Read Online Beatles vs. Stones by John McMillian - Free Book Online
Authors: John McMillian
Ads: Link
the Beatles and the Stones was a media creation, a faux controversy that arose from a press that was either base in its sensationalism or fanciful in its ignorance.
But if all of that is the case, who was it that Lennon was itching to “hit back” in October 1963? He never mentioned any names, but he clearly had a specific target in mind. He was thinking about a band that was now playing R&B of the type that the Beatles played in Hamburg; and he seemed particularly peeved at a newer, London-based group, made up at least partly of students, whose members refused to attribute their hairstyles to the Beatles’ influence. Instead, they disingenuously maintained that they “just happen to have long hair.”
Only one group fits the bill exactly. In the Rolling Stones’ official biography, Record Mirror reporter Peter Jones (writing under the alias “Peter Goodman”) describes a period in 1963 when “The Beatles were high in the charts” and “reporters were very interested to know if the Rolling Stones hairstyles had owed anything to the high-riding Liverpool group.” But whenever Jagger was asked about the provenance of their shaggy hairdos, he turned defensive. With his “hands on his hips” and his “sweater awry as his shoulders gesticulated angrily,” he replied:“ Art students have had this sort of haircut for years—even when the Beatles were using hair cream! ”
• • •
A Hollywood adage holds, “It can take a lifetime to become an overnight success.” Of course, it didn’t take the Beatles nearly that long; they managed to hit it big when they were still very young. Before they became household names, however, they paid their proverbial dues. Lennon and McCartney began their musical friendship on July 6, 1957, at a garden fete in Liverpool. Five more years would pass before the Beatles started recording with EMI. In between came all of the failed auditions and talent show competitions, the late-night setsin West German nightclubs, and the difficult personnel changes that endure so vividly in Beatles lore.
It was rather different for the Stones. In July 1962, the band’s nucleus of Brian, Mick, and Keith shared a stage for the first time; almost a year to the day later, they appeared on British national television as Decca recording artists. Their first big break came in February 1963, when they secured a residency at the Crawdaddy Club at the Station Hotel (sometimes called the “Railway Hotel”) in Richmond, Surrey, perhaps thirty minutes outside of central London by train.
The Crawdaddy’s manager was Giorgio Gomelsky, a Soviet-born, Swiss-educated London transplant who in the 1950s had been a mainstay of the local jazz club scene. Then in the early 1960s, Gomelsky started promoting raw R&B, first in central London and then on the outskirts.“Brian Jones had been bending my ear constantly” about the possibility of landing gigs for the Stones, Gomelsky remembers. “He had that little speech impediment—kind of a lisp. It used be part of his charm. ‘Come and lithen to us, Giorgio,’ he’d plead with me. ‘Oh, Giorgio, pleathe get us some gigs.’ ”
After catching a Stones performance at Sutton’s Red Lion Pub, Gomelsky was suitably impressed—but he couldn’t offer them work immediately, since he’d already committed to promoting the David Hunt Band, a promising but unreliable Soho-based group. “Listen,” Gomelsky says he told the Stones, “I promised this guy a job, but the first time he goofs, you’re in.” Sure enough, the very next week, Hunt’s band failed to show up for one of their regularly scheduled gigs, and Gomelsky turned their Sunday-night slot over to the Stones.
Bill Wyman says that when the Stones played their first Crawdaddy gig, they drew a crowd of about thirty.But Gomelsky recalls that snow fell heavily in London that night (a rare thing) and only three people showed up. He added that the diminished attendance might also have been
But if all of that is the case, who was it that Lennon was itching to “hit back” in October 1963? He never mentioned any names, but he clearly had a specific target in mind. He was thinking about a band that was now playing R&B of the type that the Beatles played in Hamburg; and he seemed particularly peeved at a newer, London-based group, made up at least partly of students, whose members refused to attribute their hairstyles to the Beatles’ influence. Instead, they disingenuously maintained that they “just happen to have long hair.”
Only one group fits the bill exactly. In the Rolling Stones’ official biography, Record Mirror reporter Peter Jones (writing under the alias “Peter Goodman”) describes a period in 1963 when “The Beatles were high in the charts” and “reporters were very interested to know if the Rolling Stones hairstyles had owed anything to the high-riding Liverpool group.” But whenever Jagger was asked about the provenance of their shaggy hairdos, he turned defensive. With his “hands on his hips” and his “sweater awry as his shoulders gesticulated angrily,” he replied:“ Art students have had this sort of haircut for years—even when the Beatles were using hair cream! ”
• • •
A Hollywood adage holds, “It can take a lifetime to become an overnight success.” Of course, it didn’t take the Beatles nearly that long; they managed to hit it big when they were still very young. Before they became household names, however, they paid their proverbial dues. Lennon and McCartney began their musical friendship on July 6, 1957, at a garden fete in Liverpool. Five more years would pass before the Beatles started recording with EMI. In between came all of the failed auditions and talent show competitions, the late-night setsin West German nightclubs, and the difficult personnel changes that endure so vividly in Beatles lore.
It was rather different for the Stones. In July 1962, the band’s nucleus of Brian, Mick, and Keith shared a stage for the first time; almost a year to the day later, they appeared on British national television as Decca recording artists. Their first big break came in February 1963, when they secured a residency at the Crawdaddy Club at the Station Hotel (sometimes called the “Railway Hotel”) in Richmond, Surrey, perhaps thirty minutes outside of central London by train.
The Crawdaddy’s manager was Giorgio Gomelsky, a Soviet-born, Swiss-educated London transplant who in the 1950s had been a mainstay of the local jazz club scene. Then in the early 1960s, Gomelsky started promoting raw R&B, first in central London and then on the outskirts.“Brian Jones had been bending my ear constantly” about the possibility of landing gigs for the Stones, Gomelsky remembers. “He had that little speech impediment—kind of a lisp. It used be part of his charm. ‘Come and lithen to us, Giorgio,’ he’d plead with me. ‘Oh, Giorgio, pleathe get us some gigs.’ ”
After catching a Stones performance at Sutton’s Red Lion Pub, Gomelsky was suitably impressed—but he couldn’t offer them work immediately, since he’d already committed to promoting the David Hunt Band, a promising but unreliable Soho-based group. “Listen,” Gomelsky says he told the Stones, “I promised this guy a job, but the first time he goofs, you’re in.” Sure enough, the very next week, Hunt’s band failed to show up for one of their regularly scheduled gigs, and Gomelsky turned their Sunday-night slot over to the Stones.
Bill Wyman says that when the Stones played their first Crawdaddy gig, they drew a crowd of about thirty.But Gomelsky recalls that snow fell heavily in London that night (a rare thing) and only three people showed up. He added that the diminished attendance might also have been
Similar Books
