A guy I knew told me a story about going to a music store the day some Beatles album came out. Pretty sure it was Sgt. Peppers. He said they didn't even let anyone in the store. There was just a guy at the door who asked "Mono or stereo?"
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
All Things Must Beat. Share Anything Beatles!!
- Thread starter Rumble Thunder
- Start date
Ah, Mike, you were just a child "at the time".
I was "a man of 12" and had already learned a few guitar chords from Elvis, Johnny Cash and The Ventures! But The Beatles' music was even more exciting, and I could play along a bit by the time they were on Ed Sullivan!But, I didn't want the distraction, so I just sang along, instead. Have you seen "That Thing You Do" where the band's on TV and the drummer's mom is telling everyone at home to quiet down? Well, that was me, back in '64, telling my sister, mom & dad to "hush" when they weren't making a sound! I don't remember ever hearing audience noise, certainly not that much, on TV before. It was a kinder, gentler, more polite time up until then.
Same at the movie theater in '64 for "A Hard Day's Night"!!! I considered leaving at first 'cause the girls were all screaming at the screen! I yelled, "Shut up! Shut up!" to those around me, but they couldn't hear me.
I had to come back every weekend for as long as it stayed (2-3 weeks?) to try to hear the songs, ... and the dialog. Screaming! Accents! Wacky characters! I didn't understand half the movie until it came out on videocassette decades later!!Yes, the excitement of '64 was in stark contrast to the national mourning of '63 for JFK's assassination and Oswald's televised murder. It was doubly depressing for a young astronaut wannabe to think that the exciting space program might also die with them. School counselors kept asking what I wanted to be when I grew up and, since I was good at math, they liked it when I said, "Astronaut". So, I was already turning to music when The Beatles happened to the U.S.
Yeah, I was primed, if not ready. The cheap-o Sears Silvertone acoustic guitar, with the missing G string, was not the most fun. But the Mel Bay Guitar Book that came with it, along with this new British music, was enough to keep up my interest. If only I could find out where to get a replacement guitar string! In '63 the only music store in town had nothing but marching band instruments. They offered to order me a whole complete set of strings for more money than I'd ever seen at one time, but no single strings. And neither they, nor I, had any idea what "size" strings I needed, even if I managed to save up enough for a set. "No Returns On Special Orders."
Oh, well. I imagined what my guitar was supposed to sound like.By mid '64 the music store had a couple of guitars! But they were $150 to $200 and I refused to even hold the cheapest one. Thought sure I'd scratch or break it and I couldn't handle the pressure. Told my mom about them and she smiled. (sigh) Just kept on keeping on with what I'd got. Late '64, getting into the holiday season, they got some electric guitars and small amps!! Wow! The cheapest thing they had was a Kawaii (Tiesco?) electric with little (5 watt?) Alamo amp for $99. I got up the nerve to hold the guitar, but not plug it in. They hadn't even tuned it! So I did. OMG! Chords sounded so great when they had a G string! But, all I could do was dream. Dream, dream, dream. Dre-ea-am. But, come Christmas morning '64, I was suddenly ecstatic! Look out, Beatles! Here I come!
.
Last edited:
Ah, Mike, you we're just a child "at the time".
But, I didn't want the distraction, so I just sang along, instead. Have you seen "That Thing You Do" where the band's on TV and the drummer's mom is telling everyone at home to quiet down? Well, that was me, back in '64, telling my sister, mom & dad to "hush" when they weren't making a sound! I don't remember ever hearing audience noise, certainly not that much, on TV before. It was a kinder, gentler, more polite time up until then.
Same at the movie theater in '64 for "A Hard Day's Night"!!! I considered leaving at first 'cause the girls were all screaming at the screen! I yelled, "Shut up! Shut up!" to those around me, but they couldn't hear me.
Yes, the excitement of '64 was in stark contrast to the national mourning of '63 for JFK's assassination and Oswald's televised murder. It was doubly depressing for a young astronaut wannabe to think that the exciting space program might also die with them. School counselors kept asking what I wanted to be when I grew up and, since I was good at math, they liked it when I said, "Astronaut". So, I was already turning to music when The Beatles happened to the U.S.
Yeah, I was primed, if not ready. The cheap-o Sears Silvertone acoustic guitar, with the missing G string, was not the most fun. But the Mel Bay Guitar Book that came with it, along with this new British music, was enough to keep up my interest. If only I could find out where to get a replacement guitar string! In '63 the only music store in town had nothing but marching band instruments. They offered to order me a whole complete set of strings for more money than I'd ever seen at one time, but no single strings. And neither they, nor I, had any idea what "size" strings I needed, even if I managed to save up enough for a set. "No Returns On Special Orders."
By mid '64 the music store had a couple of guitars! But they were $150 to $200 and I refused to even hold the cheapest one. Thought sure I'd scratch or break it and I couldn't handle the pressure. Told my mom about them and she smiled. (sigh) Just kept on keeping on with what I'd got. Late '64, getting into the holiday season, they got some electric guitars and small amps!! Wow! The cheapest thing they had was a Kawaii (Tiesco?) electric with little (5 watt?) Alamo amp for $99. I got up the nerve to hold the guitar, but not plug it in. They hadn't even tuned it! So I did. OMG! Chords sounded so great when they had a G string! But, all I could do was dream. Dream, dream, dream. Dre-ea-am. But, come Christmas morning '64, I was suddenly ecstatic! Look out, Beatles! Here I come!
Great thread G-Dog! You know, in the back of my mind as I was writing my thread I too was thinking of the JFK assassination and the impact it had on everybody I knew. I can still remember where I was and what I was doing when word came through. I remember it all but the one thing I remember most was getting off the bus on that cloudy day and noticing how bare the trees looked. They'd been bare for weeks and were just as bare when I went to school that Friday morning. But they and everything else suddenly looked different.
What a difference 2/12 months can make. When the Beatles hit the excitement in the air was contagious and we'll never see anything like that again. It's like we all came alive again overnight. One of my favorite memories was the day after the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. Got to school that morning and that place was absolutely buzzing. Kids were running around screaming and even the teachers were all grins that morning.
And you know what? The trees were still bare but they didn't look as bare as before.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mike. I thought, at the time, that nothing like The Beatles had ever happened before them, either. When my parents, aunts & uncles & grandmaws talked about the big hit singers of their day I assured them that this was different! Not until many years later did I see newsreel footage & photos of some the same idol worship for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, even the Martin & Lewis comedy team! I couldn't believe it! Maybe my elders weren't quite so square, after all!
Then, when my kids were growing up with MTV and the likes of The Bay Silly Rollers (sic), Debby Gibson, Madonna, etc. I wondered if my idols would fade and theirs last longer. These days, visiting my grandchildren, my kids laugh at their teen idols, but they all love anything Beatles! Yes! I raised 'em right!
Even my 26-year-old granddaughter is more of a Beatles fan than any other "musical act", even in the broadest possible sense. And my other kids are making sure to include The Beatles in their children's music listening, especially my high school music teacher/orchestra director son!Mike, we were very privileged, blessed, lucky and everything else to have lived it then and to have it live with us for so long!!! Now, with the Beatles 50th anniversaries winding up, I'm looking forward to each ex-Beatle's 50th anniversaries! Then there'll be the 60th anniversaries!!!
I hope it goes on for all my grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's lives! Coo coo ca choo!
.
I'd love to add that I found my scratch-free copy of Sgt Pepper's complete with all the stuff that came inside it, on the side of the road with the trash, along with a stack of Steely Dan and Layla by you-know-who. Still have Peppers and Layla. Anyway, for a couple years a friend of mine who was a single mother was staying with me with her kids, and I had the honor of being the first to play the Beatles for one of her daughters. It was a fun moment, especially since I never had kids of my own.
I was so spoiled, PW. My mom worked in a record store! That's how I got all the Capitol Beatles records as soon as they were released in the States. And, since we had a stereo record player, we always got the stereo version. I forget which one(s) of the stereo mixes put instruments in one side and voices in the other! Weird! Why would anyone do that?
But, it seems, The Beatles never tuned to the exact same note for any 2 songs! One summer I used all my grass cutting money to buy a stereo system with variable pitch turntable! Then my repertoire really took off!
Anybody else ever run into the tuning chaos that is The Beatles?
.
Man, I love this story!!!
What a killer Sunday night to be ten years old and watch the Beatles with the Fam. 27" was pretty big screen-- did you guys get good reception? Rabbit ears ?
I watched the video and a couple things stood out to me. It seems like John's mic was turned way low or didn't work? I could barely hear him but the way he was rocking it you couldn't tell there was a sound issue.
They really zoomed in on Ringo quite a bit. George looked a little nervous at times. Paul nailed it. They definitely had an extraordinary charisma.
It would be wild to go school the next day and everybody's buzzing abou the Beatles. Did the teachers speak of them or acknowledge the performance?
The hair! Both of my boys( 2 & 6) have Beatle haircuts! They look awesome even though my wife wants to cut it
Thanks for sharing your story, I really enjoyed it!!
...the thing with George was that he had the flu at the time, and missed rehearsal...
What? No software is capable of playing the VCD any more?!? What if I have an old MS-DOS PC that still works (I think)?
Do you, at least, have a copy of the text file movie script from it somewhere? Shareable?
.
If you have a really old PC, it might work... but someone gave it to me as a gift several years ago, and I could never get it to go. No shareable file. I just have it as a keepsake.
I used to have a cassette of all the songs featuring George Harrison. It was like a completely different band.
He added a quirk to the formula.
That said, "She came in through the bathroom window" is a completely amazing song.
He added a quirk to the formula.
That said, "She came in through the bathroom window" is a completely amazing song.
When I discovered (many, many years ago) that the voices of the Beatles in the Yellow Submarine animated film were played by voice actors I was impressed by how close they were. However....
Paul was played by Geoffrey Hughes, an actor from a popular soap opera who later appeared in a popular sit-com.
Every time I watched Yellow Submarine my mind immediately processed the voice to:
Also Yellow Submarine related:
When my second-born was born I used to sing to her all the time. One of my favourites (and hers) was "Altogether Now."
A few years later I watched the film (VCR) with her, and she marvelled at the visuals, and the songs.
When the intro guitar strums of "Altogether Now" started she recognised the song immediately, leaped onto my lap and started rocking out, and singing along (she was 3-4). The smile on her face was heart melting. Still one of her favourite bands 25 years later.
Paul was played by Geoffrey Hughes, an actor from a popular soap opera who later appeared in a popular sit-com.
Every time I watched Yellow Submarine my mind immediately processed the voice to:
Also Yellow Submarine related:
When my second-born was born I used to sing to her all the time. One of my favourites (and hers) was "Altogether Now."
A few years later I watched the film (VCR) with her, and she marvelled at the visuals, and the songs.
When the intro guitar strums of "Altogether Now" started she recognised the song immediately, leaped onto my lap and started rocking out, and singing along (she was 3-4). The smile on her face was heart melting. Still one of her favourite bands 25 years later.
No worries, drama. I found Alun Owen's script of "A Hard Day's Night" on the web and linked it to the All Things Must Beat. Share Anything Beatles!! Wiki page linked in my signature. It's in the Resources section there.
Please, everyone, take a look and lemme know what you think of our Beatles Wiki. I'd appreciate receiving any ideas anyone may have for more links to this Wiki. As a Beatles fan and member of this thread, it's your Wiki! I'm just the curator, if you will.
Ta!
.
Man, I remember loving the sound of the guitars on that song too! It was just crazy and I later figured out that it was actually Lennon who had such an unconventional rhythmic style and tone. But that record is great and it could quite possibly be my favorite song. I usually like to listen to it about five times in a row to get my fix and it has to be played LOUD.
I didn't realize until years later was how much raw energy and attitude resides in that song. Sure there were rock songs before this one, but I personally can't recall one prior to this that had that rawness to it. I think that's one of the things that contributed to its success. The beginning alone was enough to tell us this was something very different. Slapped you right in the face.
Couldn't agree more about Lennon's rhythm playing. His playing on I Want To Hold Your Hand has so much attitude. Plays it like he's pissed off. I mean he is hitting that thing which added to that rawness. I play guitar as well and his rhythm parts aren't easy. Just when I think I've got the strumming patterns right I'll give it another listen and hear errors on my part. If you don't play those parts just right, there goes the feel of the song.
I, too, was fascinated with all their gear and the sounds they got from them, of course. I've only got 2 editions, so far, of Andy Babiuk's "Beatles Gear" book. But the only Beatles instrument I've got, again "so far", is the Epiphone John Lennon Signature EJ-160E guitar. See, I'm not obsessed!
I've read many places where it was actually John's mother that first taught him to strum banjo! And, even after getting a guitar and forming The Quarrymen, he tuned it banjo style and played banjo chords!! No wonder he liked the small, shortscale neck of the Ric Capri when he found it. You can really hear that banjo strum on "This Boy".
One of my favorite parts of the John-meets-Paul saga is that Paul showed John how to tune his guitar! Maybe he was still using banjo tuning? I trust that part was not in front of the other Quarrymen, when Paul "auditioned" by playing and singing (even all the correct words, by gum!) "20 Flight Rock", else John would probably never have let him in the group after being so upstaged.
Gear! Fab! Gear, fab!
.
Not to mention Elvis(and those in his wake) and later(unfortunately)the Bobby/Frankie brylcream crowd.Yeah, yeah, yeah, Mike. I thought, at the time, that nothing like The Beatles had ever happened before them, either. When my parents, aunts & uncles & grandmaws talked about the big hit singers of their day I assured them that this was different! Not until many years later did I see newsreel footage & photos of some the same idol worship for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, even the Martin & Lewis comedy team! I couldn't believe it! Maybe my elders weren't quite so square, after all!
Then, when my kids were growing up with MTV and the likes of The Bay Silly Rollers (sic), Debby Gibson, Madonna, etc. I wondered if my idols would fade and theirs last longer. These days, visiting my grandchildren, my kids laugh at their teen idols, but they all love anything Beatles! Yes! I raised 'em right!
Mike, we were very privileged, blessed, lucky and everything else to have lived it then and to have it live with us for so long!!! Now, with the Beatles 50th anniversaries winding up, I'm looking forward to each ex-Beatle's 50th anniversaries! Then there'll be the 60th anniversaries!!!
I hope it goes on for all my grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's lives! Coo coo ca choo!
.
I've often wondered how in the world they came up with some of the key changes within their songs. "Mr. Kite" just blows my mind in that respect in how they change the key within the verses. Lennon said he wrote the whole thing and if he did.....for a guy who didn't know music theory he definitely knew how to capture what he was after as far as chord changes. If I could go back in time and be a fly on the wall, that is one song I would have loved to witnessed the evolution of from start to finish as far as just the chord changes. Can't help but wonder how much of the chord structure in that song came from Lennon, McCartney and George Martin.
