"It is not hyperbole to say they were like Mozart and Beethoven. Except unlike those two, they also included words to the songs...amazing words."
"I will NEVER get over these boys. Their music is so magical, it has truly changed my life. Paul, John, George, Ringo... THANK YOU."
"The two greatest songwriters of all-time together in the same group."
"The big bang of Rock & Roll."
"They are in a class of their own."
"On any rock radio station, an hour should never go by without a Beatles song being played."
"Just simply brilliant. No one will ever come close to them."
"In under a decade, the Beatles went from making catchy songs to complex, thought-provoking masterpieces. Every member’s contribution to the Beatles made them the most powerful force in music, and no other music group in history comes close."
"GREAT music never dies."
"The masters at work. They invented it all. Awesome songs. The best band ever. Period."
"It was impossible for the Beatles to turn off the magic and creativity, they had an endless well of musical genius."
"Best band of all time even if you cut their catalogue in half."
"The best musical group and song-writing geniuses EVER in the history of music."
"Their songs are like a beautiful painting, a work of art."
"The songwriting is stunning."
"The four boys from Liverpool revolutionized the world of music and left us a legacy of excellent pop sound. May John and George rest in peace."
"Timeless music. Play it in another 30 years and it will still sound as good."
"In their 20's making an impact on the entire world for generations. I don't even want to know what the world would have been like without the Beatles."
"With every record, they just kept being better than everybody else."
"They just get better over time. I was there almost right from the beginning (Spring of '63 I was in a band in U.K., playing Shadows covers, and at the end of a gig our bass guitarist asked me, as we cleared our stuff up, 'have you heard this new group, the Beatles?' -'No' - 'you should listen to them, they're good.'). Yes, they were fantastic then, but I get even more impressed now by the feeling, the meaning, the extraordinary timing, the incredible harmonies, etc."
"The Beatles are simply the greatest of all-time. It's almost hard to comprehend just how incredibly talented they were."
"Unless you grew up with these guys it's almost impossible to understand the extent to which they could do no wrong. Everything they put out was perfect."
"The greatest phenomenon in music history."
"They will never be replaced, the songwriting is just light years ahead of anything, we were blessed to ever have them at all. Truly, the greatest band without any doubt."
"Insanely genius."
"The more years that go by, the more I realize how truly incredible they were."
"The children of the 21st century will be listening to the Beatles." Brian Epstein
"I remember waiting for the next release.....hit after hit after hit, loved every one. What they did in their career is beyond belief. Stupendous."
"Four young men changed the very fabric of music. Sublime."
"The Beatles. Pure Magic. They were a Gift from God. I am convinced of that."
"They had genius in spades."
"It's just unbelievable, that in the 21st century, almost 50 years since they first appeared on Ed Sullivan, that the Beatles music still sounds fresh, great, excellent!"
"Magic, absolutely Magic. There’s simply no other words. 👍"
"So jealous of people who hear their music for the first time. Nothing can compare to that feeling."
"I’ve loved the Beatles all my life. I’m 15 now and I wish I could’ve seen them or have been around when they were together but I am so thankful that we’ll always have the music and that it’s been passed down from generation to generation. I think that we are all so lucky that those four men met each other and made the greatest music of all time together."
"The Beatles are the greatest and most influential band that ever was and will ever be."
"These guys had a recording career that lasted all of 7 years! Bands that have been recording for 3 and 4 times longer just wish they had half of the quality stuff that these guys produced. That's greatness. Hands down. People will be singing and playing these tunes a thousand years from now."
"I'm a millennial and you wouldn't believe that for many of us, the Beatles are our favorite group."
"Yes, I do agree: the Beatles are the greatest in the world."
"Legends in every way. Incredible songwriting, great vocals and harmonies, great music, incredible performers. And good people."
"Creative genius doesn't get any better than this."
"Imagine living and being there during this historic moment. The biggest regret I will ever have is not being born earlier and seeing them live together."
"Pure magic!"
"Their harmonies are awesome."
"Four guys with so much talent!!!! Thanks so much for their big contributions to the music. Their legacy is so important! So really thankful with the life for allow me meet them through their wonderful albums! My eternal love to each one."
"These four guys changed music forever...pretty amazing."
"This was the soundtrack of my life...and for millions & millions of others!"
"These guys are the greatest force popular music has ever known."
"The Beatles went from Beatlemania to being he most artistic, influential band in the history of music in just 6 short years."
"Greatest band in history. Consistently making hit after hit and classic after classic."
"The Beatles were very special to me. I've been listening to them since 1963 and it's no mystery to me why they were so popular. The best damn group in my time or any other time. Their songs take you on a journey."
"The Beatles didn't put their hit singles on their albums and still sold more albums than anyone! That is how good they were! and are!"
"The raw power of their melody and harmonization is just so so incredible. Not a single second is wasted, every lyric hooks you in and delivers the message so succinctly."
"No lasers, no pyrotechnics, no inflatable devils, no dancers. Total value of stage equipment... maybe $10,000 yet the 4 of them could create more excitement than anyone ever has. That's how you know they were extraordinary!"
"Absolute musically geniuses. I know it's stating the obvious but boy could they write songs."
"There's way more going on in the song than meets the eye or ear. Just watch what they do in videos of their live performances. Simple but sophisticated at the same time! Brilliant singers, songwriters and musicians."
"I love the Beatles! They were so fresh and funny, and their music make people feel happy."
"That’s what you call perfection in a group."
"I was not born in the time when the Beatles were famous. But I can say that they deserved their fame because their songs are absolute masterpieces. I listen to different genres and it really is amazing when you hear a song, find it to be beautiful, and then find out it's from the Beatles."
"Fifty-seven years later..be still, my heart! LOVE them."
"Love from India and utmost salute and heartiest tribute to the eternal Beatles."
"Imagine the whole world mourning the loss of a US President and four young musicians from England step in and change the vibes of the entire world. Wow!!!"
"They were wonderful and no one can replace them!"
"No matter how long this Earth revolves, there will never be another band like this."
"Every time I listen to the Beatles, it never ceases to amaze me how one band could have created so many classic, amazing songs. One after another just hit after hit, each one more unique than the last. Truly a once-in-a-million collection of creative minds."
"The Beatles are the best band on planet Earth. Every time I hear the Beatles, I think about how lucky I am to experience this wonderful music. Bach, Mozart, the Beatles."
"I am 66 years old. I went through it all from the beginning. Can you imagine the Karmic gift these four had to meet and do what they did? Can you imagine the head space that anyone of them was in to create this and do what they did together? These guys were shaping the emotional well-being of the Western World at one point with their music. What a trip they lived!"
"The best band in the world by zillions of light years!"
"Insanely perfect. Genius."
"Of all the qualities in their music, it was their high harmony vocals that rocked the world."
"What a time to be alive to experience this in the moment..."
"The Beatles...incomparable."
"The coolness of the Beatles is impossible to quantify."
"The most influential band ever to grace this planet."
"I grew up with this fantastic music; It was magical. The Beatles have always been my favorite group."
"Aren't they beautiful and talented? I love them so much... forever. 🙏"
"People don't realize how advanced their music was. Everything you hear now--everything--is a direct result of what these guys did."
"5,000 years will pass and the Beatles will still be the greatest and the best of all time!!!"
"Incredible pure talent."
"The fact that these guys put out so many varieties of music in such a short amount of time compared to other bands just blows my mind."
"I will forever be happy that the Beatles formed and I grew up listening to them."
"Four men, four instruments and....just perfect."
"It blows my mind that this band even existed. We are all so lucky."
"So energizing and awesome! Greatest band ever!"
"The Beatles sound like no other band. Every song is different. You just can't place their music into a neat category. Iconic."
"It is beyond my comprehension just how great these guys were and still are. There is not one single entertainment act who can approach their level of greatness. Sorry to go on about them but that’s how great they were."
"I feel blessed to have lived in that extraordinary period."
"There will NEVER be another Beatles. Take notes kids..."
"Greatness like this may never be seen again."
"The Beatles didn't make music. They made magic that sounded like music."
"To think about how many signature riffs The Beatles have created.....well it's astounding."
"I can't imagine what it must've been like for these dudes during all this. I mean, a phenomenon all over the entire world. Just insane."
"Long live the Beatles and their music forevermore."
"There have been many great bands, but nothing compares to the sheer brilliance and talent of the Beatles."
"No band will ever match what you guys did. You changed the world. You are the best band ever.❤"
"One of my favorite memories is listening to the Beatles with my family. 😄💖"
"They weren’t just ahead of their time … they created in a higher dimension … hard to imagine their art losing relevance … same as Beethoven."
#1 and not even close. Innovators in songwriting, musical composition and recording techniques, their importance and stature cannot be overstated. The Rock Era is split into two parts because of them--pre-1964 and everything after. Though we likely will never see another phenomenon like them, they provided inspiration for tens of thousands of groups and made everything we hear today possible. Listening to the Beatles as they progressed through the years is literally like listening to the evolution of Rock itself.
It all began in March of 1957 when 16-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with some friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool, England. They began as the Blackjacks before changing to the Quarry Men.
Would John and I have met some
other way, if Ivan and I hadn't gone to
that fête? I'd actually gone along to try
and pick up a girl. I'd seen John
around--in the chip shop, on the bus,
that sort of thing--and thought he
looked quite cool, but would we have
ever talked? I don't know. As it
happened, though, I had a school
friend who knew John. And then I
also happened to share a bus journey
with George to school. All these small
coincidences had to happen to make
the Beatles happen, and it does feel
like some kind of magic. It's one of
the wonderful lessons about saying
yes when life presents these
opportunities to you. You never know
where they might lead.
In July, 15-year-old Paul McCartney joined them on rhythm guitar. In February of the following year, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band practice. Harrison, who was 15 at the time, auditioned to join the Quarrymen. Lennon was impressed but thought him too young to be in the band. Harrison persisted, and during a second meeting on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, Harrison played the lead guitar part of the instrumental "Raunchy" and George had the job.
(From left: Sutcliffe, Lennon, McCartney, Tommy Moore and Harrison)
By 1959, Lennon was studying at the Liverpool College of Art and his friends had left the group. The band changed their name to Johnny and the Moondogs and played whenever they could find a drummer. Stuart Sutcliffe, a classmate of Lennon's, sold one of his paintings, bought a bass guitar and joined the group in January of 1960.
The rest of the group liked Sutcliffe's suggestion to change the name to the Beatals as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They kept this name until May when they became the Silver Beetles. Their first big gig was opening for Johnny Gentle on a short tour of Scotland. The next month, the band changed their name to the Silver Beatles and by the middle of August simply the Beatles.
(The Early Beatles: Lennon, Harrison, Best, McCartney and Sutcliffe)
Alan Williams was their acting manager at this point, and he booked a 3 1/2-month residency for the group in Hamburg, Germany. The group's performances there played a pivotal role in their future as they honed their skills and came together as a group in Hamburg. As they now had regular shows, the Beatles had to have a drummer, and they hired Pete Best in August of 1960.
The group began sporting fringed haircuts, or as they were later called, "mop-tops", which were the creation of Sutcliffe's fiancée, Astrid Kirchherr.
But when they performed at the Top Ten Club in violation of their contract, they were given a one month termination notice and left before then. Sutcliffe stayed in Hamburg with Kirchherr.
The Beatles continued to perform in Hamburg over the next two years, but dismissed Williams as their manager. It was during the Hamburg apprenticeship that the group developed the chemistry and showmanship that would make them famous.
Sutcliffe wanted to resume his art studies and when he quit, McCartney became the bassist. The Hamburg gig, with its four to six-hour sets, seven days a week, sharpened the mettle and largely formed the basis of what the world would soon hear. It is because of the Hamburg experience that when the four remaining Beatles returned to their hometown of Liverpool, they were able to excite crowds at The Cavern Club with their talent and enthusiasm.
Producer Bert Kaempfert arranged for the group to back up Tony Sheridan on several of his recordings for Polydor Records. As part of their contract, the Beatles earned a one-year contract with Polydor and released the single "My Bonnie", a song for which they had also backed Sheridan on.
The Beatles hired Epstein to be their manager in January of 1962. Brian worked to free the group from their contract with Kaempfert and as part of that negotiation, arranged for a recording session in Hamburg. But when the group arrived in April, Kirchherr met them at the airport with news that Sutcliffe had died the previous day from a bran hemorrhage. The Beatles also performed at the Star Club in Hamburg in a seven-week engagement.
After the members first checked into their hotel in Chelsea on September 4, they arrived at EMI early in the afternoon and carted their equipment into Studio 3. They began rehearsing six songs, including "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "How Do You Do It?", a song written by Mitch Murray which in the absence of better material (in Martin's view), would be the first single.
"It wasn't a question of what they could do [as] they hadn't written anything great at that time," Martin said to author Bob Spitz for the book Beatles: The Biography. "But what impressed me most was their personalities. Sparks flew off them when you talked to them."
In the evening session (7-10 p.m. in Studio 2), the Beatles recorded "Love Me Do" and "How Do You Do It?". They attempted to record "Please Please Me" but at that point it was quite a bit different from what it finally sounded like and Martin dropped it. The group was disappointed as they hoped it would be the B-side to "Love Me Do".
It is to Martin's credit that he allowed the members of the Beatles to "float their ideas". But he insisted that unless the group could write something as good as "How Do You Do It?" that the industry-accepted practice of having Tin Pan Alley songwriters write for recording artists would take place. Martin's instinct in "How Do You Do It?" was eventually validated when Gerry and the Pacemakers turned it into a hit.
"Love Me Do" was a song written four years before by a then-16-year-old McCartney when he played hooky from school, with Lennon adding the middle section. The aspiring songwriting pair would scribble songs in a school notebook, and, in their dreams of being respected as professional songwriters, always wrote "Another Lennon-McCartney Original" at the top of the page. Paul recalled the song's origins to biographer Barry Miles in the book Many Years From Now:
"Love Me Do" was completely co-written.
It might have been my original idea but
some of them really were 50-50's, and I
think that one was. It was just Lennon
and McCartney sitting down without either
of us having a particularly original idea.
We loved doing it, it was a very
interesting thing to try and learn to do, to
become songwriters. I think why we
eventually got so strong was we wrote so
much through our formative period.
"Love Me Do" was our first hit, which
ironically is one of the two songs that we
control, because when we first signed to
EMI they had a publishing company
called Ardmore and Beechwood which
took the two songs, "Love Me Do" and
"P.S. I Love You", and in doing a deal
somewhere along the way we were
able to get them back.
Lennon began the song by playing the harmonica, which he had learned to play as a child from his Uncle George. John and Paul alternated on lead vocals.
The group recorded "Love Me Do" but Martin wasn't satisfied then either, and very nearly released "How Do You Do It?" as the single. Again to his credit, and against his initial thoughts, George decided to give the lads the benefit of the doubt with "Love Me Do".
Martin hired drummer Andy White for another session on September 11, relegating Starr to the tambourine. The original version with Starr on drums was ultimately chosen for the single, but re-pressings featured the White version with Starr playing tambourine. As the tambourine wasn't included on the September 4 session, that is the easiest way to distinguish between the two recordings.
On October 5, 1962, the Beatles released the single "Love Me Do" and on that night, Radio Luxembourg, with its powerful broadcast signal, played a new song, simple, but raw and sexy. Martin said that on that date, the world changed, and in retrospect, we now know that it most certainly did.
The thing we most want to stress is that success, even Beatles success, was anything but overnight. There was no grueling tour on the horizon where they were met with thousands of excited fans. They had to build that audience.
Instead, the day after the release, the group traveled 15 miles to Dawson's Music Shop in Widnes, Cheshire for a signing session and then played at the Horticultural Dance at Hulme Hall in Birkenhead. The following day, the Beatles performed at The Cavern Club and then recorded a special for Radio Luxembourg before a live audience of 100.
The band made their television debut later in the month on the regional show People and Places. They also paid a visit to the offices of the Record Mirror in hopes that someone there might review their new release. The Beatles finished the week by a return to Liverpool and the usual lunchtime and evening shows at The Cavern.
The Beatles returned to Hamburg for 14 nights at the Star Club for their fifth and final residency, sharing a bill with Little Richard. Epstein sharpened the band's image too, telling Lennon, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change - stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking." The group continued to make small radio and television appearances and performances in Liverpool over the next two months.
Work was hard and money was tight, but their efforts began to pay off when airplay of the single began to increase and eventually, on December 27,1962, "Love Me Do" peaked at #17 in the U.K.
"In Hamburg we clicked. At the Cavern we clicked," McCartney said. "But if you want to know when we 'knew' we'd arrived, it was getting in the charts with 'Love Me Do'. That was the one. It gave us somewhere to go."
It was a tough year for the group, but they felt like they finally had their foot in the door. Unbeknownst to the world, the Beatles already had a follow-up single recorded and ready to be released (recorded on November 26). That single would elevate them to the top soon, but for now, they could relax and enjoy their last few moments of privacy before bedlam hit.
As for that second single already in the can, Martin has said the original version was "rather dreary" and too slow and thus had little chance of being the big hit the Beatles were looking for. Lennon first wrote the song as a bluesy song:
I remember the day I wrote it, I heard Roy
Orbison doing "Only The Lonely" or
something. And I was also always intrigued
by the words to a Bing Crosby song that went,
"Please lend a little ear to my pleas." The
double use of the word "please". So it was a
combination of Roy Orbison and Bing Crosby.
The original did not include the harmonies or responses, nor did it call for the harmonica intro. "It was obvious to me that it badly needed pepping up," Martin said for the 1992 book by Mark Lewisohn--The Complete Beatles Chronicle: The Definitive Day-By-Day Guide To the Beatles' Entire Career. When it became time to record the song on November 26, 1962, the arrangement had been radically changed and it took 18 takes to record what Martin immediately predicted would be their first major hit, according to the John Gilliland radio program "The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming! The U.S.A. is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers".
"We sang it and George Martin said, 'Can we change the tempo?', McCartney said in the 2000 book Anthology. "We said, 'What's that?' He said, 'Make it a bit faster. Let me try it.' And he did. We thought, 'Oh, that's all right, yes.' Actually, we were a bit embarrassed that he had found a better tempo than we had."
The Beatles released the single "Please Please Me" on January 11 in the U.K. and February 25 in the United States. This one was primarily Lennon's, though as mentioned above, Martin had a significant influence on the final sound. "Please Please Me" did in fact turn out to be a big hit, reaching #2 in the U.K. As it was part of Beatlemania in 1964, we will feature the song in that segment.
McCartney wrote this next song while the Beatles were the house band at The Star Club in 1962. It was an early favorite of patrons and it was one of the songs the band performed at their audition for Parlophone Records on June 6, 1962.
The Beatles recorded several takes of the song at their first session at EMI on June 6 with Pete Best on drums. They remade the song in 10 takes in the September 11 session without Starr on drums. Producer Ron Richards didn't feel Ringo was good enough on that day and session player Andy White replaced him. Starr's only contribution to the song was playing maracas.
"P.S. I Love You", the flip side of "Love Me Do", became a #10 hit in its own right when it was released as a single on April 27, 1964 in the United States.
The Beatles appeared on the television show Thank Your Lucky Stars on February 17 to promote the single "Please Please Me", a performance seen by over six million viewers.
The Beatles released their debut album in March, beginning an amazing streak of reaching #1 in the U.K. with 11 of their 12 studio albums. They released the single "Twist And Shout" on March 22 in the U.K.
They released the single "From Me To You" in April in the U.K. and May in the United States. Like its predecessors, "From Me To You" was largely ignored in the U.S. but topped the U.K. chart for seven weeks.
(The Beatles at the London Palladium on October 13, 1963)
The band toured the U.K. three times in the first six months of the year. With each single came more frenzied fans, to the point where the media called the phenomenon "Beatlemania". The group started these tours opening for Tommy Roe and Roy Orbison, but were the headliners by the time the tours were over.In July, the Beatles released the single "All My Loving". The following month, they released the single "She Loves You", which became the fastest-selling song in history to that point with over one million advance orders. "She Loves You" rocketed to #1 in the U.K., dropped a bit, then returned to #1 seven weeks later as the sensation known as "Beatlemania" gripped the country. "She Loves You" remained as the biggest-selling single in the U.K. until 1978.
The band toured Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans upon their return to Heathrow Airport. This continued with each successive foreign tour and homecoming. The Beatles then toured Great Britain again.
With the Beatles reached 500,000 sales within one week. Unlike their debut album, in which Epstein and others chose the tracks, things were different for their sophomore album.
At the time the group walked into EMI Studios in London, their first release was #1 for a sixth week on the British Album charts with another 24 more to go. "From Me To You" had spent seven weeks at #1 and the Beatles were excited about their newly recorded "She Loves You". The Beatles were now headliners, even topping Roy Orbison on their nationwide tour.
So this time, it was the Beatles who picked the tracks. Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" was a favorite song of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, and the Beatles recorded it for the album.
Here is a song that Berry Gordy, Jr. wrote with Janie Bradford that they gave to Barrett Strong to record. The Beatles first recorded "Money (That's What I Want)" January 1, 1962 for their audition with Decca Records. They had performed it often live, but still it was very raw.
While they were recording their second album, the group recorded it again on July 18, 1963. Martin played piano and the Beatles recorded six takes. Martin added several overdubs before the finished product was included on the album.
Lennon and McCartney wrote "I Wanna' Be Your Man" for Ringo to sing lead. They met Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones on the streets of London and by the end of that ride, John and Paul gave permission for the Stones to record a single of the song.
With the Beatles topped the U.K. Album chart for 21 weeks, and after Please Please Me was just the third album in history to sell one million copies in the U.K. (the other being the "South Pacific" Soundtrack).
Press officer Tony Barrow wrote in the sleeve notes for the album that the group was "the fabulous foursome", which the media quickly shortened to the Fab Four.
As awesome as they had done in the U.K., the Beatles were not able to break through in the world's biggest music market, the United States. In part, this was due to the refusal of Capitol Records (EMI's American subsidiary) to release their music. Epstein was able to arrange for independent Vee-Jay to release some of the group's music in the U.S., but Vee-Jay was far too small to do what was needed.
Vee-Jay was prepared to release the album Introducing...The Beatles, which included most of the songs on the album Please Please Me, but when management at Vee-Jay changed, the album was not released. EMI granted a new license to Swan Records to release the single "She Loves You". The song was featured on American Bandstand and got some airplay but did not catch on nationally.
It is important for all of us to understand at this juncture that tens of thousands of bands yearning for airplay are not successful. For the Beatles to be wildly successful in the U.K. in and of itself is a great achievement. Receiving sufficient airplay on radio stations across the United States to make the Hot 100 and especially the Top 40 once in a career is extremely tough, much harder than it may seem.
Every week, radio stations get 50-100 new songs on their desk and from that stack, they typically add 3-4 new songs a week. The ones they add depend largely on 1) their skill in knowing which of those songs is going to be popular with their audience, 2) the songs being heavily promoted by record companies (many quality songs are never heard simply because they are not properly promoted and radio music directors are not bold enough and independent enough to add the song without other "heavyweight" stations on board as well.)
So much of a song's success depends on the quality and amount of record company support as well as the quality of an artist's manager in monitoring and ensuring that the company promotes the music of their client properly. The Beatles were extremely fortunate to have an honest manager and true believer in Brian Epstein. The group, as talented as it was, would not have been the phenomenon they turned out to be without Epstein. Their success is his success.
The Beatles released the single "All My Loving" in November, but it suffered from being out before the phenomenon had hit. It stalled at #45, and is one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.
Determined to help the group reach their potential, Epstein hand-delivered a demo of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to Brown Meggs at Capitol, who finally signed the Beatles to a recording contract and budgeted $40,000 to promote them in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Carroll James of radio station WWDC in Washington, D.C. secured a copy of the Parlophone single and began playing it. Taped copies of the song began to circulate and receive airplay at other radio stations. The increased demand forced Capitol to release "I Want To Hold Your Hand" three weeks sooner than scheduled.
On December 26, 1963, the Beatles released the single on Capitol, which rapidly sold over one million copies and catapulted to #1 in less than three weeks. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" didn't relinquish that position for seven weeks, making it not only The #1 Song of 1964 but The #6 Song of the Rock Era*.
"I Saw Her Standing There" was overshadowed by the classic A-side ("I Want To Hold Your Hand"), and when it stalled at #14, that made it another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.
This success, though we now know was certainly not "immediate", led Vee-Jay to finally release the album Introducing...The Beatles when Capitol released the album Meet the Beatles! and Swan restarted production of the single "She Loves You".
Introducing...The Beatles reached #2 in the U.S. and has been certified Platinum. Lennon and McCartney wrote "She Loves You" on June 26, 1963 in their room at Turk's Hotel in Newcastle before the Beatles' second performance at the Majestic Ballroom. Rather than than "I" or "You" pronouns, Paul suggested the write the song using a third party.
The pair finished writing the song at McCartney's family home on Forthlin Road in Liverpool. Paul recalled to Barry Miles about the song's conclusion:
We sat in there one evening, just beavering
away while my dad was watching TV and
smoking his Players cigarettes, and we
wrote "She Loves You". We actually
finished it there because we'd started it in
the hotel room. We went into the living
room--"Dad, listen to this. What do you
think?" So we played it to my dad and he
said, "That's very nice, son, but there's
enough of these Americanisms around.
Couldn't you sing, "She loves you. Yes!
Yes! Yes!?" At which point we collapsed
in a heap and said, "No, Dad, you don't
quite get it!"
The Beatles spent five hours recording the song at EMI Studios in London (later renamed Abbey Road), less than a week after writing was completed. When it was re-released in the U.S., "She Loves You" finally skyrocketed to #1 for five weeks and is The #41 Song of the Rock Era*.
Introducing...The Beatles was a slightly abridged version of Please Please Me, which had been released in the U.K. four months before. Two songs, including "Please Please Me", were deleted for the American release. As the Please Please Me album was finally released in the U.S. in 1987, there is no reason to get Introducing...The Beatles, but at the time, it was the only way a starving American public could hear some of the initial recordings by the group.
Meet the Beatles! was not the first album by the group released in the U.S.--that distinction belonged to Introducing...The Beatles, described above. However, Meet the Beatles!, distributed by Capitol, was the first album heard by millions. Vee Jay, being a much smaller label, didn't have the capacity, neither to produce mass quantities of albums nor to promote it properly.
Meet the Beatles! exploded to #1 in the U.S. and Canada and has sold over five million copies. Several singles which were hits in the U.K. were lost in the United States, which can be much slower to recognize a good song when they hear it. But after "I Want To Hold Your Hand" opened the door, befuddled radio station music directors opened re-released 45's by the Beatles and realized they were great as well. "Please Please Me" is one such example, ignored when it was released in February of 1963 but a huge hit (#3) when re-released in January of 1964.
On February 7, the Beatles departed Heathrow Airport in London with an estimated 4,000 fans gathered to send them off. Across the ocean, 3,000 roaring fans greeted the group when they arrived at New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport.
Two days later at their concert at the Washington Coliseum, it was evident that Beatlemania was highly contagious, as screaming fans hung on the group's every word and note. Two shows back in New York at Carnegie Hall the next day drew similar reactions. The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show again the following week before another 70 million viewers and returned to the U.K. on February 22.
The Beatles achieved their wildly successful and unprecedented debut engineered by Epstein at a time when America was still grieving the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous November. For many, especially the young, the Beatles reignited excitement in them when they felt so empty.
The Beatles' success also sparked interest in other groups from the U.K. and over the next three years, countless groups debuted in the United States as well in what would come to be known as the British Invasion. Acts such as the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Petula Clark, the Kinks, and many others of the era owe all of their success to the Beatles.
This next song was first a hit by the Isley Brothers in 1962. Engineer Norman Smith remembered the moment in the studio:
Someone suggested they do "Twist And Shout"
with John taking the lead vocal. But by this
time all their throats were sore; it was 12 hours
since we had started working. John's, in
particular, was almost completely gone so we
really had to get it right the first time. The
Beatles on the studio floor and us in the control
room. John sucked a couple more Zubes (a
brand of throat lozenges), had a bit of a gargle
with milk and away we went.
Lennon was sick as a dog, in fact, and actually did two takes of the song before they decided that the first was the best. You can hear John pouring all he had into the song, his voice hoarse and strained as he wrestled with the song. "Twist And Shout", released in the U.K. as part of an EP of the same name, was finally released in the United States on March 2, 1964. It was a #2 smash for four weeks, kept from the top spot only by the Beatles' "She Loves You", and has sold over two million singles. The group's version of "Twist And Shout" ranks as The #270 Song of the Rock Era*.
The group had finally become a transcontinental success. Would they be able to build on that success, though? Don't miss Part Two of the Beatles, exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!
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