YOU CAN'T DO THAT

Thanks, Walter . . . youtube has a whole raft of Tony Sheridan and the Beatles vids . . .

Tony Sheridan lived in Germany, not far away from Hamburg.
He died on February 16, 2013 in Hamburg, and I've seen an excellent documentation aired than (which was originally from 2008, by Radio Bremen TV)

I don't know if we've had this song in the thread yet. I like this vid because they've patched together several performances of the song:

Of all the Beatles songs, this one made the least impression on me. I believe it was the flip side of a hit and it was Paul's impression of Little Richard but that's about all.
I don't even remember the melody.

Back in the day, though, a Beatles "B side" sold better than many groups' "A sides." I can't say that i recall that clearly, but i think that one was reasonably popular.

I watched the induction into the R & R Hall of Fame speech given by Mick Jagger yesterday (watched it yesterday, it was given in 1988). Mick was kind of snarky, kind of snide, but he was honest, too. He said that there just was nothing going on musically in England at the time, and that no one's prospects were good. Then this band from Liverpool--Liverpool, fer Chrissake--comes along and blows it all wide open. He then acknowledged that the Beatles "opened" up the North American market for them all. He just couldn't resist getting his little digs in.

Then i watched "acceptance" speech by Richard and George. Richard was his usual, irreverent, "this is all bollocks" self. At one point, he says something to the effect of "Rock and roll? I always thought we were a pop group." Personally, i'd say they were in a category all their own.

You may find this of interest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-24318839

Thanks, Boss . . .

I don't think this was about selling "better"; it was also about extending the demographics to which musicians like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Larry Williams could sell at all. The Beatles, being White and British, got airplay on the White part of America's still-segregated airwaves. They were also able to sidestep the de-facto boycott of Black music on the BBC and most Continental-European radio stations, Radio Luxemburg being a rare exception. (Officialy, it wasn't about the musicians being Black, you see. It was about Blues and Rock'n Roll being decadent, subversive, and corruptive of European youth --- officially.)

While i agree with your assessment of the reaction to black American musicians by the powers that were, i don't think the Beatles deserve any credit as trailblazers in that regard. The effect was incidental to their goal. Their goal was to be the number one pop group in the world. They said as much on more than one occasion. They succeeded. That helped a whole raft of musicians, black, white, American, English--it was good for the music recording business in general. I'd say the most profound effect was on the popularity of English music groups--they benefited more from the "Beatles effect" than any other group.

The great thing about all of this is that, the powers that were notwithstanding, European kids wanted to hear that dangerous, subversive music.

I didn't notice that "Blues and Rock'n Roll being decadent, subversive, and corruptive of European youth" - might well be that our more rural region hadn't heard the message.

We preferred the originals.
That changed, when the Beatles became a bit more famous.And when we played the same music in "cover bands".

I was thinking about Walter's post and I realized that of the hundreds of R&R bands I heard locally in my teens, none were playing Beatles tunes. It's almost as if there was no point in trying to copy them and it might have been too difficult.
The rest of the British Invasion bands were fair game.
Yardbirds
Kinks
Them with Van Morrison
Nashville Teens
Cream
Animals
Dave Clark Five
Zombies
Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders
The Hollies
Manfredd Mann
The Troggs
The Who
The Rolling Stones
The Searchers

Too much monkey business........

Heard yesterday that Brian Matthew's very early interviews with the Beatles are part of a programme coming out soon, called "The Beatles at the BBC" (or something like that).
Brian has been a Beeb broadcaster since the 50's and had a programme called the Saturday Club (originally the Saturday skiffle club, before rock and roll had arrived on the scene) in the 60's.
His was about the only programme around at the time for young people, and he had the Beatles on just before they brought out their first album.
They were just about breaking through at the time, and he was one of the very first in broadcasting to realise that they were going to be massive.
Brian must be well into his 80's now, but still hosts a Saturday morning show on BBC radio 2 ( the most popular station in the UK) ....called Sounds of the 60's.
Well known and rare tracks from both the UK and USA are played side by side, interspersed with quite fascinating trivia and facts from that time.

If the forthcoming BBC programme appears on youtube, I'll post a link.



Recorded just before the Please Please Me Album was released....

Wow . . . that's one i'd never heard before!

Here's the interview in which Paul tells about George getting caned, and his father's reaction (the audio quality is poor, you may need to turn up your speakers):

Have you seen this ad/trailer?

This may be of interest if you've got a bit of spare cash.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-24348716

I saw that on the news yesterday.
They reckon between 150k and 250k?

They'll be a bit surprised then, as I reckon that will fetch getting on double that, and the rest if two or three music industry giants get into the fray.

A bit more trivia: the first recording of the Beatles was done during a session with Tony Sheridan (an Bert Kämpfert as arranger) in Hamburg at Friedrich Ebert Halle, recorded 22 - 24 June 1961.

However, the Beatles weren't even mentioned on the record's sleeve ...



... and on the record they were called ...