Overview
Objectives
- Recall the origins and early career of the Beatles, focusing on their career until about 1966
- Recall the stylistic, personnel, and management changes of the Beatles before settling into the image of the Fab Four in matching suits
- Describe the musical style of the Beatles from this early period and how they recorded their albums.
Becoming the Beatles
The first iteration of the Beatles formed in 1957. John Lennon and Paul McCartney teamed up as a skiffle band called the Quarrymen, named after John’s Quarry Bank High School. The band went through various lineups and name changes in the late 1950s, including the Rainbows, the Moonshiners, the Nurk Twins, and Johnny and the Moondogs. As skiffle was losing fashion, another guitarist, Paul’s friend George Harrison, joined the group. The members of the band were listening to a significant amount of American rock and roll, and they began playing in emulation of their favorite groups. The very first recording that the Beatles ever made (although they were recording as the Quarrymen at the time) was a 1957 cover of Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ "That’ll Be the Day ♫." The same record includes an original tune called "In Spite of All the Danger ♫," which Harrison and McCartney wrote in close imitation of Holly’s style.
Stu Sutcliffe bought a bass and joined up, and then the group added Pete Best on drums. The Silver Beetles now had three guitarists, a bass, and a drummer, and they had an insect band name in honor of Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison all played guitar and sang in this iteration of the band. Their first manager, Liverpool club owner Allan Williams, changed the "e" to an "a" in their name, and then, in 1960, he got them a two-month engagement at a club called the Indra in Hamburg, Germany.
The Indra was located at the tough end of Hamburg’s red-light district, known as the Reeperbahn. The Beatles would return to Hamburg several times between 1960 and 1962. During their third visit to Hamburg, they played at the Star Club and even shared the bill with Little Richard for a while. At the same time, they were regulars at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they played nearly 300 shows in the early months of 1962. Both Liverpool and Hamburg were port cities, which meant that not only did travelers through the seaport take the Beatles’ music back home with them, but they also brought records of a variety of styles and from many sources, all of which broadened the horizons of the young group.
Stu Sutcliffe left the group to study art, so McCartney moved over to bass. In 1961, Brian Epstein was working in his father’s record shop and had several requests for Beatles recordings. He couldn’t locate a single recording by the Beatles. Since the Cavern Club was only a few blocks from his record store, he went to hear the band perform. After a few informal meetings, Epstein became the band’s manager. He took them out of their leather jackets and put them in matching suits and ties, and he insisted on their matching Beatle haircuts. He also encouraged them to polish and solidify their playlists, which also lent their performances in increased sense of professionalism. Pete Best said, "He forced us to work out a proper program for the evening, playing our best numbers, not just the ones we felt like playing at the moment."
"The Beatles' group name was a play on "The Crickets," who were Buddy Holly's backup band. John Lennon liked how both names had double meanings: they were both names of insects, while cricket is a popular international sport and "beat" is a musical term. When The Beatles finally met members of The Crickets, they were surprised to learn that they never thought of their band name as having anything to do with the sport - they don't play cricket in America."
