162-671: The original lineup of the Beatles , John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison , Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best , regularly performed at different clubs in Hamburg , West Germany , during the period from August 1960 to May 1962; a chapter in the group's history which honed their performance skills, widened their reputation, and led to their first recording, which brought them to the attention of Brian Epstein . In November and December 1962 they played with Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles' booking agent, Allan Williams , decided to send
324-687: A cold , he stayed in Hamburg. Sutcliffe later borrowed money from Kirchherr (his German girlfriend) for the airfare back to Liverpool in early January 1961. Back in Liverpool, no one contacted each other for two weeks, but Best and his mother made numerous phone calls to Hamburg to recover the group's equipment. Back in Liverpool, the group played an engagement on 17 December 1960, at the Casbah Coffee Club, with Chas Newby substituting for Sutcliffe, playing bass with them for four shows. Newby
486-580: A 29-year-old Liverpool businessman and promoter, had sent his leading group, Derry and the Seniors (later known as Howie Casey and the Seniors), to Hamburg, where they were enjoying success, and wanted to send an additional group. He initially tried to send Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, but Storm and his group were committed to a Butlins holiday camp and turned Williams' offer down, as did Gerry and
648-589: A December 2005 auction. In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro Ravi Shankar , who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after the Yesterday and Today furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos , who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the Presidential Palace . When presented with
810-405: A backing band and electric instrumentation , and "dressed in the height of Mod fashion". As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts "nearly evaporated", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. During the 1964 US tour , the group were confronted with racial segregation in
972-580: A bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name to Beatals , as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets . They used this name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles , before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle . By early July, they had refashioned themselves as
1134-503: A better career move. The St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, where the Indra club was located, was well known as a red light district where prostitutes were to be found, and was a dangerous place for anyone that looked different from the usual clientele. McCartney's father, Jim McCartney, was reluctant to let his teenage son go to Hamburg, but relented after a visit from Williams, who told him that he "shouldn't worry". Lennon's aunt, Mimi Smith ,
1296-631: A book called Hamburg Days (a two-volume limited edition) containing a set of photographs by Kirchherr and "memory drawings" by Voormann of the Beatles time in Hamburg. The Beatles returned to Hamburg in June 1966, staying at the Tremsbüttel castle (Schlosstraße 10), and played two concerts in the Ernst-Merck-Halle on 26 and 27 June. Lennon later said, "I might have been born in Liverpool - but I grew up in Hamburg". Lennon posed in front of
1458-588: A bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies." That "ringing guitar" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's 12-string electric Rickenbacker , a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In August and September, they returned to
1620-428: A capacity for two thousand people, as well as cinema-style seating. When the Beatles were booked to play there, Neil Aspinall left his job to become the Beatles' permanent road manager, as he was earning more money driving them around than he was earning by being an accountant . The Beatles returned to Hamburg by plane to play from 13 April to 31 May 1962. Upon their arrival, they were informed of Sutcliffe's death. By
1782-466: A collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own." Released in December, Rubber Soul was hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music. Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executive Peter Brown attributed to
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#17327730228561944-550: A condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them. Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancée Astrid Kirchherr , who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they used Preludin both recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances. In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in
2106-510: A controversy with Christians in America's conservative Bible Belt region. The Vatican issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's national broadcasting service . Epstein accused Datebook of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." He claimed that he
2268-544: A copy of the British single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air. Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold
2430-550: A doctor's prescription , but Kirchherr's mother was able to obtain it from a local chemist who supplied the drug without asking questions. Epstein later asked the Star-Club owner, Weissleder, not to publish photographs showing the group playing with tubes of Preludin. Starr explained that Dexedrine too was in plentiful supply in Hamburg, as it was known to produce increased wakefulness and focus, in association with decreased fatigue, and decreased appetite. The first recording of
2592-616: A fairground park called " Der Dom " which was close to the Reeperbahn. Kirchherr started dating Sutcliffe, and they were engaged in November 1960. Kirchherr is credited with inventing the Beatles' moptop haircut, although she personally disagreed. In 1995, she told BBC Radio Merseyside: "All my friends in art school used to run around with this sort of what you call Beatles' haircut, and my boyfriend then, Klaus Voormann, had this hairstyle, and Stuart [Sutcliffe] liked it very very much. He
2754-415: A faster tempo, a studio session in late November yielded that recording, of which Martin accurately predicted, "You've just made your first No. 1". In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency. By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in
2916-528: A few tourists, and having heavy, old, red curtains that made it seem shabby compared to the larger Kaiserkeller, a club also owned by Koschmider and located nearby at 36 Große Freiheit. After the closure of the Indra because of complaints about the noise, the Beatles played in the Kaiserkeller , starting on 4 October 1960. Their playing schedule at the Kaiserkeller remained the same as it had been in
3078-405: A friend that he could hardly take his eyes off her when she had first walked into the club and tried to talk to her during the next break, but she had already left. Kirchherr asked the Beatles if they would mind letting her take photographs of them in a photo session, which impressed them, as other groups only had snapshots that were taken by friends. The next morning Kirchherr took photographs in
3240-434: A further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some of Rubber Soul ' s songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, the album also included distinct compositions from each, though they continued to share official credit. " In My Life ", of which each later claimed lead authorship,
3402-475: A great sound system. This time we had a hotel. I remember it was quite a long walk from the club, at the top of the Reeperbahn going back towards the city." Portions of their final performances were taped with a portable recorder by an associate of Ted "King Size" Taylor of the Dominoes, another group playing at the club. The tapes were released on West Germany's Bellaphon label in 1977 as The Beatles: Live! at
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#17327730228563564-439: A lick of paint; and two sets of bunk beds, with not very much covers— Union Jack flags—we were frozen." Lennon remembered: "We were put in this pigsty. We were living in a toilet, like right next to the ladies' toilet. We'd go to bed late and be woken up next day by the sound of the cinema show and old German fraus [women] pissing next door." After having been awoken in this fashion, the group were then obliged to use cold water from
3726-470: A lot with a song like "What'd I Say", so we were changing the music, we were doing it on purpose - it wasn't an accident, we discovered that you can make something original and authentic out of an old song by doing your own thing and putting your own energy into it your own creativity and being innovative at the same time, and of course you don't get bored that way after playing eight hours a night for months on end." On Saturday 15 October 1960, Williams arranged
3888-452: A million copies in under four weeks. It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest. The band toured the UK three times in
4050-684: A million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake Vee-Jay released Introducing... The Beatles along with Capitol's debut album, Meet the Beatles! , while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. Upon landing at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport , an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show , watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34 per cent of
4212-482: A problem". As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly added LSD to their coffee. Lennon described
4374-621: A recording session for Lou Walters (of the Hurricanes) at the Akustik Studio, a small booth on the fifth floor of 57 Kirchenallee (The Klockmann-House). Williams asked Lennon, McCartney and Harrison to play and sing harmonies on the recording. Best was in town buying drumsticks, so Starr, the Hurricanes' drummer, played drums. This was the first time Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr recorded together. They recorded three songs: " Fever ", " September Song " and " Summertime ". Formerly
4536-407: A series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability. With the Beatles became the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958 South Pacific soundtrack . When writing the sleeve notes for the album, the band's press officer, Tony Barrow , used the superlative the "fabulous foursome", which
4698-528: A show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of a foldback system of on-stage monitor speakers. Towards the end of the tour, they met with Elvis Presley , a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home in Beverly Hills . Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw
4860-437: A succession of drummers, including Pete Best , before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI Records and achieved their first hit, " Love Me Do ", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed " Beatlemania ",
5022-425: A successor of Pervitin ) was in Hamburg. As the group had to play for hours, Sheridan offered them Preludin, saying: "Here's something to keep you awake." Astrid Kirchherr also supplied Sutcliffe and the other Beatles with Preludin, which when taken with beer, made them feel euphoric and helped to keep them awake until the early hours of the morning. Looking back, Harrison said that the whole group would be "frothing at
The Beatles in Hamburg - Misplaced Pages Continue
5184-563: A three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US. Directed by Richard Lester , A Hard Day's Night involved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with
5346-553: A total of ten people, which resulted in a journey that was both uncomfortable and dangerous. As Williams had not obtained German work permits, they were detained at Harwich for five hours. Williams finally convinced the authorities that they were students on holiday, although work permits were later obtained after their arrival in Hamburg. Note: "Lord Woodbine" and Williams ran a strip club called New Cabaret Artistes club at 174A Upper Parliament Street in Liverpool. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe once played backing music for "Janice
5508-428: Is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue. Harrison called Rubber Soul his "favourite album", and Starr referred to it as "the departure record". McCartney has said, "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand." However, recording engineer Norman Smith later stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – "the clash between John and Paul
5670-538: The BBC , also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events. The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks. In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth. On 4 November, they played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during
5832-654: The Friedrich-Ebert-Halle (auditorium/hall) and were paid 330 Deutschmarks (about $ 75) for the recording. Kaempfert signed the group to a one-year Polydor contract at the first session on 22 June 1961. There were subsequent recording sessions on 23 June and in May 1962. On 31 October 1961, Polydor released "My Bonnie" (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur), appearing on the West German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan and
5994-580: The Kaiserkeller in October. When he learned they had been performing at the rival Top Ten Club in breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice, and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November. One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to
6156-585: The Marx Brothers . United Artists released a full soundtrack album for the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP, A Hard Day's Night , contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two. According to Erlewine, the album saw them "truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into
6318-604: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone ' s lists of the greatest artists in history . Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people . In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool . They were called
6480-682: The Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre . Please Please Me maintained the top position on the Record Retailer chart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up, With the Beatles , which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week. Recorded between July and October, With the Beatles made better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor. It held
6642-578: The Tidewater area of Virginia from Gene Loving of radio station WGH and was featured on the "Rate-a-Record" segment of American Bandstand , but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of " I Want to Hold Your Hand " to Capitol's Brown Meggs , who signed the band and arranged for a $ 40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio station WWDC , in Washington, DC, obtained
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6804-403: The album era , as albums became the dominant form of record use over singles . These records also increased public interest in psychedelic drugs and Eastern spirituality, and furthered advancements in electronic music , album art , and music videos . In 1968, they founded Apple Corps , a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. After
6966-457: The " exi " (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles. Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass. Producer Bert Kaempfert contracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them as Tony Sheridan 's backing band on a series of recordings for Polydor Records . As part of
7128-640: The American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to the Nielsen rating service, it was "the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program ". The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US, but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at the Washington Coliseum . Back in New York
7290-638: The Animals , Petula Clark , the Kinks , and the Rolling Stones to achieve success in America. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five. Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor, United Artists Records , encouraged its film division to offer the Beatles
7452-628: The Beat Brothers"—a generic name used for whoever happened to be in Sheridan's backup group. McCartney later explained: "They didn't like our name and said, 'Change to the Beat Brothers, this is more understandable for the German audience.' We went along with it... it was a record." The song was later released in the UK, on 5 January 1962. A few copies were also pressed on the American Decca Records label. "My Bonnie" brought
7614-458: The Beatles after they heard the group play in the Kaiserkeller. Kirchherr, Voormann's girlfriend, was initially horrified at the idea of spending any time in such a sordid district, but Voormann, after watching the Beatles several times without her, eventually persuaded her to come too. After having previously only listened to trad jazz , the Platters and Nat King Cole , the Rock n' Roll that
7776-479: The Beatles at the Hamburg airport and told them Sutcliffe had died of a brain haemorrhage . In 1966, Voormann was asked by Lennon to design the sleeve for the Beatles' album Revolver , and also played bass on solo recordings by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. In 1995, Voormann designed the artwork for the three-volume CD sets in The Beatles Anthology series. In 1999, Kirchherr published
7938-500: The Beatles continued, as he later went to work at the Star-Club. Tony Sheridan reflects on the era when he arrived in Germany, just over a decade after the end of World War II . He describes these teenagers and young adults whom he encountered in these Hamburg night clubs: "This was a violent place in those days, because all the kids from the war time (like I'm a wartime child too)...so the German wartime kids, they had problems, psychological problems and aggressive, very aggressive. This
8100-556: The Beatles ever released was the single " My Bonnie ", made in Hamburg with Tony Sheridan, who also had a residency at the Top Ten club. He recruited the band to act as his backing group on a series of recordings for the West German Polydor Records label, the tracks produced by the bandleader Bert Kaempfert . On 22 June 1961, Sheridan and the Beatles drove to Hamburg-Harburg (about 30 minutes from Hamburg) to
8262-709: The Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan ) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave . "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ... Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine Datebook printed them five months later, it sparked
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#17327730228568424-540: The Beatles played was totally new to them. The three friends visited the Kaiserkeller almost every night, arriving at 9 o'clock and sitting by the front of the stage. Kirchherr, then 22 years old, later said: "It was like a merry-go-round in my head, they looked absolutely astonishing... My whole life changed in a couple of minutes. All I wanted was to be with them and to know them." Sutcliffe was fascinated by Kirchherr and Harry later wrote that when Kirchherr walked in, every head would immediately turn her way. Sutcliffe wrote to
8586-476: The Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP, Please Please Me . It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a "live" album with minimal production in "a single marathon session at Abbey Road". After
8748-422: The Beatles replaced him in mid-August with Ringo Starr , who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of " Love Me Do " featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummer Andy White for the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of "Love Me Do", " Please Please Me ", and " P.S. I Love You ". Martin initially selected
8910-574: The Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney , the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen , and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg , Germany, over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass . The core trio of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, together since 1958, went through
9072-417: The Beatles to the attention of a key figure in their development and commercial success, Brian Epstein . In September 1961, Harrison had a German copy of the record, which Sutcliffe had sent to him, as he was still in Hamburg. Harrison lent it to Bob Wooler (The Cavern Club DJ) who played it at various venues, when the members of the group lent it to him. On 28 October 1961, the 27-year-old Epstein, manager of
9234-486: The Beatles went back to Hamburg for another residency at the Top Ten Club, playing from 27 March to 2 July 1961. To secure their return, Eckhorn paid DM 158 to the German authorities, which was the cost of deporting McCartney and Best back to Liverpool the previous winter. Fellow musician, Tony Sheridan , later remembered the living conditions at the club: "John, George, Paul, Stuart and Pete and I were booked to open
9396-456: The Beatles were, they were on the front page of the second issue of Mersey Beat ." Regardless, the interest in the record eventually led Epstein to make his way to the Cavern with Taylor, during lunch hour on 9 November 1961. He was initially repelled by the dark, damp club, but he congratulated them on their performance. Astrid Kirchherr, Klaus Voormann , and Jürgen Vollmer were early fans of
9558-412: The Beatles. Construction costs amounted to €550,000 ($ 776,000), of which €200,000 was provided by sponsors and donors. The idea of creating a memorial to the Beatles had been initiated in 2001 by Hamburg radio station Oldie 95. Hamburg's Mayor, Ole von Beust, said at the opening, "It is about time that Hamburg commemorated this great group." The square when illuminated resembles a spinning turntable. Because
9720-594: The Hippodrome (Reeperbahn 136), the Top Ten club was opened in 1960 by Peter Eckhorn, and was operated by Iain Hines, who was an organist. In late October 1960, The Beatles left Koschmider's club to work at the Top Ten Club, as Eckhorn offered the group more money, a better PA (with reverb and echo) and a slightly better place to sleep (above the club itself) although by doing so the group broke their contract with Koschmider. Koschmider then reported Harrison for working under
9882-429: The Hurricanes were free to travel to Hamburg, replacing Derry and the Seniors at the Kaiserkeller. They arrived in Hamburg on 1 October 1960, having negotiated to be paid more than the Seniors or the Beatles. They played five or six 90-minute sets every day, alternating with the Beatles. They were appalled at the living conditions the Beatles and other groups like Howie Casey and the Seniors (who were sleeping in one room at
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#173277302285610044-458: The Indra. Lennon said: "We had to play for hours and hours on end. Every song lasted twenty minutes and had twenty solos in it. That's what improved the playing. There was nobody to copy from. We played what we liked best and the Germans liked it as long as it was loud." The Beatles had been used to simply standing still when they had performed in Liverpool, but Koschmider would come to the front of
10206-570: The Leaves on a Tree" (Harrison) " To Know Her is to Love Her " (Harrison or Lennon) " Little Queenie " (McCartney) " Falling in Love Again " (McCartney) " Ask Me Why " (Lennon) "Hallelujah I Love Her So" (club manager Horst Fascher) "Be-Bop-A-Lula" (Fred Fascher, Horst's brother) " Till There Was You " (McCartney) " Sheila " (Harrison) McCartney explained that the Beatles had only experienced sex with girls from Liverpool, but when they got to Hamburg
10368-514: The Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They also performed as the Rainbows . Paul McCartney later told New Musical Express that they called themselves that "because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!". Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe , who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase
10530-545: The Pacemakers . Williams started promoting concerts for The Beatles in May 1960, after they had played at his Jacaranda club in Liverpool, and offered The Beatles the Hamburg bookings. He booked them into Bruno Koschmider 's Indra club in Hamburg for a season of bookings starting on 12 August 1960, but said that he was not impressed with them as a musical group, and hoped to find a better act to follow them. As they had no permanent drummer, McCartney looked for someone to fill
10692-574: The Pacemakers—remembered visiting a Hamburg brothel in Herbertstrasse with Lennon: "We paid our money, went in and sat down. This guy came out with the biggest lady we had ever seen in our lives. She looked like a bus with a bra on. We ran out that door so quick we didn't hear it shut. I wanted to go back to get my money back but John said: 'No, we'd better not. Might cause trouble.'" The Beatles's introduction to "Prellies" ( Preludin -
10854-404: The Quarrymen , a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth". Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison , then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison
11016-567: The Silver Beatles , and by the middle of August simply the Beatles . Allan Williams , the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg . They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 -month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August,
11178-399: The Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 , and subsequently re-released in various formats and titles. The set list at the Star-Club (with the lead singer in parentheses): " I Saw Her Standing There " (McCartney) " Roll Over Beethoven " (Harrison) " Hippy Hippy Shake " (McCartney) " Sweet Little Sixteen " (Lennon) " Lend Me Your Comb " (Lennon) "Your Feet's Too Big" (McCartney) " Red Sails in
11340-598: The Starr version of "Love Me Do" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine. Released in early October, "Love Me Do" peaked at number seventeen on the Record Retailer chart. Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places . After Martin suggested rerecording "Please Please Me" at
11502-549: The Steinway-Haus Music Store (Colonnaden 29) for £30 (equivalent to £800 in 2024); he could not afford a Fender since they cost around £100 (equivalent to £2,800 in 2024). Lennon bought a 1958 Rickenbacker 325 Capri guitar prior to Sutcliffe's departure and Harrison bought a Gibson amplifier. The matching lilac jackets, made by McCartney's next-door neighbour in Liverpool to be worn as stage clothes, were soon threadbare, as were any other items of clothing, so
11664-647: The Stripper" there, in July 1960. In the early 1960s, the Hamburg scene revolved around the Kaiserkeller , Top Ten , Star-Club , Beer-Shop, Mambo, Holle, Wagabond, and the Pacific Hotel, as well as the less popular clubs like Grannies, the Ice Cream Shop, Chugs, and Sacha's. The Reeperbahn and the Grosse Freiheit were decorated with neon lights, with posters advertising the performers in
11826-559: The Sunset " (McCartney) " Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby " (Harrison) " Matchbox " (Lennon) "Talkin' 'bout You" (Lennon) "Shimmy Shimmy" (McCartney) " Long Tall Sally " (McCartney) " I Remember You " (McCartney) " I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You) " (Lennon) "Where Have You Been All My Life" (Lennon) " Twist and Shout " (Lennon) " Mr. Moonlight " (Lennon) " A Taste of Honey " (McCartney) " Besame Mucho " (McCartney) "Reminiscing" (Harrison) " Kansas City " (McCartney) "Nothin' Shakin' But
11988-411: The US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities. Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 people to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the Beatles to meet Bob Dylan . Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them to cannabis . Gould points out
12150-426: The US. A similar situation arose during their May–June tour with Roy Orbison . In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962. On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport . Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from
12312-584: The United Kingdom to reach number one. The band's third single, " From Me to You ", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years. Issued in August, their fourth single, " She Loves You ", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of
12474-415: The airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from a brain haemorrhage . Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan. After a New Year's Day audition, Decca Records rejected the band , saying, "Guitar groups are on
12636-465: The album Introducing... The Beatles , comprising most of the songs of Parlophone's Please Please Me , but a management shake-up led to the album not being released. After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided. A new licence was granted to the Swan label for the single "She Loves You". The record received some airplay in
12798-498: The album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins." Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were "just writing songs à la Everly Brothers , à la Buddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant." Released in March 1963, Please Please Me was the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in
12960-400: The album, recorded between August and October 1964, to continue the format established by A Hard Day's Night which, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs. They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, "Material's becoming a hell of
13122-406: The audience would jump on stage to hit him, but it was Fascher's job to protect Lennon and the group. In some occasions beer bottles were thrown at them. Fascher remembered Lennon often greeting the audience with a "Heil Hitler ", and a Nazi salute: "He'd pull out a black comb and pretend it was a moustache...people laughed." Lennon was missing for a performance one evening, and Fascher found him in
13284-514: The back of the Kaiserkeller) had to put up with, so they booked into Hamburg's Seamens' Mission . The stage of the Kaiserkeller was made of planks of wood balanced on the top of beer crates, so the two groups made a bet to see to who would be the first to break it. After punishing the stage for days, a slight crack appeared, and when Storm jumped off the top the upright piano it finally broke. Johnny "Guitar" Byrne remembered that, as Storm hit
13446-792: The band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a " fifth Beatle ". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut with A Hard Day's Night (1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with
13608-406: The band members are shown only in outline form, the figure of the drummer can be either Best or Starr. The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison , and Ringo Starr . They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to
13770-447: The band members' "now habitual use of marijuana". Lennon referred to Rubber Soul as "the pot album" and Starr said: "Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently." After Help! ' s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of a sitar on " Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) " marked
13932-409: The band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962. Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg. On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at
14094-405: The beginning you know, we would listen to the record and copying what we heard from playing on stage again, reproducing it and not being original. (...) But there were a few of us who wanted to do more than that, so we put some strange chords in and we played it differently every time; Any song we did, we played it differently, so this version of My Bonnie that you hear on the record with the Beatles,
14256-402: The best thing the group had ever seen, as it had so many neon lights, clubs and restaurants, although also saying, "The whole area was full of transvestites and prostitutes and gangsters, but I couldn't say that they were the audience ... Hamburg was really like our apprenticeship, learning how to play in front of people." Best remembered the Indra as being a depressing place that was filled with
14418-468: The burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed the British Invasion . The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of British beat groups and pop acts such as the Dave Clark Five ,
14580-508: The challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, including Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). They enjoyed further commercial success with The Beatles (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and Abbey Road (1969). The success of these records heralded
14742-495: The city was reduced to rubble by American and British bombing raids . By 1960, when they arrived, the Hamburg that had grown up from the ruins of WWII had established a reputation throughout Europe as a city of vice and criminal activity. In contrast to an economically depressed post-war Liverpool , Hamburg was a wealthy city. Since the end of the war in which England and Germany had been mortal enemies, only 15 years had passed when this first wave of British musicians started to wash
14904-512: The clubs. Each club had a doorman whose job was to entice customers inside, as the drinks were expensive. The Beatles arrived very early in the morning of 17 August 1960, but had no trouble finding the St. Pauli area of Hamburg, as it was so infamous. Unfortunately the Indra Club (64 Große Freiheit) was closed, so a manager from a neighbouring club found someone to open it up, and the group slept on
15066-452: The commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in the folk music scene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists." Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, "Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with
15228-412: The commotion was, and saw Lennon playing guitar, but only wearing underpants with a toilet seat around his neck. (Epstein later asked Liverpool journalist Bill Harry not to publish photos showing Lennon walking along the Reeperbahn in his underpants). Fascher's brother, Fred, sang lead vocals with the group on " Be Bop A Lula ", while he sang with them on " Hallelujah I Love Her So ", and his alliance with
15390-421: The contract". Harrison had positive memories of the period: "I'd have to say with hindsight that Hamburg bordered on the best of Beatles times. We didn't have any luxury, we didn't have any bathrooms or any clothes, we were pretty grubby, we couldn't afford anything, but on the other hand we weren't yet famous, so we didn't have to contend with the bullshit that comes with fame." McCartney was philosophical: "Hamburg
15552-599: The country at the time. When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida , was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated. Lennon stated: "We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money." City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show. The group also cancelled their reservations at
15714-405: The customary group photograph, its Aubrey Beardsley -inspired cover – designed by Klaus Voormann , a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group. The album was preceded by the single " Paperback Writer ", backed by " Rain ". Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among
15876-427: The development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle , beat , and 1950s rock 'n' roll , their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock . As pioneers in recording , songwriting, and artistic presentation,
16038-580: The door of Jäger-Passage at Wohlwillstraße 22 for a photograph which was later used on the covers of the Rock 'n' Roll and Rock 'n' Roll Sessions albums. The photo was taken by Jürgen Vollmer, during the time The Beatles were playing at the Top Ten club. Individual Beatles later commented about their memories of Hamburg, with Lennon reflecting, "We'd outlived the Hamburg stage and wanted to pack that up. We hated going back to Hamburg those last two times. We'd had that scene. Brian [Epstein] made us go back to fulfill
16200-413: The experience: "It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two." He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use of psychedelic drugs encouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: "For me, it was like a flash. The first time I had acid , it just opened up something in my head that
16362-517: The first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest – the honour
16524-564: The first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred on Sunday Night at the London Palladium , the UK's top variety show. Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in
16686-402: The following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows at Carnegie Hall . The band flew to Florida, where they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
16848-412: The following days coined the term " Beatlemania " to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck. Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and Chris Montez during the February engagements and assumed top billing "by audience demand", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from
17010-528: The front of the stage. Willie Limpinski, Koschmider's business manager, decided that the club would attract more customers if it presented continuous live music. Williams warned the Beatles about the competition they would face by playing in the same club as the Hurricanes (featuring future Beatle Ringo Starr on the drums) by saying, "You'd better pull your socks up because Rory Storm and the Hurricanes are coming in, and you know how good they are. They're going to knock you for six." In early October 1960, Storm and
17172-429: The grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer Bill Harry , it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums. Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $ 10,500 at
17334-425: The group bought cowboy boots, jeans and black leather jackets and trousers, from Paul Hundertmark's (Spielbudenplatz 9) and a tailor's shop at Thadenstrasse 6. Lennon said: "We had a bit more money the second time so we bought leather pants ... we looked like four Gene Vincents ." On 13 April 1962, the Beatles were booked as the opening act for the launch of a new club. The Star-Club, opened by Manfred Weissleder, had
17496-428: The group to Hamburg when another group he managed, Derry and the Seniors , proved successful there. Having no permanent drummer at the time, they recruited Best a few days before their departure. After breaking their contract by playing at another club, Harrison was deported for being underaged, and McCartney and Best were arrested and deported for attempted arson. The Beatles first met Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg, who
17658-404: The group's break-up in 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and some partial reunions occurred. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time , with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in
17820-436: The group, once being played for 90 minutes non-stop, with group members walking off stage to wash and drink before returning. Sutcliffe wrote a letter to his mother saying, "We have improved a thousand-fold since our arrival and Allan Williams, who is here at the moment, tells us that there is no group in Liverpool to touch us." Tony Sheridan explained it in these words: "Of course we were just copying [other people's music] at
17982-524: The group. Lennon and McCartney had established a songwriting partnership , and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as a lead vocalist . Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing. Lennon recalled him saying, "Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ...". On 11 February 1963,
18144-524: The group. Sutcliffe later enrolled at the Hamburg College of Art under the tutelage of the pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi . Sutcliffe lent McCartney his Höfner President 500/5 model bass guitar but asked McCartney not to change the strings around, so McCartney had to play it with the strings arranged backwards, until he could buy a specially made left-handed Höfner bass of his own. McCartney bought his first Höfner Violin bass guitar (model 500/1) from
18306-678: The history of the US Billboard charts , holding the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15), most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades , including seven Grammy Awards , four Brit Awards , an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be ), and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards . They were inducted into
18468-614: The invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations. They soon found that the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty. Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home,
18630-401: The last covers the band would include on an album until Let It Be 's brief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song " Maggie Mae ". The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs on Help! and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad " Yesterday ". Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on
18792-519: The launch of an American Saturday-morning cartoon series, The Beatles , that echoed A Hard Day's Night 's slapstick antics over its two-year original run. The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments. Until this time, according to George Martin, "we had been making albums rather like
18954-508: The legal age limit (even though he had been working at Koschmider's club) and Harrison was deported on 21 November 1960. When Best and McCartney went back to the Bambi Kino to get their belongings they found it in almost total darkness. As a snub to Koschmider, McCartney and Best found a condom in their luggage, attached it to a nail on the concrete wall of the room, and set fire to it in order to have light to gather their possessions. There
19116-418: The love of Rock and Roll, Tony Sheridan pointed out with a grin, "We were like slaves". As Best had been the only one to take O-Level German at school, he could communicate with Koschmider and the clientele better than the rest of the group, and was invited to sing a speciality number called " Peppermint Twist " (while McCartney played the drums) but Best complained that he always felt uncomfortable being at
19278-408: The media widely adopted as "the Fab Four". EMI's American subsidiary, Capitol Records , hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US label Vee-Jay led to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963. Vee-Jay finished preparation for
19440-409: The moderate success of "Love Me Do", the single "Please Please Me" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart except Record Retailer , where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles "rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing out Please Please Me in a day", AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Decades after its release,
19602-496: The monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night. In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances at the Cavern Club , they encountered Brian Epstein , a local record-store owner and music columnist. He later recalled: "I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... [a] star quality." Epstein courted
19764-425: The mouth" and would sometimes stay awake for days. Lennon recalled, "The waiters always had these pills [Preludin], so when they saw the musicians falling over with tiredness or drink, they'd give you the pill. You could work almost endlessly until the pill wore off, and then you'd have another." McCartney said that he would usually take one, but Lennon would often take four or five. Legitimate use of Preludin required
19926-445: The musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were "perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds": Dylan's audience of "college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildly bohemian style " contrasted with their fans, "veritable ' teenyboppers ' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in
20088-455: The only women who hung around the clubs late at night were strippers, dancers, or prostitutes. Harrison (who was then only 17) called Hamburg "the naughtiest city in the world". McCartney said: "By the time you got to Hamburg, a girlfriend there was likely to be a stripper, so to be suddenly involved with a hard-core striptease artist, who obviously knew a thing or two about sex... it was quite an eye-opener." Gerry Marsden —frontman for Gerry &
20250-551: The position, which was difficult, as Lennon later said that drummers were "few and far between", because a set of drums was an expensive item. Harrison had seen Best playing with the Black Jacks in The Casbah Coffee Club (which was run by his mother, Mona Best ). He was regarded as a steady drummer, playing the bass drum on all four beats in the bar , which pushed the rhythm, and was known in Liverpool at
20412-418: The previous November. Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade. Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults, became an emblem of rebellion to
20574-515: The record department in his father's NEMS music store in Whitechapel Street, Liverpool, was asked for the record by an 18-year-old boy, Raymond Jones. Epstein could find nothing on his files about the Beatles or the record, but the following day it was requested again by two girls, this time mentioning that the Beatles had been seen playing at the Cavern, a club in nearby Mathew Street. Alistair Taylor (Epstein's assistant) later said that
20736-613: The recording – "Yesterday" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written. With Help! , the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year . The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York's Shea Stadium on 15 August – "perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts", in Lewisohn's description. A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At
20898-465: The red leather seats in the alcoves. The group played at the club on the same night, but were told they could sleep in the storeroom of Bambi Kino (a small cinema), which was cold and in very poor condition (33 Paul-Roosen Straße). McCartney later said, "We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them. The room had been an old storeroom, and there were just concrete walls and nothing else. No heat, no wallpaper, not
21060-492: The sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year. Credited to "Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers", the single " My Bonnie ", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growing Merseybeat movement. However, they were growing tired of
21222-404: The shores of the Hamburg harbour. Tony Sheridan explained the resistance faced at home by these musicians as they were preparing to embark for Germany for the first time: "My parents - all our parents - they went wild when they heard that we were coming to Germany... When I went anyway, I broke my mother's heart by coming to Germany... to the enemy... to play rock and roll music." Allan Williams,
21384-484: The smart Top Ten in the Reeperbahn. We moved into a dormitory over the club and slept in bunks. It was terrible really, now I look back. We all washed our own shirts and socks so the place smelt like a Chinese laundry. But we had great times and I’m afraid we used to tease the life out of the old lady who [took care of] us". Sutcliffe decided to leave the Beatles to concentrate on his art studies and to be with Kirchherr, so McCartney (unwillingly) took over as bass player for
21546-462: The stage and loudly shout "Mach Schau, mach Schau!" ("make [a] show" or, more idiomatically, "put on a show" for the customers). Harrison explained that this prompted Lennon to "dance around like a gorilla, and we'd all knock our heads together." When reminiscing about the harsh conditions they endured, performing 8 hours per day, with little money for salary, and sometimes sleeping in cramped and squalid living quarters, all of which they had to endure for
21708-526: The stage, it cracked loudly and formed a "V" shape around him. He disappeared into it, and all the amplifiers and drummer Ringo Starr's cymbals slid into the hole. Koschmider was furious and had to replace the live music with a jukebox. Both groups went across the road to Harold's cafe for breakfast on the Große Freiheit, but were followed by Koschmider's doormen, armed with coshes , who beat them all as punishment. Horst Fascher (born 1936, Hamburg)
21870-463: The story had been invented and that he had used the name Jones to order copies of the record himself. Mersey Beat founder Bill Harry later repudiated the story about Epstein not knowing who the Beatles were, as Harry had been talking to Epstein about the band for a long time (being the group he promoted the most in Mersey Beat ) and by McCartney saying, "Brian [Epstein] knew perfectly well who
22032-449: The time as being "mean, moody, and magnificent" by female fans, which convinced McCartney he would be good for the group. After the Black Jacks broke up, McCartney asked Best to go to Hamburg, telling him they would earn £15 per week each. Best had the chance to go to a teacher-training college, as he had passed his school exams , unlike Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, who had failed most of theirs, but decided that playing in Hamburg would be
22194-554: The time of their second Star-Club visit from 1–14 November 1962, Starr had become the group's drummer. The Beatles stayed at the Hotel Germania (Detlev-Bremer-Strasse 8), having the luxury of single rooms for the first time, and then stayed at the Hotel Pacific (Neuer Pferdemarkt 30) for another booking from 18 to 31 December 1962. Harrison said: "We came back to play the Star-Club, a big place and fantastic because it had
22356-484: The time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities." Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at the Indra Club . After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to
22518-411: The toilet with a woman. He broke up the tête-à-tête with a bucket of cold water which he threw over them both, and ordered Lennon onto the stage. Lennon was furious, and complained that he could not go on stage dripping wet. Fascher snapped back: "I don't give a shit, you're going onstage and I don't care if you do it naked." A short time later the audience was roaring with laughter. Fascher ran to see what
22680-529: The top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks. Erlewine described the LP as "a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single " I Want to Hold Your Hand ", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales. The album caught the attention of music critic William Mann of The Times , who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were "the outstanding English composers of 1963". The newspaper published
22842-475: The urinals for washing and shaving. They were paid £2.50 each a day, seven days a week, playing from 8:30–9:30, 10 until 11, 11:30–12:30, and finishing the evening playing from one until two o'clock in the morning. German customers found the group's name comical, as "Beatles" sounded like Low German : Piedel , which is an infantile word for penis. Harrison remembered the Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit as
23004-433: The way out, Mr. Epstein". However, three months later, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI 's Parlophone label. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI Recording Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962. He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use a session drummer in his place. Already contemplating Best's dismissal,
23166-460: The whites-only Hotel George Washington in Jacksonville. For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP, Beatles for Sale , evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions. They had intended
23328-437: Was Koschmider's nightclub bouncer , who had been the 1959 West German featherweight boxing champion, but his career was cut short after he unintentionally killed a sailor in a street fight. He later became a friend of the Beatles, and protected them from drunken customers. Lennon occasionally urinated out of his apartment's window onto the street below, and often started arguments with the audience, so that eventually one member of
23490-464: Was a very rough place, people getting kicked and hit and blood and fists.... One day I was on the stage [of the Kaiserkeller] playing, and somebody was getting killed down here and I just went...put my hands up...[covering my eyes with my hands], closed myself up and just carried on playing.... I didn't see anything [mimicking playing guitar and singing] Rock and roll, man! ... Being musicians, it
23652-592: Was also reluctant to allow Lennon to go to Hamburg, wanting Lennon to continue his studies, but Lennon placated her by exaggerating the amount he would earn. Best had an audition in Williams' Jacaranda club on 15 August 1960, and travelled to Hamburg the next day as a member of the group. Williams later admitted that the audition with Best was not needed, as they had not found any other drummer willing to travel to Hamburg, but did not tell Best in case he asked for more money. The group were to be paid about £100 per week, which
23814-439: Was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film, Help! , was released, again directed by Lester. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond ", it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: " Help! was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It
23976-514: Was becoming obvious", he wrote, and "as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right". Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format, compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles. In June 1966, the Capitol LP Yesterday and Today caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed
24138-411: Was certainly a great childhood memory. But I think all things are enhanced by time. It was very exciting, though I think it felt better to me a little later in our career, once we'd started to get a bit of success with the records." A memorial square, Beatles-Platz , was constructed in Hamburg in 2008 at the meeting of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit streets, containing five stainless steel sculptures of
24300-418: Was easier to stay alive, you know, because if you played, people liked you, because everybody likes music, even the bad people like music, even the gangsters they like music, so we had everybody on our side." According to McCartney, Sutcliffe was a "typical art student", with bad skin and pimples , but his reputation grew after he began wearing tight trousers and dark Ray-Ban sunglasses. Sutcliffe's high spot
24462-512: Was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong." The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: " Help! " and " Ticket to Ride ". The Help! album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirrored A Hard Day's Night by featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two. The LP contained all original material save for two covers, " Act Naturally " and " Dizzy Miss Lizzy "; they were
24624-457: Was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, and Ravi 's music." McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966. He became
24786-404: Was instrumental in their adoption of the mop-topped Beatle haircut . During their period in Hamburg, Sutcliffe decided to leave the group to continue his studies. In April 1962, less than a year after leaving the group, he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died as a result. Hamburg had once been West Germany's main seaport, the fourth largest in the world, but during World War II in 1943 half of
24948-465: Was much more than promoters in Liverpool paid. Williams drove the group and their equipment in his Austin J4 minibus which was loaded by crane onto a ferry at Harwich on 16 August 1960, and landed at Hook of Holland . All five Beatles, Williams and his wife Beryl, her brother Barry Chang, and " Lord Woodbine " were in the minivan, along with Georg Sterner (Koschmider's translator and future waiter), making
25110-513: Was no real damage done, but Koschmider reported them both for attempted arson. McCartney: "One evening we were just walking down the Reeperbahn, when we heard this 'ta-ti-ti-ta', and then 'Komm mit mir!' ('Come with me!')". Best and McCartney spent three hours in the Davidwache Police Station, and were deported on 1 December 1960. Lennon's work permit was revoked a few days later and he went home by train, but as Sutcliffe had
25272-417: Was noticed by other musicians who were there at the time. McCartney recalled, "We got better and better and other groups started coming to watch us. The accolade of accolades was when Sheridan would come in from the Top Ten (the big club where we aspired to go) or when Rory Storm or Ringo [Starr] would hang around to watch us. ' What'd I Say ' was always the one that really got them." The song was often played by
25434-481: Was only one of two or three we did in the studio... the others are gone, they were lost. So we never did the same song twice, and that kept us from falling down from boredom. (...) After a while I discovered that the German public didn't mind if we changed a few things, if we changed a few chords, we sang it in a different way and of course, we used to play a song, not two minutes 25 seconds, but we used to play one song, sometimes 15 minutes long and in 15 minutes you can do
25596-526: Was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry." Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, Revolver marked another artistic step forward for the group. The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to psychedelia . Abandoning
25758-432: Was shocked at the vast improvement of their playing and singing after the residency in Hamburg, and was struck by how powerful Best's drumming now was, pushing the group to play harder and louder. (It was probably due to McCartney that Best developed a loud drumming style, as he would often tell Best in Hamburg to "Crank it up" = play as loud as possible). After Harrison turned 18 and the immigration problems had been solved,
25920-442: Was singing " Love Me Tender ". Lennon also started to criticise Sutcliffe; making jokes about Sutcliffe's size and playing. While Sutcliffe is often described in Beatles' biographies as appearing very uncomfortable onstage, and often playing with his back to the audience, Best denies this, recalling Sutcliffe as usually good-natured and "animated" before an audience. The Beatles steadily improved during their time in Hamburg, and this
26082-457: Was the first one who really got the nerve to get the Brylcreem out of his hair and asking me to cut his hair for him. Pete [Best] has really curly hair and it wouldn't work." After suffering blackouts and intense headaches, Sutcliffe was taken to a hospital on 10 April 1962—Kirchherr rode with him in the ambulance—but died before the ambulance reached the hospital. Three days later Kirchherr met
26244-504: Was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song " Raunchy " on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as lead guitarist . By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at the Liverpool College of Art . The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and
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