Happy birthday to us…
It’s a big week here at JOE HQ as we celebrate our fourth birthday and, to mark the occasion, we’ve decided to pick out some of our favourite foursomes. Because “foursomes” and “fourth” are connected in some deep and meaningful way.
Don’t ask too many questions. You can tweet us at #JOEbirthday if you like. As for a present, you’re getting us the entire Beatles back catalogue on vinyl, right?
JOE thinks that the words iconic, legendary and genius are used far too often. However, they are the only words that we can use to describe The Beatles. There have been some stunning four-piece bands over the years such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Queen, Metallica etc. but there is only one “Fab Four”.
Simply put, modern music wouldn’t be the same without the 12 stunning studio albums and countless other LPs/live recordings made by John, Paul, Ringo and George. Like all good music, their albums are timeless and every time that JOE listens to them we find something new or different. There have been thousands of books, columns, articles and blogs written about these four lads from Liverpool but JOE has decided to take a look at the formative years of these four icons and how they first met.
John Lennon
“I cannot be what I am not … I was the one who all the other boys’ parents—including Paul’s father—would say, ‘Keep away from him’”
Lennon’s turbulent upbringing has been well documented but one thing always stands out; his love of music. It was his aunt, Mimi Smith, who taught him how to play the banjo. At age 15, Lennon was given his first guitar and formed his first band, The Quarrymen, as he took his first steps on the path to musical greatness. It was at their second show where he first met Paul McCartney.
McCartney stayed to watch the performance and said: “I remember John was good. He was really the only outstanding member, all the rest kind of slipped away.” After the show, the group, along with McCartney, went to a Woolton pub where they lied about their ages in order to get served. It seems that even at a young age they were well set for the Rock n’ Roll lifestyle.
Lennon was so impressed with the prodigious talent of McCartney that he and the other members of the group asked Macca to join them, even though Lennon was hesitant to invite such a powerful figure into his group. He later said: “I half thought to myself, He’s as good as me, I’d been kingpin up to then. Now, I thought, if I take him on, what will happen?”
Talent, tension and friendship, it seems as if the dynamic of the Beatles was laid down at an early age.
Paul McCartney
“I definitely did look up to John. We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest“.
Macca seemed destined to be a musician, especially since his father played the trumpet and piano. When Paul was 14, he was given a nickle-plated trumpet but he instantly swapped it for an acoustic guitar which he learned to play very quickly. The young musician was a prodigy, so much so that it was around this time that he composed an early tune that would later become ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’.
Like Lennon, McCartney’s upbringing was marked by tragedy as he lost his mother Julia when he was 14. The two developed a strong friendship and shared a similar love for artists like the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Things could have been so much different if Lennon listened to his Aunt Mimi, who felt that that McCartney was a bad influence.
Good thing for music lovers everywhere that Lennon didn’t.
George Harrison
The third part of the jigsaw fell into place on Feb 6, 1958 when George Harrison joined the Quarrymen. Harrison, who was only a few weeks shy of turning 15, had known McCartney from school and impressed him in their regular jamming sessions. When the Quarrymen were looking for a third guitarist, there was only one man that McCartney wanted.
The audition took place on the top deck of a double-decker bus and Lennon was blown away by Harrison’s almost note perfect rendition of Bill Justis’ R&B instrumental ‘Raunchy’. Bizarrely, the only reservation that Lennon had about the gifted guitarist was his age. He later said that “George looked even younger than Paul — and Paul looked about 10, with his baby face”. Harrison’s introduction helped diversify the band’s sound but more importantly it allowed them a place to rehearse. Two years later, the band changed their name to The Beatles.
Ringo Starr
Like some of his future band mates, Richard Starkey had a tumultuous childhood; his parents split up when he was three and he spent regular periods in hospital. Music was his release though and he gained a reputation in Liverpool as a very talented drummer for bands like The Hurricanes.
His playing style gained him the nickname Ringo Starr, mainly due to the rings he wore and the fact that his drum solos became known as “Starr Time”. In 1960, the Hurricanes were touring in Hamburg and it was here that Starr first met The Beatles. The pairing instantly hit it off and on October 15 1960, he played with Lennon, McCartney and Harrison for the very first time. Two years later he was asked to join the band as they recorded their first ever single ‘Love Me Do’. Music would never be the same again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xuMwfUqJJM&feature=kp
Clip via OohSole
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