Beatles News
It was sixty years ago today, on August 17, 1960, that the Beatles got together to play…their first live performance at the Indra Club in Hamburg’s red light district. The Fab Four in utero—Ringo Starr wouldn’t replace Pete Best as drummer until 1962—began what George Harrison would call their “apprenticeship” in a former striptease club on the Reeperbahn.
Historian Julia Sneeringer tours the “sinful” main street of the St. Pauli harbor district via contemporary tour guides and helps to explain what the Beatles were doing so far from the Liverpool of their childhoods.
“The Reeperbahn was (and still is) defined as a zone of pleasure, a place to consume an array of sensations and to ‘let loose’ anonymously without fear of community censure,” she writes. “As such, it became a harbinger of many trends that would hit the nation with such force in the late 1960s, such as more open sexuality or broader tolerance of interracial couples and homosexuality.”
Source: Matthew Wills/daily.jstor.org
In the first half of this year, only two bands sold at least one million album units: the Korean boy band BTS and a British foursome that has had three top ten albums, including a Billboard No. 1, in the last three years … even though they broke up 50 years ago.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles. They remain the one band with endless staying power and an audience insatiable for more, more, more. This year marks a half-century since the band parted ways – yet paperback writers continue cranking out book after book.
The eclectic roster for 2020 includes “The Beatles on Screen: From Pop Stars to Musicians,” “The Beatles: Sweden and Denmark 1963-1970 (Unseen Nordic Archives),” “John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Year Canada Was Cool,” “The Greatest Mystery of the Beatles: Critical Thinking on: Paul is Dead,” “The Beatles Finally Let It Be,” and “After Abbey Road: The Solo Hits of The Beatles.” (As well as a book tie-in to Peter Jackson’s rescheduled-to-2021 “The Beatles: Get Back” film, the approaching 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder promises another spate of books, such as James Patterson’s “The Last Days of John Lennon.”)
Source: ocregister.com
Sir Paul McCartney wouldn't want to have become famous in the age of social media.
The 78-year-old singer thinks there is a lot of "pressure" in making Instagram profiles seem interesting and though he's happy to "dip in" now and again, he'd rather let his team run his online accounts so he can focus on making music.
He said: "I would not want to be trying to get famous now, with social media and stuff.
"Lots of people in my family do Instagram and I say, 'I can't believe you're doing this, because every time you post something you've got to think of something clever to say.' It's the worst pressure on earth. Because all you're doing is taking a picture of your breakfast and you've got to say, 'Pancakes are not just for Shrove Tuesday.' For me that is not fun.
Source: perthnow.com.au
Sir Paul McCartney, who was a member of The Beatles, has spoken candidly about his 60-year career on stage and touched on his life living in the limelight. The 78-year-old legendary musician has addressed the pressures of navigating fame, the music industry and the impact on his mental health.
The Beatles singer recently reflected on an unexpected moment he shared with pop singer Lady Gaga.
Paul was working alongside the Bad Romance hitmaker, who he claimed was the first artist to ever talk to him about "self-loathing" when it came to writing new music.
The Live and Let Die singer admitted there have been moments in his career where he felt his songs could be considered "terrible" but added: "It's not a road I want to go down."
Source: Michelle Marshall/express.co.uk
John gave a wide-ranging interview to Rolling Stone’s Jann S. Wenner in 1971. In it, John discussed everything from Bob Dylan to Roman Catholicism to Frank Zappa. In addition, John discussed fans’ tendency to read a lot into the Beatles’ work.
“I was having a laugh because there’d been so much gobbledegook about [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band], play it backwards and you stand on your head and all that,” John replied. “Even now, I just saw Mel Torme on TV the other day saying that ‘Lucy [in the Sky with Diamonds]’ was written to promote drugs and so was ‘[With a] Little Help from My Friends’ and none of them were at all – ‘[With a] Little Help from My Friends’ only says get high in it, it’s really about a little help from my friends, it’s a sincere message.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney had previously advised Michael Jackson to invest his money in music publishing, but that would later come back to haunt the former Beatle On August 14, 1985, something extraordinary happened in the world of music publishing. The event sent shock waves through the entertainment industry and ended the professional and personal relationship between two music icons, who had proved to be a great tag-team up to that point. The story we're talking about involves Michael Jackson and Sir Paul McCartney and how 35 years ago, the former Beatle lost the rights and royalties to his own music. Or to put it another way, the King of Pop shrewdly pipped Macca to the post by winning a multi-million dollar bidding war. But there's a hint of irony to this saga, considering McCartney had a hand in his own undoing and would later come to regret his actions.
Source: meaww.com
In the movie, Meeting The Beatles in India, award-winning Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman tells the story of how, at age 23, he met the world's most famous band and their entourage at the ashram. He'd traveled there on his own spiritual quest following a painful romantic breakup.
While at the ashram, Saltzman took many now-famous photos of The Beatles, interacted with the band members, and watched them write some of the now-classic songs they composed during the trip. Saltzman is responsible for the iconic group photo taken in Rishikesh that featured the band, their wives and girlfriends, The Beach Boys' Mike Love, Donovan, Mia Farrow and others.
Source: abcnewsradioonline.com
I can rarely say that a 55-year old album is still on my heavy music rotation to this day.
The Beatles’ sixth album “Rubber Soul” was released on December 3, 1965.
The album title is derived from the term “plastic soul,” a colloquialism for un-authentic soul music, with the Beatles showing humility and admiration towards the African American artists who defined the soul genre.
Being the first album free of concert, radio or film commitments, this album began a creative renaissance for the band, allowing them to focus more on production rather than stage performing.
Combining the musical talents of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the Beatles have been widely regarded as the greatest band of all-time.
They have become my favorite musical group not only because of their status, but also because of the impact they have had on the music industry that is still seen today.
Source: mcccagora.com
During a conversation with GQ Magazine, Paul McCartney talked about John Lennon, The Beatles, his guitar collection, and more.
When asked, "You've said in the past that you've occasionally dreamed about John Lennon. When was the last time?", the musician replied:
"I don't keep count, really, but it was probably about a month ago. The thing is: if you're a performer - or me as a performer, I find that dreams are often related to a gig or getting ready for a gig or being in a recording studio and I think a lot of performers are like that.
"So, often, John or George will be in there. And the good thing is you don't really think anything of it, it's just normal, like, 'Oh, yeah?' and you're just chatting away, talking about what we're going to do, as in making a record or something.
"So he's often there, I'm glad to say... And it's normally very pleasant, you know? I love those boys."
Source: ultimate-guitar.com
On Monday, August 17, 2020, the music city of Hamburg will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best appearing live on stage as “The Beatles”. Due to the Covid-19 situation, the event will be solely available online – streamed directly from the Indra Club, the original venue in St Pauli.
As part of the two-hour program, the Fab Four will be honored with plenty of live music, stories about their legendary time in Hamburg as well as talks with renowned experts and former companions. Under the tagline “Stream & Shout”, the live show will be aired from 3:00pm (EST) here. Moreover, celebrating the occasion, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg will be streaming a Beatles homage by jazz pianist Julia Hülsmann directly from its Grand Hall, starting at 2:00pm (EST).
Source: newjerseystage.com
