The Beatles Boxed Set (31 page)

The Beatles taking a break with Martin at
EMI Studios

            But
the band played well enough and Paul had the puppy-dog eyes of a teen idol. A
producer would typically follow the industry standard by rebuilding the group
with its bassist out in the front and the others behind him. But Martin
resisted the urge, knowing that the balance of Paul and John were at the
group’s core.

           
Love
Me Do
was released on October 5, 1962. The band’s fans in the north were
only too happy to buy the record, thus pushing the single into the
New
Musical Express
’s Top 20, which was enough to secure the group a few radio
and TV shows. The single peaked at number 17 on the
Record Retailer
chart. The Beatles’ television debut came later in October with a live
performance on
People and Places
.

            The
band returned to Hamburg for their final stint, thus preventing them from
promoting
Love Me Do
. But slowly a buzz was building, and when they
appeared on a live radio show in November, the announcer barely finished the
introductions when it was drowned out by the studio audience.

            Tony
Barrow, who became the Beatles’ chief publicist, recalled, “The audience went
wild. This was after
Love Me Do
had risen only as far as seventeen. But
the kids had already figured out the names of these guys.”

            Taking
advantage of their increasing popularity, the boys returned to EMI at Abbey
Road to record
Please Please Me
as a follow-up to their first single. Martin
had already heard the song in September and rejected it when John played it
slowly, thinking that the song “badly needed pepping up.” He took the song to
Paul and told him to sharpen it a bit. When it was finished, it was radically
altered and took 18 takes to record it to Martin’s preference. When the Beatles
finished playing it, Martin beamed and told them, “Congratulations, boys.
You’ve just made your first number one.”

            By
1963, the Beatles agreed that all of them would contribute vocals to their
albums, even Ringo who had a restricted vocal range, in an attempt to establish
their vocal personalities. Paul or John would sometimes write the lyrics and
melody especially for Ringo, as they did for
Yellow Submarine
from the
Revolver
album and
With Little Help from My Friends
from the album
Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
These melodies were created to fit
Ringo’s baritone vocal range. His backing vocals could be heard from
Carry
That Weight
and
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill.

            The
single
Please Please Me
climbed the British charts and indeed became the
Beatles’ first number one, though it is the common belief that it never reached
number one in Britain. In February 1963, the song became a chart topper on the
singles chart compiled by the
New Musical Express
and the
Melody
Maker
where the single was number one for two weeks. But on the
Record
Retailer
chart, the song was number two.

The single
Please Please Me
was
a success in the UK but not in the US until it was re-released there in January
1964

           
Please
Please Me
was the first Beatles single to be issued in the United States but
it failed to make an impact. When it was re-released on January 3, 1964, the
single reached number three on the US Hot 100.

            A
month after
Please Please Me
climbed the British charts, the Beatles
returned to Abbey Road for their first full-length album, which they rushed to
take advantage of the popularity of their
Please Please Me
single. On
February 11, the Beatles set up their gear in Studio Two and began blasting
through ten songs, most of which were covers that they’d been playing for
months.

            The
recording took less than 13 hours, including the front and flip sides of the
two preceding singles.

The Beatles were still regulars at the
Cavern, January 1963; in March, their debut album climbed the British charts
and dominated the top spot for 30 weeks

            The
Beatles’ debut album went into market in March 1963 and became number one on
the top four British charts where it remained for 30 weeks. The third single,
From
Me To You
, was released the following month and also became a chart topper,
initiating a run of which seventeen singles became British number one singles.

            The
Beatles’ fourth single,
She Loves You
, became a chart-topper in the UK
in 1963 and its “yeah, yeah, yeahs” signaled the arrival of Beatlemania.
Astoundingly, the single broke record for the fastest sales of any record in
the UK up to that time for selling 750,000 copies in just four weeks. It became
the group’s first single to sell a million copies and remained the
biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978.

            The
Beatles’ career was on the steep rise to success following their equally
successful album and singles. Their manager, Epstein, wanted to maximize their
commercial potential and encouraged each of them to adopt a professional
attitude to performing. He told them, “Look, if you really want to get in these
bigger places, you’re going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop
swearing, stop smoking.” John recalled, “We used to dress how we liked, on and
off stage. He’d tell us that jeans were not particularly smart and could we
possibly manage to wear proper trousers, but he didn’t want us suddenly looking
square. He’d let us have our own sense of individuality.”

            The
boys began wearing suits and styled their hair in mop-tops, a mid-length
hairstyle that Jurgen Vollmer began and the Beatles popularized. During a 1979
interview, Paul said, “We saw a guy in Hamburg whose hair we liked. John and I
were hitchhiking to Paris. We asked him [Vollmer] to cut our hair like he cut
his.” George also adopted the hairstyle and the Beatles also became known as
the “mop tops.”

            The
Beatles also began wearing suits to lend them the look of being professionals. In
their early years, they took to black suits, then later grey, Edwardian
collarless suits. These suits became the common wear for new bands after 1964.
The Beatles would partner their suits with what became known as Beatle boots,
ankle-length boots with pointed toes that Epstein discovered while browsing in
the London footwear company Anello & Davide. He commissioned four pairs for
the Beatles which they wore under drainpipe trousers.

            Ringo
was as much part of the Beatles as John, Paul and George were. As a drummer, it
became his mantra never to overshadow the music but to always work with the
song and the singer. On their performances, he was content to stay in the
background and provide the others with his steady backbeat.

            He
may look sad sometimes, but Ringo was a cheerful person, which carried him through
the tough times with the group when it was on the verge of breakup. In
interviews and in their movies, you could see Ringo’s wit and humor. He could
be funny as John but without the sarcasm. He was also a friendly and easy-going
person, and he was dubbed the lovable Beatle.

It
was easy to see why the Beatles became popular. It was not just because of
their music but because of their personalities as well. Male teenagers began
sporting mop tops, and new bands took to wearing suits. It was a time when the
Beatles’ popularity spread across the Atlantic and swept countries abroad.

            The
Beatles began touring the United Kingdom in the first half of 1963. They had a
four-week stint in February, followed by three-week tours in March and
May-June. They became more popular with each stint and the press also began
paying attention to them as the band’s name spread by word-of-mouth. And
wherever they were, the Beatles were followed by screaming fans. Their concerts
began to attract more fans, and some even followed their cars as they left the
scene.

            Beatlemania
had definitely arrived.

            It’s
hard to describe and analyze the root causes and social implications of
Beatlemania  but what was clear was the phenomenon’s suddenness and intensity. The
Beatles observed that the girls who went to their concerts would go berserk
when they appear onstage. They used to just dance to the music and cheer for
songs, but now they leaped and scream and howled. A lot of girls would faint when
they got a glimpse of the four lads in their suits and moptops.

Girls going mad for the Beatles

            The
newspapers began calling the phenomenon Beatlemania, a word that Andi Lothian,
a former Scottish music promoter, claimed to have coined during an interview
with a reporter at the Caird Hall Beatles concert on October 7, 1963. The
earliest printed use of the word was in
The Daily Mirror
on October 15,
1963.

            At
first the lads were awed by such a show of frenzied adulation. There would be
hundreds of girls waiting outside a theater for hours waiting to catch a
glimpse of their idols. At times, a large number of girls would run after a
speeding limousine carrying the Beatles. They would brave the rain and the cold
and the heat for John, Paul, George and Ringo.

            Ringo
could clearly remember one night when they performed at London’s Royal Albert
Hall. They were to partake in a two-part concert that included a live BBC radio
broadcast and sets by smaller stars. The throngs of shrieking fans were calling
out for the Beatles. And when the boys stepped out, they were hit by screams
the volume of a hurricane. Chris Hutchins, then the music editor for
Disc
magazine,
said, “That was really the birth of Beatlemania.”

            The
Beatles were thrilled as they performed, but when they saw the crowds lingering
outside, all of which were chanting their names and falling into fits of
hysteria, they could only gape in surprise. As it was impossible for them to go
outside without running the gauntlet of screaming fans, they stayed in the
dressing room for a while, talking with Hutchins. They initially planned to end
their evening at the Ad Lib club, which lately became their favorite hangout.
But the crowds outside continued to scream their name, and they realized that it
was better to stay out of sight.