Message about the Beatles. The legendary "THE BEATLES" The Beatles' first drummer

The work of the Beatles is one of the greatest bands in the history of modern music - and the personal life of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison over the years since the group's triumphal march around the world has been thoroughly investigated. The gigantic array of materials about the Beatles can be safely called, by analogy with Beatlemania, "Beatlology" - the science of the Beatles.

And yet, in the biography of the group and its members, one can still find not too replicated interesting, funny, and sometimes tragic facts.

1. From February 1961 to August 1963, the Beatles played 262 times on the stage of one of the Liverpool clubs. The dynamics of the then fees of the four is impressive - from 5 pounds for the first concert to 300 for the last.

2. In 1962, Decca Records refused to sign a contract with the group, telling the musicians that guitar bands were already out of fashion.

3. The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was recorded in 10 hours of studio time. Now, with powerful electronics and computers, it takes months to record an album. The Beatles themselves in 1966 only recorded the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" for exactly 30 days.

4. It's hard to imagine now, but there were no stage monitors in the era of Beatlemania. Speaking in a large hall or stadium, the Beatles simply did not hear themselves in squealing and singing. crowd of thousands. According to the apt expression of one of the musicians, the organizers could well carry wax figures on tours instead of living people.

5. For the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the Nippon Budokan sports complex was built, which became a Mecca for Japanese fans of sumo and martial arts. In 1966, one Beatles concert was enough to turn the Budokan from a martial arts center into Japan's premier concert venue.

The Beatles Concert at the Nippon Budokan

6. Lennon, McCartney and 8 other musicians performed the final chord of the song “A Day in the Life” on one piano in 10 hands. The chord sounded for 42 seconds.

7. Almost all the drums in the songs of the Beatles were performed by Ringo Starr. But there are exceptions. Paul McCartney played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R", "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" and "Dear Prudence".

8. In the song "All You Need is Love", first performed as the final composition of the world's first worldwide television satellite show "Our World", there are bars from the song "La Marseillaise", some time in 1917 the former unofficial anthem Russia.

9. Asteroids with numbers 4147 - 4150 are named by the full names of the members of the Liverpool Four. And Lennon also has a personal lunar crater.

10. This is nothing more than an accident, but by the time the Beatles broke up, they had recorded 13 albums. However, in what is considered the most complete collection of the group's albums, there are 15 of them - "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Past Masters" - a collection of unreleased songs - are added to the authentic ones.

11. In fact, the Beatles can be considered the inventors of the video clip. During the most fruitful period of the group in 1965, the musicians felt sorry for the time spent on the traditional weekly television shows. On the other hand, participation in these shows was a necessary element in the promotion of singles and albums. The Beatles began to record performances in their own studio and send the resulting videos to the offices of television companies. Of course, not for free.

12. By Steven Spielberg's own admission, one of his movie editing aids was The Beatles' Magic Mystery Tour. Having watched a very weak film, it is difficult to understand what its editing could teach the future master of cinema.

Young Steven Spielberg

13. In 1989, a high-profile trial between the former Beatles and EMI ended. The musicians accused the music label of selling Beatles songs intended for non-commercial distribution for charity purposes. EMI's philanthropic neglect has netted McCartney, Starr, Harrison and Yoko Ono $100 million each. Three years earlier, unpaid royalties for the musical "Beatlemania" brought the band members only 10 million in total.

14. According to a rather popular legend, Paul McCartney crashed in a car accident back in 1967, and former police officer Bill Campbell took his place in the group. Supporters of the version have found a lot of evidence of its truth in the design of album covers and the lyrics of the songs of the Beatles.

15. The first to land on the land of countries that were part of the USSR during the heyday of the Beatles was Ringo Starr. The drummer with his group "All-Starr Band" gave concerts in both capitals of Russia in 1998.

16. At the suggestion of homegrown rock stars, Western music critics write seriously about the Beatles' contribution to the destruction of the communist system. The “Great Four”, in their opinion, influenced Makarevich, Grebenshchikov, Gradsky and other rock musicians so much that the USSR was simply doomed. However, back in the 1970s, journalists put Lennon on a par with Mao Zedong and John F. Kennedy

17. Rivalry "The Beatles" and " Rolling Stones"existed and exists exclusively in the heads of band managers and their fans. Between the musicians were friendly relations. In 1963, John and Paul came to the Rolling Stones concert. After the performance, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger complained to them that it was time to release a single, but they didn't have enough songs. McCartney had the melody for a song that Starr was supposed to sing with the Beatles. After a little refinement right on the sidelines of the concert, the Rolling Stones received the missing song. It was called "I Wanna Be Your Man".

18. John Lennon's mother was special, far from Christian virtues. From the age of four, John lived and was brought up in his aunt's house. The sisters did not break off relations, and John often met with his mother. After one of the meetings, a drunk driver knocked Julia Lennon to death, which was a very hard blow for the 18-year-old Lennon.

At Clapton's wedding

19. Eric Clapton secretly dated George Harrison's wife Patti Boyd for a long time. This love triangle could well have revived the Beatles in 1979. Harrison was so grateful to Clapton for saving him from a tedious divorce from Patty and "bashing plates, squabbles and division of property" that he decided to gather all four at Eric and Patty's wedding. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney arrived and played a few songs, but Lennon ignored the invitation. John's death was one year away.

The Beatles are a British rock band. She is originally from Liverpool. The Beatles existed from 1960 to 1970. Its composition was not formed immediately, the name also changed several times. All this, as well as the success story of this world's greatest musical group, we will tell in detail below.

The Rise of The Blackjack and The Quarrymen

John Lennon (1940-1980), having learned to play the guitar, founded a group with his comrades, which they called The Blackjack. A week later, however, the name changed to The Quarrymen (the school where the guys studied was called Quarry Bank). The group performed skiffle, a special British style of rock and roll.

Formation of The Quarrymen

John Lennon (pictured below) in the summer of 1957, after performing at a concert, met another future member of the band - Paul McCartney.

He surprised John with his knowledge of the words and chords of the latest in the world of music. They were joined in the autumn of 1958 by George Harrison, a friend of Paul. George, Paul and John became the main ones in the group, for the other members of The Quarrymen this group was only a temporary hobby, and they soon left the band. The musicians played in episodes at various events, weddings, parties, but it didn’t get to recordings and concerts.

The group broke up several times. George Harrison had his own group. And Paul McCartney and Lennon began to write songs, sing and play together, inspired by Buddy Holly, who was his own producer and played his own songs. The group at the end of 1959 included Stuart Sutcliffe. John Lennon knew him in college. His playing skills were not distinguished, which often irritated Paul McCartney, a demanding musician. The group in this composition was practically formed: vocals and rhythm guitar - Lennon, vocals, rhythm guitar and piano - McCartney (his photo is presented below), lead guitar - George Harrison, bass guitar - Stuart Sutcliffe. However, the problem of the musicians was the lack of a permanent drummer.

Some other group names

The Quarrymen actively tried to fit into the club and concert life Liverpool. Talent competitions were held one after another, but the group was not lucky. She needed to think about changing her name. No one had anything to do with Quarry Bank school anymore. At a local television competition held in December 1959, this group performed under a different name - Johnny and the Moondogs.

History of the name The Beatles

In 1960, in April, the participants came up with this name. Its authors, according to the memoirs of members of the group, are Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon. They dreamed of a name that had a double meaning. For example, B. Holly's group was called The Crickets, that is, "crickets". However, for the British there is another meaning - "the game of cricket." As John Lennon said, this name came to him during sleep. He saw a man engulfed in flames, who advised them to name the group the Beetles (beetles). However, this word has only one meaning. Therefore, it was decided to replace the letter "e" with "a". A second meaning appeared - "bit", for example, in rock and roll music. Thus the Beatles were born. At first, the musicians were forced to change the name somewhat, since the promoters considered it to be very short. IN different time the group performed under such names as The Silver Beatles, Long John and The Beatles.

First tour

The musical skill of the band members grew very quickly. They were increasingly invited to perform in small clubs and pubs. The Beatles went on their first tour in April 1960. It was a tour of Scotland, and they performed as an accompanying group. At this time, they have not yet received much fame.

Band play in Hamburg

The Beatles, whose lineup had not yet been finalized, were invited to play in Hamburg in the middle of 1960. Already at that time, several professional rock and roll bands from Liverpool played here. Therefore, the musicians from the Beatles decided to urgently look for a drummer. The composition of the group needed to be replenished in order to comply with the contract and be at the level of professionals. They chose Pete Best, who played very well. The history of the Beatles continued with the fact that in 1960, on August 17, the first concert took place in Hamburg, at the Indra club. Here the group played until October under a contract, and then, until the end of November, they performed at the Kaiserkeller. The schedule of performances was very tough, the participants had to crowd into one room. A lot of material had to be played on stage besides rock and roll: rhythm and blues, blues, old jazz and pop numbers, folk songs. The Beatles had not yet performed their own songs, as they believed that the surrounding modern music had a lot of material suitable for them, and also did not have the necessary incentive for this. It was the daily hard work and the ability to perform different styles of music, mixing them, that became one of the main factors in the formation of the group.

The Beatles become famous in Liverpool

The Beatles returned to Liverpool in December 1960. Here they turned out to be one of the most active groups, competing with each other in terms of the number of fans, repertoire and sound. The leaders among them were Rory Storm, who played in the best clubs in Hamburg and Liverpool. At this time, musicians from the Beatles met and quickly became friends with the drummer of this group, R. Starr. The composition of the group will be replenished with them a little later.

Second tour in Hamburg

The group in April 1960 went back to Hamburg for a second tour. Now they were playing in Top Ten. It was in this city that The Beatles made their first professional recording, performing as an accompanying ensemble for singer T. Sheridan. The Beatles were also allowed to make some of their own compositions. Sutcliffe decided to leave the band at the end of the tour and stay in Hamburg. Paul McCartney had to play the bass guitar. And a year later, in 1962 (April 10), Sutcliffe (pictured below) died of a brain hemorrhage.

Performances in Liverpool in 1961

The Beatles since August 1961 began performing at the Liverpool club (the name of the club is Cavern). They performed 262 times in a year. IN next year, July 27, the musicians gave their concert at Litherland Town Hall. The concert in this hall was a great success, after which the press dubbed this group the best in Liverpool.

Acquaintance with George Martin

The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, met with George Martin, a producer from the Parlophone label. George became interested in the young band and wanted to see it perform at Abbey Road Studios (London). The recordings of the group did not impress George Martin, but he fell in love with the musicians themselves, attractive, cheerful and a little arrogant guys. When J. Martin asked if they liked everything in the studio, Harrison replied that he did not like Martin's tie. The producer appreciated this joke and invited the group to sign a contract. It was from the tie story that the Beatles' direct, blunt, and witty responses to interviews and press conferences became their signature style.

Ringo Starr Becomes a Drummer

Only Pete Best did not like George Martin. He believed that Best was not up to the level of the group, and suggested that Epstein replace the drummer. In addition, Pete defended his own individuality and did not want, like other members of the Beatles, to make a signature hairstyle to match the overall style of the group. As a result, in 1962, on August 16, Pete Best leaves the group, which is officially announced by Brian Epstein. Starr (pictured below), who played in the Rory Storm band, was taken in without hesitation.

First singles and first album

Soon the members of the Beatles began studio work. The first recording did not bring any results. The Beatles released their first single, Love Me Do, in October 1962, which reached No. 17 on the charts. It was a pretty good result for the young Beatles. In the same year, on October 17, the first concert of this group on television took place in Manchester broadcast (People and Places program). Then the Beatles recorded a new single, Please Please Me, which took first place in the charts. In 1963, on March 22, the group finally released their first album with the same name. In just 12 hours, the material for it was created. This album topped the national hit parade for six months, bringing great success to the Beatles. The hits of this group became popular throughout the country.

Resounding success

Beatlemania's birthday is October 3, 1963. The group was deafeningly popular. Its participants gave a concert in the Palladium Hall in London, from where the Beatles were broadcast throughout the UK. The group's hits were listened to by approximately 15 million viewers. Many fans filled the streets near the concert hall, eager to see the Beatles live. On November 4, 1963, the band played a concert at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The Queen herself, Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret attended, and the Queen admired the game. The Beatles released their second album, With The Beatles, on November 22. Over a million copies of this record had been sold by 1965.

Brian Epstein signed a US contract with Vee Jay, which released the singles From Me To You and Please Please Me, as well as the album Introducing The Beatles. However, they did not bring success in the US and did not even hit the regional charts. In the United States at the end of 1963, the single I Want To Hold Your Hand appeared, which changed the situation. The very next year, on January 18, he was in first place in the table of the American magazine Cash Box and in third place in the table of the weekly called Billboard. US label Capitol released Meet the Beatles' gold album on February 3rd.

Thus, Beatlemania crossed the ocean. In 1964, on February 7, the band members landed at the New York airport. They were met by about 4 thousand fans. The group played three concerts: one at the Coliseum (Washington) and two at Carnegie Hall (New York). The Beatles also performed twice on television on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was watched by 73 million viewers - a record in the history of television! The Beatles spent their free time interacting with journalists and various musical groups. They returned to their homeland on February 22.

The group after a trip to the US began recording new songs, as well as filming the first musical film (A Hard Day's Night). The single titled Can't Buy Me Love on March 20 attracted a lot of pre-orders - about 3 million.

First major tour

On the first major tour through Holland, Denmark, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia the group departed on June 4, 1964. The Beatles tour was a resounding success. In Adelaide, for example, a crowd of 300,000 met the musicians at the airport. On July 2, the Beatles returned to London. And three days later there was the premiere of A Hard Day's Night, after which the album of the same name was released.

Difficulties faced by the group

Tour of North America started on August 19 of the same year. The Beatles covered 36 thousand kilometers in 32 days and visited 24 cities, playing 31 concerts. About 30 thousand dollars (today it is equivalent to about 300 thousand dollars) they received for one concert. However, the musicians were not worried about the money, but about the fact that they became prisoners, completely isolated from the rest of society. Around the clock, the hotels where the group stayed were besieged by the crowd.

At that time, the equipment on which the musicians played in huge stadiums would not satisfy even a seedy restaurant ensemble. Technique for a long time lagged behind in development from the pace set by the Beatles. Due to the deafening roar of the people in the stands, the musicians often did not hear themselves. They lost their rhythm, they lost their tonality in the vocal parts, but this was not noticed by the audience, which also practically did not hear anything. The Beatles in such conditions could not progress and experiment on stage. Only behind the scenes in the studio could they create something new and develop.

Continued success

Returning to London on September 21, the musicians immediately began recording a new album - Beatles For Sale. Many styles of music, ranging from rock and roll to country and western, were presented on this record. Already on December 4, 1964, on the first day of release, it sold 700,000 copies and soon topped the English hit parade.

In 1965, on July 29, the premiere of the film Help! in London, and an album of the same name was released in August. The Beatles embarked on a tour of the United States on August 13. They visited Elvis Presley himself, where they not only talked, but also played, recording several songs on tape recorders. Unfortunately, these recordings were never published, because they were not found, despite all the efforts made. Millions of dollars are worth today.

Rock and rock 'n' roll in the middle of 1965 turned from entertainment and dance music into a serious art. Many bands that emerged at that time, such as Rolling Stones and The Byrds, made The Beatles serious competition. The Beatles in October of the same year began recording a new album - Rubber Soul. He showed the whole world growing up Beatles. Again, all competitors were far behind. On the day the recording began, October 12, the musicians did not have a single finished song, and already on December 3, 1965, this album was on store shelves. Elements of surrealism and mysticism appeared in the songs, which were subsequently included in many Beatles songs.

State awards

Members of the group in 1965, October 26, were awarded state awards at Buckingham Palace. They received the Order of the British Empire. Some other holders of this order, military heroes, were outraged by the presentation of the award to the musicians. In protest, they returned the orders, as they, in their opinion, depreciated. However, no one paid much attention to the protesters.

Conflicts and proceedings

The Beatles were in serious trouble in 1966. Due to a conflict with the first lady of the Philippines during the tour, the musicians refused to come to an official reception at the presidential palace. The angry mob almost tore the Beatles apart, they barely managed to get their feet out of this country. After the group's return to England, there was a big buzz in the US due to Lennon's statements that the Beatles were now more popular than Jesus. In the UK, this was soon forgotten, but in America, protests swept against the musicians - they burned their portraits, records on which the songs of the Beatles were recorded ... The musicians themselves perceived this with humor. However, under pressure from the press, John Lennon was nevertheless forced to publicly apologize for his remarks. It happened in Chicago in 1966, on August 11th.

New breakthrough, termination of concert activity

The musicians, despite these trials, released at that time one of their best albums called Revolver. Since very complex studio effects were used, the Beatles' music did not involve stage performance.

The Beatles became studio band. Tired of touring, the musicians decided to stop their concert performances. In 1966, on May 1, their last performance took place in the hall of Wembley Stadium (London). Here they participated in a gala concert and appeared for only 15 minutes. The last tour took place in the USA in the same year, where the Beatles last time appeared on stage in San Francisco on August 29. Meanwhile, Revolver was leading the world charts. It was praised by critics as the culmination of all the work of this group. Many newspapers believed that the group decided to stop on this high note, but this did not occur to the musicians themselves.

Latest albums

In the same year, on November 24, they began recording another album. Recording it lasted 129 days, and it became the greatest album in the history of rock music. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967, on May 26. It was a phenomenal success and lasted 88 weeks at the top of various charts.

In the same year, on December 8, the band released their 9th album called Magical Mystery Tour. On June 25, 1967, the Beatles became the first band in history to have their performance broadcast worldwide. It was watched by 400 million people. However, despite this success, the Beatles' business began to decline. Brian Epstein died on August 27 from an overdose of sleeping pills. The Beatles at the end of 1967 began to receive negative reviews about their work.

The group spent early 1968 in Rishikesh where they studied meditation. McCartney and Lennon, after returning to the UK, announced the creation of a corporation called Apple. They started releasing records under this label. The Beatles released the film Yellow Submarine in January 1968. On August 30, the Hey Jude single went on sale, and by the end of the year, sales of the record reached 6 million. The White Album is a double album released in 1968, November 22. Relations between the musicians during his recording deteriorated greatly. Ringo Starr left the band for a while. Because of this, McCartney played the drums on several songs. Harrison (his photo is presented below) and Lennon, in addition, began to release solo records. The inevitable breakup of the group was approaching. Later came the albums Abbey Road and Let it be - the last one released in 1970.

Death of John Lennon and George Harrison

John Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980 by Mark Chapman, a US citizen, in New York. On the day of his death, he gave an interview to journalists, and then approached the house with his wife. Chapman fired 5 shots into his back. Now Mark Chapman is in prison, where he is serving a life sentence.

George Harrison died on November 29, 2001 from a brain tumor. He was treated for a long time, but it was not possible to save the musician. Paul McCartney is still alive, he is 73 years old today.

Surely there is not a single person in the civilized world who has not heard of the group at least once.

Music historians, critics and music lovers are still trying to unravel the phenomenon of this four.

Is it possible to explain such a massive popularity and truly people's love to the British musicians who turned the world upside down in the 1960s.

At the origins of The Beatles

It is impossible even to imagine the culture of the past century without the legendary four. For at least 20 years, they have been a role model not just for musical groups and individual performers, but for entire generations of young people. It was they who managed with their creativity to instill love and peace in the souls of Europeans, exhausted by the war. It is difficult to overestimate the importance in world culture. Could at least one of the members of the group have guessed what peak they would fly to when they got to know each other and decided to create together.

And it all started way back in 1957. Then the very young met a slightly older one. He was the leader of the Quarrymen at the age of 17 and was a fan of rock and roll. The group adhered to the skiffle direction in their work - it was the British model of rock and roll. Paul made an impression on a new acquaintance - he knew the chords and words of all rock and roll hits, knew how to play the trumpet and was taught to play the piano. A few months later, they began joint performances, which were joined by one of Paul McCartney's friends, George Harrison. This is how the permanent basis of the future group appeared, and later bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, John's classmate in art college, joined them.

Looking for a name

After several performances at city events, young people decided that they had already become a close-knit team of like-minded people and began to develop musical skills and abilities. Of course, there were no real concerts yet, one could only dream of recording a record, but this did not bother the ambitious comrades in the least.

The musicians began to actively establish contacts in order to join the club life of Liverpool and begin concert performances. They did not miss a single more or less significant creative competition, but this did not bring the expected results. And then the guys thought about changing the name of the group. The Quarrymen first became Johnny and the Moondogs, then the Silver Beetles, and eventually became just . The origin of this name is still disputed. The Beatles themselves said that it was a joint idea of ​​John and Stewart. They wanted to come up with a word that would have a double meaning. They took beetles (“beetles”) as a basis, and then replaced one letter in it and got beatles. It sounded the same, but the root beat meant beat music.

It cannot be unequivocally stated that the name change affected the activity of the group, but soon after that the musicians began to receive offers to perform. In early 1960 the band even went on a short tour of Scotland. They just needed to break out of a number of Liverpool's numerous unknown bands that performed similar music.

With a new look to a new life

In the summer of 1960 begins new stage in creativity - the group was invited to perform in Hamburg, which meant that there was a great chance to show themselves to Europe. Just before the German tour, the long search for a drummer was crowned with success and Pete Best was accepted into the group. A trip to Germany and the first performances abroad became a real test of strength for the team. The Beatles spent seven months in Hamburg, where they were met first by visitors to the Indra club, and then by the regulars of the Kaiserkeller.

Astrid Kirchherr and The Beatles

The busy schedule did not give the musicians a single day to relax, concerts in clubs continued non-stop, some groups replaced others, and the Liverpool team had to constantly improve in order not to embarrass themselves in front of the German public. On stage they performed jazz compositions, blues, pop and even folk songs in rock and roll processing. It was the German tours that helped to hone the skills of the performers, which was immediately noticed by music lovers in their hometown.

Another event in the history of the group happened in the glorious port city. There, the musicians met a couple of students from the local art college - Klaus Forman and Astrid Kirchherr. The girl soon started romantic relationship with Stuart Sutcliffe, she also made the group's first professional photo shoot in a Hamburg park, and during their next tour in 1961, she suggested that the musicians change their image. The transformation consisted in creating new hairstyles with hair down to the forehead and ears and replacing concert costumes with jackets without lapels and collars, which were promoted by the famous Pierre Cardin. Thus, Astrid actually became their first real image maker.

Brian Epstein era

In Liverpool, the band began playing regularly at the Cavern Club and were already in contention for leadership in the city. The main competitors of the four were the Rory Storm and the Hurricanes team. Its members also came on tour to Hamburg, where the Beatles saw their drummer Ringo Starr, who later replaced Sutcliffe, who left the group.

Brian Epstein and The Beatles

During the second long tour in Germany, the first professional recording was made for the first time. Then they accompanied Tony Sheridan and received permission to record several of their songs.

In the Cavern club, the performance of the Beatles was noticed by an employee of one of the records stores, Brian Epstein, and set about promoting the career of musicians. He negotiated with several record companies, but they refused to work with a little-known team, but Parlophone took a chance and signed a contract with the group.

Later, the producer of the company, George Martin, admitted that he agreed to work with the team not because of their high professionalism, but solely for the reason human qualities. Wit, good nature, openness and a little impudence attracted a venerable producer, who brought them to the Abbey Road studio in London.

And then the life of the musicians began to spin like in a kaleidoscope. In October 1962, their first single, Love Me Do, was released. Brian Epstein went to the trick and bought 10,000 records, which created an unprecedented hype around the group.

Then performances on television began, which gathered millions of people at the screens, concerts, new singles, and finally the recording of the full-fledged album “Please Please Me” took place. He headed the British national charts for six months. This is how the real Beatlemania began in 1963.

The second album of the Liverpool four "With The Beatles" was not long in coming either. And again there was a record - the stores received 300 thousand preliminary applications for its purchase! Over a million copies were sold in a year.

Almost like Beethoven

However, the popularity of the quartet in Britain did not affect their positions in America. Record companies were slow to re-release the band's singles, despite the best efforts of the nimble Epstein. The turning point was the release of the record with the recording of the song "I Want To Hold Your Hand". flattering review it was published in the authoritative newspaper The Sunday Times by critic Richard Buckle. Among other things, he placed Lennon and McCartney in the list of the greatest composers immediately after. The article did its job, and the victorious march of the Beatles across America began. In early 1964, the top five of the 14 songs on the US national chart belonged to .

At home, the members of the quartet continued to record albums, made films (“A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”) And toured around the world. After the release of the album "Help!" the song "Yesterday" was recognized as one of the greatest musical compositions. Many ensembles and singers began to perform it, there are now about two thousand such interpretations!

The Beatles - studio band

The turning point for rock music was 1965. New artists began to appear who turned rock and roll from entertainment into an art. And again they were ahead of the rest with their new album "Rubber Soul". Even after a year full of creativity, one of the four’s iconic albums appeared - “Revolver”, which was filled with complex studio effects and did not imply a concert performance. From that moment on, the band's exhausting touring activity ended and only studio work began.

1966 began a 129-day recording of the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which became a real triumph of pop music, the evolution of the entire genre. But the success did not last long, and the group's affairs were shaken. Not the last role in this was played by the death in 1967 of Brian Epstein from an overdose of sleeping pills.

The recording of the next album "White Album" was the first signal of the breakup of the group. Disagreements arose between the musicians, they no longer wrote music together, each sought to prove his superiority. The new wife of John, who did not arouse sympathy among the members of the group, also added to the creative atmosphere.

Sunset at its peak

It became obvious that the history of the group was nearing its end. John Lennon began to perform with a new group (official announcements of his departure were persuaded not to give), Paul McCartney released his records. Since the middle of 1969, the group did not record anything together, but the fans still did not suspect anything. Therefore, McCartney's announcement in 1970 that he was leaving the group sounded like thunder.

It is worth recognizing that the collapse of the team benefited its members. Each began an independent creative path and achieved a certain recognition. They did not maintain almost any relationship with each other, communication was even a burden for them.

The murder of Lennon by a fanatic in 1980 destroyed last hopes fans about the reunion of the legendary band. The musicians continued to work separately, but began to live autonomously in the hearts of music lovers, without losing popularity and having passed the test of time for half a century.

DATA

In 1965, the participants received the Order of the British Empire. This is the first time in British history that this has happened. to the highest state award given to pop musicians with the wording "for their contribution to the development of British culture and its popularization around the world."

In 1967, 400 million viewers were able to see the performance in the program "Our World", during which the video version of the single "All You Need Is Love" was recorded.

The group released the 1969 feature-length cartoon "Yellow Submarine". In the same year, one of their best songs "Hey Jude" appeared, dedicated to John Lennon's eldest son, Julian.

The Beatles updated: April 9, 2019 by: Elena

The magnificent Liverpool Four in the early 60s raised the whole world to the ears, but no noisy fame can be compared with the real test of time: at first the Beatles showed that their success was not a short-term phenomenon at all, and then ... they simply changed the world of music and rock culture, becoming one of the most significant and influential groups of the 20th century.

History of creation

In 1956, a simple Liverpool guy named John Lennon heard the song "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley and instantly fell ill. contemporary music. Along with the king of rock and roll, other pioneers of the genre also got into his favorites - american singers 50s Bill Haley and Buddy Holly. The 16-year-old energetic young man simply needed to throw out his energy somewhere - in the same year, with his school friends, he organized the skiffle group "The Quarrymen" (that is, "the guys from the Quarry Bank school").

In the images of the then popular teddy fights, they performed at parties for a year, and in July 1957, at one of the concerts, Lennon met Paul McCartney. The skinny, shy guy just amazed John with his knowledge of guitar skills - he not only played well, but knew the chords and could tune the guitar! For the self-taught Lennon, who played the banjo, harmonica and guitar rather weakly, it was almost like the art of the gods. He even doubted whether such a strong musician would take away his leadership, but two weeks later he invited Paul to the role of rhythm guitarist in The Quarrymen.

By nature, Paul and John were like mirror images of each other: the first is an excellent student and a good boy from a prosperous family, the second is a local bully and truant, who was abandoned by his mother in early childhood and then raised by his aunt.

Perhaps largely due to their dissimilarity, the guys were able to make one of the most successful musical duets in the world. From the very beginning of cooperation, they became both partners and rivals. And if Paul began to compose music from the moment he took up the guitar, then for John this activity initially became a challenge from his talented partner.

In 1958, guitarist George Harrison, who at that time was only 15 years old, joined the band. Later, Lennon's classmate Stuart Sutcliffe also entered the group - initially this quartet was the main line-up of the group, while John's school friends soon forgot about their musical passion.

After changing from a dozen different names, in the end, the Liverpool people settled on The Beatles - John Lennon wanted the word to be ambiguous and contain some game. And if in Russia it was first of all translated as “Beetles” (although another spelling is correct in English - “beetles”), then for the band members the name also referred to the Buddy Holly group The Crickets (“Crickets”) that influenced them and the word “the beat", that is, "rhythm".

The main stages of creativity

For a while, the Beatles imitated their American idols, increasingly acquiring an international sound. Having written more than 100 compositions in two years, they have accumulated material for several years to come. It was then that McCartney and Lennon agreed to indicate the dual authorship of songs, regardless of who contributed what to the work.

It's funny that until the summer of 1960, the Beatles did not have a permanent drummer - and sometimes there were problems with the equipment and installations for performances. Everything was decided by an invitation to perform in Hamburg, which the guys received, one might say, by a lucky chance. Then they urgently invited drummer Paul Best, who plays in another band. After an exhausting tour, where the Beatles played so far only covers or improvised right on stage, they returned to England as more experienced, “mature” musicians.

Meeting with Brian Epstein and George Martin

The success of The Beatles was made up of all the main components necessary for popularity, where, in addition to talent, perseverance and charisma, one cannot do without competent production and promotion. One might even say that at the beginning of his creative way The Beatles became the first pop group on a global scale, however, the principles of promotion at that time were in many ways different from modern ones.

The fate of the Beatles' popularity was decided by the owner of the record store, a true enthusiast of his business, Brian Epstein, who in 1962 became the official manager of the group. If before Epstein the Beatles performed on stage shaggy and even, as he said, “dirty”, then under the leadership of Brian they changed into their famous suits, put on ties and made trendy haircuts “under the pot”. After working on the image, quite a natural work on the musical material followed.

Epstein sent a demo of their first songs to George Martin of recording studio Parlophone - At a meeting with the Beatles that followed soon after, Martin praised them but advised them to change drummers. Soon everyone unanimously (Epstein and Martin always consulted with the group) chose the charming and energetic Ringo Starr from the then popular band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes for this role.

Crazy Success: The Beatles World Tour

In September 1962, the "seizure of the world" began: the Beatles released their first single "Love me Do", which instantly became the leader of the British charts. Soon all the members of the group moved to London and in February 1963 in one day (!) Completely recorded their first album Please, Please me with groovy hits She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout.

The Beatles

The record was overflowing with joy, lyricism and, of course, rhythmic rock and roll, and the charming members of the Beatles became the personification of youth and sincerity for fans around the world. Success was cemented by the album With the Beatles that followed the same year. "Beetles" were one of the first musicians to simply and a little naively sing about love, relationships and true romance.

It was then that the concept of "Beatlemania" arose - first it swept the UK, and then stepped into other countries and across the ocean. At Beatles concerts, fans went into a frenzy just seeing their pretty idols. The girls squealed so that the musicians sometimes did not even hear what they were singing. Their success in America in 1963-1966 could be compared to a triumphal procession. Footage of The Beatles performing on the then-popular Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 became legendary: frenzied screams, imperturbable musicians, voiceovers.

The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964)

The albums A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) not only contained wonderful and already truly "Beatle" songs, but were also presented to the audience with parallel musical films that became gifts for real fans. And if in the first picture the band members played the role of guest stars , then to "Help!" has already been invented artistic plot, and the Beatles tried on new comical images.

The legendary song "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney from the album "Help!" official version, was first recorded without the participation of other Beatles, and with the help of string quartet. This composition, along with "Michelle" and "Girl", entered the treasury of the best lyrical songs group and is known to everyone who has never even closely acquainted with the work of the Liverpool Four.

After exhausting world tours (sometimes concerts were given every day), the musicians moved on to studio work in the famous Abbey Road Studios. At the same time, the sound of The Beatles began to change more and more. For example, the album Rubber Soul (1965) featured the first sitar, played by George Harrison for the song "Norwegian Wood". By the way, by this time the band members had already become virtuoso multi-instrumentalists.

The Revolver (1966) and Magical Mystery Tour (1967) records, with the songs "Eleanor Rigby", "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love", provided an exquisite bridge to the grandiose "Sgt. Pepper "s Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), which finally lifted the group to a new level. The Beatles not only became the standard in the world of music, but "sneaked" into the just emerging world of psychedelic and progressive rock, once again reflecting and simultaneously creating a whole epoch with its creativity, in fact, a symbol of the hippie era with their anti-war protests, experiments with drugs and propaganda free love became to some extent and the Beatles.

The Beatles

At that time, the Beatles had already completely transformed from a group that collects stadiums into a chamber group recording half experimental, half acoustic albums. At Wembley Stadium in 1966, the Beatles said goodbye to their past: loud fans included. This decision helped to continue the development in musically without being distracted by hype or promotions.

Breakup of the Beatles

At the same time, contradictions within the team were growing more and more - George Harrison and Ringo Starr literally had to write to the table: most of their compositions, according to them, were simply not accepted for consideration by Paul and John. In August 1967, 32-year-old Brian Epstein, who, along with George Martin, was the “fifth Beatle” in the group, died suddenly from an overdose of sleeping pills.

More and more factors separating musicians appeared. At the beginning of 1968, they decided to spend time together in India with the Maharishi meditation teacher - this experience affected everyone in different ways, but the Beatles returned to England without having established mutual understanding with each other.

Having released the double-sided disc “The White Album” in 1968, the group continued their experiments - the record contained diverse compositions, in some of them the musicians continued to work on the sound. At that time, in the Abbey Road studios, the Beatles were accompanied all the time by future wife John Lennon, the artist Yoko Ono, who terribly annoyed all the musicians with her antics - the atmosphere became more and more tense.

Despite all the controversy, the group was able to get together in the studio to release three more albums - "Yellow Submarine" (1968) with music for a psychedelic cartoon, "Abbey Road" and "Let it Be" (1970). "Abbey Road" with the legendary cover, where the four cross the street of the same name, was recognized by critics as one of the quartet's most perfect records. At that time, George and John had already recorded their first albums, and the recording of some songs was not carried out by the group in full force. In 1970, Paul McCartney, without waiting for the release of "Let it Be", released his debut disc and published an official letter about the breakup of the group, which caused a flurry of indignation among fans.

Scandals

On June 12, 1965, many members of the Order of the British Empire were dissatisfied with the presentation of an honorary award to The Beatles "for their contribution to the development of British culture and its popularization around the world." Prior to this, no pop musician had received an award from the Queen. True, four years later John Lennon refused the award - thus he opposed the British intervention in the outcome civil war in Nigeria.

The Beatles are more popular than Jesus

After the scandal on tour in the Philippines in 1966 (the group came into conflict with the very first lady), America was outraged by John Lennon's words that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus" and the recognition that the musician had become disillusioned with Christianity because his "stupid and ordinary" followers. None of the band members could have expected that these words would cause mass burning of Beatles records in the southern states and even protests by the Ku Klux Klan. Then Brian Epstein had to cancel the planned tour in the United States, and Lennon had to make a public apology.

Discography

• "Please Please Me" (1963)
• "With The Beatles" (1963)
• "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
• Beatles For Sale (1964)
• Help! (1965)
• "Rubber Soul" (1965)
• "Revolver" (1966)
• "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967)
• "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967)
• The Beatles (also known as the White Album) (1968)
• "Yellow Submarine" (1968)
• Abbey Road (1969)
• "Let It Be" (1970)

Films about the Beatles

• "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
• Help! (1965)
• "Yellow Submarine" (1968)
• "Let It Be" (1970)
• "Imagine: John Lennon" (1988)
• "Becoming John Lennon" (2009)
• "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" (2011)
• "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week" (2016)

Solo projects of The Beatles members

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney released his first solo album before the breakup of The Beatles, modestly calling it "McCartney" (1970). Despite the fact that the gap between the members of the legendary group at that time was already obvious, for McCartney this became a source of serious feelings. After some seclusion, the musician released the album "Ram" (1971), the composition of which was awarded the Grammy. At the same time, Paul's early creations were smashed by both critics and his former partner, John Lennon.

Feeling insecure about being a soloist, McCartney created The Wings, with whom he released 7 albums from 1971 to 1979. Solo Sir Paul recorded 16 studio albums, many of which went platinum. Last on this moment ex-Beatle record - "New" 2013. World stars, such as Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp, have repeatedly starred in McCartney's videos.

John Lennon

Perhaps the most striking and at the same time transient among the former members of the Beatles was the solo career of John Lennon. It seems that it could not be otherwise - John has always been different not only complex nature, but also the desire to create something categorically new and sometimes avant-garde. No less significant for him was the expression of a political position through creativity. Together with his second wife, Yoko Ono, he staged various performances, the most famous of which was the "bed interview" Give Peace a Chance (Give this world a chance) in 1969.

For a conditional 10 years of a solo career (Lennon was shot dead on December 8, 1980 at the entrance to his house), the legendary Beatle released 9 studio albums, many of which were recorded in collaboration with Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Phil Spector and Yoko Ono. After tragic death Due to the efforts of his relatives, the musician published several more discs with previously unreleased songs.

John Lennon – Imagine

Lennon's work had a huge impact on culture, music, people's views both during his lifetime and after the death of the musician. His most successful records are Imagine (1971) and Double Fantasy (1980).

Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr, like George Harrison, during the existence of the Beatles, of course, was in the shadow of Paul and John. Although he, like the rest of the members, composed a lot of music, his compositions were practically not involved in the group's repertoire. Not everyone also knew that it was Ringo who sang the most popular song Yellow Submarine. However, after the breakup of the group, Starr immediately continued his solo career.

By 2018, Ringo had already released 19 records, many of which went platinum. Throughout his career, Starr has continued to collaborate with ex-Beatles, for example, Paul McCartney took part in the recording of his latest album “Give More Love” (2017).

In 2012, Ringo Starr was named the richest drummer in the world - his fortune at that time was already about $ 300 million.

George Harrison

Guitarist George Harrison, who was inconspicuous in the group, also did not often receive " White light” to use his compositions in the group, but he owns some of the best songs of their late creativity"While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something", and "Here Comes the Sun".

In Harrison's solo work, no one could slow down: for example, he recorded 10 studio albums in total, the best of which is the triple disc "All Things Must Pass" (1970), among the compositions of which the song of the same name and the song "My Sweet Lord" are especially noted. Harrison, who converted to Hinduism in the late 60s, was strongly influenced by Indian sacred music and religious texts in his work. The musician died of lung cancer in November 2001.

Bruno Ceriotti (historian): "On this day, the Rory Storm and Hurricanes group (Rory Storm And the The Hurricanes perform at Cambridge Hall (Southport). Lineup: Al Caldwell (aka Rory Storm), Johnny Byrne (aka Johnny "Guitar"), Ty Brien, Walter "Wally" Eymond (aka Lou Walters), Richard Starkey (aka Ringo Starr).

From the diary of Johnny "Guitars" (Rory Storm and the Hurricanes band): "Southport. They played badly."

(conditional date)

Peter Frame: "When Stu Sutcliffe joined the band in January 1960, the first thing he did was to suggest changing the band's name to The Beatals, which would soon (April) be changed a bit."

approx. - it is believed that the name of the group "Beatles" appeared in April 1960. Most likely, from the words of Paul McCartney (Paul: "Once April evening 1960…”). According to thebeatleschronology.com, the name "The Beatals" was proposed by Stu Sutcliffe in January 1960 and was the original name of the group. He is mentioned by Paul McCartney in his letter to the Butlins summer camp. It is possible that, speaking at the art college on Fridays in the first months of 1960, they did not have any official name at all.

From Paul McCartney's Flaming Pie interview:

Floor: Long years there was ambiguity with who came up with the name "The Beatles". George and I clearly remember that it was like this. John and some art school buddies rented an apartment. We were all clustered there on old mattresses - it was so great. Listened to Johnny Barnett's records, raged until the morning, as teenagers do. And then one day John, Stu, George and I were walking down the street, suddenly John and Stu say: “Hey, we have an idea how to name the group - the Beatles, through the letter “a” (if you follow the rules of grammar, "The Beetles" was supposed to be written.) George and I are surprised, and John says, "Yeah, Stu and I figured that out."

So this story is remembered to me and George. But over the years, some have begun to think that John himself came up with the idea for the name of the group, and as evidence they refer to the article "A Brief Digression on the Questionable Origins of the Beatles", which John wrote in the early 60s for the Mercybit newspaper. . There were such lines: “Once upon a time there were three little boys, their names were John, George and Paul ... Many people ask: what is the Beatles, why the Beatles, how did this name come about? It came from a vision. A man appeared on a flaming pie and told them: “From now on you are the Beatles with the letter “a”. Of course, there was no vision. John joked, in a goofy manner typical of the time. But some people didn't get the humor. Although, like, everything is so obvious.

George: “Where the name came from is debatable. John claims he made it up, but I remember talking to Stuart the night before. The Crickets, who played Buddy Holly, had a similar name, but in fact Stewart adored Marlon Brando, and in the movie The Wild One there is a scene in which Lee Marvin says: "Johnny, we were looking for you," bugs "miss for you, all the "bugs" miss you. Perhaps both John and Stu remembered it at the same time, and we left this name. We attribute it equally to Sutcliffe and Lennon."

Bill Harry: “I witnessed how John and Stuart [Sutcliffe] came up with the name The Beatles. I called them the college band because they didn't use the Quarryman name anymore and couldn't come up with a new one. They sat in the house where Lennon and Sutcliffe rented an apartment and tried to come up with a name, it turned out stupid names like "Moondogs". Stewart said, "We play a lot of Buddy Holly songs, why don't we name our band after Buddy Holly's Crickets." John replied: "Yes, let's remember the names of insects." Then the name "Beetles" appeared. And the name has become permanent since August 1960.

PAUL: John and Stewart came up with the name. They went to art school, and while George and I were still being forced to sleep by our parents, Stuart and John could do what we only dreamed of: stay up all night. Then they came up with the name.

One April evening in 1960, walking along Gambier Terrace near Liverpool Cathedral, John and Stewart announced: “We want to call the group The Beatles. We thought, “Hmm, sounds creepy, right? Something nasty and creepy, huh?” And then they explained that in this case the word has a double meaning, and it was wonderful ... - "It's okay, this word has two meanings." The name of one of our favorite bands, The Crickets, also has two meanings: playing cricket and also called little grasshoppers. This is great, we thought, this is a truly literary name. (We later talked to the Crickets and found out that they had no idea at all about the double meaning of their name).

Pauline Sutcliffe: "Stewart didn't like the band name Johnny and the Moondogs, which he thought was unoriginal. It seemed to him a kind of echo of such famous groups as Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Johnny and the Pirates.

Bill Harry: Stewart came up with the name Beetles because it was an insect, and he wanted to connect it with Buddy Holly's Crickets, because the Quarrymen ( approx. - or Johnny and the Moondogs, or both?) used many Holly numbers in her repertoire. That's what they told me at the time."

Paul: “I think Buddy Holly was my first idol. It's not that we just loved him. Many people loved him. Buddy has been a huge influence on us because of his chords. Because when we were learning to play the guitar, many of his songs were based on three chords, and we had learned these chords by that time. It's a big deal to hear a record and be like, "Hey, I can play that!" It was so inspiring. In addition, on the announced tour of Britain, Gene Vincent was supposed to perform with The Beat Boys. How about "The Beetles" (Beetles)?.

Pauline Sutcliffe: Stewart suggested a new name for the band. Buddy Holly had a band called the Crickets, and in the coming months Gene Vincent and the Beat Boys were due to arrive on a UK tour. Why don't they become Beetles? One of the biker gangs in [the movie] The Wild One was also called that. Stu was a big fan of Marlon Brando, a popular movie actor at the time. He watched films with his participation several times, but one film, “Wild”, especially sunk into his soul. The film, shown in Britain, was a resounding success, many wanted to be like the hero Brando, dressed in the skin of the leader of the motorbikers. They rode their motorcycles with a group of chicks and were known as The Beetles.

PAUL: "In the movie 'The Savage', when the character says, 'Even the Bugs miss you!' he points to the girls on the motorcycles. A friend once looked into the dictionary of American slang and found out that "bugs" are motorcyclists' girlfriends. Now think for yourself!"

Albert Goldman: "New band member Stu Sutcliffe suggested the band's new name "Beetles" (Beetles) - that was the name of Marlon Brando's rivals in the romantic film about motorcyclists The Savage.

Dave Persails: In the second edition of The Beatles' autobiography, Hunter Davis said that Derek Taylor told him that the title was inspired by the movie Wild. The black leather motorcycle gang was called the Beetles. As Davis writes, “Stu Sutcliffe saw this movie, heard this remark, and when he got home, he suggested it to John as the new name for their band. John agreed, but said that the name would be spelled "Beatles" to emphasize that this is a beat group. Taylor repeated this story in his book.

Derek Taylor: "Stu Sutcliffe saw the then-famous movie" Wild "( approx. - the film premiered on December 30, 1953) and suggested the title immediately after the film. In the plot of the film there is a motorized gang of teenagers "Beetles". At the time, Stewart was imitating Marlon Brando. There has always been a lot of discussion about who came up with the name The Beatles. John claimed he came up with it. But if you watch the movie Wild, you'll see the scene with the motorcycle gang where Johnny's gang (played by Brando) is in the coffee bar and another gang led by Chino (Lee Marvin) rides into town, getting into a fight."

Dave Persails: "Indeed, in the film, Chino's character refers to his gang as the Bugs. In a 1975 radio interview, George Harrison agrees with this version of the origin of the name, and it is more than likely that he was the source of this version for Derek Taylor, who simply retold it.

George: "John would say in an American accent, 'Where are we headed, boys?' and we would say, 'To the top, Johnny! We said it for laughs, but it was actually Johnny, I guess, from the Wild One. Because when Lee Marvin pulls up with his biker gang, if I heard right, I could swear that when Marlon Brando talks to Lee Mervin, Lee Marvin talks to him, "Listen, Johnny, I think so-and-so," Beetles "think you're so-and-so..." as if his biker gang were called the Bugs.

Dave Persails: 'Bill Harry denies the 'Wild' version because he claims the film was banned in England until the late 1960s and none of the Beatles likely saw it at the time the name was coined.

Bill Harry: “The story of the film “Wild” is not credible. It was banned until the late 1960s and they couldn't see it. Their comments were made retroactively."

Dave Persails: "If that's the case, the Beatles must have at least heard of the movie (it was banned after all) and the storyline of the movie may have been known." , including the name of the biker gang. That possibility, in addition to what George said, makes it plausible."

Bill Harry: “They were also not familiar with the plot of the picture to such details as small dialogues or a vague title. Otherwise, I would have heard about it during my many conversations with them.

Dusty Springfield: John, a question that you have most likely been asked a thousand times already, but to which you always ... you all give different versions, answer in different ways, therefore, you will now answer it for me. How did the name "The Beatles" come about?

John A: I just made it up.

Dusty Springfield: Did you just make it up? Another brilliant Beatle!

John A: No, no, really.

Dusty Springfield: Did you have any other name before that?

John: They were called, uh, "Quorriman" ( approx. - John says the name "The Stonecutters" but not "Johnny and the Moondogs". Again, to the fact that both names were used at that time?).

Dusty Springfield: Ooo. You have a harsh personality.

From an interview with the Beatles:

John: When I was twelve years old, I had a vision. I saw a man on a flaming pie, and he said, “You are the Beatles with an [letter] “a”, and it happened.

From an interview in 1964:

George: John got the name "The Beatles" ...

John: In a vision when I was...

George A: A long time ago, you see, when we were looking, when we needed a name, and everyone came up with a name, and he came up with The Beatles.

From an interview with Bob Costas in November 1991:

Floor: We were asked, uh, someone asked, "How did the band come about?" And instead of saying, “The band started when these guys got together in Woolton City Hall at 19…”, John mumbled something along the lines of, “We had a vision. One person appeared before us on a bun, and we had a vision.

From an interview with Peter McCabe in August 1971:

John: I used to write so-called Beatcomber notes. I used to admire the Beachcomber approx. — Beachcomber is in the [Daily] Express, and every week I wrote a column called Beatcomber. And when I was asked to write a story about the Beatles, it was when I was at Alan Williams' Jacaranda club. I wrote with George "the man who appeared on the flaming pie ...", because even then they were asking: "Where did the name "Beatles" come from"? Bill Harry said, "Look, they ask you about it all the time, so why don't you tell them how the name came about?" So I wrote: "There was one person, and he appeared ...". I used to do this back in school, all this imitation of the Bible: “And he appeared and said:“ You are the Beatles with [letter] “a” ... and a man appeared from the sky on a flaming cake, and said, you are the Beatles. with "a".

Bill Harry: “I asked John to write a story about the Beatles for Mercy Beat, and I printed it in early 1961, which is where this flaming pie story came from. John had nothing to do with the title of the column. I liked "Beechcomber" in the Daily Express and I gave it the name "Beatcomber" for his column. I also came up with the title "The Dubious Origins of the Beatles as Recited by John Lennon" for this article in the first issue.

From an interview in The New York Times, May 1997, regarding the title of the album's title track "Flaming Pie":

Floor: Anyone who hears the words "flaming cake" or "to me" (unto me) knows that this is a joke. There is much more that remains fiction due to compromise. If not everyone agrees with the story, someone has to give up. Yoko kind of insists that John has every right to the name. She believes that he had a vision. And it still leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths. Therefore, when I was choosing a rhyme for the words “cry” (cry) and “sky” (sky), [the word] “pie” (pie) came to mind. "Flaming Pie" Wow!

Pauline Sutcliffe: “Stu's offer was accepted by John, but since he was the founder and leader of the group, he had to contribute to this cause. And although John loved and respected Stu, it was fundamental for him that the final word was his. John suggested replacing one of the letters. Ultimately, brainstorming with John led to a modified Beatles (The Beatles, you know, like in beat music).

Cynthia: “To match their changing stage persona, they decided to change the name of the band as well. We had a stormy brainstorm around a beer-stained table in a bar called Renshaw Hall, where we often popped in for a drink.”

PAUL: "Thinking about the name 'Crickets', John wondered if there were any other insects to take advantage of their name and play with it. Stew suggested first "The Beetles" ("Beetles"), and then "Beatals" (from the word "beat" - rhythm, beat). At that time, the term "beat" meant not just a rhythm, but a certain trend in the late fifties, musical style based on rhythmic, hard rock and roll. Also, the term was a reminiscence to the then thundering movement of the “beatniks”, which eventually led to the emergence of such terms as “big beat” and “mercy beat”. Lennon, who was always averse to punning, turned it into "Beatles" (a combination of those words) "just for fun, so that the word would be related to beat music."

Floor: John came up with it [name] mostly just as a name, just for the band, you know. We just didn't have a name. Er, well, yes, we had a name, but we had about a dozen a week, you see, and we didn't like it, so we had to settle for one particular name. And one night John came over with the Beatles and he kind of explained that it should be spelled with an 'e-a' and we said, 'Oh yeah, that's hilarious!'

From an interview in 1964:

Interviewer: Why "Bee" (B-e-a), instead of "Bee" (B-e-e)?

George: Well, of course, you see ...

John: Well, you know, if you leave it with a "B", a double "ee"... It was hard enough to get people to understand why it was a "B", never mind, you know.

Ringo: John came up with the name "The Beatles" and he's going to tell you about it now.

John: It just means The Beatles, doesn't it? Do you understand? It's just a name, like "shoe," for example.

Floor: "Shoe". You see, we could not be called "Shoe".

From a telephone interview in February 1964:

George: We've been thinking about a name for a long time, and we just brainwashed ourselves with different names, and then John came along with this name "The Beatles", which was great, because in a way it was about an insect, and also a pun, you know , "b-and-t" to "bit". We just liked the name and we accepted it.

John: Well, I remember, the other day someone at a press conference mentioned the [group] "Crickets" (Crickets). It slipped from my mind. I was looking for a name similar to "Crickets", which has two meanings ( approx. - the word "rickets" has two meanings, "crickets" and the game "Crocket"), and from "crickets" I came to "beaters" (Beatles). I changed it to "B-e-a" because it [word] didn't have a double meaning - [word] "beetles" - "B-double i-t-l-z" doesn't have a double meaning. So I changed to "a", added "e" to "a", and then it began to have a double meaning.

Jim Stack: What are the two meanings, to be specific.

John: I mean, it doesn't mean two things, but it indicates... It's "beat" (beat) and "beetles" (beetles - bugs), and when you say it, something creepy comes to mind, and when you read it, it's beat music.

From an interview with Red Beard, KT-Ex-Q, Dallas, April 1990:

Floor: When we first heard [the band] Crickets... Going back to England, there's a cricket game there, and we knew about the cheerful, returning cricket Hoppity ( approx. - 1941 cartoon). So we thought it was going to be brilliant, a really amazing title with double meanings, like the style of the game and the bug. We thought it would be brilliant, we decided, well, we'll take it. So John and Stewart came up with this name that the rest of us hated, with the Beatles, which is spelled with an "a". We asked: "Why?" They said, "Well, you know, it's bugs, and it's double meaning, like Crickets." Many things influenced us, different spheres.

Cynthia: "John loved Buddy Holly and the Crickets, so he suggested playing with insect names. It was John who came up with the Beetles. He made “Beatles” out of them, drawing attention to the fact that if you swap the syllables, you get “les beat”, and this sounds in the French manner - elegant and witty. In the end, they settled on the name "Silver Beatles" (Silver Beatles).

John: “And so I came up with: beetles (beetles), only we will write differently: “beatles” (Beatles is a “hybrid” of two words: beetle- beetle and to beat- hit) to hint at a connection with beat music - such a playful play on words.

Pauline Sutcliffe: “And after brainstorming with John, The Beatles were born – you know, like in beat (beat) music?”

Hunter Davis: "Thus, although final version John came up with the name, thanks to Stu, that combination of sounds of the name of the group was born, which became the basis of the name of the group.

Pauline Sutcliffe: “Without a doubt, if Stu and John had not met one day, the group would not have had the name The Beatles.

Royston Ellis (British poet and novelist): “When I suggested to John that they come to London in July, I asked what the name of their group was. When he said it, I asked him to write the title. He explained that they got the idea from the name of the car "Volswagen" (beetle). I said that they have a “Beat” [Beat] lifestyle, “Beat” music, that they support me as a beat poet, and I wondered why they don’t write their name with an “A”? I don't know why John is considered to have adopted this spelling, but it was I who inspired him to stop there. His oft-quoted story about the title mentions "a man on a flaming pie". This is a playful reference to the night I made a frozen chicken and mushroom pie for dinner for the guys (and girls) in that apartment. And I managed to burn it."

Pete Shotton: “Having completed my training, I finally, for a plausible alternative, allowed myself to be persuaded to join the police. To my dismay, I was immediately sent on patrol (where do you think?!) in Garston, the site of the "Bloodbaths"! Moreover, I was also assigned to the night shift, while my weapon was a traditional whistle, and a flashlight - and with this I had to defend myself from the wild animals of those infamous vile streets! I was not even twenty at the time, and walking around my precinct, I experienced incredible fear, so it is not surprising that after a year and a half I quit the police.

During this period, I had relatively little contact with John, who in turn was new life with Stuart and Cynthia. Our meetings became more frequent after I became a partner in the owner of the Old Dutch Café, a more or less respectable hangout near Penny Lane. The Old Woman was one of the few establishments in Liverpool that didn't close until late at night, and for a long time served as a convenient meeting place for John, Paul, and all our old friends.

John and Paul often stayed there at night after the band played, and then boarded their buses at the Penny Lane terminus. By the time I started working at the Old Woman on the night shift, they had already adopted black leather jackets and pants as their uniform (? approx. — most likely, Pete eventually forgot that the "skin" appeared after Hamburg) and baptized himself into the Beatles.

When I asked about the origin of this strange name, John said that he and Stuart were looking for something zoological, like Phil Spector's Cubs and Buddy Holly's Crickets. Having tried and discarded options like "Lions", "Tigers", etc. they chose the Beetles. The idea of ​​naming his band such a low form of life appealed to John's twisted sense of humor.

But despite the new name and clothing, the prospects for the Beatles, and John in particular, looked bleak to say the least. By 1960, Merseyside was literally teeming with hundreds of rock 'n' roll bands, and some of them, like Rory Storm and the Hurricanes or Jerry and the Pacemakers, had far more fans than the Beatles, who didn't yet have permanent drummer. In addition, in Liverpool, which occupied a rather modest place among other cities, even Rory and Jerry did not have the desire to achieve primacy in rock and roll as an end in itself. However, John had already convinced himself that sooner or later the whole country, if not the whole world, would learn to pronounce the word "beetles" with the letter "a".

Len Harry: “One day they were talking about renaming the band to The Beatles, and I thought what a strange name. You immediately remember some crawling creatures. It had nothing to do with music for me."

Peter Frame: Since January, the band has been performing under the name Beatals. From May to June under the name Silver Beetles, from June to July under the name Silver Beatles. Since August, the band has been called simply The Beatles.