Do Go On - 3 - The Beatles (A brief history)

Episode Date: November 11, 2015

In her first report Jess Perkins takes on the mammoth topic of the best selling band in history: The Beatles. We hear how the Fab Four got together, broke hearts & records, and how approximately eight million people claim that they could have been in The Beatles. Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we've got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Yes, this is a show where we talk about something that we find interesting, and the we in that we is myself, Dave Warnocky, and I'm here, as always, with Mr Matthew Stewart. Hello, Matt. Hi, Dave, how do you do?

I am doing good, thank you, my man. Do you go on? I will go on to introduce our other co-host, which is Jess Perkins at the other end of the table from me. Hello, Jess. Hello, boys, how are we? You've sort of pulled back the curtain there by saying that we're sitting at a table. What do you think most people think that we're standing up? At a bar wearing tuxedos.

I'm wearing a tuxedo. I don't know about you guys. You always overdress for podcast recordings. We're recording this on a Monday morning. So the time where everyone is at a peak for the week, everyone's spirits are at an all-time high. Absolutely. Mainly because we're not at an office 9-to-5 jobs.

So there you go. Sorry if you are listening to this at your office. But also not sorry. sucked in. Yeah, we are here. And this is the show. I will explain if you have not heard before, where one of us, one of the three,

finds a topic that we find interesting. We prepare a report on that topic, and then we try and educate the other two. And this week, it is the first report from Jess. Yep, it's my turn. Your turn to go on to educate. And the thing about this is that Matt and I have no idea what you are about to teach us about.

You have no idea. And I do, I need to say a couple of things. to start with. You both warned me. You were like, it's a lot of work, Jess. I was like, yeah, I got this. Yeah, that's right. We wrote our reports.

We also thought, oh, yeah, two hours on Wikipedia. We'll be able to nail this. It's quite a lot. So please. It's so much. Tell your friends if you're listening to this because we put too much effort into it. Yeah, and now I'm a little anxious because I'm worried that I've missed things. Basically, I'm worried you're going to ask questions that I won't have the answers to.

The problem with most of the topics we choose, or probably most topics in the world, is that There's always more. Yeah, absolutely. And you keep going down the rabbit holes chasing new facts you find and they unveil. Yeah, more and more. It's like a... Unvail? Reveal? Unvail.

There's like, yeah, there's a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Here's another fact you didn't know about. Unvail's wrong, right? There's an opening ceremony. Yeah, okay, good. But the way going down the rabbit hole, like he described fact-finding like a drug addiction. It kind of is. Go on, guys, let's raise some money to fight this terrible, terrible,

affliction. And once I I like how you think of rabbit holes as a drug addiction. I think of them as like rabbit holes. Doesn't it go back

to Alice in Wonderland? Isn't that where the rabbit hole is? But that is drugs. That opens up a whole world doesn't it? Lewis Carroll was... She's not literally just in a hole, is she?

Stuck there and her has to come and get her out. I never liked that man. I never saw it all the way through. Is that what happened? A lot of crazy stuff Granddad, I'm stuck in the hole. Yeah, a lot of crazy stuff

that you would think about on drugs. That is actually, so it is, definitely. Yeah, munchies. There's the eat me stuff. Oh, yeah. What about all the things that there's a, like a, like talking animals and things like that. That's more...

Talking caterpillar. Yep. There's a tweeddle D and Tweeddittle Dumpling. That's not right. That's not right. You're thinking about food again. Tweedle Dool D. Tweeddle Dee.

Tweeddle Degree. Tweeddle Dumpley. Tweeddle dumplings. That's what you have when you have the munchies. You have the tweeddle dumpling. Tweediddle dumpling. I'm actually going to change your name in my phone to Tweeddiddle dumpling. It's going to be very confusing when I go to message you.

Can I be... Tweeddle D then? Absolutely. Tweeddle D. We make such a great team. Your little cuties. You will understand, once I tell you what my topic is, you'll understand that I have bitten off more than I can chew.

The history of mankind. A summary. So just know that I have done my best, and I've tried to find all the most interesting, our most important facts. Okay? Just, we could do this together. Look, I believe in you.

Thank you, man. I needed that. Hey, Jess, you know how we like to start this off, though? It was a sort of vague, irrelevant question. Yep. And, yeah, okay, and I feel like mine might give it away. But here we go. Who would you, or what would you say,

is the biggest musical act in history? Musical act. Musical act. Or like a, like, Oh, um. The musical act. Is this like... It would come to mind for me, Elvis Presley.

Okay. Mozart? Really? Most, oh, is that what you're thinking? Oh, you're thinking classical composers? A Ludwig Van B, a Mozart. Yeah. So what about...

Biggest all time. The Beatles. Boom! Oh, Beatles. Biggest selling. Yeah. Are we talking about the Beatles? We're talking about the Beatles.

That's really great. That is really great. Yeah. Who is your favorite band? Favorite band? Yeah. Oh, um... The Beatles would be up there, I reckon.

Are they actually your favorite? favorite band. I get my top three is Beatles, Tism and Pantara. They are so different. They are really different, vastly different. I think Tism definitely have some influence from the Beatles. I don't know if they returned any influence because the timelines are quite connected. But there's heaps of Beatles references throughout Tism's career.

There was one tour they did where they were dressed up with big signs above their heads. and I think about half the band had John written above their heads and then about a third, these sums I can add up, but about a third had Paul, and then like a couple had George and only one had Ringo or something. There's only one Ringo.

They are, just for context. Yeah, I think that was their point. Yeah. Just for context, their Tism is like a really, really crazy Australian band. For our international listeners. Yeah, just funny and catchy and just the best. I think this idea kind of came about because a few months ago,

I don't have even been around comedy festival time. I was going through a phase of asking people, first, what their middle names were, and then secondly, favorite Beatles song. And then it just got me back into, well, I've always listened to the Beatles, but I just made me really obsessed with them for a little while. And while I was researching, I was listening to them, they're just, they're just, bloody good. They are so good.

They are great. Who is your favorite Beatles? McCartney. Or song? No. Song? I asked, I was meaning to ask song, because you just brought that up, and then, but I asked a different question.

and try to save it by... That didn't. Anyway, answer both questions at once. Favorite beetle is McCartney because he's a lefty. That's a good reason. Yeah, and I'm left-handed. Favorite song? It's hard, though.

You end up with a short list. You can't pick a fave. Do you have a favorite? Yeah. What is it? Something. Oh, okay. And my favorite beetle is George Harrison.

There you go, the only number one written by him. Yeah. With the Beatles. He had number one solo. No, sorry, I meant Beatles. Yeah. Do you have a favorite song? I have a favorite Beatle.

Yeah. Definitely Paul. Yeah. He wrote all the better songs. Wow, that's so rare. Normally, if you found three people, there'd be at least two John fans. Yeah. I reckon?

Yeah. No, I think he's pretty good. But Paul, I think, wrote better songs, in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah, right. Okay, that's interesting. He also wrote worse songs. It's hard to...

Oh, no, John wrote some pretty bad songs. Yeah, they had some misses. Like, John's bad songs were just... like weird and hard to listen to. Poles were like, like, too sweet. Like corny. Yeah, corny, yeah, yeah. I think my favorite songs would be Blackbird or here comes the sun.

Which is another George. That is a George. And Blackbird's a, that's a, that's a Paul? Or is that a, I think it is a Paul. I think it is a Paul song. Yeah, I think that is a Paul song. That's a really good song. Yeah.

Great song. Okay, well, my favorite, I have two. Yep. yesterday, Paul. That's a big one. Got a fun fact about that coming up. Oh, good, good, good. And another one, which is actually a cover,

but Paul sings, do you know the song, Till There Was You? Yeah, that's a pretty song. That is such a lovely song, and I once listened to that on a beach at night. Oh, I never forget that. That sounds lovely. That's nice, yeah.

It was really nice. Yeah. The waves crashing away while Paul was singing. He wasn't there, Dave. You were alone. Well, he was in my heart that night. He's always in our hearts. So shall we...

Yes, I'm excited. Are you going to try and tackle the whole Beatles? Well, that's the thing. You see now that I've... But the thing is... It's big, but it's also just a 10-year period as well. Yeah, they weren't around for long, but they did a lot in that time. Yeah.

Like, too much. And I also just wanted to... Because I didn't know a lot about how they started. And their story really runs like a movie about a boy band. Do you what I mean? Like, if you saw a movie about this band, it's exactly how you think. it would happen like they start off really well and they get some success and then they have a falling out and then they you know it's just everything they they were a bunch of bloody laricans too

oh my goodness oh well jess i'm going to tell you the magic words the beetles please i do go on okay well let's let's begin in march of nineteen fifty seven a great year a good time classic actually that was the year my mum was born just realized anyway um hey mum um john lennon who was 16 at the time formed a Skiffle group with several of his friends from the Quarry Bank School. Skiffle. Skiffle. It's great. It's great.

It's a genre of music that has influences from jazz, blues, folks and roots music. It's that type of music that used to use like homemade or improvised instruments, like the washboard and the jargets and stuff. I was picturing a washboard. Yeah, yeah. That's it. Cazooze, guitars, banjo. Lagophone? Yeah.

No, that's an Aussie thing. Come on, Dave. But it's a ridiculous. That's like the bottle cap one, right? Yeah, if you don't know, it's like you've got two planks of wood, sort of in the crucifix style shape is what I've seen, and then there's heaps of bottle caps nailed to it, and then you just jangle it like, ching, jing, jing.

And that is someone's job, and they call it the larkophone. There you go. That's beautiful. So Skiffle was a very popular style of music in like the first half of the 20th century, and it had this huge, it sort of became popular again in the 50s in the UK. Now, the band originally called themselves the Blackjacks. Did you know that they had other names?

I knew them as the Quarry Man. Yeah, because that's exactly it. There was another band in the area that was using the name, The Black Jacks, so they changed it to the Quarrymen. And it's not like the kind of days where you can just plug it into Facebook to see if your band already exists. Exactly. You just both turn up to the show. And you're like, oh, no, I'm pretty sure we're playing this gig.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, and they became the Quarrymen because they went to the Quarry Bank School. Makes sense. Wasn't it? So then four months later, John Lennon met a 15-year-old Paul McCartney, and he joined the band as a rhythm guitarist. And in the following Feb, so we're in 1958 now. McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to come watch the band play.

And George wanted to join, but he was only 14. And John Lennon was like, no, he's too young. He's too young. He can't be in our band. Classic John putting George down already. Right, right. But Harrison kept persisting, and after about a month of hassling them, they enlisted him as the lead guitarist.

So there you go. So they were teenagers. I don't think I realized that. How early they started. How young they were. Also, the fact that he's hassling and hassling. And he's like, all right, fine. You can be the lead guitarist.

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's like, hang on, mate. I'm older and I've been to the band longer. Yeah, yeah. Why did Paul get shuffled to bass guitar? That's coming up. Oh, sorry.

Yeah, no, no, but there's a story. Ooh. Yeah, who. Oh, boy. I do want to point out as well, You have a musical background, Dave. Oh, yes. Oh, I used to play in bands all through school,

and my instrument was bass guitar. One of the other reasons I like Paul a lot. There you go. Matt, did you ever play an instrument? Were you in a band? I've never really been in a band. I've been in conceptual bands. Okay.

We were never played together. Sorry, what does that mean when, in your mind, you had a dream that I was in a band. Well, yeah, we've talked. It used to be in a band that never played together called... Sorry, what do you mean never played together? Well, we had the concept of the band, and we organised one jam session,

and I was on, I'm a bass owner. I don't call myself a bass player. But I do own a bass. I broke a string on that bass about two years ago, still played as a three string. Which string? The G string. Oh, comedy gold.

It wasn't comedy. That's just the string that broke. You asked the question. Yeah, but of course it was going to be the G. It's always the G2. Which is the highest string on a bass guitar. Yeah. So I just like relent the couple of songs I know with three strings.

Anyway, the band I formed with a guy I was working with it Safeway. It was called Tony Abbott and the Moral High Ground. And it was, this was what. That's the worst seem ever heard. And it was, but it was meant to be like, at the time, it was kind of like a, It seemed like a kind of weird reference because he was just like a, I think he was health minister or something. He wasn't even that prominent.

But now it's just like, that's a shit name for a band. But at the time it was like, majority of people didn't know who that was. Yeah, was he the health. Health minister in the Howard. Oh, no, he was in the Howard government. Was this before? Yeah, so this goes a while back. I was pushing trolleys or something.

That's great. And, yeah, and then the guy that was in that band with, he also had a, band and I was in his band as well which we never played. And they were called Kerry O'Brien and the contentious issues. Oh my God. Well, there's a lot of names and the somethings. Yeah, no, it's so much fun to make band. It's so much fun.

It is fun. Give it a go. No, but I was in a band when I was in high school. And we were called Cause of Distraction. That's pretty good. Distraction. Cause of distraction. Yeah.

Cause of distraction and the... Yeah, you're right. It needed an Andler, but that's already too long. So I'm just glad we can all relate to our... Oh, we're all such musical prodigies. That's right. We can all compare ourselves to the Beatles. Yeah.

If we'd stuck with it. I can play happy man on bass. I tried to learn one of my favourite Beatles songs is... And Your Bird can sing a Lennon song. I'm like, this is so cool and it's got such a fun bass line. I'm going to learn the baseline. And then I tried to... You know, and I couldn't get it in the first half an hour.

Oh, yeah. I couldn't get anywhere near it. And I was just like, oh, Paul McCartney, write some really cool intricate bass lines, apparently. It just sounds like this bouncy fun baseline, but it was... It's hard. Yeah. I played piano, and so I can play... I used to be able to play yesterday, so I could have serenaded you, Dave.

Oh, thank you. One of my challenges that I always wanted to do would be able to play Martha, my dear. Like, the opening to that is just ridiculous, because your hands are just going spas, basically. But then I stopped playing, and now I can't even play chopsticks. So, you know. Jess, what if your hands are going spasmus? I'm fine with it. You can go spas all day long with your hands.

Anyway, shall I go on? Please, do go on. Okay, so by the next year, so we're in 1959 now. Right on. All of Lenin's school friends had left the group because they'd all gone on to, you know, do other things. I bet they regretted that. Right? There's so many people in this story that you're like, oh, you're going to regret that.

Right. So Lenin's now studying at the Liverpool College of Art. So now the band's left with three guitarists. Now, I'm not a musician, but I do know that three guitars does not a band make. So is there anyone on drums? Well, that's exactly it. They would get, when they could find a drummer,

they would play rock and all music wherever they could, but they would just get people to just fill in and play the drums for them. I think mainly doing covers. At this point, they were calling themselves Johnny and the Moondogs. The Moondog? Which is amazing. I didn't know that. That's great.

name didn't last very long, but there is definitely records that they were billed under that name for at least three times. Johnny and the moon dogs. See, it's your favourite. That's how you should make it. If you're going to have a band name, that's what it should be. Name and the... Johnny and the Moral High Ground. That's great.

Another band from around that time from Liverpool called Jerry and the Pacemakers. That's a great name for the band, right? Jerry and the Pace maker. Great name. I love it. Yeah. So now, here we go. friend of John Lennon's from art school, Stuart Sutcliffe, was a very talented painter.

He was an artist. And he'd recently sold one of his paintings and with his earnings bought a bass guitar. Nice. Yeah, he's like, I've made some money. I'll buy a bass. So he joined the band in 1960. And it was Sutcliffe who suggested the band changed the name to Beatles. But I think he was spelling it, B-E-A-T-A-L-S as like a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

I don't really... That doesn't, yeah. Sure it wasn't just like he didn't spell it just like the Beatles. No, there was apparently... That's weird. It started with the word beat in it, but like, be towels, yeah. But then they changed it to the silver beetles, spelled double E. Right.

I'm so glad they're not the silver beetles. Silver Beatles, right? And then it was Lenin who suggested changing the spelling to B-E-A to include the word beat. Apparently, I did read somewhere that he had a dream, that like somebody, a man appeared on a floating pie or something like that. You know that story as well? Oh, you agree, because you've had that dream. That sounds like... That sounds like something that would have happened.

It sounds like a Beatles movie. Sounds like classic John Lennon bullshit. Yeah, exactly. So, who knows how... I had a dream where a man came to me on a pie. And I thought... Put an A in the name, John. That's pretty much what I read.

Tony Abbott and the Peac speakers. I didn't put that in there. I said, who's Tony Abbott? And I woke up. And here we are. So yeah, that was. We were going by the silver beetles and then eventually just the Beatles by August of 1960. So it was like eight months.

So August 1960, that is when they are. The Beatles. And at this stage, still no drummer. No drama. Three guitarists and a bass player. Yeah. No drama. So there was this guy called Alan Williams.

He became the band's unofficial manager. He owned a coffee shop that the boys were all regulars at. He liked them. He got them their residency in Hamburg, which is sort of where they took off. Had a big falling out with them when they refused to pay him. That was funny. And a little fun fact, Brian Epstein, Brian Epstein became the band's manager later, and he contacted Alan Williams to make sure there was no remaining contractual ties.

Williams openly told him, he's like, don't touch them with a fucking barge pole, they'll let you down. Don't let me down. And they did. So he's one of those people that walked away from the Beatles. Oh dear? Yeah. He even had a memoir. called the man who gave up the Beatles.

No, sorry, the man who gave the Beatles away. What is it like with this one chapter and then the actual story and then 11 chapters of him going, my life would have been better at this point if I'd been with the Beatles. Probably wouldn't have married that woman. Probably wouldn't have had this crappy job. I always think about with those situations, though, right, if he stayed their manager, we probably would never have heard of him, right?

Brian Epstein was pretty good at his job. And like if all his schoolmates were still around and there was never a spot for jobs. George in the band. Yeah, exactly. It probably wouldn't have really been the Beatles, so it's a, it's a, it would be hard. It'd be hard to get over it, but at the same time. I think the one guy who could probably feel it is the drama who got booted for Ringo.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's coming up. Oh, coming up next. Do go on. A bit of sizzle. Yeah, a bit of sizzle for you. So they were, it brings me back to Stuart Sutcliffe. So he was with the band during their residency in Hamburg.

Which is in Germany, obviously. Yep, correct. So they were sort of back and forth between Germany and the UK for a couple of years, gigging there. They got up to all kinds of mischief. So by this time they had Pete Best on the drums. And keep in mind, they were all in their late teens, early 20s. Like, they're still really young.

It's pretty crazy. George is even old enough to drink yet? No. And there's a fun fact about that coming up. You guys are just, oh, you know what we're talking about. We all think of. So there's a club owner in Hamburg called Bruno Koshmider. It's so rude of me to laugh at, but...

I've probably said it wrong, but... Bruno Koshmider. Now, so he was the one that was... He owned the venue where they were playing during their residencies in Hamburg. And he found out that they'd been performing at the rival Top Ten Club, which was in breach of their contract. So he gave the band one month's termination notice and reported the underage Harrison. Um, now Harrison would lie about his age to stay in, in order to stay in Hamburg.

So he'd said he was 18, he was 17. So the authorities arranged for his, um, for him to be deported. Deported. He got deported in late November. And a week later, um, Koshmiter had McCartney and Pete Best arrested for arson. What did they burn?

They set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor. Condom in a concrete corridor. That's very difficult. One to set fire to anything in a concrete corridor. create two to set fire to a latex condom. No. So you should have been impressed. How would you set...

Matt, back me up here. The science of burning... Burning rubber? That's a phrase in itself. That's how common it is. Yeah, it's true. We're burning rubber. No, that's a different thing, though.

But that's all right. Well, okay, well, I'm impressed, but they got arrested. Arrested and deported as well. And then deported. Yep. Dave, should we pause the podcast? I've got a condom right here. Let's see.

Oh, wow, it's going up really quick. Whoa, a little too quick, if you ask me. A lot of flames at the studio. Oh, that is a putrid smoke. Oh, God. It was a used condom. Well, we really should have checked. I'm so sorry.

No, you're not. So who's left? If George has been deported, Paul's been deported. Yeah, Pete Bess is gone. Lennon and Sutcliffe are still there. Just hanging out going, God. Right, so they all get deported. Lennon returns in early December.

So this is only in November. but he just comes back a couple of weeks later anyway. He goes back to the UK. Stuart Sutcliffe decides to stay in Hamburg through to late February because he's met a nice German girl and he's engaged. So he stays with his fiancé, Astrid.

So yeah, as I said before, they spent two years ginging in Hamburg, sort of coming back and forth. This is kind of where they started to use stimulant drugs, you know, to maintain energy for late-night performances. Viagra. Biagra. Stimulus.

That's right. Very good. Very good. Thanks for patting me on the head. I'm so condescending. I'm so sorry. So, 1961, Sutcliffe decides to leave the band and go back to pursuing his art studies. You know, there's kind of that part of me that's like, dude. But I'm pretty sure he wasn't very, was he any good?

I think he wasn't very good on the base, right? Yeah, there are sort of stories that he wasn't that great. See, it's funny because I did read that there were some reports that people said he had no stage presence. Like he wasn't, he was a bit shy about not being good, so he would sort of turn his back on the audience, but then other members of the band were like, no, he was great, very personable. So I'm not really sure how good he was. So did he come back or did he stay in Germany and just go, I'm out?

He's, sent him a letter or something. He stayed in Germany. So I think they must have all met up and he's left them because he gave Paul McCartney's base and that's how Paul McCartney became the bass player. So he sort of said, here, you can use my base while you save up to get your own. But McCartney's a lefty. So, but Sutcliffe said to him, you're allowed to use it, but you're not allowed to restring it. Like, you can't swap it over, can't be left-handed.

So lefty playing a right-handed bass. Right. So, and did he just play it upside down? I'm not sure. Or he might have just played it right-handed. I don't know if he flipped it over and played left upside-down or if he just played right. It's a good effort. Yeah, it's really difficult.

It is hard. Like, I played guitar left-handed as a teenager, and I'm teaching myself the ukulele now, and I'm doing it right-handed. and my hands just don't work. I'm like, this is weird. Completely wrong, yeah. So that story's kind of almost well known that Paul McCartney took over once Stuart Sutcliffe left.

But what's less reported is Chaz Newby. Chas Newby. Ever heard of that name? No, but I love it. Yeah, right? That rivals Brino, whatever that German cup was called. Koshmider? Chazneed.

Peabest is a pretty good name as well. Pete Best is a great. Like stage name. Yeah. Right. So Chaz was a friend of the original Beatles drummer Pete Best, and he played a couple of gigs with the Beatles playing bass in 1960. And John Lennon even asked him to return with them to Hamburg for their second trip.

But Nuby chose to return to university and later became a maths teacher. Oh. Could have been one of the Beatles. You could have been one of the Beatles. Every year, he would start his Year 7 class and be like, all right, guys, I'm a maths teacher. Just so you know, I was once in the Beatles. Yeah.

Okay, Pythagoras. Yeah, do you see that as a positive or a negative? Would you prefer to have not had that experience at all and no regret? Or is it just a cool thing to be able to remember? It's a cool thing to whip out. Like, to say, hey. If you fully don't believe that you would have helped them, maybe. It would be all right.

But if you're like, oh man, I could have been in there and I would have written some hits as well. Would you've been happy writing their coat tails? Yeah, but maybe, I mean, I feel like they're at, you get, it's like a decent footballer and a great team, you know, you lift. Yeah. You lift to their standard or something. Yeah. Maybe he could have written great songs.

I reckon there's so many great songs that we've never heard. And if those songs were written by a Beatles member, they'd be seen as classics, right? Yeah, absolutely. Just because, you know, partially because they were all very talented musicians, but also just because they had, like, direct access into people's, you know, minds, right? Like, if you're open to a song being great, the first time you hear it, you're much more likely to give it a chance than someone going,

here's a demo that I just made in my backyard. Still, that sounds like a really bitter man saying something like that. Yeah, I could have done it. I would have, the white album, yeah, I just would have made it blue. Look, blue album. You would, yeah, totally, it would be hard. You'd know, everyone would be like, all right, mate, good on you. But I reckon there'd be, there'd be part of you who would really believe that

you could have been a part of it, maybe. I don't know. Look, I'm seesawing here. No, but all he did was make the right decision for himself at the time. That's right. So, Chaz has moved on. He's doing his math thing. And then is that when Paul's like, all right, I'll do some base.

Yeah. So that's, uh, so. I've never heard about that guy. So that's cool. Yeah, that was a bit earlier. So that was sort of before Sutcliff left. You know when people always say, oh, he was the fifth beetle. That guy was like the 19th.

Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much. So yeah, now Paul's, uh, Paul's rocking, slap and debis. It's very weird reference. Anyway, so they're going back and forth between the UK and Germany, and in April of 62, they get back to Germany and they're greeted at the airport

by Stuart Sutcliffe's fiancé Astrid, telling them that he died of an aneurysm. He was 21. 21. Just a, and it's a freak medical thing that... He'd been having headaches, quite bad headaches. By the sounds of the reports

or like the symptoms, it sounds like migraines. He was having pretty serious. migraines and then collapsed and I don't think they could revive him. It turned out it was an aneurysm. My God. And then... Just love the idea that she didn't want to ring them.

She decided just to appear at the airport. Yeah. On the move. International. Yeah, true. Does she know where they are? Like, does she know their number? I think it had happened about a week before.

So, yeah, no, it's a weird one. Bit of a courtesy call, Astrid. Come on. Because I was going to say like... Dave, look, I'm on Astrid's side. For some reason, I'm sticking up for Astrid. Yeah, whatever Astrid. But so, yeah, I was going to...

Before I learned that he died, I was going to be like, he left the Beatles to pursue painting. Like, what an idiot. But he's a very talented artist, apparently, and unfortunately died at 21. he never got to see how successful they got and therefore feel the jealousy that we think the other same time. You know? He dodged the

jealousy moments. He died on top. Like he was great. He was in the peak. Okay, so now we're in 1962. A great year. The band gets a producer, George Martin. Now Martin's first recorded... The fifth beetle. The eighth beetle. The eighth beetle. Not to be confused with the Game of Thrones guy.

Oh. That's George R.R. Martin. Is that why he's got the arm? He must have the ars. Maybe. Was there a George R, Martin? Yeah, there was just one R. Oh, God.

It's too complicated. So Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, the very famous Abbey Road Studios in London. I have heard of it. Yeah. You just cut a hit record. Very good.

No, the accents are great. Keep him coming. Guess starring Ringo on this episode. Yeah, well, here he comes. Because this is in June of 1962. Now, Martin immediately complains to Brian. Epstein? I keep going to say Epstein or Epstein? Epstein is what I know it is. Then. So he complains to Epstein about Pete Best.

He's like this guy... Despite his name, he is definitely not the best. He is a crap drummer. I reckon we get a session drummer in for this record, right? Now, they were already apparently thinking about getting rid of Pete Best. So the Beatles replaced you in mid-August with Ringo Star. His real name is Richard Starkey, but you probably knew that. He, he left the band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join them. There it is again. That's so good. It was a great time for the something and the something.

Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. And was it Ringo a name that he was already known as? Or did he decide to have a cool name when they were rock star. It was a nickname that started. Apparently they called him rings to start with because he would wear a lot of rings. And then that became Ringo a little bit later. But apparently, I can't remember what song it was. I did read.

You can hear, I think John yell out, are you ready, Richard at the start of a song. So they might have called him Richard. Ah, right on, right on. Yeah, yeah, but Ringo was sort of a name that came later. God, I'm so glad I'm remembering this fact. That's great. That's a great fact. I had no idea that that's why they called him Ringo. So Ringo's in. Pete Best is out.

How often are nicknames way more disappointing when you find the backstory? That was a pretty disappointing name. He all rings. Yeah, it's dumb. So, September 11 of that year, no, it's many, many years before

that September 11th. They were in the twin town. They were. Oh, my God. Cutting a hit record. It's getting worse. They cut two originals, Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You,

which became their first UK top 20 hit in October. Which P.S.I. Love You was the... Was the B-side. Was the B-side, right, right. To Love Me Do. And every song on that album had Love in the title. That's not true, but it sounded like. I'm only sticking to true facts.

All right. Sorry, Matt. Come on. Love Me Do. PS, I love you. Love-lovy-love-love. There was one of the... Twittily D, D-D. D-D. Dism. Tism had this album,

it was probably their biggest album called Machiavelli in the Four Seasons. And that was like this fake band that they put it out and it looked like that was the band who was really singing. On the back, every song title was, it must have been taking the piss out of the be, it was a bit. But it was like, I love you, you, I love. Loving you is the thing I do. And just all that sort of, everything was some variation of I love you. That's great. Where am I?

Okay, so that song goes to their first top 20. In early 63, please please me. Went to number two, and they recorded an album of the same name in one 10-hour session on the 11th of Feb in 63. 10 hours smashed out an album. That is unbelievable. Isn't it?

That's ridiculous. So this is a little fun fact. By mid-year of 63, the Beatles were given billing over Roy Orbison, on a national tour. Over Roy. And that's where that hysterical outbreak of Beatlemania had begun. Following their first tour of Europe in October, they moved to London, and they were constantly mobbed by screaming fans.

They even required police protection almost any time they were seen in public. Isn't that ridiculous? What year is this? That's 63. So the first album's just dropped. Yeah. So this is totally just boy band, Manga as well. Absolutely, yeah, yeah.

And later in that year, she loves you, became the biggest. single in British history. Right. Oh my God. That's pretty big. Now the EMI, so the record label, their American label, Capital, hadn't released any of the group's records,

but they were finally persuaded to release its fourth single, I want to hold your hand and meet the Beatles, which was identical to their second British album with the Beatles. So they changed it for American audiences to meet the Beatles. So, yeah, they convinced Capital to invest $50,000 in promotion for this then completely unknown British act. Surely that's just a...

You're seeing how crazy they're going in London. You're like, well, we can probably do well over here. I think at that point, English bands, British bands hadn't done well ever. They hadn't. Yeah. And the Beatles really started that. Yeah. As we'll find out.

As we'll find out, the British invasion's coming. Yeah, absolutely. So the album and the single became the Beatles' first US chart toppers. So it did go to number one. Yep. Nice. Naiz, 70 million people watched them on the Ed Sullivan show, which was approximately 34% of the American population.

Wow, one in three people saw them on TV. 70 million people. It's probably one channel, but anyway, still impressive. They didn't have the on-demand and all the free-to-wear channels that we have now. Yeah, actually, the more you talk about, the less impressed I am. Yeah. Okay, well, 34% of the population is pretty good still. That is...

For this unknown band, you know? That is amazing. And in April of 64, Can't Buy Me Love became the first... record to top American and British charts simultaneously. And that same month, the Beatles held the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart. Top five was all the Beatles. So, can't buy me love, twist and shout. She loves you.

I want to hold your hand and please please me. That is so great. Isn't that incredible? Just by the album. Oh no, but back then they didn't, the singles weren't on albums, I don't think. The Beatles always released singles, but now they always include those on the album. I don't think they included their singles on the albums. That makes sense then.

Okay, because, yeah, that makes a bit more sense. And there was something, so this is when their first movie comes out as well, a hard day's night. It opened in America in August. It grossed $1.3 million in its first week. That's ridiculous. Yeah, that's a lot of money in 1960s. And they were pretty crap movies as well, aren't they?

They weren't good. But they was something, I didn't write it down, but it was basically they had like a three film. contract to coincide with soundtracks that would go out. So it was like an album and a movie would come out all at the same time. And they were very aggressively merchandised. There was like the Beatles wigs,

Beatles clothes, dolls, lunchboxes, a cartoon series, which I'd love to find. From which, because of Epstein's ineptitude, a business, the band made surprisingly little money. Oh, come on. They didn't make a lot of money. So we got that cafe bloke. He'd be making heaps.

He'd be making heaps. It's crazy that they're able to. to survive all of that and with their reputation intact. It feels like any band that do all of that stuff now, they're never going to also be seen as a great musical band. Exactly. Like our kids aren't going to listen to One Direction and be like, wow, mum, you know, I'll apologise to them for a one direction.

Yeah, like even now, like One Direction is seen as being quite lame, but the Beatles, it seems like they were seen as being cool at the same time, or maybe they weren't until later. Because I know the Stones were sort of meant to be the bad boy equivalent of them. Yeah, and it was mostly like young women going pretty crazy for them. But I don't know, maybe they were still cool. I don't know, we weren't there. We'll never know.

So that's sort of how the Beatles opened the American market to British invasion groups like Dave Clark 5, the Rolling Stones and the kinks. That's sort of how a lot of British acts ended up cracking into the American scene, which is... And Jerry and the pacemakers. Jerry and the pacemakers. Okay, so by 1960s, by 1960s, Lennon and McCartney rarely wrote songs together, although by a contractual and personal agreement,

songs by either of them were credited to both. Did you know that? Yeah. That's kind of crazy. And then since John Lennon's died, McCartney has tried several times to make it the ones that he wrote as listed as McCartney slash Lennon. Yeah. And Yoko said no, no.

Yeah, Yoko won't have a bar. That's interesting. Yeah, it is, isn't it? Because, yeah, I think there was occasionally, like, they'd touch them up a little bit, each other songs, but for the most part, like, they wrote them and sometimes even recorded Beatles songs, one of them wasn't even there. Yeah, there started to be quite a bit of animosity.

They weren't too pleased with each other after a while. Oh, please, please me. No, no. Oh, very good. So it's 1965, they toured Europe, North America, the Far East and Australia. So what's the Far East? I've no idea. It just says the Far East.

Oh, the Orient. Oh, Konigua. The Far East. Oh, my goodness. The Far East. It says that on the tour, visiting the far east. And people in Asia are like, is that us? Is that us?

Are we, east from what? Yeah, east from here is them. Yeah. That's weird. Go far enough east, you'll get somewhere. And that's when their second movie, Help, came out as well. That's the only one I've seen. Yeah.

What can you describe? I haven't seen any of their movies. What's it like? It's a comedy. It's actually pretty, it's really funny. Yeah. They're quite funny. And it was filmed in England, Austria, and the Bahamas.

You know, as you do. Yeah, and they do the soundtrack. So their album help is like sort of the soundtrack. Yeah, exactly. Including the best song ever, yesterday. Okay. Well, I'm... Yesterday's of help.

Yeah. There you go. Now, in June, something, this is still 1965. In June, the Queen of England, ever heard of it? The Queen. The Queen of England, rings a bell. Yeah. Ringoes a bell.

Oh, no. Oh, man. Oh, dear. I love that it is still 50 years later, the same queen that we were referring And that's pretty cool, right? So cool, yeah. She's a boss. She announced that the Beatles would be awarded the MBE,

so the member of the Order of the British Empire. Now, that announcement sparked some controversy. Some former MBA holders returned their medals. Oh, my God. That's so dumb. Because, well, they were like war veterans and, you know, had done a lot for their... So they were the first of the celebrity MVIs. Yeah, it looks like it.

Because, yeah, everyone's a night now. Elton John's a night. Yeah. Rowan Atkinson. Yeah. I think, and it's always for, for charity work or something.

Exactly, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Roger Moore for his charity work. And theirs was for like service to the music industry. Oh, well,

that's, and Lenin even sort of made a joke like, well, we deserve it more. You know what Lenin's like. He changed his mind about it a lot. So he's about,

he's about what my age at this stage, about 25. Yeah, yeah. He's got an MBA. Yeah. What have we done?

Nothing. Fun fact, though. Actually, to be honest, if I got an NBA right now, a lot of people would be returning this

in protest. Who is that guy? Len actually The fact is to facty fact. He returned his medal in 1969 as an anti-war gesture,

which is an interesting one. It's kind of a funny story actually. He was never all that happy or proud of the medal. So four years after accepting it, he got his chauffeur, Les Anthony, to go to his Aunt Mimi's

house where the medal was, pick it up, take it to the Buckingham Palace, just pop over to Buckingham Palace and return it with this letter in close. He said, Your Majesty, I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biapra Thing. Against our support. Sorry, did he actually write the thing? Against our support, it gets better. Against our support of America and Vietnam and against cold turkey slipping down the charts.

Cold Turkey was his latest record. Oh, God. With love, John Lennon. And that is why he is not in my top three favorite Beatles. Yeah, he's, yeah. So that's sad. Wow, he's your least favorite beetle. He's just not a good guy.

No, and like... He was also, yeah, I didn't realize it. I think I read a brief note somewhere yesterday that he was, like, he's a known, um, spousal abuser. Is that right? Oh, really? Yeah, not very good to his partners. I didn't realize that as well.

Yeah, he doesn't sound... And in the more research you do, he just, and it's like a bit of a dick. And he changes his mind quite often as well. Like he was quite cocky about getting the NBA and then he changed his mind. And then he returns it and then he's like, oh, I regret returning it. It's like, well, just come on, man, just grow up. As far as protests go, getting your chauffeur to send a bag, it's like, well, yeah, this guy, he means it.

And it's just a gesture because you can't actually take, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can reject the medal, but the honour itself can't be returned. He's still an NBA. So it's just a gesture of giving back a little piece of metal. The only way you can get that is if you do something terrible, like Rolf Harrison, you get taken away from you. You can't get rid of it. Yeah. Give it back. So, old mate, Johnny.

Yeah. So this is kind of where their music style starts to change a little bit with the 1965 rubber soul. And they start to experiment a little more with exotic instruments, like in Norwegian wood that has a sitar. I don't know why I said it like that, but I did. That sitar, the classic Norwegian instrument. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And isn't rubber soul's like a derogatory term for like white soul music, I think? So I think it was something that was said against them and then they sort of embraced it, I guess.

Yeah. So they started to... I don't know. That's a great little tidbit. Yeah, let's say it's true. Okay, good. Yeah, so, and if you know their music, you know that there's quite a change. They go from really poppy to a bit more experimental and slower and this is where it all starts to happen.

So summer of 66, there's a whole big controversy because John Lennon made a remark that had the British newspaper reporter. Oh, no, he had made a remark to a British newspaper reporter. He said, Christianity will go. It'll vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that. I'm right and will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. That's quite a famous thing that he said.

I definitely knew he said we're bigger than Jesus or more popular than Jesus. But the fact that he's saying Christianity will go. Now, a bit of a silly thing to say. People set fire to their stuff. Like, people burnt the records. Because I thought that at the time he made the comment and no one really picked up on it until Americans published it later on. Exactly right. Yeah, yeah.

It was widely reported in the US. I don't think the British really paid much attention to it. Yeah, I think it was like nine months later or something. Yeah, but the US would not have it. They republished it and then, like, yeah, in the South, it was not a good thing to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He has, like, Christianity is shriveling. right, at least in the west.

Not in the far east, Matt. Wherever that is. Wherever that is. Yeah, that's a good point. I think a few people, or a few people, I think a few different countries or cultures were a bit upset by it, but it was worse in the US, where they were set to begin a tour,

just two weeks after the controversy erupted. Oh, dear. So they were going to go there. It included death threats against the group. Like, the US were really not happy about it. And so it says largely out of concern for the same, of his fellow band members, he did apologise. Right.

So he's like, all right, I don't want, Matt, do the accent. I don't want everyone to get hurt. I don't want everyone to get hurt. That's great. That's great. So he apologised. But I just think that's kind of funny that I didn't realize the backlash. And if they do the tour anyway?

Yeah. That's pretty brave, I think. Yeah. Yeah, that's, I didn't, I don't think I'd ever heard the full quote either. Yeah, I'd only heard that last bit. And I thought someone would explain it to me that he was making a joke. like saying it's ridiculous how we're, but it doesn't sound like that at all in the context there.

No, he's making quite a comment about Christianity. And as a Christian man, myself, do you forgive him? I forgive him. That's what we're all about. Also, I'm not a Christian man. I forgive him anyway. Did I just blasph?

Anyway, look, I was a Christian man, so I think it's okay for me to joke about such thing. And I am bigger than Jesus, because he was quite a short man. Was he? I have no idea. Fun fact. Lennon, McCartney and, uh, was it Ringo were all 5'11.

George Harrison 5'4.8. It's a realest, but they were all the same height. That is. Interesting. I read that yesterday. I was like, that's not that. It's interesting. 511.

I'm, I'm 511-ish. Are you? I reckon I'm 5. I think I'm 5.8. You'd be 5-8, yeah. 5-8. So who's it? George is my height.

You're George. Thank you. And Matt is everybody else. Yeah, right. I think I'd read at some point that because George was a little bit younger, like you're saying, he was never quite respected by the others. They always kind of treated him like a younger brother. Yeah.

Did you pick anything up like that? Yeah, yeah, not directly, but you do kind of get that feeling a little bit. And it took him ages to really start being allowed to write, have songs included on albums. I say ages, it's all relative because they're only making albums for less than 10 years by the sense. Yeah. Their last one was 1970 or something. You said their first one was 1962. No, no, 62 was the first album.

They were pretty active from 60. Yeah, I can't believe. Like, when you see footage of them through the years, just how much they change, hairstyles, fashion, everything, I would have assumed, as a kid, I did assume it was over 30 years or something. Yeah, me too. I was blown away when I found out. It was only 10 years, and they did so much, so many hit songs. So much of an impact on music.

Yeah. And then, like, other bands who were seen as kind of being their equals or similar, like the Stones, they're stretched. I mean, they're still going stretched out over, what are they being on for 100 years now? Easily. Yeah, it's ridiculous that they, but that they've lasted so long. Yeah. And that they're appreciated by generations.

Like my, like I said, they sort of started to make music as teenagers the year my mom was born. So she wasn't even really into them until she was older. And then it's passed that on to, you know, my generation and then they just keep going. My dad was born a couple of years before in 53. And so he has some memories. He says he's got this vague memory of Beatles fans, young Beatles fans in Australia, dressing as Beatles. Like as actual, like, yeah, the Beatles is like, it's like kind of crazy.

And it got pretty hectic down here as well. Yeah. Like that Melbourne gig at the Festival Hall, apparently it was, they played two shows or something, but you couldn't hear them. No. I've heard people who were there talk about, like, you couldn't hear them. And everyone there was screaming. It's like, what are you there for?

Yeah. And isn't that kind of why they ended up giving away live performance? Yeah, I think so, yeah. It just got too much. Yeah, I think it was just kind of like, well, what's the point of playing if you, no one's listening anyway. I just stand there for an hour and get screamed out. People are literally just there to be in the same room as them.

They can't see them. It's not like now where there'd be big screens and everything. And you could see them on the screen. They'd just be in the same room as I'm screaming at them. That's the dream So weird First stop on my time machine Totally

I would definitely go see him live But I think the one I'd go to Would be the rooftop Totally Oh yeah That final one Yeah That was in London was it

I guess you're gonna tell us about that anyway Some reason I was thinking it was in New York But that makes sense It was in London I'm pretty sure And they play Get Back about eight times Oh really Yeah

It's a film from different angles Yeah Ah So it was all It was all pretty much Just a big stunt Yeah Anyway

I'm sure Jess will tell more about that as we go on. So what year are we in now? We are 66. And we're up to The Beatles, which is frequently called the White Album. And that's sort of where it definitely shows

their changing styles. So the rifts were artistic. Lennon was moving towards brutal confessionals. McCartney was leaning towards pop melodies. Harrison immersed himself in Eastern spirituality. And Lenin drew

closer to his wife to be, Yoko Ono. Right, so, ooh. Oh, Yoko O. Damn, I was going to say that exact. Yeah, sorry, Dave. I probably felt you doing that. Hey, I was just remembering another tism fact with them and the Beatles. Their last album was also a white album. And it was pretty much just looked the same as the white album.

And it was called the White Albin. Spelled with an N at the end. They're like, it's not quite, you know, it's like the Beatles, but it's not, like everything is sort of, yeah. No, just a little fun fact here, because Lennon and Yoko Ono's two virgins album, which is the full frontals, full frontal noodley on the back covers, front and back covers, full frontal noodley. I've read that very strangely. It was released the same month as the White Album and stood up so much outrage that the LP had to be sold wrapped in brown paper. and the Beatles went to number one, two virgins peaked at a number 124.

Oh, I imagine that you would think that you'd have enough clout to get the top ten, that people would want to hear what you and your lover or whatever are working on. But 120, wow. And that was their only double album as well, I think, was it? The one album. And I was like, just had heaps of crazy ideas on it, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the one with, like, revolution, where you're just going number nine, number nine. Number nine. Nothertism thing I just put it together Oh what's that Remember when they're number eight

He just burps The whole to bonies burps Yeah that's right He's wearing like a Number eight Turtle neck or something Yeah and she orders a drink in a hat Oh yeah

I would have a Shit what is it with a plum It's a plum floating in a Served in a man's hat And he just whips it out Here you go That's great Sorry

in fact. Well, no, I just don't know if I might not have got this at the time, but it was, because I don't think I knew about that revolution number nine or whatever else, but they had a song and the chorus went, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, your meal is ready. Oh, that's great. So great. Okay.

I have people out there, Tism, it stands for, this is serious. This is kind of becoming the Beatles slash-tism episode. I like it. We're learning about the Australia's greatest act as well as the UK's greatest act. Yeah, exactly. So now we're up to 68, a great year. Have you said that about every year? They're all great.

They're just getting better. Yeah, great. I wasn't alive for them, but I assume they were great. This is where relations between the Beatles were getting a bit, Not good. So that was great. Yeah, it was a great year. Ringo Star quit for two weeks, stormed out.

So McCartney jumped on the drums for back in the USSR. They all sort of took turns in a way. And Dear Prudence, he was drumming as well. Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney, whose contribution on Obla Di Obla Da. He scorned as Granny Music Shit. So it's a great song, though. Thanks, John.

Yeah. So it wasn't going very. well and tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation with the avant-garde artist Yoko Ono. He insisted on bringing her to sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.

Imagine the awkward look like you're singing into a microphone just looking at her like, go away. I hate you. Oh, bloody, obloodoo. Just looking at it with her. Sounds like she was a real she was a real Yoko Ono to the group.

Yeah. And in fact, that's where the phrase was born. It's not a coincidence. It's just that her name. Oh, yeah. Now, this is where Lennon later described recording this album. He was like, every track is an individual track. There isn't any Beatles music on it.

It's John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band. Ringo on holidays. Yeah, because he bailed. And McCartney, a bit nicer. just recalled that the album wasn't a pleasant one to make. So they're not very happy. Is this the wide album we're talking about? Yeah.

Right. Yeah, yeah. And this is sort of where they've identified that these recording sessions as the start of the band's breakup. So they attempted to smooth over their differences in early 1969 at filmed recording sessions. So the idea, I think, was to make a film. But when the project fell apart,

hundreds of hours of studio time later, no one could face editing the tapes. It was like, oh, this is crap, we can't do it. Eventually, a record producer Phil Spector did it. Look at him now. Look at him now. So that was sort of the footage that was used for Let It Be, which is essentially a documentary of their breakup,

which includes the impromptu January 30th, 1969 rooftop concert at the Apple Corps headquarters, which was their last public performance as the Beatles. Again, parodied by the Simpsons. That's right. Wearing the same outfits now. Everything in the video from The Simpsons.

It's great. I've learnt so much from The Simps. That was the B-sharps, right? Yeah, that's right. B-sharps. Number eight. Which is funny because Barney was like the Lennon. You know?

Yeah, he definitely was, yeah. So would have made Homer the pool? I think Homer would have been the pool. Must have been. Because he was like, he was writing tunes on the piano. Yeah, writing songs. Yeah, you're right. And then who else was in the band?

A poo. Apoo. And, Chief Wiggum, was replaced by Barney, and Principal Skinner. the fourth number. Principal Skinner, that's it. I reckon Principal Skinner was Ringo or the George. Anyway.

Only they were a barbershop quartet for some reason. Yeah. That was so funny. That were great. Hello, my baby. Hello, we're done. Anyway. So they were trying to sort of smooth things over.

It didn't go very well. They'd, um, and they, they split up. They've gone their separate ways. Bye-bye Beatles. And then for years, um... So what year was this? 70. 1970.

So they've released two more albums, right? Abbey Road and then let it be here. Years, the last... Yeah. But they were record... I'm pretty sure they were recorded in the reverse order to... Yeah, that's right. Let it be was...

Abby wrote the last recorded one. But then... But release... Which is probably my favourite album. It's a cracker, but... Yeah, that's the crazy... Like, often bands when they fall apart. It's not usually when they're still making awesome stuff.

Oh, yeah. It's like, oh, hey, guys. We're a bit shit now. Yeah, and they go their separate ways. But they were still doing well, they just weren't getting along. And they all kind of went on to do individual stuff like solo careers and they collaborated with each other quite a bit during their solo stuff even though they didn't necessarily get along you wouldn't

really get all four of them together but you know they'd appear on each other's solo stuff so there was always speculation that they would they would get back together what do you think ended those speculations uh Lenin yeah 1980 yeah I thought you about to say Lenin made another comment no I don't know he a disturbed fan It murdered him. That famous photo of Lennon and Yoko Ono where they're lying on the ground and he's naked and like spooning her but not really spooning. Oh yeah, that's right. That was taken the day that he was murdered.

Did you know that? I did not know that that was the day. It was taken that morning by famous photographer Annie Lieberwitz. She's still going? It was supposed to just be him, but he insisted that Yoko Oner was in it. And Annie was kind of like, uh-huh. She was kind of like. It's pretty hard to say no.

Yeah, and she sort of had to guarantee. She's like, yeah, all right, I reckon I can get it on to the car. for you because it was John Lennon. She's like, I guess they'll just have to take it. Little did she know that later that night, Mark David Chapman had traveled to New York a couple of months earlier with the intention to murder John Lennon, but changed his mind and returned home to Honolulu. Oh, my God.

He's a Hawaiian guy. Come on. And then he was like, ah, now I probably want to murder him. And he went home. He went home. This is a few months earlier. And then he's come back on that day in October, December, sorry. and earlier in the day he asked Lennon for an autograph

and then he just waited outside the Dakota Did he get the autograph? Yeah he did and apparently they chatted a little bit. Oh my God. Right? And then he waited outside the Dakota which is the building that Lennon lived in and when Lennon returned home Chapman fired five bullets from about three meters away. Two of the bullets hit him in the back and two more in the shoulder.

This is really strange. It's funny actually It's not funny at all The surgeons said that Even if he'd been shot While on the operating table Surrounded by doctors They could not have saved him

Like there's no way he was going to survive Just really good shots Great shots Pretty sure I remember hearing an ambulance Or the car that ever drove him to the hospital They'd get in the car And so on said

Are you John Lennon? Wow That's pretty weird Is it weird as well Isn't that you've seen John Lennon die Wow Yeah well okay And this is strange

The surgeons noted, as did other witnesses, that at the moment Lenin was pronounced dead, all my loving came over the hospital sound system. Oh, my God. So one of their songs played the moment that he was pronounced dead. Od's are, that's going to happen. One of their songs. That's true. Also, I'd like to point out that it's a Paul song.

Oh, a bit brutal. Well, it was a Lennon McCartney. Oh, pardon me. Yeah, yeah. That was in the days where they were still collaborating, right? That's a McCartney-Lennon, thank you, remember. According to Paul. Exactly.

Oh, that's, that is, that is, I mean, he's not a great guy, but still terrible that he got murdered. Did, uh, do you think there was any chance that they might have got back together if he did kick on? I don't know. Probably not. I don't think they, uh... None of them need the money. That's usually the thing. The stones don't need the money.

They're still... No, but they haven't broken up. They just, obviously, like each other. Right. Yeah, it's hard to speculate, isn't it? I feel like Lennon and McCartney's relationship was never very good after. But what's interesting, like we say, okay, Lenin doesn't seem like the nicest guy, but his death triggered the most amazing outpouring of grief around the world on this unprecedented scale.

So his remains were cremated and there was no funeral. And there was this crowd outside her home, just chanting and singing, singing his songs. And she sort of sent word to them that they were keeping her awake because they were just standing out on the street all. the time, just grieving. So she asked that they reconvene at Central Park at Central Park the following Sunday for a 10 minutes of silent prayer. So on the 14th of December 1980, millions of people around the world responded to Ono's request to pause for 10 minutes of silence to remember John Lennon.

So 30,000 gathered in Liverpool, the largest group, over 225,000 in Central Park, all gathered together and for those 10 minutes every radio station in New York City went off the air. Wow. That's a pretty big reach for a musician's death. Like that impact is incredible. Well, that's a good one to sort of start to wrap up with, isn't it? And then John Lennon died. John Lennon died.

And where are they now? They've done heaps of stuff. Yeah, they all done some good things. Yeah, they have, they have. And like I wanted to go into their solo. stuff as well, but there's just still so much. Like, they all did a lot. I think Paul McCartney did a lot with wings and George Harrison did a lot of stuff.

Traveling Wilburys? It's not too much. That's right. Roy Orbison got the last laugh there. He got to come back, yeah. And Ringo Starvoiced the Fat Controller. So they've all got stuff going on. They've all done stuff. I think they all had, did they all have number one singles?

I don't know about Ringo. I think they all did it in Ringo. I think you might be right. 16, you're beautiful and your mind. He must have been in his 30s when that came out. That's weird. I don't know if that was a hit or not. Do you reckon he still performs it live in his 70s?

Yeah, it's creepy now. If it was a hit, I'm sure he would. He probably just sings, you're 60. Ugh. He wrote, yeah. Oh man, this, like how much, like you said, there's just too much. There's too much. Yeah, that's it.

It just, it was getting too ridiculous. So I just found a few little details. I've got some fun facts and I've got a list. of all the awards that they've won. Oh, perfect. So we'll finish on a high just to wrap up how huge they are. So they released 27 studio albums. Really?

55 singles. That's a lot. And four live albums. Sure, 27 studio albums in 10 years. That can't be right. No, but that's because they had in the UK that were out. Oh, yeah, right. Exactly.

And they probably changed it. So I think it was there's 10 albums in the UK, I think. Yeah. That's still pretty crazy. One a year for 10 years. Because they only released them over eight years. Yeah, that's right. So, and it's like, no wonder they fell apart.

Like, if normally bands now will release an album every two years, tour in between, have a break. Yeah. If you're never having a break from each other, it's tour, recording, tour recording, tour recording. Like, I don't know. My best friends, I don't think I'd be able to handle doing that way. No, too much. Are we going to record another three of these today? Oh, God, no.

Then tour. There, okay, here's just a few little fun facts. Do I do awards or fun facts first? Do awards, I want to finish with fun facts. Yeah, fun facts. But I don't know how fun they are. They're totally building this up to be super fun. I know, I don't know how fun they're going to be.

Awards. The film Let It Be, so the 1970 film won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. I didn't know that. The Beatles have been awarded six diamond albums as well as 24 multi-platinum albums, 39 platinum albums, 45 gold albums in the United States. They're also the recipients of seven Grammy Awards. In the UK, the Beatles have four multi-platinum awards for platinum,

eight gold and one silver. They are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. They are the best-selling band in history. They've sold between 600 million and over one billion units worldwide. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the best artist of all time. They ranked number one on Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists. And as of 2014, they hold the record for most number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with 20. Isn't that ridiculous?

20 number ones. They were collectively included in Time Magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people. And in 2014, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. I know we all quite like them, but even people who don't, you can't have. argue that they're huge. I reckon there are a few out there who, but you know, anyone who's huge like that, there's always people who like, I don't get it. Totally.

It's like, if they weren't so big, they'd be like, yeah, they're pretty good. But I don't get why they're so big. I've got friends who just don't get it at all. I think if I discovered them now, I probably wouldn't be that into them. I think because my parents listened to them a lot and I was kind of raised with their music, you appreciate it. That was probably true of me too, perhaps. And it's a great story as well.

Yeah. Like that Lennon thing, is it ever going to, surely a big budget movie should be made about at some point? Surely. And it probably will. So yeah. Big budget, Dave. I'm not talking about some mid-level budget. You're talking 100 million plus.

Easily. Plus. Okay, some fun facts to finish up. Oh my goodness. I'm so excited for some fun facts. Your favourite song, Dave, yesterday is the most covered version of any song ever written. It's the most covered song. I knew that because I'm a big fan.

It's a great song. It's multiple thousands, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. What? Yeah, it's insane. I don't remember hearing, oh, I know Boys to Men do a cover of it on their album, Boys to Men too. Back in the Boys. Boy's to Men.

Oh, Jess. Back in the boys. And I'm pretty sure yesterday, that's the one that he claims that he wrote in a dream. He came up with the, woke up, and he would be like something scrambled eggs. He was singing something scrambled eggs. He was singing scrambled eggs. Honey, how I like your legs? Yeah, yeah, just so that he would remember the tune.

The tune. While he, like, ran to write it down. And a guy on a pie came to him. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. These guys. Those stories. Oh, boy.

Paul McCartney's name isn't Paul. It's James. Really? Is Paul a middle name? Paul's his middle name. James Paul. James Paul. I did not know that.

Oh, no, that's a good one. They're around... He's also dead. Did you get across that at all? there's this big conspiracy theory that he died in the 60s. Have you heard that? No, I haven't. I haven't heard that. How funny.

And that's why on the cover of Abbey Road, he's the only one not wearing shoes. That's part of the proof for them. That's one of the claims. It's not just that he just wasn't wearing shoes. But also... Yeah, all these clues are... I think George is dressed in a denim suit. So that means he's the...

No, he's the... I think because he's wearing denim, he's the one who buried him. One of them. And because he's not facing the camera as much as the others, so it's not the real Paul. Isn't Lenin in a white suit? Yeah, that's because he's something as well. Yeah, yeah. And then there's this other thing in one of their tracks.

If you play it backwards, it sounds like, Paul is no more or something. It's not even, it's like, why wouldn't they say it, say the exact words, Paul's dead? Like, why all the clues are so vague. Oh, that's great. I choose to believe he's alive. Well, I think he definitely is. Yeah. He just had a hit song with Rihanna last year.

I was going to say, yeah. But he's still writing hits. Oh, God. There are around, a couple more fun facts. There are around 70 famous and not so famous people on the cover of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band, including May West, Edgar Allan, Bob Dylan, Stuart Sutcliffe. Oh, that's cool. a shout out to their fallen bass player. Marilyn Monroe, Laurel and Hardy, Carl Marks, Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, Albert Einstein,

all on the front of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band. Do you know that? It's cool cover. I didn't know that. But yeah, I wouldn't even think to look. In an early interview, George Harrison let's it that he liked jelly babies. Oopsies. Consequently, he was pelted with them at gigs for years afterwards.

This could be painful, especially in America. where jelly babies weren't available, so fans threw harder jelly beans instead. Oh my God. He's like, stop. I don't like that much. And the last one, this is probably one of my favorite facts that I've learnt, the band bought the Greek island of Leslo,

surrounded by four smaller islands, one for each beetle, for 95,000 pound in the summer of 1967. They sold it a few months later, bored with the idea. Oh my God, I never knew that. It's awesome. They bought a Greek island.

They bought it. surrounded by four little ones so they could have an island each. I love a band was going to buy out. Bored with the idea. I love that though because like 67, they're still in their 20s. Like they're so young. They're just, they're young guys with too much money. And they own an island each.

Did you know this? Just to drag one more fun fact out. That George funded the life of Brian, the Monty Python. The movie, yes. Yeah, I'd forgotten that. And I'm fairly sure that he risked a lot of his money. I think it was pretty much everything he had. Like all in.

And he didn't, and I don't think Monty Python realized. Because they would have assumed that, oh, he's a beetle. Yeah, exactly. So they were like, they didn't feel as much pressure as they would have. They're like, oh my God, if we knew that George Harrison would have gone bankrupt based on this. Because they were worried that the movie, apparently the movie to them wasn't looking great and it wasn't getting a great reception until they really finished it off with the music and everything. Yeah.

And then it was obviously a big hit. made a lot of money, but... But maybe it's better they didn't know. I think it definitely was better they didn't know. I think... I think life of Brough might be my favourite. I think... I just love how the Beatles reaches just everywhere.

Yeah. So I hope you learnt something. I definitely did. I did too. I hope that was interesting for you. It was very interesting. Hopefully, yeah, I feel like now I just want to go home and listen to their back catalogue again.

Yeah, I want to watch their movies. Yeah, I haven't seen it. any of them. Let's get them out on the... Yeah. We could talk about this after the podcast. We should watch it out of the back. But if you say it now, then I'm contractually obliged to agree and come and watch it with you. Well, there you go. Thanks Jess for educating us about all things, Beatles.

Thank you. I hope you enjoyed it. We have all come down with a case of Beatlemania. Am I right, everyone? Big time. Big time. Well, we'll be back next week with a fresh report on another topic. And until then, we say adieu. a goodbye or I say hello. Thank you.

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