The Beatles on Jack Paar

[Dave W]

In the summer of 1963, Please Please Me was played on the radio, at least in Houston. I liked it but had no idea who the Beatles were, or that they were British. Then I saw this film on the Jack Paar show. It's so rarely mentioned that I figured there was no footage of the show available.

But this was uploaded to YT 5 months ago.

[westen44]

It doesn't surprise me that it was Jack Paar who was ahead of his time in trying to promote the Beatles.  TCM says of him that he offered a "smart, witty and frequently live-wire alternative to the staid promotional parade that comprised talk and variety shows."

[uwe]

Apparently, they were very popular with girls.

[gearHed289]

Man, that was great to see, thanks Dave!

[morrow]

I’d heard of that , but never seen it.

[westen44]

Apparently, they were very popular with girls.

Then when they came to America, as well as other countries, the reaction was the same with the girls. 

[Pilgrim]

Interesting that Paul is playing with his thumb in much of the She Loves You video, but using a pick at the end of the cut.

Pretty nice quality video for its age!

[soulman]

Those were the days.  I can remember being in Jr HS and rehearsing for a music show featuring choruses from all four schools in our district.  We were on the bus singing Beatles songs on our way back to our own school and our director was leading us in them.  She was a pretty cool lady.  LOL

How many of us owe our own beginnings as rock musicians to the Beatles?

[westen44]

Those were the days.  I can remember being in Jr HS and rehearsing for a music show featuring choruses from all four schools in our district.  We were on the bus singing Beatles songs on our way back to our own school and our director was leading us in them.  She was a pretty cool lady.  LOL

How many of us owe our own beginnings as rock musicians to the Beatles?

I owe my interest in bass to Paul McCartney.  But I think the time is coming relatively soon when many will say they weren't influenced by the Beatles hardly any or not at all.  Being a Hendrix fan, I've already encountered people who have never heard of him. 

[Pilgrim]

I owe my interest in bass to Paul McCartney.  But I think the time is coming relatively soon when many will say they weren't influenced by the Beatles hardly any or not at all.  Being a Hendrix fan, I've already encountered people who have never heard of him.

Not to pick on TB, but that is a place where many impatient young people with little interest in history show up.

The discussions about the impact of the Beatles there reveal a surprising number of people who think they were just some old band that was nothing special. It does boggle the mind of those who lived through that era and know how much they influenced the direction of popular music.

That said,  I remember that nearly 20 years ago one of my friends related overhearing a conversation between two teenagers.  His ears perked when the Beatles were mentioned. The pivotal comments were these:

"...the Beatles? Who are they?

"Aw, that was McCartney's band before he formed Wings."

My friend was still reeling when he told me of that exchange.

[westen44]

Not to pick on TB, but that is a place where many impatient young people with little interest in history show up.

The discussions about the impact of the Beatles there reveal a surprising number of people who think they were just some old band that was nothing special. It does boggle the mind of those who lived through that era and know how much they influenced the direction of popular music.

That said,  I remember that nearly 20 years ago one of my friends related overhearing a conversation between two teenagers.  His ears perked when the Beatles were mentioned. The pivotal comments were these:

"...the Beatles? Who are they?

"Aw, that was McCartney's band before he formed Wings."

My friend was still reeling when he told me of that exchange.

Or even if they have heard of the Beatles, they just don't like them at all.  I've mentioned it in prior posts, but this definitely applied to one of my younger relatives who hated them with a passion.  Or maybe, like you were indicating, some people just misjudge the impact the Beatles had.  Like one guy who started a discussion on how the Beatles were so hyped by the media.  According to him, the main reason people liked them was because the media told them to.  No independent initiative on the part of the fans was ever used.  People just did as they were told. 

It's perfectly okay to like or dislike any band.  But when people start trying to tell me they understand what I'm thinking even more than I do, I have to say that is just ludicrous.  Yet there are people out there who inaccuately second-guess other people all the time.  It seems to be a hobby for some people. 

[morrow]

There’s been nothing even remotely close to Beatlemania since.

[uwe]

My mother, born 1930, loved The Beatles, whenever they came on the radio she turned it up loud. When I hear The Beatles, I’m back in my mother’s kitchen.

My elder brother, born 1951, had all these Parlophone singles from them plus the Magical Mystery EP. I was only eight or so, but that Dadaist psychedelic world they created drew me to it.

My dad, born 1931 - though I doubt he ever got as far as being able to tell Lennon and McCartney apart, he just wasn’t really interested in any type of music - at least didn’t dislike The Beatles (nor, strangely, Deep Purple, yet he thought the Stones noisy).

My younger brother, born 1966, prefers Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five to The Beatles, but as a younger brother he’s ineligible as a matter of principle and, anyway, all families have black sheep.

I’m no Beatles connoisseur (though I have all their released boxed sets) and I have only seen Macca once live, but to me to this day there is The Beatles and then there are all other rock and pop bands. They have a solitary status for me. And while this might sound trite, there has never been a time in my life when Sgt Pepper has not been an desert island album of mine. And my favorite Macca bass line is, yes, the one in Silly Love Songs - its bubbliness encapsulates the man. As Ian Paice once said: “Paul McCartney is the only bass player who can play a two-step bass to a rock song and it won’t sound like Country & Western at all.”

[Dave W]

There’s been nothing even remotely close to Beatlemania since.

Taylor Swift?

At least the Beatles could sing without autotune.

[uwe]

I dare intervene that had autotune been around from 1963 onward, George Martin would have had very little qualms using it to patch up things in places. His production methods were never about getting a sound that could be reproduced live (especially back then), far from it.

Taylor ain’t The Beatles, but she is able to strike a chord with a lot of people for by now already some considerable time. My main issue with her oeuvre is that her songwriting over the duration of a full album gets samey quickly (add to that how it is not really rock guitar music, I know I’m revealing my age …). That is something that was remarkable about The Beatles, the sheer variety of what they + George Martin did, yet always being recognizable.