JfDI!
How to sell brilliantly
Unplugged
What drove the lads, what really got the best
out of them? Creating? Sure: they just had to write music. Girls? Uh-huh; sort
of. (They had more than plenty.) Money? (Maybe; they actually had no idea at
all how much they were worth and how dreadful most of their early deals were
until the death of manager Brian Epstein). Leadership by George Martin and
Brain Epstein? A bit: they were soon well beyond that, though. No. The real
get-out-of-bed-every-morning factor was this: they simply wanted to be 'toppermost of the poppermost' and
simply no one, no one, not even the best of the best was going to beat them.
And there was some really good competition arriving on the scene.
As happens when you are really good, you
inspire imitation and competition. Initially the Beatles were the next natural evolutionary
step after Sinatra, Elvis and Cliff Richards/Buddy Holly. They had grown up on an eclectic
selection of music heard in snatches on the radio, practised skiffle and then
rapidly created their own field. But not for long.
Suddenly Northern towns and cities were cool.
There was something called ‘Mersey Beat’ and everyone was of course looking for 'The New Beatles'. Plenty of bands
had a few hits but most came and went. But there were three forces the Beatles
had to contend with: The Beach Boys. Bob Dylan. And of course The Rolling
Stones.
Just as had the Beatles, the Stones initially
did covers but a combination of seeing how quickly Lennon and McCartney ‘knocked
out’ I Wanna be Your Man (which they gave to the Stones and it became their
second single) and also being envious of their full-length leather coats (!),
vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards became a formidable writing
team in their own right. John in particular remained envious of them in the early
years for their ‘bad boy’ image, for wearing whatever clothes they fancied and their
harder-hitting lyrics.
Bob Dylan introduced the Beatles to both drugs
and to the autobiographical ballad approach of which The Beatles excelled in
their own way: Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields had been the first two tracks on what was planned to be a
Liverpool Concept Album, but George Martin needed to release something to a
hungry market and the idea was forgotten. Drug influenced tracks became a true
speciality…turn off your mind and float down-stream…In return The Beatles got Dylan plugging-in.
Beach Boy harmonies were a true inspiration,
too and for several albums the Beatles and Beach Boys leap-frogged each other
in the ‘concept thrills’ they provided for their respective fans. But in the
end- just as Paul’s cleverly constructed and powerful little rocker Back in the
USSR shows-the Fab Four were unstoppable.
That’s another reason we love The Beatles.