Favorite Beatle

“"...stratusloop plays hockey....you care to have a stick whacked over your noggin?....stratusloop can do that"

Tough is as tough does, that's what I always say.

I was just being a wise guy.
No worries, I wouldn't hit a girl.

Nigal, Queen???
Yikes!!!
When I hear them I gotta chance stations......oh wait, I don't listen to the kind of radio station that would play that kinda crap!”

“The primary point that I was attempting to get across here is that everyone is entitled to an opinion.

I don't care if you like it or not...but to tell me that I shouldn't say they suck is wrong. I'm not judging you or anyone else. I don't care for them and I truly believe their music is sophomoric. I'm allowed to say that and for you or anyone else to say I can't is wrong.

That's the bottom line....you want to listen to Beatles go ahead...be my guest...but don't tell me that I can't say they suck....because according to me.....and that's all that matters to me...is that the Beatles suck.

In stratusloop's world....the Beatles suck!

You think they're great...good for you....knock yourself out but remember don't demean me because I say they aren't very good.

Is that elementary enough?

Now if you may....Tobar the 8th Man is about to come on and stratusloop don't have any more time for this banter....”

“Hey, Joe. You are over reacting, my friend. It was a more generic post than that. Please don't take it personally. If you read, you see the bottom line is that it is subjective. Lighten up, dude. It wasn't an attack. I was also expressing an opinion. Just like you were. So, you are doing exactly what you accused me of...”

“"Joes Garage" is the greatest "concept album" of all time.”

“I kinda liked "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by The Alan Parsons Project.”

“Flyguy, one question: Why does it hurt when I pee?


Bit, I saw Parsons do a few songs from that when I saw them at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan. the Raven and Tell Tale Heart.. Awesome...”

“I oughta buy that album again...”

“I have a good copy (complete with the big booklet and all) on vinyl...”

“I never had it on vinyl...an old girlfriend bought it for me on cassette tape...I wore that thing out.”

“You all suck!”

“Better instrumentalists than the Beatles? No doubt about it. Better band? No way, if you take ALL factors into account. Don't go gettin' all pucked-up about it, Stratus.”

“Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision--a man appeared in a flaming pie and said unto them "From this day on you are Beatles with an A." "Thank you, Mister Man," they said, thanking him.

At least that was John Lennon's silly reply to the oft-asked question, as it appeared in Bill Harry's paper, "Mersey Beat," from July of 1961. But the whole story of the Beatles' name began in 1957, when young Mr. Lennon assembled his skiffle group, first calling it the Black Jacks, and then the Quarry Men. The group went through several name changes, surviving monikers like Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beats, and the Silver Beatles, before eventually settling on the Beatles.
In March 1957, after acquiring a guitar, John formed a skiffle group with Pete Shotton and for all of a week, they called themselves the Black Jacks. The name was quickly changed to the Quarry Men, after their Quarry Bank School, partly tongue in cheek, and partly to give the group credibility, according to "Lennon" author Ray Coleman. Their school song, "Quarry Men, Strong Before Our Birth" was rather prophetic. Group members would come and go, but the Quarry Men tag lasted well into 1959, even after the skiffle craze was over. This was in part due to the fact that drummer Colin Hanton's kit was lettered that way. (In fact, Hanton remained a part of the group simply because he owned a set of drums!)

By October 26, 1959, the group was streamlined to just John, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, and the threesome decided to make a second go at Carroll Levis' TV show "Discoveries." They called themselves Johnny and the Moondogs just for these auditions, which they unfortunately failed. One can't help but wonder whether Johnny and the Moondogs would have become a household word if they had passed the audition!

In March 1960, new member Stuart Sutcliffe came up with the name Beatals, a play on Buddy Holly's Crickets. The name didn't last long, though, as band members went in their own directions for a brief period. George played with another group, while John and Paul played two dates, April 23 and 24, as the Nerk Twins.

Around May 5, 1960, the group was known as the Silver Beetles. Brian Cassar , the leader of another Liverpool group called Cass and the Cassanovas, suggested the name change in the first place. He proposed the name Long John and the Silver Beetles, but John would have none of the Long John bit. According to Ray Coleman, Long John Silver was once considered, but rejected outright.

For only one date, they called themselves the Silver Beats for a May 14 gig at Lathom Hall in Liverpool. They were advertised to appear one week later under that name, too, but that date was canceled.

In early July 1960, they billed themselves as the Silver Beatles, before finally settling on simply the Beatles, around August 16, 1960. Credit for the name goes to both Sutcliffe and Lennon, though it is not certain just which one came up with the "ea" spelling.

In more recent years, another theory as to the origins of the Beatles' name has been suggested by George Harrison and Beatles' press man Derek Taylor. In his second revised edition biography of the Beatles (1985), Hunter Davies intimated that Taylor told him the name was inspired by the film "The Wild One." A black leather-clad motorcycle gang is referred to as the Beetles. As Davies put it, "Stu Sutcliffe saw this film, heard the remark, and came back and suggested it to John as the new name for their group. John said yeah, but we'll spell it Beatles, as we're a beat group."

Taylor repeated the story in his own Genesis book "Fifty Years Adrift."


"At that time, Stuart was into the Marlon Brando type of method acting. There has always been a big thing about who invented the name Beatles. John had said he invented it. But if you look at a movie called "The Wild One," you'll see a scene about bicycle gangs where Johnny's (played by Brando) gang is in a coffee bar and another gang led by Chino (Lee Marvin) pulls into town for a bit of aggro. The film dialogue printed here shows how Stuart could have thought of the name Beatles."
Indeed, the film does show the Chino character referring to his gang as the Beetles. George Harrison, in a 1975 radio interview, agrees with this version of the name origin, and more than likely, he was the source for Taylor's re-telling of it. The following is an excerpt of an interview with George from radio's "Earth News."
John used to say in his American accent "Where are we goin' fellas?" and we'd say "To the top Johnny!" And we used to do that as a laugh, but that was actually the Johnny, I suppose, from "The Wild Ones [sic]." Because, when Lee Marvin drives up with his motorcycle gang, and if my ears weren't tricking me, I could've sworn when Marlon Brando's talking to Lee Marvin, Lee Marvin's saying to him "Look Johnny, I think such-and-such, the Beetles think that you're such-and-such..." as if his motorcycle gang was called the Beetles.

The story is repeated once more in Pauline Sutcliffe's "BackBeat," (1994) with a slight twist.


"[Stuart] also dreamt up a new name for the group. Buddy Holly had his Crickets, and, on a forthcoming month-long tour of Britain, Gene Vincent was going to be backed by the Beat Boys. How about "The Beetles?" One of the motorbike gangs in "The Wild One" was called that too. A brainstorming session with John warped it eventually to "The Beatles" -- you know, like in 'beat music.'"
-------------- Bill Harry disputes the "Wild One" story in his "Ultimate Encyclopedia," because, as he claims, the film was banned in England until the late 1960's and none of the Beatles could have seen it by the time they came up with the name. If that is true, surely the Beatles had at least heard about the movie (after all, it was banned), and might have known the storyline, including the name of the motorcycle gang. That possibility, added to the fact that George, who was there, first told the story, makes it plausible. But, who knows for sure?
Throughout the days of Beatlemania, and even before, the Beatles were asked "the question" many, many times. Some of their responses were caught on tape by various interviewers, and they are transcribed here.


-----------------------------
October 4, 1963, from "Ready Steady Go!," with an appearance by Dusty Springfield.
DS: John, this is a question which you've probably been asked a thousand times before, but you always..., all of you give different versions, different answers, so you are going to tell me now. How did the Beatles get their name?
John: I just thought of it.
DS: You just thought of it...? Another brilliant Beatle!
John: No, no, really.
DS: Were they called anything else before?
John: Called, the uh, Quarry Men.
DS: Oooh. You rugged character.
-----------------------------
Dec. 10, 1963, Doncaster. Included on 'ROUND THE WORLD and BEATLES TAPES VOL. II: EARLY BEATLEMANIA 1963-64 interview discs.
Paul: John thought of it, first of all, just for a name, just for a group, you know. We just didn't have any names. Oh, yeah, we did have a name, but we had about ten of them a week, you know, and we didn't like this idea, so we had to settle on one particular name. And John came up with the Beatles one night, and he sort of explained how it was spelled with an e-a, and we said "oh, yes, it's a joke!"
-----------------------------
Included on THE BEATLES VOLUME II, and other interview discs.
John: I had a vision when I was twelve, and I saw a man on a flaming pie, and he said "You are Beatles with an 'a'," and we are.
-----------------------------
A 1964 interview.
George: John got the name Beatles...
John: In a vision when I was...
George: ...ages ago, you know, when we wanted, when we needed a name, and everybody's thinking of a name, and he thought of Beatles.
Interviewer: Why the B-e-a, instead of the B-e-e?
George: Well, naturally, you know...
John: Well, you know, if you left it with B, double-e... It was hard enough getting people to understand why it was B-e-a, nevermind, you know.
-----------------------------
Feb. 10, 1964, Plaza Hotel in New York. Included on THE BEATLES TAPES VOL. II: EARLY BEATLEMANIA 1963-64 CD.
Ringo: John thought of the name Beatles, and he'll tell you about it now.
John: It's just that it means Beatles, isn't it, you know? That's just a name, like "shoe."
Paul: "The Shoes." See, we could've been called "The Shoes," for all you know.
-----------------------------
February 1964, in a phone interview, as it appears on the album THE AMERICAN TOUR WITH ED RUDY. Part of it is included in Geoffrey Giuliano's "The Lost Beatles Interviews" on page 16.
George: We were thinking of a name a long time ago, and we were just wracking our brains for names, and John came up with this name Beatles, and it was good, because it was sort of the insect, and also the pun, you know, b-e-a-t on the beat. We just liked the name and we kept it.
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August 25, 1964, with Jim Steck. Included on HEAR THE BEATLES TELL ALL.
John: Well, I remembered the other day when somebody mentioned the Crickets at a press conference. I'd forgotten all about that. I was looking for a name like the Crickets that meant two things, and from Crickets I got to Beatles. I changed the B-e-a because it didn't mean two things on its own -- B, double-e-t-l-e-s didn't mean two things. So, I changed the 'a,' added the 'e' to the 'a', and it meant two things, then.
JS: What two things, specifically?
John: I mean, it didn't have to mean two things, but it said... It was beat and beetles, and when you said it people thought of crawly things, and when you read it, it was beat music.
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August 1971, in an interview with Peter McCabe, printed on page 89 in "John Lennon: For The Record," and later aired in the radio documentary "John Lennon: The Lost Tapes."
John: I used to write a thing called "Beatcomber," like, I used to admire "Beachcomber" in the "[Daily] Express," and I used to write a column every week called "Beatcomber." And then they asked me to write the story of the Beatles, and that's when I was in Allan Williams' club "Jacaranda." I was writing with George, "A man came on a flaming pie...," cause even then they were saying "How did you get the name Beatles?" Bill Harry said, "Look, they're always asking you that, why don't you tell 'em how you got the name?" So, I wrote this: "There was an certain man, and he came..." -- I was still doing like from school, all this imitation Bible -- " and he came and said 'You are Beatles with an a... and man came on a flaming pie from the sky and said you are Beatles with an a.'"
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April 1990, in an interview with KTXQ-FM's Red Beard, Dallas Texas.
Paul: When we first heard "Crickets"... Back in England, there's the game cricket, and we knew about the little chirpy, hoppity-goes-to-town type crickets. So, we thought they'd been brilliant, they'd really got this amazing double meaning name, of like the game and the bug. We thought this was brilliant, we thought, well, we've got to do this. So John and Stuart came up with this name that the rest of us hated, this Beatles, spelled with an "a." We said, "Why?" They said, "Well, you know, this is a bug, and its got a double meaning, just like the Crickets. We were influenced in many, many ways.
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November 1991, in an interview with Bob Costas on "Later."
Paul: We were asked, for uh, somebody said, "How did the group start?" And instead of saying, "The group started when the boys got together at Woolton Town Hall in 19...," John sort of stuttered away "We got a vision. A man came to us on a bun, and we had a vision."
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May 1997, in an interview with the New York Times concerning the title song of the "Flaming Pie" album.
Paul:Anyone who hears the words "flaming pie" or "unto me" knew it's a joke. There are still a lot of things we have to fudge because of comprimise. If we don't all agree on a story, somebody has to give in. And Yoko kind of insisted that John had to have full credit for the name (in "The Beatles Anthology"). She believed he had a vision. And it's still left us with sort of a bad taste in our mouths. So when I was looking for a rhyme for "cry" and "sky," I thought "pie." "Flaming pie." Wow!

---------------------------------
A comment from author and Beatle historian Bill Harry:


"Stuart did think up the name Beetles because it was an insect and he wanted to associate it with Buddy Holly's group The Crickets as the Quarry Men used a lot of Holly's numbers in their repertoire. John did add the 'a'. They told me this at the time.
"There is no credence to the 'Wild One' story. It was banned until the late 1960s and they couldn't possibly have seen it. Their comments were made in hindsight. They would also not have heard about the storyline in such detail as to have small pieces of dialogue or a vague name. I would have heard it then in my many discussions with them.

"I commissioned John to write a history of the Beatles for Mersey Beat and printed it early in 1961, which is where the 'flaming pie' story came from. John didn't have anything to do with the name of the column. I liked Beachcomber in the Daily Express and gave the title Beatcomber to his column. I also gave the title "On the Dubious Origins Of Beatles, Translated From The John Lennon" to the piece in the first issue."

Best wishes,

Bill Harry”

“Paul's been touring Europe and has been playing some never before played lives Beatles' tunes. Helter Skelter, You won't See me, I've Gotta Feeling and others. I think he is bringing the show to the US this fall when his new record comes out.”

“Is that the band that has that big mouth Jager guy?”

“Helter Skelter!

Wasn't that the theme song for the original Charlie's Angels ?

No! not the TV show with Farrah Fawcett.
The one with Patricia Krenwinkle Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten.”

“George Harrison--All those years ago”

“Is that the band that has that big mouth Jager guy?"
salebored
09:28:33 PM
06/17/04

No, you're thinking of AC/DC...”

“Everybody had a hard year,
Everybody had a good time,
Everybody had a wet dream,
Everybody saw the sun shine, oh yeah (oh yeah).

I've definitely be hitting this show if it comes within three states.

I finally found a used copy of Magical Mystery Tour the other day. You're a Rich Man is absolute pure perfection.”

“Honey Don't !

"Rock it one more time for Ringo, Georgie!"”

“Paul is doing All things must pass as a tribute to George this tour.”

“Favorite beetle?.....



uhm,,,,Dung?











Oh, wait, you said "Beatle".....





never mind.”

“don't like the Beatles Chili?”

“LOL, well, yes, I do. But I do have to point out that any of the four alone just isn't the same as the four united.”

“Ahh..................
















Look at all the lonely people.”

“they all had some good music solo though and Paul puts on amazing concerts.”

“Ringo had some good music? WTF did I miss?”

“I like Paul's solo stuff (early...Flaming Pie? NAW!). I also liked some of John's less hippy songs. I always thought John was the big hippy of the group but he didn't hold a candle to George. Most of his songs he wrote with them were very eastern Indian style and way out there. He was deeeep man.”

“Ringo has some ok music. All his best songs were written by the other Bealtes.”

“Wow, it just now hit me... in TT Land, if your name starts with "strat", yer fuggin' WACK!”

“hahaha”

“I think if Nigel winds up in Hell, it'll be a lot like Haight-Ashbury.”

“George was actually turned off by the San Francisco hippy scene. He stopped taking acid after visiting Haight Ashbury.”

“People like bacpac will be glad to hear that.”

“he wrote bluejay way the same trip”

“Savoy Truffle's got to be my favorite George song for shear funkiness but I really enjoy his eastern songs like Love You To more.”

“" Most of his songs he wrote with them were very eastern Indian style and way out there. He was deeeep man....."


He's still deep, deep in the Ganges River. He followed the Eastern Hindu path all the way to the end.

Now THAT'S a dood that had faith, not like Madonna changing her name to Ester, fer cryin` out loud!

If she wanted something Jewish, but more fitting, Jezebel is a natural!”

“I kinda like this beetle...
”

“LOL, laqtis!

Nigal musta been abandoned by hippy gypsies or maybe abducted and abused by long-haired aliens.

Ringo sang some nice rockabilly covers in the early '60s.....

Honey Don't(by Carl Perkins)
(Everybody's Tyin' To)Be My Baby(again, Carl Perkins)
Act Naturally
(from Beatles For Sale album)

Georgie's lead playin' on these songs is wondefully spare.
I'm sure he cut his chops on Carl Perkis, Scotty Moore and Eddie Cochran, and others in that school of gitt-pickin'.”

“If I had been young enuf to swoon back then I would have gone for John.

Paul does have some good music, but I have to admit I haven't listened to much of it. I'm more into bluegrass/blues stuff”

“
I'd like to be
Under the sea
In an octopus's garden
In the shade
”

“The first two solos Paul did were amazing. He did everything himself on them. Didn't Ringo do some kids songs?”

“I hate The Beatles!!!”

“Blasphemer! LOL! That's OK, I hate The Who and Jimmy Hendrix.

I think the one band above reproach would have to be The Doors.”

“I'm sorry, you'll have to be deported now...”

“The Doors???

Ooooo, weak!

Jim Morrison was an A-hole and a drunk.”

“At least he didn't let his adiction kill himself like Jimmi did. Drugs are a personal choice but when ya let them kill ya, well you're just a loser then.”

“Yo, Nigal, Morrison's drinking killed him.

And he was a disturbed nut.
"I wanna kill my father and eat my mother, whoa!"

He told people that his father was dead.

I think Admiral Morrison is STILL alive.

Jim was a military brat with a bit of self-loathing going for him.

Jimi, on the other hand, was a hard-working musician who practiced like a fiend and played the "chittlin' circuit" with blues artists between '62 and '66.

He could play jaw-dropping solos and inspired many guitarists, Stevie Ray Vaughn, for one.

Sadly, Jimi liked to party a bit too much and mixed barbiturates with booze......one time too many.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Jimi was a heroine addict, like Eric Clapton or Keith Richards.”

“As many have suspected over the yars, Keith Richards is actually a re-animated corpse. He died in 1972.”

“Jimi crossed the color line at a time of political violence in America.

In '66 the British press called him "The Wild Man From Borneo".”

“And then he killed himself with drugs and joined the loser's hall of fame alongside Joplin. No matter what you did in your life if you go out like a sucka it was all in vain.

I don't care what Jim was as a person, he made great music. I don't care what Jimmi was as a person, his music sounds like shlt.”