with Keavin Wiggins

Two score and zero years ago, our forefathers witnessed a revolution in not only music but popular culture. Or if you rather… It was 40 years ago today… Yes, this month marks the fortieth anniversary of the kick off of Beatlemania in the U.S. 

The Beatles were so much more than a pop group; their music transcended the world of music and became a phenomenon. They brought youth culture to the forefront, where it has remained ever since. They took rock and roll from the bastardization of rhythm and blues, bastardized some of that but also added something wholly new and created a new path that would set rock n roll into an entirely different direction; eventually many directions. (remember Ozzy among others claim the Beatles as their biggest influence)

When you look back at their body of work, it really is amazing when you consider how many different musical landscapes they ventured over and brought under the umbrella of rock n roll or rather its offspring “rock”.  Pop standards (When I’m 64), Ragtime (Martha My Dear), Folk Americana (Rocky Raccoon), Eastern music (too many to list). In fact, the list can go on and on. In six short years, the four lads from Liverpool laid down a body of work that has been unparalleled ever since. And their phenomenon has never been matched. It was a matter of timing, striking a chord that needed to be struck, talent, musical vision, trailblazing and so much more. But it really was all a happy accident. It would be nice to point to some smart record executives or music journalist and say, there was someone who had foresight and saw greatness in the working class boys from the North of England. But it wasn’t that way at all. In reality, it was pretty much the opposite.  And the funny thing is, when you look at some of the most popular bands in rock history, most of them share that in common. They owe their fame not to “brilliant” record executives, but instead to luck that allowed them to break through DESPITE what those “brilliant” record executives did or did not do to make it happen. 

In the last official antiTorial we looked a little at artist development. This time we are going to take a look at three of the most popular groups in rock history that actually became legends by accident, not by conventional wisdom or brilliant strategies of their record companies. Of course, the main focus will be on those lads from Liverpool and that revolution they sparked in February of 1964, and how the record companies stood in the way of making that happen. But first we start with a couple of tales of chance for two other later artists that went on to become immensely popular and how good fortune gets far more credit than marketing strategy or record company visionaries. 

Running on Dumb Luck.  

Michael Jackson has been denied the honor of having the best selling album in U.S. history simply because a secretary thought a musician was cute. It’s a rarely discussed fact that over 100 million albums were sold because that secretary spotted a glossy in a garbage can along with a demo tape and decided to take it to her boss because she thought the musician in the picture was cute. True story. 

A young singer songwriter sent an unsolicited tape and 8x10 to the offices of an upstart music label called Asylum that had been started by a former William Morris Agency mailroom clerk turned music agent extraordinaire by the name of David Geffen. 

An A&R rep tossed the tape and photo in the garbage. A secretary discovered the photo and thought that the singer was cute so she grabbed the photo and tape. She was so moved by the song on the tape, she insisted that Geffen give the song a listen. Geffen was impressed enough with this unknown musician named Jackson Browne that he paid him a visit. 

While he was discussing the prospects of a recording contract with the young singer- songwriter, at Browne’s Echo Park home, Browne told Geffen that he should also check out the band that lived upstairs. That band was then going by the name “The Longbranch Penny Whistle”, Geffen met with the group and decided to give them a shot as well. They would change their name to “The Eagles” before their first album hit the stores. So from a secretary picking up a photo that a supposed expert A&R person cast aside and a casual conversation with an unknown musician that followed, the band that would go on to have the biggest selling album in U.S history was discovered. 

All told the Eagles have sold over 88 million albums in the U.S., 28 million for their all time best selling “Their Greatest Hits 1971 – 1975”.   Jackson Browne didn’t do too badly either, he has racked up sales of over 16.5 million in the U.S., 7 million for his career defining album “Running on Empty.”   None of which would have happened if Browne had been ugly, or if Geffen wasn’t a man to take chances on new things. But it all started with dumb luck, not some brilliant A&R person walking into a club or listening to a demo and spotting the next big thing. 

You CAN Go Your Own Way. 

“Blues band becomes international pop sensation.” That was exactly what happened to Fleetwood Mac, the band started by Blues great Peter Green and named after his favorite rhythm section, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.  

“Peter Green is better than God” read a piece of graffiti on a London wall. The inscription was written beneath the proclamation “Clapton is God”.  In fact, Peter Green began to turn heads when he filled Clapton’s shows in Bluesbreakers, John Mayall’s group that proved to be the finishing school for English blues-rock greats.  

After leaving Bluesbreakers over artistic differences, Green started his own group with Fleetwood and McVie (McVie joined reluctantly). From there, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac began to make a name for themselves on the British blues scene.  Over the next 8 years the group would go through quite a few transformations, not only in line-ups but in musical style. They have a rather colorful history; Peter Green quit the band and became a grave digger. One of their guitarists disappeared hours before a concert in Los Angeles and it turned out that he had been recruited by a cult on the streets of Hollywood. 

Through all the lineup and musical changes, Fleetwood Mac managed to maintain a small but steady fanbase. Mick Fleetwood says that the group’s American record company, Warner Brothers, could always count on the group to release an album each year and sell in the neighborhood of 300,000 copies.  Fleetwood joked that these albums paid Warner’s light bill for the year. But then fate stepped in to change Fleetwood Mac’s fortunes. 

Early in 1975, Fleetwood went to a local Los Angeles recording studio to see if it would fit the group’s needs when it came time to record their next album. They had just lost their lead guitarist and frontman--again. While scoping out a studio, a young guitarist working in the next studio over caught his ear. He later claimed that the pixie girl recording with guitarist didn’t really register at the time. He was simply impressed by the guitar track he heard.  

One thing led to another and without an audition the guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham and his musical partner and then girlfriend Stevie Nicks were asked to join the band.  Lindsey and Stevie had released a debut album together in 1973 under the name “Buckingham-Nicks”, but it failed to reach an audience, so Polydor dropped the duo in 1974.  

The chemistry seemed to spark magic when the new lineup of Fleetwood Mac played together. Nicks and Buckingham’s voices joined with veteran blues crooner Christine McVie’s to form the patented harmonies that would become the hallmark of the Fleetwood Mac sound and with three key songwriters competing with each other, the group turned out a remarkable album. 

The band knew they had something very special on their hands when they completed work on their 1975 self-titled album. They went to Warner Bros and told them that the label should really put some muscle behind the album, because it could be a big hit. The folks at Warner’s listened and they indeed thought the album could move more units, perhaps as many as 450,000!  Needless to say the band was discouraged and to make matters worse, the record company showed just how behind the group and new album they were when an advertisement appeared in Billboard for the new album that pictured Stevie’s name under Lindsey and vice-versa.  

Critics missed the mark as well; Rolling Stone called Stevie Nick’s voice “callow” and some critics went as far as calling Christine McVie the only redeeming member that the group had left. But despite a less than full board press from the label and hit and miss reviews, the songs soon caught the attention of radio and the album methodically started selling after the success of single after single dominated Top 40 radio. The album finally hit number one after spending fifty-six weeks on the climb. By the time the band released their follow up album, “Fleetwood Mac” had sold 4 million copies and became Warner Bros. biggest selling album of all time. That was quite a bit more than the optimistic 450,000 WB had predicted. 

After the major success of “Fleetwood Mac”, the pressure was on; very few outside of the band felt that the next album would be as successful. Mick wrote in his autobiography that in the middle of recording, he predicted that the new album would sell double the amount of “Fleetwood Mac”. He was wrong, the follow up album, “Rumours”, has sold 19 million copies to date in the States.  Not bad for a band that just a couple of years previous could hardly get someone from their record label on the phone. 

Who Would Buy That Rubbish?

Now we come to the biggest piece of shortsightedness ever perpetrated by the major record companies in the history of popular music; the story of the rise of The Beatles.

Let’s peer back in our time machine looking glass to America in 1963. The “Twist” was all the rage and the first boyband mega stars, The Beach Boys, were topping the charts with songs about surfing, fast cars and sunshine. American was engulfed in the last moments of Camelot, the moon was a dream worth attaining, no one had heard of Vietnam and the future looked bright (unless you happened to be a minority). 

Meanwhile, a short time earlier, across the Atlantic a young record store operator by the name of Brian Epstein walked into a “cellarfull of noise” and was transfixed by what he saw, a group of long hair (by early 60s standards) rockers captivating the lunch time audience in the dingy underground Cavern club. 

With no experience under his belt, except operating the largest and most successful record store in the North Country, he convinced the group that he should be their manager and promised to get them a record contract in no time. 

Epstein felt that with the large amount of business he did with the British record companies, that is was only a matter of a phone call to secure the band a record contract. Little did he know. 

He was frustrated at every turn. Phone calls, letters and personal meetings all ended in the same response, “not interested.”  They wanted the “Twist” and beach music; no one cared about a British pop band with long hair! “Who would buy that rubbish?”

Luckily one chap at the EMI’s publishing company liked what he heard and recommended the Beatles to George Martin who was head of A&R for a small EMI associate label called Parlophone. 

George Martin met with Brian Epstein and agreed to set up a recording audition for the Beatles. When the time came for the audition, Martin wasn’t overly impressed with the group but he saw some spark within them. So he offered them a deal to record some singles. The big problem for him was the group’s drummer Pete Best wasn’t up to snuff in his opinion. So ol’ Pete had to go and was replaced with Ringo Star. 

The Beatles first single “Love Me Do” was released on October 4, 1962, but the label didn’t put any promotion behind it. EMI held fast to their disbelief in the Beatles. When George Martin announced at a meeting of EMI executives that he was releasing the Beatles, the stuffed shirts thought he was joking. According to Peter Brown’s biography of the Beatles, the mood with English record companies at the time was that guitar groups were a thing of the past and as a result the company did not get behind “Love Me Do”. It was left up to the group and Brian Epstein to do the promotion work. 

Epstein ordered 10,000 copies of the single for his record store and spearheaded a letter writing campaign to English radio stations to encourage them to play the single. The band, their family, Epstein’s employees and family began sending out letters. The group even asked fans during live performances to write letters of their own. It worked. 

In his book, “The Love You Make”, Peter Brown wrote, “After hundreds of requests, Radio Luxembourg played it. The BBC followed with one or two playings and then, like a tiny spark that at a single moment kindles into flame, ‘Love Me Do’ appeared at forty-nine on the New Record Mirror charts. When it climbed to number twenty-one on the Melody Maker charts, the entire northern city of Liverpool was talking about the Beatles.” 

The single eventually landed at number seventeen and George Martin rushed the group back into the studio to record a follow up before their momentum faded. They recorded “Please Please Me” and as they finished recording George Martin announced over the intercom “Gentleman, you have just recorded your first number one.” Martin was correct and Beatlemania was born in the UK despite EMI’s lack of support, the band and their manager made it happen for themselves. “Please Please Me” touched off a string of number one hits for the group in the U.K. So much for the record company wisdom when they asked, “Who would buy that rubbish?”  

At home the Beatles momentum exploded but the mainstream press all but ignored them, until they became too big to ignore. They finally arrived when they were asked to perform for the Queen at the Royal Command Performance. The next day the Daily Mirror summed up all the hysteria that the Beatles had created with one simple word “Beatlemania!” 

Meanwhile, the major record companies in America were given the opportunity to take a pass on cashing in on what would eventually equal sales of 165.5 million albums in the U.S. market. Oops! 

Even EMI’s American record company Capitol initially took a pass on the group. When “Please Please Me” hit number one in the UK, George Martin recommended the group to an executive at Capitol. The executive stupidly responded with a note that said, “They won’t do anything in this market”. So Brian Epstein decided to shop the band elsewhere. He managed to get two smaller labels to release the first couple of singles but without the muscle of a big label behind them, the singles fell flat. A letter writing campaign might work in the UK but the US is a far larger market without centralized radio stations. 

Epstein knew that the group had to make some kind of big splash to get the attention of the American record labels. Luckily for him and the Beatles, America’s leading variety show host got to see Beatlemania up close and personal in the UK.  

In the Fall of 1962, Ed Sullivan witnesses the throngs of screaming fans at London’s Heathrow airport when the group was returning from a concert in Sweden. He was at the airport with British Prime Minster Edward Heath, when his flight was delayed due to the Beatles arrival and the swarm of screaming fans that showed up to cheer their return home. So when Brian Epstein went to New York and pitched Sullivan on the idea of booking The Beatles on his show, Sullivan saw the opportunity of introducing the hit UK band to America. 

Sullivan initially offered Epstein the opening slot on the show but Brian wanted his group to headline. A deal was finally struck for not one but two consecutive appearances from the Beatles. 

With the Sullivan deal in hand and a copy of the Beatles latest single “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, Epstein met with Capitol Records and pitched the group once more. He told them that the new song was produced “with the American sound in mind” and Capitol reluctantly took the bait and offered to put out the single on a limited basis a little over a month before the Sullivan appearances in February of 1964. 

In November of 1963, tragedy struck America. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Camelot was over and a cloud of melancholy descended over America. For two months, the country was engulfed in sadness and loss and they needed something to lift their spirits. It turned out that what they needed was a pop group from England. 

Capitol released “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” the day after Christmas. On January 18th, 1964 the song entered the Billboard charts at an impressive number forty-five, despite its limited release and lack of support from Capitol. When the single raced to number three on the charts the next week and went to number one the following week, Capitol Records had to reexamine their assessment of The Beatles viability.  

The song wasn’t just hit number one, it exploded at number one. At that time most hit records were expected to sell around 200,000 copies but the week the Beatles clinched the number one spot on the Billboard charts the single sold 1.5 million copies in just five days. Capitol rushed an album into the stores to capitalize on the success of the single. When “Meet The Beatles” was released it became the fastest selling LP record in American history. Obviously the executive that said, “They won’t do anything in this market”, had to eat his words. 

The American press, hungry for a happy story, latched onto the Beatles and they became the biggest story. Beatlemania exploded in the U.S. with the music and mainstream press giving the new phenomena their full attention. They were aided by Capitol Records when the label unleashing an unprecedented marking blitz to announce “The Beatles were coming”, the floodgates were open and the world would change forever.  

We know the rest of the story. The Beatles touched down in America on February 7, 1964 and made their historic first Ed Sullivan appearance on Sunday February 9th. America was curious about the mop headed boys from Liverpool and their harmonious sound. The telecast became one of the most watched hours in television history and officially closed the doors on the post Eisenhower era 60s and opened the door to the 60s that would go down in the history books and change many facets of American life and culture. 

It’s amazing to think that The Beatles even happened, considering the pigheaded way they were received by the record companies. Luckily they triumphed in the end and the labels finally got it--after the fact, as they usually do. 

These three stories illustrate a stunning lack of vision on the part of the music industry. If fate and luck hadn’t intervened we would never have heard of The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks or The Beatles and millions of records would have never been sold, plus we would be living in quite a different world. You can’t discount the impact the Beatles had on Western culture. We will most likely never see anything like it again. 

But the thing that gets my stomach churning when I ponder the stories of these groups and how entirely off the mark the labels acted is the question of how many new Beatles, The Eagles or Fleetwood Macs have we missed out on? Groups that could have followed in their footsteps and made a big impact on music have been out there but the labels just didn’t “see it”. They turned their backs with “this won’t sell in this market” and “who would buy that rubbish?” Who indeed.  

The saddest part is these stories illustrate the fatal flaw within the industry that was apparent over 30 years ago. As the industry has become increasingly trend mongering, it’s a much worse climate today. So the next Beatles may have been out there, even in your own town, but they never got the chance to become all that they could be and the public was robbed of their music; simply because the record executives got it wrong once again. 

It was forty years ago today… and the song remains the same… still running on stupidity. 
 
 

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Posted by psyduck:
Smashing article Keavin!:)

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