Beatles News
Every band has a unique story behind their name, and the Beatles are no exception. Before they became the iconic rock and roll sensation we know today, they were just a group of musicians striving for success. Just like any other band, the Beatles also tried to find the perfect name for their act.
One theory surrounding the origin of the band’s name takes us back to a moment in their early days, when Stuart Sutcliffe, a close friend of John Lennon from their art school days, entered the picture. Stuart, who had recently sold one of his paintings and acquired a bass guitar with the proceeds, became a member of the act in January 1960.
It was during this time that Sutcliffe proposed changing the band’s name to ‘Beatals,’ drawing inspiration from his admiration for Buddy Holly and the Crickets. While ‘Beatals’ was a step in the right direction, it wasn’t the final iteration of their name.
Source: Bihter Sevinc/rockcelebrities.net
We have more than covered the Beatles’ vast catalog, including their top hits and their deep cuts. While it’s their music that ultimately made them the legends we know them as today, there were many aspects to their monumental rise to fame that cannot be overlooked–namely, their movies.
While their music got people grooving, their movies gave fans access to who they were as people. The Fab Four were goofy, buoyant, and jokesters. Each of their feature films helped to highlight that fact.
In the list below, we’re looking at the four main feature films from the Beatles’ career. We’ve ranked them from worst to best, taking into account their status in the fandom and their critical reception. See what movie we placed at No. 1 below.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
“Carnival of Light” is one Beatles song that’s unlikely to see the light of day. Recorded on January 5, 1967, during the band’s sessions for “Penny Lane”—initially intended for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band—the 14-minute, avant-garde “Carnival of Light” was commissioned for The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave. The event was held at the Roundhouse Theatre in London from January 28 through February 4, 1967.
An early progenitor of noise rock, and one of the more experimental pieces by the Beatles, “Carnival of Light” was written by McCartney and recorded by the Beatles at Abbey Road Studios. Filled with gargled sounds and vocals, including random bursts of Are you all right? and Barcelona, the track is pressed by heavy organs, echos, and distorted guitars.
“I said all I want you to do is just wander around all the stuff, bang it, shout, play it, it doesn’t need to make any sense,” said McCartney of his instructions to the band while recording the song. “Hit a drum, then wander on to the piano, hit a few notes. Just wander around. So that’s what we did and then put a bit of an echo on it. It’s very free.”
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
We take a historical look into times when the record industry gave birth to the most expensive albums ever. Will we ever see recording budgets like these again?
As online audience retention has become the new metric for success in entertainment, recording budgets these days are only a fraction of what they once were.
We’re taking a look back at some of the extravagant album productions of all time and uncovering some of the reasons the recording process took so long.
Terms like “Suffering for your art” and “Labour of love” do come to mind, but we’ll let you decide whether these gargantuan recording budgets were justified or not.
5. The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Even though The Beatles didn’t live the most exulted lifestyles during recording when compared with their modern pop equivalents, Sgt Pepper’s was still an indulgent production in time and money.
The Fab Four and George Martin used over 700 hours of studio time to create what is commonly referred to as a masterpiece of recorded music.
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The Beatles were extremely protective of their snacks, but they often ate others' food. Engineers took to hiding their food from the band,
The Beatles stocked up on snacks in the studio. According to Beatles audio engineer Geoff Emerick, the band members were very protective of their food. If anyone touched their snacks, they exploded with frustration. This trait didn’t stop them from taking other people’s food, though.
According to Emerick, The Beatles didn’t want anyone eating their snacks. They didn’t see a problem with eating other people’s food, though.
“Food was always very proprietary among The Beatles,” Emerick wrote in his book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles. “Mal [Evans] would get everybody his own thing, and there was no sharing, no eating family style; no one was allowed to try anyone else’s food. That principle applied to us, too — we knew never to help ourselves to any snacks they laid out in the studio. But in their minds, the reverse was not true: anything they found in the control room was fair game as far as The Beatles were concerned.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
A Patek Philippe watch given to John Lennon by his wife Yoko Ono shortly before his assassination in 1980 has been discovered in Geneva, resurfacing after having disappeared for years.
The former Beatle’s timepiece is currently in possession of lawyers for an Italian watch collector who bought it from a now-defunct German auction house, according to official legal documents from a Geneva court. Ono had given Lennon the watch for his 40th birthday, and a former driver for the Japanese artist is suspected to have stolen the timepiece long ago.
Source: Andy Hoffman/bloomberg.com
Before Jimmy Buffett died last week at 76, he completed a new album called Equal Strain on All Parts, which will be released November 3rd. Its lead single is “Bubbles Up,” a song that Buffett’s collaborator Paul McCartney said is “probably the best” he’d ever sounded.
McCartney — who performs on an upcoming Equal Strain on All Parts single called “My Gummie Just Kicked In” — remembered the Margaritaville founder in a tribute post on Instagram earlier this week, reflecting on the first time he listened to the album and being taken aback by “Bubbles Up.” The tune’s title references how sailors can avoid drowning in a capsized boat by following the “bubbles up” to the water’s surface.
Source: Abby Jones Follow/consequence.net
Paul McCartney is no stranger to the Grammys, as he’s won plenty of trophies as a member of more than one band and on his own. The superstar has already collected 18 trophies and earned 81 nominations throughout his years as a music industry titan. He ranks as among the most successful artists in the history of the ceremony, and he certainly isn’t done being nominated.
This year, McCartney has a handful of tracks that are eligible for Grammy nominations, and it’s likely that they’ll all be submitted for consideration. One in particular stands out among his handful of other options, as it may lead the star to a category he’s never been nominated in before, should the tune earn the love and respect of voters.
In late March of this year, electronic producer and DJ Kygo released a new single titled “Say Say Say.” The tune credits both Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, as it’s essentially a remix of the original single from the two powerhouses that was released decades prior. The track wasn’t marketed as a remix, though, but rather as a cover, of sorts, with the singers involved.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
John Lennon's son, Sean Ono Lennon, first saw The Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine' on television years after its debut. The movie seems to have helped him reach a major epiphany.
John Lennon‘s son, Sean Ono Lennon, first saw The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine on television years after its debut. The movie seems to have helped him reach a major epiphany about his father. Subsequently, the film influenced a lot of pop culture, including a television special co-starring David Bowie.
The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine came out in 1968. Sean wasn’t born until 1975. The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. During the interview, John discussed Sean. “Beatles was never mentioned to him,” he said. “There was no reason to.
“We never played Beatles records — unlike the story that went around that I was sittin’ in the kitchen for five years playin’ Beatles records like some kind of Howard Hughes,” he continued. “Once he was over at a friend’s and Yellow Submarine was on television, and he came running over saying, ‘Daddy, were you a Beatle?'” Notably, John didn’t voice himself in the film and only appeared in a brief live-action skit at the end of the picture.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
He’s regarded as one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll artists of all time. As a solo performer, he would have earned this acclaim. But as one of the founding members of the Beatles and one of its principal songwriters, John Lennon remains one for the ages. But the Liverpool-born artist didn’t just save his talents for himself and his Fab Four compatriots. No, he spread the love. Here, we dive into a triumvirate of songs Lennon helped pen for other big-name artists.
1. “Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elga,” Harry Nilsson
Written by John Lennon, Harry Nilsson
Lennon produced American singer Harry Nilsson’s 1974 album, Pussy Cats. The work came during Lennon’s time split from wife Yoko Ono and it was inspired by Lennon and Nilsson’s at the time bad boy image, when they were known for being boisterous and often under the influence. In fact, the album cover for the record includes an inside joke, with the letters “D” and “S” beside a rug under a table, implying “drugs under the table.” But while Lennon produced the album, first in L.A. and then in New York, he only co-wrote one song, “Mucho Mungo/Mt. Elga,” on which Nilsson sings,
Source: Jacob Uitti/americansongwriter.com
