Hello and thank you for approving my membership here! My absolute favorite period of The Beatles, which was also John Lennons favorite period, was the pre-EMI, pre-George Martin period. Only, of course, John Lennon knew that period in such an intimate way, while the rest of us can only feast on the fragmented tidbits of information and stories that were revealed through those who were there.. the likes of Jerry Marsden, Pete Shotton, Peter Best, Richard Starkey, Alan Williams, Tony Sheridan, Horst Fascher, Klaus Voorman, not to mention John, Paul & George, as well as Astrid, all of whom left us in writing, so much to consider about Stuart Sutcliffe, not to mention Stuarts hand-written letters and his fantastic artwork! Paul McCartney, more and more over the years, had admitted that he and Stuart would butt heads all of the time. John Lennon told official Beatles biographer, Hunter Davies, that it came to where everyone in the band picked on Stuart, but Paul especially, said Lennon, which Pete Best confirms with a giggle as one of the co-antagonizers of Stuart himself. It becomes clear that even Astrid gave Stuart no rest, for trying to keep him from going back on stage, even to the point of refusing to talk to him once his love for being on stage as a musician grew, to where he missed being in a band and told Astrid that he wanted to play again, all of which Stu wrote to a friend back home from Hamburg. Its so easy to say, for historical purposes, that McCartney was simply looking out for the band to make Stuarts life so miserable that he would want to quit the band because Stuart was such a poor musician. Thats not what Pete Best reports, or Klaus Voorman, who says, along with others, that the 5-piece Beatles had a powerful, magnificent sound with a bass player who was definitely holding his own in the band. It seems the more we would know that Stuart was a good bass player, the more of a heel Paul McCartney might seem to be, for having some other motive for tormenting the bands bass player until he finally quit. Stuart had made a point to report in a letter to a friend that over the months, everyone in the band had improved musically. And in later years, Paul does come clean and admit that he and George were feeling rather left out because Stuart and John were closer in age, they were best mates, and Stuart often had all of Lennons attention for those reasons. So Stuarts musicianship was not that reason behind the tension between Stuart and Paul. Does anyone believe that someone in the audience would notice if Stuart was playing in a different key from the guitarists? There are positions all over the neck of a bass guitar where the bassist can play in a matching key without being in the same position as the guitarists! As Pete Best laughs at that ridiculous story as being nonsense, that Stu was ever asked to turn away from a camera, or to turn away from the audience so they could not see what he was playing! If Stu was playing something wrong, it would be immediately HEARD rather than seen! Pete reports that Stu was just doing his cool James Dean pose when a camera caught him turned away. Why would Pete and Klaus defend Stu as being a good basic rock and roll bass bass player who helped the band have a great sound if it was not true? Its also easy to say that Stuart simply stayed in Hamburg when the other Beatles were deported... to pursue his art, satisfied, along with everyone else, that he was just not musician material. That makes for a tidy, easy to tell story, but it is absolutely untrue. We never got to hear The 5-piece Beatles, who were the Beatles at their greatest by many accounts, including John Lennons and Klaus Vormans. I have a hard time believing that Stuart getting jumped back in January 1961 just before a gig (according to Pete Best) was a random act of violence. Could Stuarts intense relationship with John Lennon be standing in the way of someone outside of the band who, like Paul and George, was jealous of Stuart and was likewise wanting more of Johns attention, which, as long as Stuart was around, would be impossible? Was it also mere chance, as things moved forward toward the Beatles (and John Lennon in particular) coming under the rule of Brian Epstein, that a club, where The Beatles could have maintained a residency under Alan Williams control, suddenly burned down under mysterious circumstances? Things do not happen for no reason. Who had something to gain if that club were to just disappear overnight? Something went terribly wrong somewhere, for Stuart to have become so ill that his own mother, shocked at his appearance, knew he was dying when she saw him when he visited his mother and his old bandmates and other friends back in Liverpool in 1962, also making rounds at the clubs, still interested in playing music, against Astrids wishes. But, once back in Hamburg, Stuart had become more and more violent and unpredictable, to where his death was a blessing for those, like Astrid, who say they knew his death was inevitable. George Harrison said Stu visited with him at his home during that visit and that he also got a vibe as if Stu knew it was be his last visit to Liverpool and was at peace it. Perhaps this is why Stu declined Epsteins offer to be a part of the Beatles organization as long as he was no longer in the band. But why would Brian want Stuart around when Stuart would he such a distraction to John? Or had something happened to subdue the intensely close relationship that John and Stuart had once shared? The idea of Lennon & McCartney being the songwriting backbone of the band had already been set in place with a Beatles performing their originals at gigs by that time... these Beatles who, although named by Stuart, were now officially a quartet who when named individually in order... were John, George, Peter and Paul.. The Beatles who had a manager calling the shots for them who invited Stuart to come along for the ride.. or was that offer made only out of kindness for seeing the same drastic decline in Stuart that his mother and George Harrison and even Astrid somehow knew was leading to his death? Of all gigs to be absent from at The Casbah Coffee Club, just before The Beatles first flight to Hamburg in April 1962, George Harrison falls ill and Brian Epstein refuses to let George play those gigs, and he has George tarry behind with him whilst the other Beatles fly off to Hamburg. And just then Stuart dies, which allows Epstein to be somewhere else when Lennon receives the news in person from Astrid upon the groups arrival, that Stuart had died. And George and Brian Epstein arrived on later flight with Stuarts mother, coming to collect the body of her son. The very night George and Brian arrived, Brian drank so heavily, became so drunk, was so out of it, that he was legless and had to he picked up off the ground and carried off according to Horst Fascher, who had a very low opinion of Epstein, whom Horst pointed out to the lads was supposed to be so important, so refined and dignified as their band manager, chiding John Lennon that night about Epstein, Look at him! Hes no different than you! Something about Stuarts sudden death and the circumstances around it seem to have gotten to Brian that day, although we have no reason to believe that Stuart and Brian had ever become friends. And who did Mona Best think she was, even after Stuarts death, to still be full of ideas for The Beatles, and band that has Mona to thank for their initial booking at The Cavern Club and many other gigs she landed for them... Mona, Pete Bests mother, whose basement club, The Casbah Coffee Club hosted The Quarrymen and later The Beatles on many occasions, Mona having served as unofficial manager and agent for the group when they needed work and some direction. Was Brian now feeling threatened or challenged by Mona Best for control of The Beatles? Who would have the most to gain from a Beatles without Pete Best. For certain, removing Pete would be one easy way to shut down any further interest Mona had in The Beatles. Horst Fascher, who was no fan of Brian Epstein, is of the opinion that Pete was let go for being the only Beatle who consistently refused Brians advances. The fact that Gerry Marsden and Pete Shotton and Pete Best each reported having to tell Brian that they were not interested in what he was into, does seem to lend credence to Horsts conclusion that Brian was doing more than just looking at the sea of boys that his band manager status put at his disposal. But was there a particular young man Brian was interested in as some believe? One year after Stuarts death, with Ringo now the bands drummer, just after Please Please Me went to #1, Klaus and Astrid got to visit with their dear friends George and Paul when the band took a break for a well deserved vacation. Astrid brought her camera again hoping to photograph the lads. But wouldnt you know it? Of all times to be away from his mates, John Lennon was invited by Brian to vacation away from Johns bandmates and away from Astrid and Klaus... to vacation for 12 days together in Barcelona, just Brian and John together. It would not at all be a stretch to say that for John, as well as for Brian. Astrid and Klaus would always be a reminder of Stuart.. for John, because, as it is well known, Stuart had been Johns closest mate. And for Brian, had Stuart lived, Stu would have been the one man alive who would have continued to receive and enjoy the same almost undivided attention and friendly affection from Lennon that once made Paul and George feel left out and resentful. I dont think Brian Epstein was keen on there being any such reminder of Stuart at that point in time, when, with Stuart out of the picture and some proof finally emerging that the Beatles were going to be the next big thing, Brian was finally able to seek Johns full attention during that two week break away from all other distractions, past and present. Perhaps all of this gives us a better understanding of Lennons very violent reaction to DJ Bob Wooler when Wooler called into question that Brian & Johns private getaway. Lennon may have been forced, during his vacation with Brian, to face the significance of the loss of his best friend Stuart when Epstein made his move to try to fill Stuart;s shoes. Brian likely assuming from his own perspective on things, what Stus place had been with John. The spirit of Stuart, (so to speak) therefore, being so much a part of Lennons experience with Epstein over those two weeks, whatever that experience was, would make anyone who questioned it, guilty of disrespecting not only Lennon, but trashing Stuarts memory and Lennons association with Stuart, which would have been especially infuriating to Lennon after hed had had a few drinks. Aside from being repeatedly beaten with a shovel, Wooler was also booted in the head, to use Woolers own word for it, which they say Stuart had also been... when he was attacked. Sam Leach reports that hed plainly seen Brian creeping around the clubs watching The Beatles from the shadows, long before the record buyer walked into in Brians store and supposedly introduced Brian to (huh? who?) the band called The Beatles who had a German single. How to become involved with John, George, Peter and Paul in some legitimate way, was apparently something Brian had a number of months to figure out as he watched from the shadows, before he finally let his presence be known when he openly attended a show at The Cavern Club, claiming it was the first hed ever seen The Beatles. But, Brian had been advertising in the same popular paper which regularly featured The Beatles and that paper was stocked at Brians record store which was only a stones throw from The Cavern Club where lines waiting for The Beatles went around the block. So, we have all of these neat and tidy stories designed to hide what the truth actually was. We can only hope that the truth of these matters and the collection of coincidences along the way that helped things fall into place for those who needed them to... were just fate. Pete was sacked just after The Casbah Club closed its doors, with John marrying Cyn the same week that Pete was sacked. Brian, who hired a body guard after Petes fans began to protest Petes sacking, may have felt that the boys next door image he had in mind for his lads would never fly if Lennon was a single guy with a baby. And who was John and Cyns best man at their wedding? Brian Epstein. And that night, The Beatles had a gig as usual, except that fans had begun walking out of their shows, George received his black eye, fans were holding pro-Pete rallies, Neil was threatening to quit in support of Pete, Rory and his band, The Beatles fiercest competition were left dead in the water with gigs lined up, thanks to having no drummer. You take a bands drummer, you take down the band. It was Pete Best who was the areas hot drummer whose style every other drummer in the area was copying. In a fall 62 issue of Mersey Beat, its reported that Ringo began receiving drum lessons though George Martin who had canned Ringos recordings of Love Me Do, P.S. I Love You, One After 909 and had rejected Lennon/McCartneys Tip of My Tongue as the B side of Please Please Me because it needed a better arrangement. Ringo had gotten off to a very poor start as a member of The Beatles. But to save face for firing the better drummer, the official history pans Pete as the poor drummer with Ringo being the sought after drummer. Gerry Marsden explains in his great autobiography that the whole idea in those days was to take down the competition in order to get what you were after. Gerrys own brother, the drummer of The Pacemakers was asked before Ringo had ever been asked, to join the Beatles. The Pacemakers were also a fierce competitor, a band that was running neck and neck with The Beatles. So since The Beatles had decided to replace Pete, they also decoded to try to kill the competition in one fell swoop. They never really saw Ringo as THE drummer who they must have in their band blah blah blah nonsense. If that was true, Gerrys brother would not have been asked first. Ringo had been Lennons gofer in Hamburg, a guy he hardly knew and didnt even know if he could trust. Even after Ringo joined The Beatles, Ringo had no idea that Cyn was Johns wife. They were not the mates that John and Pete had been. But when it was decided for whatever reason that Petes presence in the band would be detrimental to the band, Ringo got the gig, then he got drum lessons and Rory, as it was hoped, faded into oblivion. It seems the true birth of The Beatles was quite a difficult birth... and one that was best kept hidden behind tidy stories that related a re-written, watered down history which, for convenience, paints Stuart as the best friend who quit The Beatles because he knew he had no musical talent, the Beatle who wanted only to pursue his art, having no further interest in playing music. Tidy and convenient and easy stories to relate... but not how it really happened. John Lennon looked back sadly, recalling to biographer Hunter Davies, that even if the band was simply sitting down to eat, Stuart would be told by them all to just go away... and he would. But the memory of Stuart could never go away considering The Beatles would be asked at every press conference who it was who named the group and asked who it was who first wore the hairstyle. They all knew the answer but they never shared it. Instead, they would avoid saying too much about the early days. On The Beatles first tour of Canada, in 1964, the lads were asked how long Pete Best had been their drummer. John replied and Paul agreed, Two minutes. which noticeably confused the interviewer. And anticipating that the following question would be about Stuart, Ringo volunteered, Im the one who died!
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 00:28:08 +0000
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