would later explain, "We couldn't play the game
anymore, we just couldn't do it".
The Beatles gave their last public
appearance on top of the Apple building on January 30, 1969. However
their "Let It Be" album was deemed un-releasable. It was
handed over to Phil Spector who added lush orchestrations to such
songs as "The Long and Winding Road", infuriating Paul.
Despite all of this, The Beatles decided to get together to make one
final album "Abbey Road" which would go on to become their
biggest selling record in history. It was mainly Paul who kept the
group together this long, encouraging them to make Magical Mystery
Tour back in 1967 after Brian's death and trying to get them all
excited about recording and performing. Recording yes, performing
no. From Sgt. Pepper's through Abbey Road these were considered to
be their "studio years" where they rarely got together
except to record. The Let It Be album was finally released on May 8,
1970 less than a month after Paul publicly announced he was no
longer a member of the group.
In the end, The Beatles became true
legends. Their music touched all our lives. The Beatles wanted more
than just to "Be Beatles", they wanted happiness. A
happiness that they once had back when they first became successful.
John found happiness with his one true love Yoko, his Plastic Ono
Band, and son Sean; Paul found happiness with Linda, his children,
and Wings; George found happiness with his solo career, Olivia, and
his son Dhani; and Ringo found happiness with his solo career,
acting career, Barbara, and his sons. They will always be the
greatest rock 'n' roll band in history. John
Lennon | Paul McCartney | George
Harrison | Ringo Star |
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