They’ve actually commented on the fact that they couldn’t hear themselves play. They had just played together so intensely that muscle memory carried them through. But it ceased being enjoyable. And so they stopped being a touring band. Perhaps that’s good….they concentrated on the studio and creativity. And took us all on an incredible ride.
The amazing thing is that the cleaned up recordings reveal they were playing PERFECTLY tight, insanely great harmonies, while they cuold not hear themselves. For harmonies they shared a mic so they could hear each other 6 inches apart. It's FLAWLESS.
@@loosilu And that cohesiveness came with working their collective asses off in Hamburg Germany in the early days, before they hit the big time like a hydrogen bomb.
Ringo has a great interview on YT where he talks about playing the incredibly loud venues. He said he would watch John's backside for the rhythm, because John would just stand there, feet shoulder width, and bounce up and down on his toes in time to the music. Later in the songs, Paul would usually throw in a "Woooooo!" and Ringo would think to himself, "Oh, that's where we are!". Hysterical!
Ringo was left handed drummer playing a right handed kit. He was like a metronome, perfect meter and timing. Thats part of the reason why Ringo's fills are odd, he started them out with his left hand
You can tell they spent thousands of hours playing in small clubs to disinterested audiences. Their energy is propelled to the audience. Also, in She Loves You, starting the song with the chorus just grabs you from the first listen. Brilliant.
That’s part of the reason the Beatles stopped doing live shows. The crowds were so big and so loud, they couldn’t hear themselves. It stopped being fun for them! In defense of the crowds, we had never had their kind of music before. I remember just being in awe of them. It brought out a feeling of freedom in a sense. A newness and excitement for the future of music in our lives!
Ringo is probably one the most underrated drummers in music's history. There have been some the so called best drummers who tried to play the drums to some of these songs who then said they give hats off to Ringo.
The weird thing is that this stuff was just as radical in 1963 as their psych stuff was in '66-'67 or their mature stuff was in '68-'69, maybe more so. If you listen to it next to what other bands were doing at the time, it's just so far beyond. But you're right, it sounds very of its time now, where the later stuff is timeless.
Listen to Jerry Lee Lewis "Live at the Star Club" (1964), James Brown, ‘Live at the Apollo’ (1963), Sam Cooke, ‘Live At the Harlem Square Club, 1963’ (1985)
Live at Harlem Square is extremely conservative, musically speaking. The Beatles were already miles more innovative in terms of composition.@@cazgerald9471
I've been around for a long time (I'm 72). and a musician myself. I loved the Beatles from their first song to their last and afterwards. I call it evolution among the musicians and the consumers of their music. They led the way and we followed. BTW, I was backstage watching them from the side and I couldn't hear them either. All I could hear was people screaming. I did however get to be part of their press conference beforehand. I was very close along with my sister. John winked at her.
I grew up with the beatles and as they grew and chsnged so did i. As a 10 year old their esrly simpler more poppy sound appealed to me. As i grew and matured, their music also matured, and got more complex. mirroring my own inner complexity. I was, am, and will continue to be a Beatles fanatic.
ESPECIALLY the way they played it and the way Ringo was beating the heck out of the drums at the WASHINGTON COLISEUM CONCERT on FEB. 11, 1964. From the same concert the 2nd TWIST and SHOUT he showed here. It was their FIRST concert in the U.S., just 2 days after their first appearance on U.S. TV on the Ed Sullivan Show, I HOPE he will react to THAT one some day
The head shake, with "Oooo!", was something they took from touring with Little Richard, who was one of the founders of Rock & Roll. That wild charisma, combined with body language, and cues to break free, were absolutely revolutionary in the 50's. It had taken about 7, or 8 years, to brew to the potency you see, on display here. It was no passing fad. It was here, to stay. It's, partially, a commentary on the repression of the world the audience had endured, and a deep feeling of needing to press through, to new horizons. It gave permission to seek the realm of expression. Liberation was the flavor, and boy, did they ever get the pressure cooker going.
Twist and Shout was famously recorded in one take. They recorded the entire album in one day. John’s voice was shot after being I’ll and singing all day. He said he had one more take and absolutely nailed it
You’re not alone as a younger person in appreciating The Beatles later songs. Songs like this which are really Rock and Roll songs that came out of them listening to American 50’s singers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis. It wasn’t until later records in 65/66 where they really started to develop more unique and experimental songs on albums like Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sergeant Peppers.
Ringo was a human metronome and he had a great shuffle beat. He never tried to take over a song, his goal was to compliment the others. He was just steady and consistent. And yes. The head shaking had the girls swooning. They were excellent showman.
Yes because their hair was so clean and not greasy and not a short bristly crew cut or buzz cut. We would have loved to run our fingers through their hair. To us teenage girls they were gorgeous and wished we could date one. Well I was old enough then, Paul McCartney's girlfriend was only a year older than I was. SO it wasn't like I was 10 or 12 years old.
I was 4 years old when She Loves You came out. Whenever I hear it today a little nostalgic tear stings my eye. Brings back so so many memories of a long lost childhood.
don't underestimate how good these earlier songs are... the main reason the Beatles became so popular is their talent for writing catchy songs that are remarkable earworms.. these songs came on the radio and they were irresistible, and a few cuts above everyone else.. .first and foremost they were talented songwriters, and right from the start
Yes, too many today, most of whom did not live in the era, have been taught to call the Beatles erly work "Bubblegum music." they don;t even know the heavy rock covers they did for years in sweaty low life clubs and how they paid their dues. their opinions are often based on what the Classic Rock Corporate Radio playlist culture and hindsight critics rewriting history want you to believe for their own profit driven purposes. They didn't live in the era, they don't know what it was like and don't know sh*t. Beatles were revolutionary in every sense of the word, starting with their own early music and covers, and especially the long hair. They knew exactly what they were doing to break down the door...writing to teens and pre-teens which is the kind of music they wanted to hear back then. They saved rock and pop from death on the vine. Which is what most parents wanted back then-the death of rock and roll. The Beatles couldn't have just waltzed in with Helter Skelter in 1963-64 or other long songs of any style...radio had strict time length rules on records...2 to 2 minutes 40 seconds tops.. I like all kinds of music and Helter Skelter is certainly NOT the end all and be all of what the Beatles were about. They just did it to prove they could sound like the Who. You could NOT nail down the Beatles as a this or that...they just WERE.
@@thomastimlin1724 THANK YOU for DEFENDING their early music and the Beatles themselves, and saying what I have had so much trouble putting into WORDS how they affected us that lived through it (I was 17 in March of 1964) and WHY they were such a BIG thing. I HATE it when reactors today call their early works "Bubblegum Music" It was NOT THAT at all, there WERE songs that were CALLED BUBBLEGUM music but they weren't anything like the early Beatles songs. I also HATE when they are referred to as a "BOY BAND" THAT term didn't exist then. To me 'BOY BANDS" are the Backstreet Boys, In Sync, etc....and those groups aren't even a BAND! THEY DON"T PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS!!! They just sing and dance. But that is what they were known as. Also that the Beatles were the first ones to wear suits. That is ALSO NOT true, all groups wore seats during that period, all the way back to the early rock of the late '50s. Groups didn't just show up for a gig with whatever they happened to be wearing at the time.
I really appreciate how you're digging into the history if the band. Most of their best music, in hindsight, happened after 1965, but it's a lot easier to appreciate where they ended up when you understand how it started.
Great choice! This is an extremely rare film, shot in color, not colorized. I think it really shows off their incredible on stage charisma. You mentioned how loud the crowd was. I guarantee it was turned down. During all of those hours in Hamburg, they really really learned how to play to the crowd and engage them. THis is a master class in engaging the audience.
I was 10 years old when the Beatles first came to America. They arrived here in New York City on February 7th 1964. two nights later they made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Three months before, we lost a President and our country was in deep mourning. In December of 1963, Phil Spector, (nicknamed the 5th Beatle), introduced their new hit I want To Hold Your Hand. It sold out almost overnight. By the time the boys arrived here, they were already the number 1 group in America. It was their unique sound their fresh youth, their humor and most of all, their hair style that drove this country and eventually the world absolutely crazy. Why you ask, because they lifted us out of a deep state of mourning and gave us hope. The Beatles had a certain magic that was so captivating, they were close to being worshipped by millions of teenage girls. In fact, one reporter asked a young fan why she loved them so much, she couldn't understand why, she just knew she did. Syed, it was a time like no other and will never be repeated again. You thought you knew why they stopped touring, yes, part of it was because it was hard to hear themselves, but the real reason was they were just tired, it wasn't fun anymore. Three years of endless touring, being cramped up in hotel rooms like prisoners, no privacy, no peace, constantly under scrutiny, and so many other factors, plus the endless screaming. after the last concert in San Francisco, in 1966, John walked out and he said, "I'm done", and that was it.
I wish you could hear The Beatles as my generation did. They were so radically different from anythng we'd ever seen or heard. Feeling chills was a natural phenomenon to hearing their unique sound - and for its time, it was so LOUD! When they first came out, if you told us The Beatles had just dropped down from Mars - we might have believed you. They were that revolutionary.
My wife and I went to see Paul in the 1990s and from the first notes of "Can't Buy Me Love," one of the Beatles' big 1964 songs, she stood up and started jumping and mindlessly screaming. I looked around and dozens of other women in their 30s and 40s were doing exactly the same thing. When the song ended, she was sweating and unsteady on her feet. She plopped back down in her seat and turned to me, saying, "What the hell just happened to me???" I'd bet all those other women were wondering the same thing. Didn't happen for any other songs...just the one from the days of Beatlemania.
The Beatles where the ones that stretched the music industry. They started with basic songs and just progressively evolved and took music in New directions. They where very different than the average American musicians of the 60s. They launched hundreds of copycat bands. Thier musical library is deep and varied. To explore it takes a journey.
Paul definitely helped make playing the bass cool. At this stage he's still playing functional bass lines, but from 1965 on, his playing is on another level and combines the functional with lead melodic instrumentation. It's also important to remember that they were always experimental and inventive. She Loves You obviously sounds less so than what came after, but has to be thought of in the context of the time it was written and recorded. There was always a lot going on musically and something as simple as saying yeah instead of yes, along with the clear regional accents was every bit as revolutionary as the later material in its own way.
"She Loves You" is another early catalogue tune, that really highlights Lennon's amazing skill on rhythm guitar. He's actually playing triplets on guitar ( usually drums). The tone that he created on that big Rickenbacker was pretty great.
“She Loves You” is the most important song in music history. It changed everything. It really stirred the mania, which put them on the map and allowed them to evolve. It changed and influenced music forever. BTW, most artists, including those in Hip Hop (douchebag Kanye, Dre and Jay) all cite The Beatles as an influence on them! Why the mania? As I’ve researched, it was a combination of things. They were doing stuff musically that had never been done (even the early stuff, which is more complicated than it sounds,) uniform suits, haircuts (which was considered long and rebellious at the time,) even the synchronized bows after every song all added to the mystique. It was also timing. There was a lot of bad shit happening in the world, including JFK’s assignation. The world needed The Beatles. As for the mania itself, they couldn’t hear themselves throughout Beatlemania - and the crowd really couldn’t hear them either. The equipment back then just wasn’t up to par for this type of mania. Ringo watched their body movements to see where they were in the song. Check out their Shea Stadium performances, the first ever stadium show. 56,000+ in attendance, listening through the sports PA system lol.
Ozzy Osbourne said that particularly this song pushed him to be a musician! He loved the exploit of the Beatles, he said that before of them he watched at the world as it was just black/white, but with the Beatles everything turned to be in color!!! This is amazing!!
That’s why it annoys me when some people say that The Beatles were not a good live band. I think they were an excellent live band, especially when you consider the fact that after Beatlemania began, they couldn’t even hear themselves play, yet they still sounded tight under the worst possible circumstances. Folks who say that don’t know what they’re talking about. They were an amazing band.
If you really want to hear some tight bassline grooves check out "Taxman", "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy). Definitely launched a few bass careers.
In early days, McCartney was a competent and, dare we say it, stolid bass player. There's a video showing how he transformed after about 60th recording. That might be the difference between early hits being shockingly new at the time but not sounding so modern now.
dude, I haven't even started watching it yet but it came up in my feed and I'm like yeah I'm going to go watch this right now. The Beatles were part of my childhood, and by the time I was able to start buying records and Junior High man I bought every one of their albums. and I love all of their stuff but I know so much about them now and I'm a musician my whole life so I can appreciate the history of you know playing in a small band with shitty equipment back at that time and just working your ass off especially during that stent they did in Hamburg for a while which made them really hard and also playing in the cavern in liverpool. and so by the time this stuff is being recorded I just think they are really blossoming even though they are still doing half covers and half original at that point. I just love it though. this stuff is amazing to me so I can't wait to watch this.
I’m 67. I was 8 when I first saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. When I was 9 they played in my hometown at the football stadium. Could barely hear them but my dad let me use his binoculars so I could see them. Others are right about they couldn’t hear themselves etc. When I first saw them on TV I fell in love with Ringo. We all had crushes on them. My female cousins and friends, that is. But we also loved their music. I wanted a drum set. Never got one. But not only was I in love with Ringo, I was also in love with drums. And every time I listened to music I listened to the drums first. I never learned to play them but I have a love for them till the day I die. I evolved as The Beatles and other music did. I even like some modern rock, metal, and occasionally hip hop. Though my like for hip hop stems from bands like Linkin Park who do a mix of hip hop and rock. I even went through the grunge era and like some of those bands. And then came the Foo Fighters. I will miss their drummer forever. I loved his style of drumming. As well as Dave Grohl and they are different. But The Beatles started this era of continuing evolving music and I will always carry them in my musical heart.
This was soooo innovative, so different than the music before. It was shocking music because there was nothing like this before on an international level. And they evolved musically and their audience did too. This music said: you can have fun!
The second clip was their Washington DC concert from 1964-after each song they would turn Ringo's drum kit a quarter turn so each side of the audience could see them perform from the front-in this video they were turned towards the press reporters and photographers-note the police presence separating the band from the audience as they performed very close to the crowd-this was at the very beginning of Beatlemania in the US (February 1964).
It wasn't after each song, it was after 4 songs. I have watched this concert many times and first saw it in the movie theaters back in 1964 along with the T.A.M.I. Show. It would have taken up too much time to move the drum kit and the mics after each song.
I went to one of the first concerts they performed in the United States in Houston Texas in 1965 and the girls were screaming so loud I could barely hear any of the music. But it was still neat to be in attendance in what turned out to be an iconic legendary band.
I remember we were having a discussion about the Beatles at work when a female colleague remarked, 'My auntie had Paul McCartney once.' That was a show stopper!
Kudos to your channel. One of the few music reaction channels that actually adds value. I appreciate your musical and historical perspective, and your appreciation of the lyrics and the art of the music, and the message that the artist is trying to convey. Well done.
The fantastic Revolver album is due out again in a new mix in November . This, as the title suggests, was a revolutionary album on which that metamorphosis you said about really began to show itself
What you call simple stuff was unique for the time. The reason for their huge popularity worldwide was that no other artist had ever made music like that before. Also no other artists at that time wrote their own songs. They insisted from the start that every single that was released was their own composition. That may well be the norm now, but it certainly was not in 1963.
and the early songs were NOT as simple as they sound. Talk to my son who was in a Beatles cover band, or some of the guys I know that are in Beatles tribute or Beatles cover bands...they will tell you that the early songs were not simple to play.
Many artists wrote their own songs before them including Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Larry Williams and others. Of course, the music industry at that time was still based on A&R men who selected songs for artists to record. But, in rock and country it was already common for artists to write their own material. I think the thing that made The Beatles so unique and influential is that they were a group of friends who started a band together and came out of a strong local music scene with their own compositions, look and sound and, by their success, made that the standard model for rock groups and changed the way groups were marketed. Before The Beatles, the industry standard was to promote a single personality or artist. The band was just backup, so it was the frontman/sidemen model. George Martin was not sure how to market them at first because there was no single frontman in the band. He decided to just go with what they were. The group’s story was integral to the marketing and young people around the world were inspired to start their own groups and local scenes, creating a huge market for rock groups based on The Beatles model. They changed the industry. That’s a significant achievement on its own. And, of course, excellent writing skills, vocal and instrumental arranging, performance, fashion, charm. And they were good at advocating for themselves vs. their producer and label. But I think creating the modern rock band was one of their biggest achievements and they did it by staying true to themselves.
Their performance of 'Twist and Shout' on I'm pretty certain Ready Steady Go in b&w one Friday evening in late '63 and particularly John's vocals were what finally turned the switch from Standby to full On. I'd played on the street in front of our house probably before turning 3, likely inspired by the Pearlies in London where I was born. But that performance cemented my determination to play music. Edit: I'd been a staunch fan since '62, when they first burst onto the scene. I'd drawn a picture illustrating my dad's weekend labours building a trellis for climbing roses in our back garden and added a line about watching the Beatles on TV and the sow of a nun overseeing our class(Class 1) equivalent to Kindergarten at the time marked my spelling as wrong, noting the insect spelling in red pencil
I was born in 1965, so this is before me, but the Beatles were so big that I remember when they broke up in 1970. Rock and Roll was so new that we didn’t know if people could play it or not when they got old. Old rockers didn’t exist yet. There was such a generation gap. The older generation listened to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Then came Elvis. Then from England came the Beatles. Things literally went from black & white to color in movies, television, and music. John Lennon said “Before Elvis there was nothing.” And, unlike today, in the ‘60s music changed so fast that you can listen to a ‘60s song and tell what year it came out. It was an exciting time.
Ringo is left- handed, but he set up his kit just like a right- handed drummer would. This gave rise to some really unique rhythms and fills. You don't hear him mentioned with Peart, Bonham, etc., because Ringo is not much of a technician, but his genius shines in his inventiveness and pocket play. He customized his playing to fit each song, and some of his licks you won't hear anywhere else.
Paul being left handed and George being right handed made it perfect for shaing a mic for harmonies and still playing their instruments. Their early image was very much influenced by Brian Epstein who was their manager, he picked out all their early outfits and helped shaped them into a well drilled unit on stage.
Part of the deal is this: back in the early 60’s, “proper” girls were supposed to be “ladylike”…. Soft-spoken, act with decorum. the Beatles, and bands like them…..It was the first time we could let ourselves go….get a little crazy….but still in an “innocent” way. The parents thought the Beatles were clean cut nice boys…. So you had permission to go to those concerts snd let lose. It’s hard to explain still how straightlaced society was for most of us coming out of the 50’s. The Beatles either started that big change, or rode that wave. It’s hard to separate them from all the cultural changes that happened over just five short years. It was immense
About the way they performed...oh, they totally knew what they were doing with the head shaking, that it drove the girls crazy. Paul was, and is, a powerhouse as a performer and song writer. To watch him compose Get Back is awesome. If you haven't seen that it's in the Peter Jackson version of the documentary. Really worth watching. And they knew what they were doing when they developed as a band. But I still love their earlier stuff, even if it is simple compared to their later albums. The later albums built on their earlier songs. Did you catch the harmonizing in She Loves You? 😉
Their musicianship on stage was symbiotic in nature. they fed off one another's energy and positivity to produce that amazing sound despite not being able to hear anything. They were magical. Ringo Starr's sitting up higher behind the rest of the band allowed him to take visual ques and produce the proper timing for each song and muscle memory from all the countless live performances that came before during their early years playing live in clubs all over England and Germany. They are absolutely amazing and a perfect example of musical alchemy.
I grew up with them. I was 13 in 1863 and I cannot explain it myself but the Beatles changed my life from black and white to color. You HAD.to be there to know their impact. It is like combat in war. You can think you know what it is like but unless you have been in it - you have no real idea.
There's a live performance of "Revolution" by The Beatles on UA-cam that'd be a good one to react to. It's a much later song, I think recorded in 1968, and the music and look of the band are in sharp contrast with how they sounded and looked in their early years.
Nice to see this reaction. As the venues grew it got to the point where the guys couldn't hear themselves. The sound systems were primitive. The hair blew people's minds because it was much longer than average men's hair. Look at the men in the crowd - they're wearing ties and have short hair. I like the second twist and shout - It rocks harder. I agree with your ideas about personal music tastes. As a band writing their own material - that was revolutionary. She Loves You - when John and Paul finished writing it at Paul's parents house they played it for his dad. His dad liked it but suggested they change "Yeah, yeah, yeah" to "Yes, yes, yes". LOL One other thing to mention: Just imagine being a young person when the Beatles first came out. They looked different with their long hair. They sounded different - and better. They rocked with great material that THEY wrote - with 3 and 4 part harmonies. They were witty and fun. But beyond that was the incredible journey they took us on. Remember, when they hit the scene nobody had any idea what was to come. There were these two songs from an album recorded in ONE DAY. There was no Yesterday, no Blackbird, no Strawberry Fields, no Hey Jude and no Here Comes The Sun. All of this unfolded over the years. We never knew what they would do next. Eventually, on first listen to an album, you didn't even have any clue what the next song would be. Revolver went from rockers like Dr. Roberts to full on Indian pop "Love To You", to the unclassifiable Eleanor Rigby, to Tomorrow Never Knows which is truly Avant Garde to this day. All on one album. Because they changed, and grew, so quickly it was an amazing journey we all got to witness unfold in real time.
A couple of thoughts on your comments: Paul was a guitarist first and played bass because they needed one. He brought a lot of his guitar sensibilities to the bass and changed the way it was played . He was a pioneer of using the bass as a melodic instrument instead of just part of the rhythm section. Prior to their final concert in San Francisco no one used monitors on stage. Their crowds were so loud that they pretty much invented the idea of using monitors -- speakers pointed back at the band -- so they could hear each other. The fact that they could play like this without monitors is a tribute to their musicianship. The three out front could only hear Ringo. You are spot-on about their popularity being tied to their uniqueness as well as their talent.
Paul is so wired up on T&S in Manchester. They personified the basic joy and excitement of performing like no other. Even stoic George lets out an impromptu Woooo at 2:18.
Lennon once said he never thought of singing anything beyond "Yeah, yeah, yeah" until he heard Bob Dylan. That was the catalyst for them... and everyone else around that time.
Allegedly when John Lennon met Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan told John that he loved their music but they don't say anything. Presumably shortly afterwards John Lennon wrote Nowhere Man.
The second version of Twist and Shout was from the Washington Coliseum concert in Feb 1964. It was broadcast by closed circuit TV to a bunch of theaters in America, and I watched it live in a theatre in Los Angeles at the age of 11. This looks like it was colorized, because we saw it in black and white. They had to move the drum stand every few songs because the audience was in the round. It was funny. And they'd carry their mikes with them as they moved from one side of the boxing arena to the next. LOL. But they kept smiling, talking, and playing no matter what. Everyone was throwing jelly beans at them because George said he liked them. They all of them said it was like projectiles hitting them from every direction. And yes, Paul made the bass sexy. As for why they were so special - you have to go to UA-cam and listen to their interviews with the press in '64 and '65. They were sassy, irreverent, funny, outspoken. Trust me, NO ONE talked like that back then. They were a gigantic breath of fresh air.
Ringo was a self-taught drummer who was left-handed but learned to play drums right-handed (in some interviews, he calls himself ambidextrous). He was strongly influenced by early rock and blues drummers like D.J. Fontana, so he concentrated on keeping the beat and throwing in interesting drum fills, instead of playing technically correct solos. Initially, he was maligned by a lot of fans and even some musicians (mainly the older jazz/big band types) who misunderstood his simple style, but he gradually won respect over time and is now considered one of the top drummers of his era. Because of his left-handed approach to right-handed drumming, some of his fills on songs like She Said She Said and Strawberry Fields Forever are almost unplayable for most right-handed drummers. Most right-handers automatically start a drum fill with their right hand, whereas Ringo automatically started with his left hand, which made for some very unique hard-to-duplicate fills.
Remember back then you there was no internet the only time you could see a band Live was in person or on TV rarely they're also was no cable they were basically three television networks or channels and that was it
The black and white video was filmed in DC in early 1964 at about the same time as Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali ) winning the world heavyweight title against Sonny Liston. The Beatles and Ali were the new avatars of the 60's cultural shift whose reverberations are still felt today.
From 8 to 18 my musical taste was shaped primarily by my older brother and my mother: Dylan, the Stones, and the Beatles from my brother; Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach from my mother.
You're just telling me that you love the more musically impressive of the old pieces, as opposed to the purely popular ones. Same for me and i grew up with my dad playing the lot of it on vinyl. Songs like A Day In The Life stood out. Or Battle of Evermore by Zep, which isn't one people mention too often.
You'll notice that besides the decibel level of screaming, they had no stage monitors! But they were tight and in tune vocally. Many people commented on Ringo's rock- solid tempos.
I recently saw that there are compilations online of the top songs month by month per decade (50s, 60s, etc.). Listening to that, you can get a pretty good sense of how pop music sounded pre-Beatles (and Beach Boys) versus after they both came on the airwaves (1964). The compilations don't play the songs entirely, so it's a pretty good short-hand way to hear how the music changed. You could even do a reaction to one of these.
I had the experience of seeing them at the Hollywood Bowl, seats up front, and it was definitely hard to hear them over the screaming. I was only nine…
They adopted the suits and neat haircuts for mainstream acceptance. Even so, at the time they were considered to have long hair with their “mop top” styles. When the Stones came along they became the anti-Beatles. Long messier hair. Casual clothes. And the promoters for both bands pushed that comparison. Everyone was in the Beatles or Stones camp. It helped both bands become even more famous.
The photographer Astrid Kirchherr gave them their haircuts in November 1961, two years before their final breakthrough. Kirchherr had previously cut this hairstyle to her boyfriend, the Pre- Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe (who died in 1962), and Lennon and McCartney did the same (perhaps out of sympathy for Kirchherr). It was therefore not planned, but rather coincidental.
The Beatles themselves didn't adopt the suits on their own, THAT was their manager Brian Epstein, who put them in suits, which the Beatles, especially John, did NOT want to do. But Epstein emphasized that it was important to be in suits if they wanted to go further, get a recording contract, etc. As far as "neat haircuts" go, it's funny because the adults, including my parents, especially my Dad, did NOT think that their hair was "NEAT" To them and the rest of the adults, it was shocking, unkept, too long, NO MALE in the U.S, no matter WHAT their age, was wearing their hair like THAT. During the Ed Sullivan show my Dad kept complaining about their hair..."They look like GiRLS with that hair, I can't even see their eyes, it looks messy, they need a haircut." Boys in high school could NOT show up in school with a Beatle cut. They were sent home. I am SO GLAD I was NOT a boy then, because my Dad would have NEVER let me get a Beatle haircut! NO WAY!! It's SO funny now, especially when you look at them in 1964-66 and look at a lot of groups now, or in the recent past, some half naked, the punk look, etc. Compared to THOSE groups the Beatles looked like businessmen. I remember my mom, in 1969 when she first saw a picture of the Beatles when John had his hair down to his shoulders and a full beard, and the rest of them had much longer hair, and moustaches, said to me "WHAT happened to the Beatles, they USED to look SO CLEAN CUT!!" I said to her, "Mom, that is NOT what you and Dad said the night of the Ed Sullivan Show!" She just looked at me and didn't say a word. It was ALL relative!
I heard Ringo say that he worked things out by the way the other 3 were moving about on stage. and by the way they bobbed d around or shook their ass lol. You were right. Ringo could not hear a thing
I have heard that Ringo could not hear the band so he watched how they moved and reacted to the music and he was so familiar with the songs that he could follow along.
Had to laugh at the police officer at the end of the first clip walking down the aisle with his fingers stuck in his ears !!! The head shake and " WOOOO " is from Little Richard whom they met in Hamburg during their early days in the clubs.
The on-stage speakers are monitors so they can hear themselves and each other, but one of the reasons they stopped touring was their inability to hear themselves and the feeling that no one was really their for their music.
It's good to see you checking out their early work and be able to appreciate their evolution in such a relatively short time. Brian Epsten cleaned the boys up and put them in suits. He knew how to package and promote them. They were victims of the technology - they have so few amps on stage they could never be louder than the audience. "Beatlemania" was not the first - women screamed and swooned over Elvis, Frank Sinatra and even silent film star Rudolph Valentino.
Yes the world was not ready for the magnitude of their fame technically. They were the first to play stadiums because of the mass numbers showing up to concerts....would have caused a large scale riot if they stayed smaller venues. the girls didn't care if they couldn't hear them...all they wanted to do was see them and scream like hell hahaha.
@@thomastimlin1724 ABSOLUTELY, and I was ONE of those girls. WE had been listening to their records over and over again and when they did their first U.S. tour in 1964, we just wanted to SEE them. We girls were already enthralled with them because of their look, their humor, their wit, their intelligence, their ACCENTS (those of us here in the U.S.), their charm and of course their MUSIC which was what struck us in the first place! I saw them in concert in Cleveland in 1964 when I was 17 and again in 1966 when I was 19....the didn't come here in 1965 because our Mayor BANNED them after the 1964 concert.
Yes girls (not adult women) screamed and swooned over Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Rudolph Valentino, but it was not on the SCALE that Beatlemania was in 1964 particularly, as well as 1965 and '66. I LIVED through it! WHAT other Rock Band made the FRONT PAGE HEADLINES across America, the day the Beatles landed at JFK airport on Feb. 7, 1964...their first trip here to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9th and 2 days later on Feb. 11th at the Washington D.C. Coliseum? NO other band!! One newspaper headline simply said in BIG LETTERS... "THEY"RE HERE!!" They were in the newspapers EVERY DAY that first year and often through 1966. I KNOW because every day I went through are two newspapers we had in Cleveland, and cut out ANYTHING I saw about them. By the time they broke up, I had a HUGE box FULL of those news clippings. NO OTHER rock band garnered that much news and articles almost daily, especially in 1964. It was UNBELIEVABLE. When I look at the old footage now from when I was a teenager during "Beatlemania" I STILL marvel at the crowds. In Australia there were over a 100,000 people that turned out to see them just drive in. Watch RON HOWARDS documentary on the BEATLES TOURING YEARS, called "EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: THE TOURING YEARS" It covers 1962 to 1966 and will SHOW you the enormous crowds and just how BIG they were. I am 75 now and I still haven't seen ANY ONE ARTIST come CLOSE to what we saw with the Beatles, and what we lived through. Something like that will NEVER happen again.
@@patticrichton1135 I was there at that time as well. I am just saying that other stars had had the same effect on girls over the years. The fact that the largest segment of the population in '64 was women between the ages of 14 and 21, and the mass media of the times amplified Beatlemania.
2:00 You are absolutely correct. Ringo could not hear the other members of the Beatles when they were playing in a concert because of the screaming. He said once in an interview he based his drumming on watching the physical movements of the Beatles from behind.
I agree with the suggestion below to check out the live version of Long Tall Sally and there are actually a couple of them but I would also check out the studio cut too because it absolutely just blazes. I feel you are one step away barely from understanding why this stuff sounded so new and communicated so much energy even to me as a kid when this came out when I was in infant. It wasn't till I was in grade school or even Junior High that I was able to blast this stuff and really rock out to it. It has so much energy but it's not as simple as you think. They're doing all kinds of complicated stuff musically but that was the huge news story at the time. The critics were saying oh my God they're using aeolian cadences and this and that and the other and you talk to The Beatles and they're like we have no idea what you're talking about man. We never learned to read music. They were just really gifted in that direction and so it's not like they were a simple band and turned into a gifted band, they were a gifted band that worked their asses off for several years before they really broke big. And it's on a continuum.
Could never score a Beatles ticket but I was able to attend an early Elvis concert in his Levis and leather days and the atmosphere was very much like this crowd. The concert hall was awash in estrogen and the screaming could peel paint off the walls, but it was great fun.
LEVI’S? No! Once an adult, Elvis Presley NEVER wore jeans, denim, etc. He hated them. He had to wear that kind of clothing or worse all the time growing up because that’s all his family could afford.
They had Cliff Richard and the Shadows... when this arrived to the USA , that's when the world was blown away and they got the Members of the British Empire medals
With "She LovesYou" there was something wrong with Paul's microphone as you can barely hear him singing the melody, instead you hear John singing the harmony part so you don't get to hear how the song really sounds. Thanks for doing these reactions. Your insights are very good🙂
Ringo has said that he had to watch their body movements to know what they were playing. It's wild. Motown made the bass cool in the States in the 60s. As Beatles fans got older and more sophisticated in their listening of music McCartney became more and more respected for his bass playing, especially after Rubber Soul. He is now considered one of the best bass players (certainly the most melodic bass player) in popular music today.
After Candlestick Park they decided not to tour anymore. Their last live audience was the public when they played on the roof of their recording studio and stopped traffic. Police were called but they were fans 😂
They also came from a working class background. And I think a lot of kids thought, if they can do it why not us. How many new bands sprang up after they came on the scene.
They’ve actually commented on the fact that they couldn’t hear themselves play. They had just played together so intensely that muscle memory carried them through. But it ceased being enjoyable. And so they stopped being a touring band. Perhaps that’s good….they concentrated on the studio and creativity. And took us all on an incredible ride.
The amazing thing is that the cleaned up recordings reveal they were playing PERFECTLY tight, insanely great harmonies, while they cuold not hear themselves. For harmonies they shared a mic so they could hear each other 6 inches apart. It's FLAWLESS.
@@loosilu And that cohesiveness came with working their collective asses off in Hamburg Germany in the early days, before they hit the big time like a hydrogen bomb.
And took us all on an incredible ride.
Beautifully put, sir. Bravo.
Edit - sorry, didn't check your name first.
Beautifully put, madam. Bravo.
🙂
Yeah, they played 8 hour sets in Hamburg. That’s gonna hone your skills.
literally suffering from success
Ringo has a great interview on YT where he talks about playing the incredibly loud venues. He said he would watch John's backside for the rhythm, because John would just stand there, feet shoulder width, and bounce up and down on his toes in time to the music. Later in the songs, Paul would usually throw in a "Woooooo!" and Ringo would think to himself, "Oh, that's where we are!". Hysterical!
Ringo was left handed drummer playing a right handed kit. He was like a metronome, perfect meter and timing. Thats part of the reason why Ringo's fills are odd, he started them out with his left hand
You can tell they spent thousands of hours playing in small clubs to disinterested audiences. Their energy is propelled to the audience. Also, in She Loves You, starting the song with the chorus just grabs you from the first listen. Brilliant.
That’s part of the reason the Beatles stopped doing live shows. The crowds were so big and so loud, they couldn’t hear themselves. It stopped being fun for them! In defense of the crowds, we had never had their kind of music before. I remember just being in awe of them. It brought out a feeling of freedom in a sense. A newness and excitement for the future of music in our lives!
Ringo is probably one the most underrated drummers in music's history. There have been some the so called best drummers who tried to play the drums to some of these songs who then said they give hats off to Ringo.
The weird thing is that this stuff was just as radical in 1963 as their psych stuff was in '66-'67 or their mature stuff was in '68-'69, maybe more so. If you listen to it next to what other bands were doing at the time, it's just so far beyond. But you're right, it sounds very of its time now, where the later stuff is timeless.
Listen to Jerry Lee Lewis "Live at the Star Club" (1964), James Brown, ‘Live at the Apollo’ (1963), Sam Cooke, ‘Live At the Harlem Square Club, 1963’ (1985)
She Loves was radical, but Twist and Shout wasn't. Twist and Shout was a dated cover.
All of it was cutting edge when it came out.
Live at Harlem Square is extremely conservative, musically speaking. The Beatles were already miles more innovative in terms of composition.@@cazgerald9471
Simply Outfuckinstanding! And the crowd never stopped screaming til they stopped touring
I was one of those girls.... saw them live in '64, '65, and '66. I cried through the whole thing. Lol
was it just that good?
I've been around for a long time (I'm 72). and a musician myself. I loved the Beatles from their first song to their last and afterwards. I call it evolution among the musicians and the consumers of their music. They led the way and we followed. BTW, I was backstage watching them from the side and I couldn't hear them either. All I could hear was people screaming. I did however get to be part of their press conference beforehand. I was very close along with my sister. John winked at her.
How cool.
Wow wow wow…. 😮
I grew up with the beatles and as they grew and chsnged so did i. As a 10 year old their esrly simpler more poppy sound appealed to me. As i grew and matured, their music also matured, and got more complex. mirroring my own inner complexity. I was, am, and will continue to be a Beatles fanatic.
"I Saw Her Standing There" by the Beatles would totally be worth checking out. Total bop.
ESPECIALLY the way they played it and the way Ringo was beating the heck out of the drums at the WASHINGTON COLISEUM CONCERT on FEB. 11, 1964. From the same concert the 2nd TWIST and SHOUT he showed here. It was their FIRST concert in the U.S., just 2 days after their first appearance on U.S. TV on the Ed Sullivan Show, I HOPE he will react to THAT one some day
Best song ever!
@@patticrichton1135 Hi Patti!
I really like the song called Here, There and Everywhere
The head shake, with "Oooo!", was something they took from touring with Little Richard, who was one of the founders of Rock & Roll. That wild charisma, combined with body language, and cues to break free, were absolutely revolutionary in the 50's. It had taken about 7, or 8 years, to brew to the potency you see, on display here. It was no passing fad. It was here, to stay.
It's, partially, a commentary on the repression of the world the audience had endured, and a deep feeling of needing to press through, to new horizons. It gave permission to seek the realm of expression.
Liberation was the flavor, and boy, did they ever get the pressure cooker going.
Twist and Shout was famously recorded in one take. They recorded the entire album in one day. John’s voice was shot after being I’ll and singing all day. He said he had one more take and absolutely nailed it
The second and final take survives--his voice is ragged and GONE. He left it all on the field, as they say.
You’re not alone as a younger person in appreciating The Beatles later songs. Songs like this which are really Rock and Roll songs that came out of them listening to American 50’s singers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis. It wasn’t until later records in 65/66 where they really started to develop more unique and experimental songs on albums like Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sergeant Peppers.
Ringo was a human metronome and he had a great shuffle beat. He never tried to take over a song, his goal was to compliment the others. He was just steady and consistent. And yes. The head shaking had the girls swooning. They were excellent showman.
Yes because their hair was so clean and not greasy and not a short bristly crew cut or buzz cut. We would have loved to run our fingers through their hair. To us teenage girls they were gorgeous and wished we could date one. Well I was old enough then, Paul McCartney's girlfriend was only a year older than I was. SO it wasn't like I was 10 or 12 years old.
I was 4 years old when She Loves You came out. Whenever I hear it today a little nostalgic tear stings my eye. Brings back so so many memories of a long lost childhood.
If you listen to the music that was on the radio in the early 60's you can see how different The Beatles were from the other acts.
don't underestimate how good these earlier songs are... the main reason the Beatles became so popular is their talent for writing catchy songs that are remarkable earworms.. these songs came on the radio and they were irresistible, and a few cuts above everyone else.. .first and foremost they were talented songwriters, and right from the start
Yes, too many today, most of whom did not live in the era, have been taught to call the Beatles erly work "Bubblegum music." they don;t even know the heavy rock covers they did for years in sweaty low life clubs and how they paid their dues. their opinions are often based on what the Classic Rock Corporate Radio playlist culture and hindsight critics rewriting history want you to believe for their own profit driven purposes. They didn't live in the era, they don't know what it was like and don't know sh*t. Beatles were revolutionary in every sense of the word, starting with their own early music and covers, and especially the long hair. They knew exactly what they were doing to break down the door...writing to teens and pre-teens which is the kind of music they wanted to hear back then. They saved rock and pop from death on the vine. Which is what most parents wanted back then-the death of rock and roll. The Beatles couldn't have just waltzed in with Helter Skelter in 1963-64 or other long songs of any style...radio had strict time length rules on records...2 to 2 minutes 40 seconds tops.. I like all kinds of music and Helter Skelter is certainly NOT the end all and be all of what the Beatles were about. They just did it to prove they could sound like the Who. You could NOT nail down the Beatles as a this or that...they just WERE.
@@thomastimlin1724 THANK YOU for DEFENDING their early music and the Beatles themselves, and saying what I have had so much trouble putting into WORDS how they affected us that lived through it (I was 17 in March of 1964) and WHY they were such a BIG thing. I HATE it when reactors today call their early works "Bubblegum Music" It was NOT THAT at all, there WERE songs that were CALLED BUBBLEGUM music but they weren't anything like the early Beatles songs. I also HATE when they are referred to as a "BOY BAND" THAT term didn't exist then. To me 'BOY BANDS" are the Backstreet Boys, In Sync, etc....and those groups aren't even a BAND! THEY DON"T PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS!!! They just sing and dance. But that is what they were known as. Also that the Beatles were the first ones to wear suits. That is ALSO NOT true, all groups wore seats during that period, all the way back to the early rock of the late '50s. Groups didn't just show up for a gig with whatever they happened to be wearing at the time.
I really appreciate how you're digging into the history if the band. Most of their best music, in hindsight, happened after 1965, but it's a lot easier to appreciate where they ended up when you understand how it started.
I disagree
Great choice! This is an extremely rare film, shot in color, not colorized. I think it really shows off their incredible on stage charisma. You mentioned how loud the crowd was. I guarantee it was turned down. During all of those hours in Hamburg, they really really learned how to play to the crowd and engage them. THis is a master class in engaging the audience.
Well said!
I was 10 years old when the Beatles first came to America. They arrived here in New York City on February 7th 1964. two nights later they made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Three months before, we lost a President and our country was in deep mourning. In December of 1963, Phil Spector, (nicknamed the 5th Beatle), introduced their new hit I want To Hold Your Hand. It sold out almost overnight. By the time the boys arrived here, they were already the number 1 group in America. It was their unique sound their fresh youth, their humor and most of all, their hair style that drove this country and eventually the world absolutely crazy. Why you ask, because they lifted us out of a deep state of mourning and gave us hope. The Beatles had a certain magic that was so captivating, they were close to being worshipped by millions of teenage girls. In fact, one reporter asked a young fan why she loved them so much, she couldn't understand why, she just knew she did. Syed, it was a time like no other and will never be repeated again. You thought you knew why they stopped touring, yes, part of it was because it was hard to hear themselves, but the real reason was they were just tired, it wasn't fun anymore. Three years of endless touring, being cramped up in hotel rooms like prisoners, no privacy, no peace, constantly under scrutiny, and so many other factors, plus the endless screaming. after the last concert in San Francisco, in 1966, John walked out and he said, "I'm done", and that was it.
I wish you could hear The Beatles as my generation did. They were so radically different from anythng we'd ever seen or heard. Feeling chills was a natural phenomenon to hearing their unique sound - and for its time, it was so LOUD! When they first came out, if you told us The Beatles had just dropped down from Mars - we might have believed you. They were that revolutionary.
You described it PERFECTLY!
From everything I've heard, Paul McCartney definitely elevated the status of playing bass guitar.
Absolutely, and song writing with Lennon and without him.
He sure did. A lot of kids wanted to own and play Hofner basses after they saw him play one.
He sure did. A lot of kids wanted to own and play Hofner basses after they saw him play one.
My wife and I went to see Paul in the 1990s and from the first notes of "Can't Buy Me Love," one of the Beatles' big 1964 songs, she stood up and started jumping and mindlessly screaming. I looked around and dozens of other women in their 30s and 40s were doing exactly the same thing. When the song ended, she was sweating and unsteady on her feet. She plopped back down in her seat and turned to me, saying, "What the hell just happened to me???" I'd bet all those other women were wondering the same thing. Didn't happen for any other songs...just the one from the days of Beatlemania.
The Beatles where the ones that stretched the music industry. They started with basic songs and just progressively evolved and took music in New directions. They where very different than the average American musicians of the 60s. They launched hundreds of copycat bands. Thier musical library is deep and varied. To explore it takes a journey.
I hate to nitpick but it’s “were”, not “where”, and “their”, not “thier”.
Outstanding times!
Paul definitely helped make playing the bass cool. At this stage he's still playing functional bass lines, but from 1965 on, his playing is on another level and combines the functional with lead melodic instrumentation.
It's also important to remember that they were always experimental and inventive. She Loves You obviously sounds less so than what came after, but has to be thought of in the context of the time it was written and recorded. There was always a lot going on musically and something as simple as saying yeah instead of yes, along with the clear regional accents was every bit as revolutionary as the later material in its own way.
He was playing great bass grooves that early in songs like Talkin Bout You and I Saw Her Standing There (pretty much same groove)
"She Loves You" is another early catalogue tune, that really highlights Lennon's amazing skill on rhythm guitar. He's actually playing triplets on guitar ( usually drums). The tone that he created on that big Rickenbacker was pretty great.
I grew up with the Beatles and still listen to their music, all of it. One of my favorites is THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD.
“She Loves You” is the most important song in music history. It changed everything. It really stirred the mania, which put them on the map and allowed them to evolve. It changed and influenced music forever. BTW, most artists, including those in Hip Hop (douchebag Kanye, Dre and Jay) all cite The Beatles as an influence on them! Why the mania? As I’ve researched, it was a combination of things. They were doing stuff musically that had never been done (even the early stuff, which is more complicated than it sounds,) uniform suits, haircuts (which was considered long and rebellious at the time,) even the synchronized bows after every song all added to the mystique. It was also timing. There was a lot of bad shit happening in the world, including JFK’s assignation. The world needed The Beatles. As for the mania itself, they couldn’t hear themselves throughout Beatlemania - and the crowd really couldn’t hear them either. The equipment back then just wasn’t up to par for this type of mania. Ringo watched their body movements to see where they were in the song. Check out their Shea Stadium performances, the first ever stadium show. 56,000+ in attendance, listening through the sports PA system lol.
Ozzy Osbourne said that particularly this song pushed him to be a musician! He loved the exploit of the Beatles, he said that before of them he watched at the world as it was just black/white, but with the Beatles everything turned to be in color!!! This is amazing!!
That’s why it annoys me when some people say that The Beatles were not a good live band. I think they were an excellent live band, especially when you consider the fact that after Beatlemania began, they couldn’t even hear themselves play, yet they still sounded tight under the worst possible circumstances. Folks who say that don’t know what they’re talking about. They were an amazing band.
@@MsAppassionata Exactly!
@@MsAppassionata They were the best live band at the time. No one could touch the energy they created.
Ringo used to watch their heads for when they went ‘whooooo’
If you really want to hear some tight bassline grooves check out "Taxman", "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy). Definitely launched a few bass careers.
Taxman also has that killer McCartney guitar solo. For some more killer bass lines those are all great! I would also suggest Something.
In early days, McCartney was a competent and, dare we say it, stolid bass player. There's a video showing how he transformed after about 60th recording. That might be the difference between early hits being shockingly new at the time but not sounding so modern now.
@@loosilu Let us not forget the perhaps most complex and brilliant bass line in Rain!!
Don’t forget the bass on “Hey Bulldog”.
dude, I haven't even started watching it yet but it came up in my feed and I'm like yeah I'm going to go watch this right now. The Beatles were part of my childhood, and by the time I was able to start buying records and Junior High man I bought every one of their albums. and I love all of their stuff but I know so much about them now and I'm a musician my whole life so I can appreciate the history of you know playing in a small band with shitty equipment back at that time and just working your ass off especially during that stent they did in Hamburg for a while which made them really hard and also playing in the cavern in liverpool. and so by the time this stuff is being recorded I just think they are really blossoming even though they are still doing half covers and half original at that point. I just love it though. this stuff is amazing to me so I can't wait to watch this.
And of course they were incredibly uber-talented.
I’m 67. I was 8 when I first saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. When I was 9 they played in my hometown at the football stadium. Could barely hear them but my dad let me use his binoculars so I could see them. Others are right about they couldn’t hear themselves etc. When I first saw them on TV I fell in love with Ringo. We all had crushes on them. My female cousins and friends, that is. But we also loved their music. I wanted a drum set. Never got one. But not only was I in love with Ringo, I was also in love with drums. And every time I listened to music I listened to the drums first. I never learned to play them but I have a love for them till the day I die. I evolved as The Beatles and other music did. I even like some modern rock, metal, and occasionally hip hop. Though my like for hip hop stems from bands like Linkin Park who do a mix of hip hop and rock. I even went through the grunge era and like some of those bands. And then came the Foo Fighters. I will miss their drummer forever. I loved his style of drumming. As well as Dave Grohl and they are different. But The Beatles started this era of continuing evolving music and I will always carry them in my musical heart.
This was soooo innovative, so different than the music before. It was shocking music because there was nothing like this before on an international level. And they evolved musically and their audience did too. This music said: you can have fun!
Beatle Mania !!. Watch out !! It's contagious !! Before you know it, you will be listening to all their music in a major binge.
The second clip was their Washington DC concert from 1964-after each song they would turn Ringo's drum kit a quarter turn so each side of the audience could see them perform from the front-in this video they were turned towards the press reporters and photographers-note the police presence separating the band from the audience as they performed very close to the crowd-this was at the very beginning of Beatlemania in the US (February 1964).
It wasn't after each song, it was after 4 songs. I have watched this concert many times and first saw it in the movie theaters back in 1964 along with the T.A.M.I. Show. It would have taken up too much time to move the drum kit and the mics after each song.
I went to one of the first concerts they performed in the United States in Houston Texas in 1965 and the girls were screaming so loud I could barely hear any of the music. But it was still neat to be in attendance in what turned out to be an iconic legendary band.
My dad bought this home as an Easter gift for my mom. We all loved it and played it constantly until we got the next one.
I remember we were having a discussion about the Beatles at work when a female colleague remarked, 'My auntie had Paul McCartney once.'
That was a show stopper!
Kudos to your channel. One of the few music reaction channels that actually adds value. I appreciate your musical and historical perspective, and your appreciation of the lyrics and the art of the music, and the message that the artist is trying to convey. Well done.
The fantastic Revolver album is due out again in a new mix in November . This, as the title suggests, was a revolutionary album on which that metamorphosis you said about really began to show itself
What you call simple stuff was unique for the time. The reason for their huge popularity worldwide was that no other artist had ever made music like that before. Also no other artists at that time wrote their own songs. They insisted from the start that every single that was released was their own composition. That may well be the norm now, but it certainly was not in 1963.
and the early songs were NOT as simple as they sound. Talk to my son who was in a Beatles cover band, or some of the guys I know that are in Beatles tribute or Beatles cover bands...they will tell you that the early songs were not simple to play.
Many artists wrote their own songs before them including Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Larry Williams and others. Of course, the music industry at that time was still based on A&R men who selected songs for artists to record. But, in rock and country it was already common for artists to write their own material.
I think the thing that made The Beatles so unique and influential is that they were a group of friends who started a band together and came out of a strong local music scene with their own compositions, look and sound and, by their success, made that the standard model for rock groups and changed the way groups were marketed. Before The Beatles, the industry standard was to promote a single personality or artist. The band was just backup, so it was the frontman/sidemen model. George Martin was not sure how to market them at first because there was no single frontman in the band. He decided to just go with what they were. The group’s story was integral to the marketing and young people around the world were inspired to start their own groups and local scenes, creating a huge market for rock groups based on The Beatles model. They changed the industry.
That’s a significant achievement on its own. And, of course, excellent writing skills, vocal and instrumental arranging, performance, fashion, charm. And they were good at advocating for themselves vs. their producer and label. But I think creating the modern rock band was one of their biggest achievements and they did it by staying true to themselves.
Their performance of 'Twist and Shout' on I'm pretty certain Ready Steady Go in b&w one Friday evening in late '63 and particularly John's vocals were what finally turned the switch from Standby to full On. I'd played on the street in front of our house probably before turning 3, likely inspired by the Pearlies in London where I was born. But that performance cemented my determination to play music.
Edit: I'd been a staunch fan since '62, when they first burst onto the scene. I'd drawn a picture illustrating my dad's weekend labours building a trellis for climbing roses in our back garden and added a line about watching the Beatles on TV and the sow of a nun overseeing our class(Class 1) equivalent to Kindergarten at the time marked my spelling as wrong, noting the insect spelling in red pencil
I was born in 1965, so this is before me, but the Beatles were so big that I remember when they broke up in 1970. Rock and Roll was so new that we didn’t know if people could play it or not when they got old. Old rockers didn’t exist yet. There was such a generation gap. The older generation listened to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Then came Elvis. Then from England came the Beatles. Things literally went from black & white to color in movies, television, and music. John Lennon said “Before Elvis there was nothing.” And, unlike today, in the ‘60s music changed so fast that you can listen to a ‘60s song and tell what year it came out. It was an exciting time.
Excellent brother!!! I still love those songs - they are just epic - great great job 👏
Ringo is left- handed, but he set up his kit just like a right- handed drummer would. This gave rise to some really unique rhythms and fills. You don't hear him mentioned with Peart, Bonham, etc., because Ringo is not much of a technician, but his genius shines in his inventiveness and pocket play. He customized his playing to fit each song, and some of his licks you won't hear anywhere else.
Paul being left handed and George being right handed made it perfect for shaing a mic for harmonies and still playing their instruments. Their early image was very much influenced by Brian Epstein who was their manager, he picked out all their early outfits and helped shaped them into a well drilled unit on stage.
Part of the deal is this: back in the early 60’s, “proper” girls were supposed to be “ladylike”…. Soft-spoken, act with decorum. the Beatles, and bands like them…..It was the first time we could let ourselves go….get a little crazy….but still in an “innocent” way. The parents thought the Beatles were clean cut nice boys…. So you had permission to go to those concerts snd let lose.
It’s hard to explain still how straightlaced society was for most of us coming out of the 50’s.
The Beatles either started that big change, or rode that wave. It’s hard to separate them from all the cultural changes that happened over just five short years. It was immense
On UA-cam, the Greatest 20 hits of 1963 would explain the appeal of the Beatles First two Albums...a breath of fresh air
If the Beatles had the audio equipment used by today's artists we'd have been left in tears, breathless, and in awe.
About the way they performed...oh, they totally knew what they were doing with the head shaking, that it drove the girls crazy. Paul was, and is, a powerhouse as a performer and song writer. To watch him compose Get Back is awesome. If you haven't seen that it's in the Peter Jackson version of the documentary. Really worth watching. And they knew what they were doing when they developed as a band. But I still love their earlier stuff, even if it is simple compared to their later albums. The later albums built on their earlier songs. Did you catch the harmonizing in She Loves You? 😉
Their musicianship on stage was symbiotic in nature. they fed off one another's energy and positivity to produce that amazing sound despite not being able to hear anything. They were magical. Ringo Starr's sitting up higher behind the rest of the band allowed him to take visual ques and produce the proper timing for each song and muscle memory from all the countless live performances that came before during their early years playing live in clubs all over England and Germany. They are absolutely amazing and a perfect example of musical alchemy.
I grew up with them. I was 13 in 1863 and I cannot explain it myself but the Beatles changed my life from black and white to color. You HAD.to be there to know their impact. It is like combat in war. You can think you know what it is like but unless you have been in it - you have no real idea.
I was 13 when they first hit. I became a professional musician (bass player) because of Paul and the Beatles.😊
There's a live performance of "Revolution" by The Beatles on UA-cam that'd be a good one to react to. It's a much later song, I think recorded in 1968, and the music and look of the band are in sharp contrast with how they sounded and looked in their early years.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that Twist and Shout was a cover of a song that was a hit for The Isley Brothers before the Beatles did it.
The Isley Brothers were not the original performers either.
@@jamesragan7956 no, but they were the first to have an actual hit with it.
Nice to see this reaction. As the venues grew it got to the point where the guys couldn't hear themselves. The sound systems were primitive. The hair blew people's minds because it was much longer than average men's hair. Look at the men in the crowd - they're wearing ties and have short hair.
I like the second twist and shout - It rocks harder.
I agree with your ideas about personal music tastes.
As a band writing their own material - that was revolutionary.
She Loves You - when John and Paul finished writing it at Paul's parents house they played it for his dad. His dad liked it but suggested they change "Yeah, yeah, yeah" to "Yes, yes, yes". LOL
One other thing to mention: Just imagine being a young person when the Beatles first came out. They looked different with their long hair. They sounded different - and better. They rocked with great material that THEY wrote - with 3 and 4 part harmonies. They were witty and fun. But beyond that was the incredible journey they took us on.
Remember, when they hit the scene nobody had any idea what was to come. There were these two songs from an album recorded in ONE DAY. There was no Yesterday, no Blackbird, no Strawberry Fields, no Hey Jude and no Here Comes The Sun. All of this unfolded over the years. We never knew what they would do next. Eventually, on first listen to an album, you didn't even have any clue what the next song would be. Revolver went from rockers like Dr. Roberts to full on Indian pop "Love To You", to the unclassifiable Eleanor Rigby, to Tomorrow Never Knows which is truly Avant Garde to this day. All on one album.
Because they changed, and grew, so quickly it was an amazing journey we all got to witness unfold in real time.
A couple of thoughts on your comments:
Paul was a guitarist first and played bass because they needed one. He brought a lot of his guitar sensibilities to the bass and changed the way it was played . He was a pioneer of using the bass as a melodic instrument instead of just part of the rhythm section.
Prior to their final concert in San Francisco no one used monitors on stage. Their crowds were so loud that they pretty much invented the idea of using monitors -- speakers pointed back at the band -- so they could hear each other. The fact that they could play like this without monitors is a tribute to their musicianship. The three out front could only hear Ringo.
You are spot-on about their popularity being tied to their uniqueness as well as their talent.
Paul is so wired up on T&S in Manchester. They personified the basic joy and excitement of performing like no other. Even stoic George lets out an impromptu Woooo at 2:18.
Lennon once said he never thought of singing anything beyond "Yeah, yeah, yeah" until he heard Bob Dylan. That was the catalyst for them... and everyone else around that time.
Allegedly when John Lennon met Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan told John that he loved their music but they don't say anything. Presumably shortly afterwards John Lennon wrote Nowhere Man.
I remember music I heard beginning when I was two-years-old.
These early songs may sound dated now, but when they came on the scene this was a new fresh sound that no-one had heard before.
The second version of Twist and Shout was from the Washington Coliseum concert in Feb 1964. It was broadcast by closed circuit TV to a bunch of theaters in America, and I watched it live in a theatre in Los Angeles at the age of 11. This looks like it was colorized, because we saw it in black and white. They had to move the drum stand every few songs because the audience was in the round. It was funny. And they'd carry their mikes with them as they moved from one side of the boxing arena to the next. LOL. But they kept smiling, talking, and playing no matter what. Everyone was throwing jelly beans at them because George said he liked them. They all of them said it was like projectiles hitting them from every direction. And yes, Paul made the bass sexy. As for why they were so special - you have to go to UA-cam and listen to their interviews with the press in '64 and '65. They were sassy, irreverent, funny, outspoken. Trust me, NO ONE talked like that back then. They were a gigantic breath of fresh air.
Ringo was a self-taught drummer who was left-handed but learned to play drums right-handed (in some interviews, he calls himself ambidextrous). He was strongly influenced by early rock and blues drummers like D.J. Fontana, so he concentrated on keeping the beat and throwing in interesting drum fills, instead of playing technically correct solos. Initially, he was maligned by a lot of fans and even some musicians (mainly the older jazz/big band types) who misunderstood his simple style, but he gradually won respect over time and is now considered one of the top drummers of his era. Because of his left-handed approach to right-handed drumming, some of his fills on songs like She Said She Said and Strawberry Fields Forever are almost unplayable for most right-handed drummers. Most right-handers automatically start a drum fill with their right hand, whereas Ringo automatically started with his left hand, which made for some very unique hard-to-duplicate fills.
Remember back then you there was no internet the only time you could see a band Live was in person or on TV rarely they're also was no cable they were basically three television networks or channels and that was it
The black and white video was filmed in DC in early 1964 at about the same time as Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali ) winning the world heavyweight title against Sonny Liston. The Beatles and Ali were the new avatars of the 60's cultural shift whose reverberations are still felt today.
From 8 to 18 my musical taste was shaped primarily by my older brother and my mother: Dylan, the Stones, and the Beatles from my brother; Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach from my mother.
Beatles A-Z dude. They are the most eclectic and brilliant act of all time. Four guys and a phenomenal producer. Have fun exploring!
You're just telling me that you love the more musically impressive of the old pieces, as opposed to the purely popular ones. Same for me and i grew up with my dad playing the lot of it on vinyl. Songs like A Day In The Life stood out. Or Battle of Evermore by Zep, which isn't one people mention too often.
You'll notice that besides the decibel level of screaming, they had no stage monitors! But they were tight and in tune vocally. Many people commented on Ringo's rock- solid tempos.
I love Twist and Shout its one of my favorites
She Loves You was written by Paul & John at Paul’s council house. They played to his Dad who said couldn’t they sing ‘yes yes’ instead of yeah yeah
I recently saw that there are compilations online of the top songs month by month per decade (50s, 60s, etc.). Listening to that, you can get a pretty good sense of how pop music sounded pre-Beatles (and Beach Boys) versus after they both came on the airwaves (1964). The compilations don't play the songs entirely, so it's a pretty good short-hand way to hear how the music changed. You could even do a reaction to one of these.
I had the experience of seeing them at the Hollywood Bowl, seats up front, and it was definitely hard to hear them over the screaming. I was only nine…
They adopted the suits and neat haircuts for mainstream acceptance. Even so, at the time they were considered to have long hair with their “mop top” styles. When the Stones came along they became the anti-Beatles. Long messier hair. Casual clothes. And the promoters for both bands pushed that comparison. Everyone was in the Beatles or Stones camp. It helped both bands become even more famous.
True. And young Beatles in Hamburg and post Hamburg northwest England were far harder and tougher looking than Stones could dream of being
The photographer Astrid Kirchherr gave them their haircuts in November 1961, two years before their final breakthrough. Kirchherr had previously cut this hairstyle to her boyfriend, the Pre- Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe (who died in 1962), and Lennon and McCartney did the same (perhaps out of sympathy for Kirchherr). It was therefore not planned, but rather coincidental.
The Beatles themselves didn't adopt the suits on their own, THAT was their manager Brian Epstein, who put them in suits, which the Beatles, especially John, did NOT want to do. But Epstein emphasized that it was important to be in suits if they wanted to go further, get a recording contract, etc. As far as "neat haircuts" go, it's funny because the adults, including my parents, especially my Dad, did NOT think that their hair was "NEAT" To them and the rest of the adults, it was shocking, unkept, too long, NO MALE in the U.S, no matter WHAT their age, was wearing their hair like THAT. During the Ed Sullivan show my Dad kept complaining about their hair..."They look like GiRLS with that hair, I can't even see their eyes, it looks messy, they need a haircut." Boys in high school could NOT show up in school with a Beatle cut. They were sent home. I am SO GLAD I was NOT a boy then, because my Dad would have NEVER let me get a Beatle haircut! NO WAY!!
It's SO funny now, especially when you look at them in 1964-66 and look at a lot of groups now, or in the recent past, some half naked, the punk look, etc. Compared to THOSE groups the Beatles looked like businessmen. I remember my mom, in 1969 when she first saw a picture of the Beatles when John had his hair down to his shoulders and a full beard, and the rest of them had much longer hair, and moustaches, said to me "WHAT happened to the Beatles, they USED to look SO CLEAN CUT!!" I said to her, "Mom, that is NOT what you and Dad said the night of the Ed Sullivan Show!" She just looked at me and didn't say a word. It was ALL relative!
I heard Ringo say that he worked things out by the way the other 3 were moving about on stage. and by the way they bobbed d around or shook their ass lol. You were right. Ringo could not hear a thing
Paul took a lot from R& B and loved Little Richard. When they opened for him in the UK he worked with Richard to learn how to do some of his yells.
I have heard that Ringo could not hear the band so he watched how they moved and reacted to the music and he was so familiar with the songs that he could follow along.
Had to laugh at the police officer at the end of the first clip walking down the aisle with his fingers stuck in his ears !!! The head shake and " WOOOO " is from Little Richard whom they met in Hamburg during their early days in the clubs.
Ringo SLAMMIN' in that B&W version!
This is very intelligent and thoughtful analysis. Keep up the great work.
The on-stage speakers are monitors so they can hear themselves and each other, but one of the reasons they stopped touring was their inability to hear themselves and the feeling that no one was really their for their music.
It's good to see you checking out their early work and be able to appreciate their evolution in such a relatively short time. Brian Epsten cleaned the boys up and put them in suits. He knew how to package and promote them. They were victims of the technology - they have so few amps on stage they could never be louder than the audience. "Beatlemania" was not the first - women screamed and swooned over Elvis, Frank Sinatra and even silent film star Rudolph Valentino.
Yes the world was not ready for the magnitude of their fame technically. They were the first to play stadiums because of the mass numbers showing up to concerts....would have caused a large scale riot if they stayed smaller venues. the girls didn't care if they couldn't hear them...all they wanted to do was see them and scream like hell hahaha.
@@thomastimlin1724 ABSOLUTELY, and I was ONE of those girls. WE had been listening to their records over and over again and when they did their first U.S. tour in 1964, we just wanted to SEE them. We girls were already enthralled with them because of their look, their humor, their wit, their intelligence, their ACCENTS (those of us here in the U.S.), their charm and of course their MUSIC which was what struck us in the first place! I saw them in concert in Cleveland in 1964 when I was 17 and again in 1966 when I was 19....the didn't come here in 1965 because our Mayor BANNED them after the 1964 concert.
Yes girls (not adult women) screamed and swooned over Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Rudolph Valentino, but it was not on the SCALE that Beatlemania was in 1964 particularly, as well as 1965 and '66. I LIVED through it! WHAT other Rock Band made the FRONT PAGE HEADLINES across America, the day the Beatles landed at JFK airport on Feb. 7, 1964...their first trip here to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9th and 2 days later on Feb. 11th at the Washington D.C. Coliseum? NO other band!! One newspaper headline simply said in BIG LETTERS... "THEY"RE HERE!!" They were in the newspapers EVERY DAY that first year and often through 1966. I KNOW because every day I went through are two newspapers we had in Cleveland, and cut out ANYTHING I saw about them. By the time they broke up, I had a HUGE box FULL of those news clippings. NO OTHER rock band garnered that much news and articles almost daily, especially in 1964. It was UNBELIEVABLE. When I look at the old footage now from when I was a teenager during "Beatlemania" I STILL marvel at the crowds. In Australia there were over a 100,000 people that turned out to see them just drive in. Watch RON HOWARDS documentary on the BEATLES TOURING YEARS, called "EIGHT DAYS A WEEK: THE TOURING YEARS" It covers 1962 to 1966 and will SHOW you the enormous crowds and just how BIG they were. I am 75 now and I still haven't seen ANY ONE ARTIST come CLOSE to what we saw with the Beatles, and what we lived through. Something like that will NEVER happen again.
@@patticrichton1135 I was there at that time as well. I am just saying that other stars had had the same effect on girls over the years. The fact that the largest segment of the population in '64 was women between the ages of 14 and 21, and the mass media of the times amplified Beatlemania.
In the early days they were writing songs on contract with record companies. They got huge and famous and they bought their own studio Abbey Road.
2:00 You are absolutely correct. Ringo could not hear the other members of the Beatles when they were playing in a concert because of the screaming. He said once in an interview he based his drumming on watching the physical movements of the Beatles from behind.
Early Beatles always makes me happy and kicks off a wish for activity like dancing and cleaning the house
John Lennon's voice is really tearing the house down. He gave his guts out. Ringo was the glue who keep it all together
I agree with the suggestion below to check out the live version of Long Tall Sally and there are actually a couple of them but I would also check out the studio cut too because it absolutely just blazes. I feel you are one step away barely from understanding why this stuff sounded so new and communicated so much energy even to me as a kid when this came out when I was in infant. It wasn't till I was in grade school or even Junior High that I was able to blast this stuff and really rock out to it. It has so much energy but it's not as simple as you think. They're doing all kinds of complicated stuff musically but that was the huge news story at the time. The critics were saying oh my God they're using aeolian cadences and this and that and the other and you talk to The Beatles and they're like we have no idea what you're talking about man. We never learned to read music. They were just really gifted in that direction and so it's not like they were a simple band and turned into a gifted band, they were a gifted band that worked their asses off for several years before they really broke big. And it's on a continuum.
Could never score a Beatles ticket but I was able to attend an early Elvis concert in his Levis and leather days and the atmosphere was very much like this crowd. The concert hall was awash in estrogen and the screaming could peel paint off the walls, but it was great fun.
LEVI’S? No! Once an adult, Elvis Presley NEVER wore jeans, denim, etc. He hated them. He had to wear that kind of clothing or worse all the time growing up because that’s all his family could afford.
@@Sergio54321 OK...just an expression to differentiate from jumpsuits.
'BEATLEMANIA!!'
They had Cliff Richard and the Shadows... when this arrived to the USA , that's when the world was blown away and they got the Members of the British Empire medals
With "She LovesYou" there was something wrong with Paul's microphone as you can barely hear him singing the melody, instead you hear John singing the harmony part so you don't get to hear how the song really sounds. Thanks for doing these reactions. Your insights are very good🙂
Ringo has said that he had to watch their body movements to know what they were playing. It's wild. Motown made the bass cool in the States in the 60s. As Beatles fans got older and more sophisticated in their listening of music McCartney became more and more respected for his bass playing, especially after Rubber Soul. He is now considered one of the best bass players (certainly the most melodic bass player) in popular music today.
After Candlestick Park they decided not to tour anymore. Their last live audience was the public when they played on the roof of their recording studio and stopped traffic. Police were called but they were fans 😂
They also came from a working class background. And I think a lot of kids thought, if they can do it why not us. How many new bands sprang up after they came on the scene.
All of those girls are in their 70s now.