"Boots And Bow Ties...": "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today..."

Sgt Pepper taught the band to play...

They've been going in and out of style...

But they're guaranteed to raise a smile...

Well...

As usual...

... I'm calling bullshit on that...

because...

... it was 50 years ago tonight that The BeaTles appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' for the first time!

See...there was this band from England... from Liverpool...

Stu Sutcliffe, John Lennon, Paul McCartney,

Tommy Moore, George Harrison

(L-R)

... and contrary to popular opinion, they were not an over-night success...

These guys had worked hard at plying their trade... learning their licks.

Pete Best, George Harrison, John Lennon,

Paul McCartney, Stu Sutcliffe

(L-R)

These guys spent a great deal of time playing various clubs... and traveling to Germany, where they actually started earning critical acclaim.

Stu Sutcliffe

Original Bassist

The band had two different members at this time... Pete Best on drums, and Stu Sutcliffe on bass guitar.

Pete Best

Original drummer

In the photos at the beginning of this post, one can see McCartney posing with guitars... not his bass. 1962 seemed to be a pivotal year for this group... Stu Sutcliffe died from a brain aneurysm... and Pete Best was unceremoniously fired from the band.

In 1961, a young fellow by the name of Brian Epstein sold himself to members of the band... convinced them that he could take them to the 'next level'... and the members of the band believed it... they hired him.

Epstein and The BeaTles

These guys did quite well under his leadership... Epstein was playing Hell finding a studio that would sign his band to a recording contract... Epstein eventually met this fellow...

George Martin

Martin worked at a recording studio and had been introduced to Epstein. It was Epstein's zeal that convinced Martin to sign them to a contract... even though every other British label had declined them.

If there was one person that was critical to the success of this band... this group of musicians... it had to be George Martin. In the earliest recording sessions, Martin did not care for Pete Best's drum work... and recommended he be replaced.

Martin was a classically trained musician... and was able to 'hear' changes that needed to be made to their recording efforts. It was Martin's idea to add strings to 'Yesterday,'... something to which McCartney was opposed. It was also Martin's idea to use a piccolo trumpet solo in 'Penny Lane'... McCartney hummed out the melody he wanted... Martin transcribed it, and they hired a classically trained trumpeter, David Mason, to record it...

In all of the rhetoric about a so-called 'fifth BeaTle'... if there was indeed one, it was George Martin.

Anyway... I've digressed...

Fifty years ago tonight... The BeaTles were on American TV for the first time... and things haven't been the same. If you weren't alive then, you can't understand. That's about all I can say about it.

We Americans were only three months removed from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy... political turmoil... brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union... racial strife...

... and here these guys come a long...

... and I fall in love with music and guitars...