Beatles News

Rock and roll arrived in Canada, and was received, much the way it was across white North America. “This music works on a man’s emotions like the music of the heathen in Africa,” Rev. W.G. McPherson of Toronto’s Evangel Temple warned Maclean’s magazine in 1956.

When the Beatles came along, however, The Man was more bemused than concerned. “34,000 Beatles fans pay $100,000 to hear themselves,” a Toronto Daily Star headline wryly observed of their first shows in the city: matinee and evening performances on Labour Day 1964, when no one in Maple Leaf Gardens reported hearing a note over the screaming.

To someone born 12 years later, who is still in awe of the band, it’s astonishing how quickly the mania faded. The Beatles’ 1965 shows barely made the front page of the Star. In 1966, the paper declared Beatlemania eradicated.

It’s all relative of course. Mayor John Tory, who was 12 in 1966, recalls “complete chaos” in the floor seats and barely hearing anything above the screaming. “As we left, there was a long row of chairs along the wall of MLG, each … occupied by a fan who had been brought out in a completely overwhelmed s details

Before The Beatles set out on their blitz tour of Germany in June 1966, "Beatlemania" hadn't yet infected Germany. They swooped in for six short shows - and the hype surrounding the English musicians proved contagious.

The Fab Four arrived in Germany in June 1966, brought to the country by the German youth magazine "Bravo." it was their first visit since 1962 and this time, Beatlemania infected not only the fans, but also the media which had long been covering the ascention of the "four choirboys from Liverpool" with more suspicion than curiosity. Still, there was a bit of fascination. And exactly that mix determined the way in which the band's three-day visit to Germany was received: with mass hysteria throughout the country. Beatlemania had arrived in Germany.

It was no longer possible to simply ignore the masses of long-haired teenagers that had emerged from fusty post-war Germany and were considered crazy. Newspapers interviewed psychologists to help explain the bizarre behavior of these youngsters, reassuring readers that they shouldn't really be seen as a danger to society.

Fears of riots proved to unfounded. But in the eyes of many people, the conglomerations of screaming teenagers - most of them details

Many clubs have played a significant part in shaping popular music — Birdland and CBGB’s in New York; Whisky-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles; Ronnie Scott’s, the Marquee, the 100 Club in London; the Armadillo in Austin, Texas; Tipitina’s in New Orleans; Tootsie’s in Nashville — but none of them are as well-known or as influential as the Cavern. Without any fear of contradiction, I can say that the Cavern is the most famous club in the world and a letter simply addressed to ‘The Cavern, Liverpool’ will reach its destination.

This is the story of the Cavern.

The Cavern started as a jazz club in 1957 and for some years, the Merseysippi Jazz Band ruled the roost. They and their fans had little time for anything but jazz and it is fascinating to follow the changes that have taken place over the years. At first the jazz fans tolerated skiffle but hated rock & roll, but by 1961 the new manager knew that was the way forward. The Beatles had come back supercharged from Hamburg and offered a totally different and very exciting sound, but it didn’t take long for the other bands to realize that they would have to have radical transformations as well.

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On Saturday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m., a group of more than 60 children, including Broadway performers and friends, joined together in New York City in Times Square to raise their voices for peace in hopes to help end gun violence. They created a peaceful sing-in demonstration in front of the Walgreen's on West 42 Street and Broadway.

 The children sang John Lennon's Imagine while several played along on guitars, wore silver ribbons in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims, and carried signs saying phrases such as "We deserve a better future", "Imagine a Better World", "Love is Love is Love is Love is Love", #EndGunViolence, #ImagineSingforPeace. A large crowd gathered around them with many joining in the singing. The ad hoc group of children was assembled via social media posts, emails and word of mouth, and they used their time and talent simply to be heard. With the power of social media, their hope is that their message to end gun violence will spread and be heard across the world.

The idea for the demonstration was sparked by a facebook post written by a 14-year-old Broadway performer, Sam Poon ( The King and I, Macbeth, Billy Elliot, Les Miserables). In response to the Orlando shooting at The Pulse details

"This is the greatest pheonomon of the century so far," opens the new trailer for the upcomign Beatles concert documentaryThe Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years. The Beatles are known as a studio phenomenon, bringing new chords, time signatures and sonic landscapes to rock and roll and creating rock music. But the band started off as a wild, leather-clad, north of England stage act. Cursing and smoking on stage when John Lennon wasn’t peeing on nuns’ heads or wearing toilet seats and making fun of spastics. Then Brian Epstein put them in collarless Pierre Cardin suits and unleashed them on the unwitting south.

Ron Howard’s documentary on The Beatles concert years, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years film will debut Sept. 17 on Hulu. The documentary will hit select U.S. theaters on Sept. 16.

There have been several Beatles documentaries in the past, but Academy Award-winning director Howard promises extensive coverage. For those of us who have been collecting bootlegs for all these years, we can only hope he uncovers something we haven’t seen. White Horse Pictures and Apple Corps’ The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years covers t details

Given his own studio, his own canvas, and his own space, George Harrison did what no other solo Beatle did on All Things Must Pass:

He changed the terms of what an album could be.

In 1970, the year the Beatles officially called it quits, divorce was on the American mind. One year earlier, California then-Governor Ronald Reagan had signed the nation’s first no-fault divorce law, freeing couples from the burden of having to produce evidence of wrongdoing in order to legalize their separation. From 1965 to 1970, the number of divorce filings nearly doubled, and in the wake of similar laws pending in other states, the rate would surge through the beginning of the next decade. By the time Kramer Vs. Kramer won Best Picture in 1980, the number of divorces had nearly doubled again. But 1970 remains a mysterious fulcrum point: Whenever a new study is issued on separation rates, our progress or regression is always measured “since 1970.”

Like everything else the Beatles did, their dissolution in that year invented a new way for a band to be—in this case, painfully and publicly splintered. In their death throes, the group would become rock music’s proxy divorcees for the ensuing decad details

"My original idea for the cover was better – decapitate Paul," John Lennon once cracked while discussing Yesterday and Today, a 1966 collection of assorted recent Beatles tracks cobbled together for the North American market. Joking aside, his concept is almost tame compared with the photo that ultimately graced the LP upon its release that June. Fans seeking the aggressively inoffensive hit "Yesterday" name-checked in the title were shocked to find a grotesque tableau starring the group, clad in white butcher coats, snickering like naughty (murderous, even) schoolboys while draped in slabs of raw meat and cigarette-burned doll parts. Lennon could have drawn and quartered his bandmates and it might have inspired less outrage. 

Half a century later, the image of a cheerful Fab Four posing post-baby-slaughter remains unspeakably bizarre. Though the cover was immediately withdrawn, the fact that it was produced at all is a testament to the band's unprecedented status. You couldn't show a toilet seat on an album cover in 1966, and it would be a decade before punk rockers approached this level of public provocation. Yet there sat the Beatles, gleeful among the carnage.

The so-called "butcher" cover vaulted details

Originally published in December of 1989 upon Paul's return to touring after a long haitus.

For a subatomic fraction of an instant, in a narrow gray cinderblock room so spartan that he must place his tea and biscuits on the middle cushion of the couch, Paul McCartney frowns.

So yes, those famous rising eyebrows move inward as well. The smiling mouth also turns down. How about that? A moment to remember, this, because for 25 years, in tiny gray rooms and on great floodlit soundstages, Paul McCartney has looked as unfailingly cheerful as one would expect from a man who once addressed a whimsical love song to his Old English Sheepdog.

But at this moment he’s preparing to shoo away something rather less pleasant: Paul, The Cute Beatle. “I’m comfortable with people still seeing me as ‘The Beatle,’” he says. “It’s like, once Greta Garbo, always Greta Garbo. You want to be alone, you’re still Greta Garbo. Once Brigitte Bardot, always Brigitte Bardot, even when you’re saving baby seals. “But I’m not comfortable with being ‘The Cute Beatle.’ I’ve never really thought I was ‘cute,’ though I guess some people think details

Sony/ATV Music Publishing -- long the market leader -- has enlisted global branding, licensing and rights management firm Epic Rights to help put the lyrics of some of the most classic Beatles songs on everyday products. The arrangement, announced on Wednesday, is specific to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s Northern Songs catalog, comprised of more than 180 tracks.

Epic Rights will be charged with developing the licensing program, which could result in a flood of Beatles lyrics on things like thoughtful greeting cards ("Hey Jude"), door mats ("Hello Goodbye") or coffee ("A Day in the Life").

"We envision a broad licensed products campaign that encompasses everything from apparel, accessories and wall art to home electronics, gifts, stationery, and more," commented Lisa Streff, Epic Rights' executive vp of global licensing. "From All You Need is Love to Hey Jude, the opportunities to develop high quality merchandise that incorporates the words and sentiments of Paul McCartney and John Lennon's lyrics are limitless."

Epic Rights will unveil the officially dubbed Lyrics Written by Lennon & McCartney program at the upcoming Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. Epic CEO Dell Furano praised the arrangement, details

In the spring of 1966, Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys flew over to London. An acetate of the yet-to-be-released Pet Sounds was tucked securely under his arm. Like a high-ranking diplomat on a crucial mission, he had one and only one urgent assignment: to play the pioneering LP for John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles.

When they heard it, Lennon and McCartney immediately understood that a new standard had been set for album-length pop music. But just as significantly, they also grasped the conceptual core of the album: The Beach Boys’ master composer and artistic strategist, Brian Wilson, had created a work that lovingly integrated a century of American pop, vaudeville, classical and folk tics into a user-friendly avant-psychedelic landscape.

Even more remarkably, this modernist valentine to the past never seemed pretentious, not even for one moment. Lennon and McCartney also understood that Brian Wilson had the courage to make music that reflected the cultural DNA inside every American musician, even citing the genes that had been discarded as unhip or archaic. Within hours, Lennon and McCartney decided to attempt to do something very similar.

They would make a state-of-the-art pop album details

It sounds outlandish, but the possibility that Sir Paul’s missing bass guitar is somewhere in Ottawa is raised in a massive new biography titled Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman.

The instrument, as much a part of the Beatles’ early image as mop haircuts and cuban-heeled boots, was played by McCartney throughout the Cavern Club era in Liverpool. Made by the Hofner company, the bass was stolen from the band’s Get Back/Let It Be sessions in 1969. Its whereabouts remain unknown — until now, presumably.

There were actually two violin basses. The first, bought by McCartney in Hamburg in 1962 is the missing instrument. In 1963, Hofner gave McCartney an improved model as a reward for making the brand world famous. McCartney still plays the 1963 model at concerts, as he did at his 2013 show in Ottawa. It is insured for more than $4 million.

The older instrument, referred to as “the Cavern bass” by Beatles historians, has never been recovered. The notion that it’s in Ottawa seems as out-there as the Paul-is-dead hoax started by U.S. college students half-a-century ago.

Yet in the book, Norman relates how new information about the Cavern bass came to him fr details

John Lennon with his Epiphone Casino in December, 1968, on the set of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus.” Of all the guitars the Beatles made famous, the only one that John, Paul and George had in common was the Epiphone Casino. Each owned a Casino and used it for countless recordings and performances.

Paul McCartney was the first Beatle to acquire a Casino. Influenced to purchase it by his friend, blues musician John Mayall, McCartney said, “You’d go back to his place and he’d sit you down, give you a drink, and say, ‘Just check this out.’ He’d go over to his [tape] deck, and for hours blast you with B.B. King, Eric Clapton… he was sort of showing me where all of Eric’s stuff was from. He gave me a little evening’s education. I was turned on after that, and [bought] an Epiphone.” Mayall recalls the late-night record sessions. “I showed him my hollowbody guitar that I’d bought when I was in the army in Japan in 1955. When people get together and listen to records, they talk about all kinds of things related to the music, so obviously we must have touched upon the instruments and it struck home. He got a hollowbody after to get that tone details

Henry McCullough has died aged 72. Paul McCartney paid tribute to the Northern Irish musician who also toured with Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and played lead guitar on the orginal Jesus Christ Superstar rock opera.

The musician survived a serious heart attack in November, 2012, and his death had been mistakenly reported two months later. He never fully recovered and died at home this morning.

McCullough is most famous for playing on the huge Wings hit Live And Let Die with McCartney's band Wings. McCartney said he was "very sad" on hearing the news. The Beatles legend added: "He was a pleasure to work with, a super talented musician with a lovely sense of humour. "The solo he played on My Love was a classic that he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. Our deepest sympathies from my family to his."

My Love was No1 hit in the US. As well as playing on some of Wings' biggest hits, McCullough toured with the band throughout the early 1970s. The session guitarist also played with other music legends, including Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Van Morrison also paid tribute, saying: "I know he had some difficult times recently, but he will be remembered for his long and productive career in music. "M details

Ringo Starr, who spreads a message of peace and love every year on his birthday in July, said he wants that message to hit home even harder this year in the wake of Sunday's Orlando shooting.

Starr said in an interview Monday that he doesn't understand the attack that left 49 victims dead and more than 50 hurt.

"I don't understand that mindset that you could decide to injure and kill a lot of innocent people. I'm really not a supporter of wars either, but you can understand there's two sides having a go at each other. But this is so random," Starr told The Associated Press.

"It's a difficult situation because it just happens," he continued. "Some guy — so far it's always some guy isn't it, not some girl — gets up in the morning and maybe is mad, maybe is angry — we don't know, I don't know — and decides to cause a lot of hurt, you know. It's sad."

Starr says that's why his message of peace and love is so important. At noon on July 7 — his 76th birthday — the former Beatle is asking everyone to take a moment to ask for peace and love.

He's been holding the event since 2008 and has celebrated in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tennessee, Hambur details

Paul McCartney has discussed his creative process in depth in a new interview, where he's also revealed just much he misses working with John Lennon.

The legendary songwriter opened up about his past and present methods of writing music, as well as the varying levels of confidence he has in his own ability. McCartney, who released a new box set, 'Pure McCartney', today, gave a candid assessment of his experiences of songwriting over his long and prestigious musical career.

In this new interview with NPR for their All Songs +1 podcast, McCartney said that, with songwriting, "You never get it down. I don't know how to do this. You'd think I do, but it's not one of these things you ever really know how to do."

He also opened up about missing John Lennon in a creative sense, saying that he hasn't changed his method of songwriting since he first devised it with his fellow Beatle. "If I was to sit down and write a song now, I'd use my usual method: I'd either sit down with a guitar or at the piano and just look for melodies, chord shapes, musical phrases, some words, a thought just to get started with," McCartney said. "And then I just sit with it to work it out, like I'm writing an essay or doing a crossword details