The legendary Liverpool Four are not just people. For music, they are akin to deities, because rock before and rock after The Beatles are two different genres. The whole industry was turned upside down by their work, and if not for the breakup of the group and the death of John Lennon, then modern music could have been different. We will talk about this, as well as other interesting facts regarding the Beatles.
10. The first name of Quarrymen
The original name was coined by John Lennon, his school friend Peter Shotton and Eric Griffiths and the team was called The blackjacks. Then, at the suggestion of Shotton, the group was renamed: the new name was a reference to Quarry Bank Grammar School - the school in which both studied.
Most Beatles fans know that on July 6, 1957, 15-year-old Paul McCartney accompanied his friend Ivan Vaughn to St. Peter's Church in the Wulton area. He went to see his friend’s group, Quarrymen, led by John Lennon. It was a historic day, "when John met Paul." A few weeks later, McCartney was invited to join the group, and the foundation was laid for the appearance of The Beatles.
By 1960, the Quarrymen crashed while The Beatles gained worldwide fame. Ten years later, The Beatles fell apart. But Quarrymen returned to the scene, reformed in 1997 and are still playing.
«Until the mid-80s, no one was interested in The Quarrymen"Says Rod Davis, who played the banjo in the original Quarrymen and now plays the guitar for the band. "I believe that people thought The Beatles just came from nothing. However, in the mid-80s, people began to say: “Well, wait a minute: what happened before we heard about the Beatles?” Therefore, of course, they became interested in Quarrymen».
9. “I Wanna Be Your Man” for the Rolling Stones by Lennon and McCratney
In 1963, the Rolling Stones were desperate for new material, and Paul McCartney and John Lennon had an unfinished song "I Wanna Be Your Man"which they once sang to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. They liked the song, because it was in their style, so the Liverpools simply gave it away, having finished it beforehand.
It is noteworthy that Paul and John finished the song literally in front of the Rolling Stones.
8. Harrison Sex and Applause
When the group started, playing all night in clubs in Hamburg, they rented very small rooms with bunk beds. Harrison admitted to The Beatles Anthology that tightness made the situation even worse when he was in bed with a woman. Lennon, McCartney and their then drummer Pete Best - everyone applauded him after sex. Harrison joked: "At least they were silent while I did this. ”.
7. Almost bought a private island in Greece
In fact, in 1967 the group was set up to buy a whole group of islands off the coast of Greeceprimarily due to the perseverance of John Lennon, who wanted to attract others. They planned to make the islands their own mini-utopia, where they had to live with their families and work at the same time.
They were to occupy a total of five islands, with the main island for business purposes, while the other four were to be a safe place for every musician. The group, with the exception of Ringo, who had left for England earlier that day, traveled around the islands to southern Athens aboard a yacht.
Harrison talks about how that day went: “We rented a boat and sailed on it up and down the coast from Athens, looking at the islands. Someone said that we should invest some money, so we thought: “Well, let's buy an island.” It was a great trip. John and I were always on acid, sitting on the front of the ship and playing on the ukulele. Greece was on the left, and a large island on the right. The sun was shining and we sang Hare Krishna for hours».
The group was forced to buy special export dollars and obtain permission from the Greek government to purchase. The funds ultimately arrived, but the participants were no longer interested in the venture. The dollars were sold back to the government, and as a result of a favorable turn of events, the cost increased during the negotiations. The Beatles earned around £ 11,400 during the cancellation of the island deal.
6. Recorded the first album in 13 hours
Following the success of the single “Please Please Me,” the record company wanted to release a full album as soon as possible. George Martin recorded the entire “Please Please Me” longplay in less than 13 hours, leaving “Twist and Shout” in the end so that Lennon’s vocals aren’t overstrained before recording other songs.
Their other cult composition, The Yellow Submarine, was recorded for almost a month, although it was only one song. This is due to the fact that the sound became more experimental in the mid-1960s.
5. Frank Sinatra openly admired the work of the group
When George Harrison began composing his gentle ballad “Something” on the piano in the empty Abbey Road recording studio in 1968, he probably had no idea how cool the song was. She was quailed by everyone who could, including Elvis, Smokey Robinson, Shirley Basse and others.
But Frank Sinatra especially loved her, who even changed one line in the middle when he adapted the song for himself. Sinatra and before that did not hide his sympathy for The Beatles, and after the release of "Something" began to openly praise them.
4. Sold 178 million records
This impressive figure applies only to the United States. If we consider the total number of records sold, that is, discs, tape cassettes and records, their number has long exceeded 1 billion.
3. The Beatles stopped working together in 1970
Yoko Ono is considered by many to be one of the reasons for the breakup of the group and there is a piece of truth in this. The tension between the four musicians was already growing long before Lennon met Yoko and refused to leave her even for recording sessions while working on “Let It Be”.
One of the hottest moments happened between Lennon and Harrison after Harrison noticed that Ono had taken his chocolate chip cookies without asking permission. For friends, such a trifle can not serve as an occasion for a quarrel, but at that time they already had the wrong relationship.
Lennon and McCartney were engaged in their own projects since 1967, so the end of the Beatles was not such a surprise.
2. John Lennon was killed by Mark Chapman
The killing of John Lennon was a shock not only for his fans, but for the whole world. Only ten years have passed since The Beatles broke up, and Lennon was already making a name for himself as a successful solo artist. His tragic death reminded everyone that he may be the god of music, but, in fact, he is just a man. And that was also a wake-up call for other musicians - fan obsession can be extremely dangerous.
The most shocking thing in this story is that on December 8, on the day of the murder, Chapman was waiting for Lennon at the house where he lived. He spent hours talking with a doorman and several fans. At that time, some Lennon fans quite often waited for him at the building and asked for an autograph.
It was at 5 pm when Lennon was walking with his wife Yoko Ono to their limousine. After signing Chapman’s Double Fantasy album, Lennon even asked him: “Is that all you want?” In response, Chapman only smiled. Photographer Paul Goresh even managed to photograph this fateful meeting.
1. Rolling Stone put the group in first place on the list of the greatest artists of all time.
This fact is known to many, but we could not ignore it. But the fact that in 2010 The Vatican released its official list of the top 10 pop albums of all time and placed the 1966 Beatles album Revolver in first place - not everyone knows about this.
It is noteworthy that among the other artists included in the rating were Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan, so the Vatican tastes good.