2024-02-02

Friday, February 2nd, 2024

Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.

— Sophocles

MUS106 Lecture 11

• The Beatles
  • John Lennon (1940-1980)
    • lead vocal
    • rhythm guitar
    • songwriter (always shares credit with Paul as “Lennon-McCartney”)
      • Childhood promise
      • Turns focus onto the band instead of the individual.
  • Paul McCartney (b. 1942)
    • lead vocal
    • bass
    • songwriter (always shares credit with John as “Lennon-McCartney”)
  • George Harrison (1943-2001)
    • lead guitar
  • Ringo Starr (b. 1940)
    • drums
    • a.k.a. Richard Starkey
  • Sometimes called “The Fifth Beatle”
    • Brian Epstein (manager)
    • George Martin (producer at EMI)
  • Self-contained band, like Buddy Holly
  • started out as The Quarrymen
    • Liverpool, 1957
    • Lennon (17) + Paul (15) + George (14)
    • played Skiffle—British impression of American folk music plus a hint of jazz
      • Even Jimmy Page was in a Skiffle band
    • early American rock
    • renamed band to “Johnny and the Moondogs” (homage to Alan Freed’s moondog show)
    • renamed again to “The Beatles” in 1960 (homage to The Crickets of Buddy Holly)
  • unusual in that they write (mostly) their own songs
  • notable (& very faithful) covers of first wave rock stars
    • ”That’s All Right” (1954) (cover of Elvis Presley’s cover)
      • McCartney sounded exactly like Elvis
    • ”That’ll Be the Day” Buddy Holly
      • sounds exactly like Buddy Holly
    • ”Roll Over Beethoven” (Chuck Berry)
    • “Long Tall Sally” (Little Richard)
      • as flamboyant as Little Richard’s stage performance
    • ”Please Mr. Postman” The Marvlettes (girl group)
  • early career
    • 1960-62: gigging in Hamburg
      • met Brian Epstein at the Cavern Club (nicknamed “the hole in the ground”) in Liverpool
        • got them an interview at Decca Records, was refused
    • 1962: Brian Epstein got them eventually signed to EMI
    • ”Love Me Do” (1962): “Lennon-McCartney” original climbed British national chart
    • Please Please Me (1963) was their first #1 album in the UK
      • 14 songs, including 8 originals
    • very successful tour of England
    • looking to make an impact in the US market
      • Parliaphone (EMI) offered Beatles records to Capitol Records (subsidiary of EMI), but was refused because they already signed Beach Boys and had no resources left.
      • Record scarcity in the US
      • CBS News reported on Beatles fan(atics) as some sort of joke to poke fun at British rock—turned out to be great national-level publicity/exposure; but then JFK got assassinated, giving The Beatles some more time to prepare for tour.
      • Everyone anticipated & wanted to hear The Beatles but couldn’t get records due to record scarcity.
      • 2/1/1964 “British Invasion”: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” hits #1 for 7 weeks in US charts
        • Capitol Records eventually agreed to distribute Beatles records
      • 2/9/1964: appear on Ed Sullivan show, Carnegie Hall, then Ed Sullivan show again
      • 4/4/1964: Beatles have all top 5 songs
      • August 1964: meets Bob Dylan
      • By the end of 1964: 1/3 of top ten songs in US charts are British bands (turning the page from early rock hiatus)
    • merchandise & films
    • Beatlemania: “We don’t know why we’re like this”
    • Why Are You Like This?
      • Baby Boomers
        • birth rate spikes in 1949 — tons of 15 year olds in 1964
        • Older friends and acquintances are fans of them; imitation is the greatest compliment
        • ”Second Sexual Revolution” (TIME Magazine, 1964)
          • FDA approves birth control pills
      • geopolitical instability: Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK assassination, Goldwater (extreme conservative who advocated giving military generals the power to use nuclear warheads on the battlefield at will)
        • Beatles can help lighten the mood
      • relationship to Rock hiatus
        • 90% “professional music”; very polished music
        • By the end of 1963, anti-professional music enters the market, being unsatisfied by the very polished music
        • The Beatles is kind of a mix-mash of both:
          • smooth & rough
          • polished & unhinged
          • refined & innovative
• The Rolling Stones
  • anti-Beatles
  • live performances were like riots of young men (in contrast to the swooning but contained girls at Beatles live performances)
  • many members
    • Brian Jones (1942-69): guitar, sitar
    • Keither Richards (b. 1943): guitar
    • Mick Jagger (b. 1943): vocals, front man…
    • …
  • became a R&B band covering Chess Records
  • manager: Andrew Loog Oldham, who decided that the band should be the Anti-Beatles
    • wanted their image to be “threatening, uncouth, and animalistic”