The Beatles (band)/Trivia

• In 1966 John Lennon gave an ill-thought-out comment that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus now." He promptly apologized for it, but it had already been taken out of context by the press. John wasn't saying that the Beatles were more important than Jesus; but if you were the kind of "thick-headed disciple" who would burn Beatles albums over this, then the context -- his thoughts on the state of Christianity -- would not be much comfort. Still, in 2008, the Vatican admitted that he had a point.
• Artistic License: The cover of Help! features the Beatles supposedly spelling out 'HELP' in semaphore, but in actuality, they're spelling out 'NUJV'. This is because they realized that their intended message looked rather awkward in semaphore form, so they instead went for a gibberish message in order to get a more aesthetically pleasing image.
• Ascended Fanon: Apple Corps has more or less made "The White Album" an official subtitle to The Beatles.
• Author Existence Failure: The "new" Beatles songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", both of which were crafted from old, poor quality John Lennon recordings 15 years after Lennon's death. "Free as a Bird" was especially controversial because John got the verses, Paul and George got bridges one and two respectively, and the difference between John's vocal levels and the others' was noticeable.
• Breakthrough Hit: "Love Me Do" in their home country, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" worldwide.
• Creative Differences: And how. Let It Be is basically what happens when you take a band that is already fracturing due to this trope and put them on film -- even more fracturing.
• Creator Breakdown: John Lennon's songs, particularly in later years, tended to be more introspective and autobiographical in nature. Not that Paul McCartney or George Harrison were averse to this trope; in their last two albums especially, a lot of slightly bitter songs about the legal wranglings and friendship meltdowns going on around them can be heard.
  • Though they also averted this spectacularly at least once: "Here Comes The Sun" was born of one "just sick of everything" moment, but the song itself is going in the opposite direction of such feelings.
• Executive Meddling: Glyn Johns took the tapes of the "Get Back" sessions and produced the kind of mix which the Beatles envisioned. Then Allen Klein heard that mix and didn't like it, so he called in Phil Spector.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The "Fab Four", the "Fabs". During the Putting the Band Back Together era, fans often referred to Paul, George and Ringo by the Punny Name "The Threetles".
  • Also, "Macca" for Paul.
  • And their only double album is seldom known by its official name, The Beatles; even the Beatles themselves call it The White Album.
• Hey, It's That Voice!:
  • "Cinders and ashes!" said Thomas the Tank Engine, "Ringo Starr narrated our TV series!" "That's right, Thomas," replied the Fat Controller "And he's doing a sterling job of it. Though it might have strange for the parents."
  • Although not nearly as strange as growing up watching the show and later learning about the career of the guy who replaced Ringo.
• Hitless Hit Album:
  • Several of them. The reason for this is that for most of the band's career singles were not included on albums and album tracks weren't released as singles. With the Beatles, Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and The Beatles ("The White Album") did not feature any songs released as singles. Several tracks from these albums were later released as singles after the band broke up.
  • This was standard practice for most British pop albums of the period: hit singles were generally kept off of albums. This was opposite of American practice, and was part of the reason why early Beatles albums (up through Revolver) were recut for American release.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • The music videos are MIA, and a legal imbroglio prevents a Let It Be DVD release.
  • The Yellow Submarine DVD is rather conspicuous by its current absence from shop shelves.
    • And after it took years to show up there in the first place. Rights issues kept it from being released on VHS until 1987, and it was pulled about a year later, only being released again (on both VHS and DVD) in 1999. A re-release will finally come in 2012.
    • Help! suffered the same fate for a while. (but Apple's first DVD release came earlier in 2007)
  • Their only official live album, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, was never issued on CD.
  • There are many recordings that haven't been officially released but have been widely bootlegged. The Get Back sessions are popular, as well as recordings from their formative years (for example, their audition for Decca Records, including the songs not on Anthology 1).
• Meaningful Release Date: The remastered albums were released on 09/09/09. Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine...
• Missing Episode: The ever elusive "Carnival of Light" and "Now and Then". The 27 minute version of "Helter Skelter" may count as well.
  • Pretty much everything on the Anthology discs, prior to that collection's release.
• The Pete Best:
  • The Trope Namer was kicked out of the band when George Martin said that he'd sign them on with the proviso that they use a studio drummer on their recordings, because Pete wasn't cutting it. John, Paul, and George, however, had decided that they wanted this fellow they'd befriended and hung out with a lot in Hamburg and who filled in for Pete whenever he missed gigs named Ringo in the group... so Brian Epstein gave Pete the bad news. He later started his own band, only to retire from music and then eventually get back into it. There was also Stu Sutcliffe, a fellow art student of John's who was roped into playing the bass in spite of his lack of musicianship, but he left the band of his own volition in 1961 to live in Hamburg with Astrid Kirchherr and pursue painting... and tragically died less than a year later of a brain aneurysm.
  • Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths, Len Garry, Pete Shotton, and Rod Davis were, along with John Lennon, the original members of the original incarnation of the Beatles in the 1950s, back when they went by the name the Quarrymen. In 1957, Lennon unilaterally invited Paul McCartney to join the group, and the following year, McCartney brought in his old friend, George Harrison. Hanton, Griffiths, Garry, Shotton, and Davis all slowly drifted away from the group, which moved decisively from skiffle to rock and roll. When Sutcliffe joined in 1960 only Lennon remained of the original lineup, and he suggested that the band rename itself. The surviving five original Quarrymen reunited in the late 1990s and, with minor lineup changes (Griffiths died in 2005 and Shotton retired shortly thereafter) they continue to tour into 2011.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: Let It Be was recorded before Abbey Road, but got put on the shelf for a year.
• Throw It In:
  • The guitar feedback at the beginning of "I Feel Fine" was "a found object" made by accident when John left his guitar leaning against an amp.
  • Several other examples can be found on the trope page.
  • The Beatles are apparently so well known for this trope, that there's a whole website about it...
• Troubled Production: The tense recording sessions for "The White Album" and the famously miserable "Get Back" sessions for the album and documentary that eventually became Let It Be.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Its often been mentioned by Yoko and Paul in interviews that if John Lennon had not been killed, The Beatles would likely have reunited - for a one-off concert, for a tour, for a charity single, for good; it's unknown exactly what - in either 1981 or 1982.
  • When Lorne Michaels on Saturday Night Live offered the Beatles $3000 to appear on the show in April 1976, both John and Paul were in New York City watching the show. They were intrigued with the idea of going over right then and perform on SNL, but were both too tired that night. This was such a big What Could Have Been moment people made a movie about it.
  • Some of George's finest compositions, most notably "All Things Must Pass", only made it to his solo albums because they were rejected by the band.
  • Then there's the additional Beatle movies that never got made, most notably the Joe Orton-scripted Up Against It.
  • The Beatles Anthology has revealed a lot of examples of this trope. For example, they originally planned on releasing "One After 909" as an early song, but were unable to get a satisfactory recording at the time, and it ended up being one of the last they released. There are also recordings of very different versions of the songs, such as "Rocky Raccoon" with a totally different introduction and "Your Mother Should Know" in a completely different style.
  • On at least one occasion there was debate amongst the Four to invite Eric Clapton to be the fifth Beatle.
  • It's been speculated that Brian Epstein could have been able to deal the band's Creative Differences and keep them together, if only in the way Monty Python managed to reform regularly for years for various projects.

---

Back to The Beatles (band)