THE BEATLES: A BRIEF HISTORY The Beatles were first formed by John Lennon as a skiffle group know as The Quarrymen. They tended to play local halls and the inevitable church fetes, On meeting Paul McCartney at Liverpool Art School he decided to split the Quarrymen and form a new group called The Silver Beetles Paul McCartney had a young friend called George Harrison whom he advised John Lennon to give an audition to Lennon duly impressed to take him on board. The Silver Beetles were quickly beginning to make a name for themselves with their stage shows and the word was passed to a young music shop owner called Brian Epstein who had a chain of shops called NEMS. By this time the Silver had been dropped from the name of the group and they had managed to secure a residency at the Cavern Club in Liverpool’s Matthew Street. However, Epstein wanted them to broaden their musical influences and to do that he duly signed up the band to play in Germany. In the burgeoning club scene that was Hamburg. With its mix of both British and American servicemen this would prove to be a good test of the group’s ability to impress an international audience so to speak. The club was in the very seedy area of Hamburg called the Reeperbahn, which was more famous for ‘women of a dubious nature’ than it was for “rock’n’roll”. On returning to England, Epstein managed to secure an audition with Decca Records, But the group were nervous and did not perform to the best of their capabilities. The irony was not lost on him, for the group that Decca did sign was none other than the Rolling Stones. Epstein was not discouraged and with his music contacts managed to get the group a second audition with a smaller label called Parlophone. On this occasion the group did perform to their capabilities and a much sought after record deal was secured. The group now had to think up and write some new material for recording. They decided on a song called “Love Me Do” as their first release. The record is now mostly remembered for its harmonica solo by John Lennon rather than its artistry. It was to put a small ripple into the charts. By this time, George Martin was interested in the group and had asked if he could produce them. Epstein was happy with that as he recognised that Martin was a budding genius in the making. The next single was to be called “Please Please Me’. This record was to provide the Beatles with their first number one hit. The Press and the media began to take an interest in the group and were to call this, somewhat prematurely, “Beatlemania” (which was to amuse Brian Epstein). Later in the year the Beatles were to be invited on to the Royal Variety Show. Lennon was to make his famous remark “will those in the cheap seats please clap their hands, and those in the posh seats just rattle their jewellery!”. Plans were now underway for the group to embark on their first tour of the U.S.A. The Beatles knew that they had a very good following in the U.K, but trying to break into the American market they thought would be their biggest test to date, On leaving Heathrow Airport to go to America, they could not help but be a little bit apprehensive. Upon arriving in America, they had to endure the obligatory press conferences, and they handled them with their typically deprecating Scouse humour. The American press corps was quick to take the group to their hearts and the next step for the group was to be an appearance on the top variety show of the moment: the Ed Sullivan Show. When The Beatles went on the show they completely won over the host not to mention the scores of girls in the invited audience. The appearance by The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show was a master-stroke by their manager Brian Epstein in P.R. The Ed Sullivan show was watched that evening by some 170 million Americans. If the British thought that they had a monopoly on “Beatlemania”, they would soon find out that the world at large would also take George MacAndrew
RIDDLE ME THIS: ANSWERS Answer One “Stamp” :-) Answer Two “Fire” :-) 17