JfDI!
How to sell brilliantly
Unplugged
The back-story:
It was 1962. In January the infamous Decca session went badly: possibly nerves, possibly because of not using their own equipment, possibly through not using their best material. Certainly because their current USP (unique selling point ) of raw live energy was totally lost in an alien studio. So: no signing. In June they do sign to EMI thanks to huge amount of hard work by Brian Epstein; in July Ringo joins the group and in December the lads do their final ever nights in Hamburg. Throughout the year regular live appearances occur mainly in Liverpool. Love Me Do and Please, Please Me are recorded and released.
"It was common in those days to find material for artists...and what I wanted for the Beatles was a hit...I was convinced that How Do You Do It was a hit song. In the end I went with Love Me Do but would still have issued How Do You Do It had they not persuaded me to listen to another version of Please, Please, Me." George Martin, The Anthology.
Meanwhile elsewhere: At the cinema: Dr No, Lolita and Lawrence of Arabia; Cuban Missile Crisis; Satirical magazine Private Eye starts; Thalidomide scandal.
That's another reason we love The Beatles.