Beatles Song Gets Makeover by the Flaming Lips and Wilco’s Nels Cline

It’s no secret that the Flaming Lips are big Beatles fans. If you recall, late last year the alternative group posted a psychedelic cover of The Beatles’ track “I Am the Walrus” on YouTube, and the patterned rendition has scored over 100,000 hits to date.

Now, the Lips are getting into Beatles-mania all over again and putting their stamp on the Beatles’ nugget “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” which they played live during their New Year’s Eve 2012 show in Oklahoma City.

George Salisbury – director and graphic designer for the Flaming Lips – recently tweeted a link to the fresh Lips cover. Coupled with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline on stage, the Flaming Lips serve up an authentic interpretation of The Beatles’ landmark, except for the small fact the song is a whopping 17-plus minutes long.

The Flaming Lips’ landmarks are all over the performance with tippy lighting that washes the stage with vibrant colors and the band’s knack for playing sugary melodies mixed with scorching noise blitzes.

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Metallica, U2 and The Beatles are Good for the Brain!

Feeling blue? Crank up some Metallica, and you’ll feel better in no time!

In a her latest book, Your Playlist Can Change Your Life: 10 Proven Ways Your Favorite Music Can Revolutionize Your Health, Memory, Organization, Alertness and More, Columbia University professor Galina Mindlin asserts that rocking out to songs with a certain number of beats per minute can generate specific mental states, such as productivity and relaxation, according to DNAinfo.com.

Lo and behold, Metallica’s hard-rocking tunes fall into that category.

“It’s [about] how music affects you – how it can improve your memory, how it can relieve anxiety, enhance your mood, how we can use playlists for specific tasks,” Mindlin said. “Using music with certain frequencies, you really can create the desired state of mind.”

As for other jams that might lift your mood, Your Playlist Can Change Your Life lists sample playlists, but Mindlin warns that selecting specific songs is a very personal experience. “What’s right for you might not be right for someone else,” she said. “Some people love the classical genre, but some people get excited by pop. The idea is to activate as many brain areas as you can.”

One sample playlist lists songs with 100 to 130 beats per minute for “achieving high alertness when you need to focus on an important work project,” according to DNAinfo.com. Some of those sample songs include “Pride (In the Name of Love)” by U2, “Lady Madonna” from the Beatles, “Goodbye Earl” by the Dixie Chicks and “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” by the Black Eyed Peas. What’s your feel-good jam?

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It Was 50 Years Ago Today: The Beatles Got Rejected

It is hard to believe, but The Beatles once “sucked.” It was 50 years ago today (almost, January 1, 1962, to be precise) that the future Fab Four were turned down by London’s Decca Records. The episode is now part of rock ’n’ roll folklore, but what really happened?

Decca Records’ A&R man, Mike Smith, had watched The Beatles play at Liverpool’s Cavern Club on December 13, 1961. Smith wasn’t sufficiently impressed – or powerful enough – to sign The Beatles immediately, but offered the group a session Decca’s studios in West Hampstead, London.

The Beatles were then: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and drummer Pete Best. The band travelled from Liverpool with driver/roadie Neil Aspinall, while manager Brian Epstein travelled separately by train.

Things didn’t go right from the start. Despite The Beatles making the 11 a.m. audition on time, after driving for over 200 miles the day before, Decca’s Smith was late: he’d been out the night before, seeing in the new year. “I was pretty annoyed,” Epstein later recalled. “Not because we were anxious to tape our songs, but because we felt we were being treated as people who didn’t matter.”

To add insult to injury, Smith then insisted The Beatles used Decca’s in-house amplifiers, judging the Fabs’ own gear to be substandard. “They didn’t want our tackle," recalled Neil Aspinall. “We had to use theirs. We needn’t have dragged our amps all the way from Liverpool.”

The Beatles: Live for 1 Hour

Of the 15 songs The Beatles played, only three were Lennon-McCartney originals – “Like Dreamers Do,” “Hello Little Girl” and “Love of the Loved.” The other 12 were covers – “Money (That's What I Want),” “Till There Was You,” “The Sheik Of Araby,” “To Know Her is to Love Her,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Memphis, Tennessee,” “Sure to Fall (In Love With You),” “Three Cool Cats,” “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” “September in the Rain,” “Besame Mucho” and “Searchin’.”

It was Brian Epstein who insisted, perhaps fatally, The Beatles stick mostly to “standards.” In those days, demos/auditions were recorded in a single take without overdubs and the entire session, from 11 a.m., took approximately an hour.

“They were pretty frightened,” recalled Aspinall years later. “Paul [McCartney] couldn’t sing one song [editor’s note: McCartney was lead vocalist on three songs, but Aspinall meant McCartney did not sing as well as he could]. He was too nervous and his voice started to crack up. They were all worried about the red light. I asked if it could be put off, but we were told people might come in if it was off. ‘You what?’ we said. We didn’t know what all that meant.”

Also auditioning that day were Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, from South East England. Although The Beatles did not play at their best that New Year’s Day of 1962, Brian Epstein was quietly confident that his charges would land a contract with Decca. But as the label’s head of A&R, Dick Rowe, later remembered:

“I told Mike [Smith] he’d have to decide between them. It was up to him – The Beatles or Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. He said, ‘They’re both good, but one’s a local group, the other comes from Liverpool.’ We decided it was better to take the local group. We could work with them more easily and stay closer in touch as they came from Dagenham.”

It was March 1962 when Decca informed The Beatles they were not wanted. What really angered Epstein and The Beatles was Rowe’s official and now-notorious reason: “guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.” Yet The Tremeloes were also a guitar group, of course, and one not as talented as The Beatles. Hence, Rowe later became infamous as “the man who turned down The Beatles.”

The wily Epstein didn’t take rejection lying down: “I told him [Dick Rowe] I was completely confident that these boys were going to be bigger than Elvis Presley.” Epstein travelled back for further meetings with Decca, claiming he promising their sales team that he’d buy 3,000 copies of any Beatles single Decca released. But Rowe later said, “I was never told about that at the time. The way economics were in the record business then, if we’d been sure of selling 3,000 copies, we’d have been forced to record them, whatever sort of group they were.”

Epstein’s offer was essentially to rig The Beatles’ sales, but who then knew what went on the 1960s record business?

The Beatles themselves were no more impressed. In a press interview a few years later, Paul McCartney commented about Rowe’s decision (even if it wasn’t really Rowe’s), “I bet he’s kicking himself.” To which John Lennon added, “I hope he kicks himself to death.”

The Beatles’ Rejection Re-shapes the ’60s

Despite the hurt felt by the fledgling Beatles, the rejection arguably had far-reaching consequences on the band themselves and the U.K. music scene. Epstein and The Beatles came away from Decca with reel-to-reel recordings that eventually won the band a deal with the Parlophone label in June 1962. And the head of A&R at Parlophone? It was George Martin. And, it was only at Parlophone that doubts were raised about Pete Best’s drumming skills, soon leading to Ringo Starr replacing him. If The Beatles had been signed by Decca, we might know The Beatles as John, Paul, George and Pete.

Dick Rowe redeemed his Decca team’s decision, though. When Rowe met George Harrison months later, The Beatles’ guitarist suggested that Rowe should give another up-and-coming rock band a listen. Rowe did listen, and signed George Harrison’s recommended band to Decca: it was The Rolling Stones.

Decca’s rejection of The Beatles was similar to any audition or demo session that bands went through 50 years ago. But if The Beatles had won that Decca contract? Music history may have been a whole lot different…

More Beatles:

How ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ Made The Beatles Superstars

10 Greatest Riff-Based Beatles Songs

Let It Be: The Beatles and the Epiphone Casino

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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Builds Better Beatles Exhibit

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, has put together “the most comprehensive, artifact-driven Beatles exhibit in the world,” according to what Jim Henke, vice president of exhibitions, told Billboard.com.

Henke said that the organization has developed relationships with George Harrison’s widow, Olivia, and Ringo Starr’s representatives to bring more original items into the museum. He said the Rock Hall already had a good relationship with Yoko Ono, who ensured John Lennon was well-represented.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has expanded the section on The Beatles, which now includes a striped suit worn by Harrison on a 1966 tour and Ringo’s red jacket from the “Strawberry Fields Forever” video. The exhibit also includes instruments the boys played, including Ringo’s Beatles drumhead from the band’s appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and a guitar played by Lennon and Harrison. Paul McCartney is represented, too, by his Help! jacket and handwritten “Birthday” arrangement.

The expanded exhibit coincides with a major update of the museum, including features that draw on the latest technology.

“We wanted to upgrade all the audio and video and interactive elements,” Henke said. “We always had pretty much the entire story of rock ’n’ roll, roots up to the present, but never in any particular order. Now we’re telling the story a little more chronologically, which I think people appreciate.”

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Beatles Fan Boosts Paul McCartney’s Lamborghini

A Lamborghini sports car once owned by The Beatles’ Paul McCartney sold at auction for ?122,500 ($197,000) on Thursday. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the winning phone bid for the 400GT 2+2 was purchased by a Beatles fan in the 19th annual Bonhams sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Sussex.

According to three histories of the Italian carmaker, McCartney was the first owner of the 400GT. The auctioned sportster, built in 1967, was originally orange and was owned by Macca for three years.

In October, RM Auctions sold a 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV once owned by Rod Stewart for $1.1 million.

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Pat Metheny Covers Beatles and Other Legends on New CD

Grammy-winning guitarist Pat Metheny will release a new album of covers on June 14. The album, titled What’s It All About, comprises the jazz great’s personal interpretations of 10 classic songs, including tracks by The Beatles, Burt Bacharach, Simon & Garfunkel, The Carpenters and more.

Guitar fans will find special interest in Metheny’s sonic choices. He recorded most of the record using an acoustic baritone guitar, with a few notable exceptions. The surf classic, “Pipeline,” is played on an acoustic six-string, and The Beatles’ “And I Love Her” was recorded with a nylon six-string. More exotic, though, is Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” which was played on a 42-string (yes, you read that correctly) custom-made “Pikasso” guitar.

“It is a song I have always loved,” Metheny said in a press release. “I am a huge fan of Paul Simon, in general. I had been experimenting with a way to play this piece on the Pikasso for a while. The challenges of keeping everything going on that guitar are significant, and the material needs to lend itself to that axe to make it work. In fact, at the core of that instrument is a six-string guitar that, for years, I have had in the same baritone tuning that I used on One Quiet Night (that is where the bass notes come from). This is one of the few tunes on the record where I stay in one key for the whole tune and the way I have that instrument set up is ideal for that kind of an approach.”

Metheny also talked about the influence of the Fab Four, which inspired him to cover the (mainly) Paul McCartney-penned classic.

“The Beatles were huge for me,” he said. “Without them, I don’t know if I even would have become a musician or a guitar player. When their hits started coming out, I was eight and nine years old and it had a tremendous impact on me. I saw the movie A Hard Day’s Night multiple times when it came out and I always loved that song. It is kind of impossible to imagine doing a record like this without including at least one Beatles song.”

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The Beatles’ <em>Anthology</em> Series Hits iTunes

It took years for The Beatles’ standard albums to be available on iTunes, but now the Fab Four’s rarities will be there, too.

The three remastered Beatles Anthology collections go digital, exclusively through iTunes, on June 14. First released in 1995 and 1996, the three volumes of The Beatles Anthology feature rare and unreleased songs, outtakes and alternative versions of Beatles classics.

The original albums spawned a new Top 10 Beatles hit with the revived and completed single “Free as a Bird.” The three Anthology volumes have been remastered by the same Abbey Road team who worked on the Beatles back catalog remasters and will feature collage artwork from Klaus Voorman.

The Anthology Box Set comes with all 155 tracks from the three volumes ($79.99) and an exclusive 23-track Anthology Highlights collection of standout tracks from each ($12.99). A special Anthology video introduction and a 50-minute Meet The Beatles radio show are available for free streaming now.

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<em>Sgt. Pepper’s</em> Cover Artist Not Feeling Beatles’ Love

Despite the acclaim he has received over the years for the cover art of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, British pop artist Peter Blake feels that he has been underappreciated by The Beatles, themselves. Speaking to TimeOut Hong Kong, the “Godfather of British Pop Art” said that he has been under-rewarded for his contribution to one of the greatest albums in rock history.

“I still feel that the whole thing was unfair,” he said. “The cover is just as important as the music— it’s an integral part, and should be rewarded [as such]. The Beatles have never really been aware of that, or they’ve consciously decided to not do it.”

When asked if he ever gets sick of being asked about The Beatles, Blake replied bluntly, “I do, yeah.”

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Ringo Remembers When He was More Famous than The Beatles

As Ringo Starr prepares for another tour with his All Starr band, the Beatles drummer has been reminiscing a little with U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail.

Ringo explained why he still hits the road at 70 years of age. “I still love to play. I go down the front and sing ‘Photograph’ or whatever, then I get to go back to the drums and play with all these other musicians,” he said. “It’s a win-win situation. I get the chance to be both the entertainer and the musician. Everyone’s a star, but I’m the big star. The band gets to play 12 numbers between them and I do 12 numbers.”

Talking about the early days in Liverpool, Starr points out that The Beatles were lucky to have him. “It wasn’t just that I was a big shot; I was a cool drummer,” he said. “Brian Epstein asked if I would play lunchtime at the Cavern with them. That’s how I got started.”

He was, after all, a well-known local drummer when The Beatles were still finding their feet. “I was. Within Liverpool I was a lot more well known than them,” he said. “Rory and The Hurricanes were big shots in the city. We had suits. That was our claim to fame.”

As for his enduring friendship with Paul McCartney, Starr explained the nature of their relationship. “‘We are good friends. We don’t live in each other’s pockets, but if we’re in the same country, we get together,” he said. “He’s singing and playing on my latest album and I played on several of his. We’re just pals. We’re the only two who’ve experienced all this who are still here.”

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Paul McCartney: Rolling Stones Jealous of The Beatles

In a new interview, rock legend Paul McCartney has said The Rolling Stones were a bit jealous of The Beatles because of the latter’s singing talent.

“I talked to Keith Richards recently... well, a couple of years ago, and his take on it was, ‘Man, you were lucky, you guys, you had four lead singers,’ whereas the Rolling Stones only had one,” McCartney told the Radio Times (via Spinner.com). “So [for the Beatles] it wasn’t just the frontman and the back-up band. We were an entity. Mick [Jagger] used to call us the four-headed monster. We would show up at places all dressed the same.”

In the same interview, the former Beatle said that timing played a key part in the band’s success.

“A couple of years earlier, we would have been in the Army, and it’s very doubtful that the Beatles would have formed,” he said. “We would have been at Aldershot, or wherever, in various camps, and might not have even met.”

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Beatles Tribute Album Available from Former Dream Theater Member

Mike Portnoy, until recently the drummer with Dream Theater, has a new album available and it’s a Beatles tribute affair.

One More Night in New York City is Portnoy’s first CD since leaving Dream Theater and features his Beatles tribute band, Yellow Matter Custard – guitarist Paul Gilbert, guitarist/keyboard player Neal Morse and bass player Kasim Sulton – recorded live.

The live set was recorded this past February at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City.

One More Night in New York City tracklist:

CD One:
1. “Intro”
2. “Back in the USSR”
3. “I Got A Feeling”
4. “And Your Bird Can Sing”
5. “Day Tripper”
6. “Getting Better”
7. “Taxman”
8.” It Won’t Be Long”
9. “You Really Got a Hold on Me”
10. “Lady Madonna”
11. “We Can Work it out”
12. “I’m a Loser”
13. ”I Don’t Want to Spoil The Party”
14. “Penny Lane”
15. “The Fool on the Hill”
16. “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”
17. “Things We Said Today”
18. “If I Needed Someone”
19. “It’s Only Love”
20. “Request Time/Too Many People”

CD Two:
1. “She’s a Woman”
2. “The Word”
3. “Any Time At All”
4. “Paperback Writer”
5. “Don’t Let Me Down”
6. “I’m So Tired”
7. “Savoy Truffle”
8. “Glass Onion”
9. “Yer Blues”
10. “Helter Skelter”
11. “Flying”
12. “Because”
13. “You Never Give Me Your Money”
14. “Sun King”
15. “Mean Mr. Mustard”
16. “Her Majesty”
17. “Polythene Pam”
18. “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”
19. “Golden Slumbers”
20. “Carry that Weight”
21. “The End”

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Liam Gallagher Wants Johnny Depp to Star in Beatles Movie

Former Oasis frontman and current Beady Eye singer Liam Gallagher is working on a film about The Beatles and he wants Johnny Depp to be part of it, according to AFP. Gallagher is producing the movie, which deals with the band’s Apple Corps and is based on Richard DiLello’s book, The Longest Cocktail Party.

“The film script is done,” the singer told Q magazine. “It’s gonna blow people’s minds, man. I’m just waiting to find out when we choose the actors. “I want Johnny Depp to play Derek Taylor. It’s got Johnny Depp written all over it, man.”

So what makes him think the Pirates of the Caribbean star would be a good fit for Taylor, The Beatles’ publicist?

“Derek Taylor was a dude. He’s up there with Lennon,” Gallagher said.

Of course, Depp and Gallagher go way back. The actor and rock star became friends in the mid-’90s and Johnny even played slide guitar on an Oasis track (“Fade In-Out”).

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Las Vegas Beatles Reunion Set for June

A sizable chunk of the Beatles family will assemble in Las Vegas on June 8 to celebrate the five-year anniversary of Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles-themed show, Love. According to USA Today, surviving band member Paul McCartney will attend the celebration, along with John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, George Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, Harrison’s son, Dhani Harrison, producer George Martin and his son, Giles Martin (who co-produced the Grammy-winning Love soundtrack with his father).

Ringo Starr is unable to attend due to tour commitments, but will send a videotaped message to be played during a special show. Roughly half of the audience for the special performance will be personal invitees of the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil camps. McCartney will host a private party afterward featuring his favorite DJ, Chris Holmes.

Since its premiere in June 2006, Love has played to packed houses and critical acclaim. Based on its success, Cirque du Soleil launched another popular music-based show, Viva Elvis, in 2009, and has scheduled upcoming projects featuring the music of Elton John, Michael Jackson and Danny Elfman over the next three years.

Cirque du Soleil Senior Vice President Jerry Nadal enthused, “Tapping into all these different fan bases has meant a great expansion for us. For the first year or two, we got a lot of hardcore Beatles fans who had never seen a Cirque show. They said, ‘Wow, that's Cirque? I want to see another one.’”

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This Day in Music Spotlight: The Beatles’ First Tour, with Johnny Gentle

Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.

Having got the music bug after he built his own guitar as a kid, John Askew left Liverpool for London in 1958 and used his carpentry skills on a construction site, while he aimed at breaking into the music business. Pop impresario Larry Parnes replied to one of Askew’s audition requests and liked what he saw. Parnes thought Askew talented, but a little quiet, and renamed him Johnny Gentle.

After Gentle’s first two singles did very little, Parnes decided to send him on tour to find his audience. Parnes has been working with Liverpool promoter Alan Williams and figured that, with new bands popping up every week in Liverpool, the city might be a good source of backing bands for his artists.

On May 10, 1960, Parnes held auditions. He liked a band called the Silver Beetles and picked them to play with Johnny on his Scottish tour.

The Silver Beetles weren’t billed on the tour; instead they were listed simply as Johnny Gentle and his Group. That group consisted of Paul Ramon, Carl Harrison, Stuart de Steel, Johnny Silver and Tommy Moore. These were stage names, of course, for Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon (and Tommy Moore).

Gentle told Bill Harry of Mersey Beat that, despite lack of rehearsal (about 20 minutes), they sounded pretty good for the first show in Alloa on May 20, 1960.

“We met at the venue just half an hour before our first public performance together and all things considered we sounded pretty good from the off,” he said. “Every night, the sound we made got better, by the end of the tour I knew these boys were as good as any I’d worked with...”

Of course, the set list was mostly covers of pop and rock and roll hits like, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” “Raining in My Heart,” “I Need Your Love Tonight,” “Poor Little Fool,” “Come On Everybody” and “He’ll Have to Go.”

Gentle recalled that Lennon helped him with a song during the tour, “I’ve Just Fallen for Someone,” that was later recorded by Adam Faith. He also tried to persuade Parnes to sign the Silver Beetles, but the impresario was only interested in solo acts. When Johnny Gentle tried to hire the Silver Beetles again, he was out of luck. They were in Hamburg and about to change rock and roll history.

Johnny Gentle was not so lucky. In an attempt to pick up a faltering career, he changed his stage name Darren Young and then joined a band called The Viscounts. But music never worked out as a career, and in the ’70s Johnny went back to working as a carpenter.

When the world’s attention fell on The Beatles again in the Anthology-era ’90s, Johnny wrote his story with Merseyside historian Ian Forsyth in the book Johnny Gentle & the Beatles: First Ever Tour.

He told Bill Harry that every now and then he still performs. “My most recent show was at the 2004 Eddie Cochran Convention in Chippenham, sharing the stage with acts brought over from America: Little Richard, Billy Haley’s Comets, Buddy Holly’s Crickets, Charlie Gracie and British rockers Marty Wilde, Terry Dene, Vince Eager and Tommy Bruce.”

He added: “I think it would be good if somebody could do a cover version of the song I collaborated with John Lennon on, ‘I’ve Just Fallen for Someone.’”

The song is on Adam Faith’s Adam Faith album. Anybody?

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Beatles’ Lyric Sheet Sells for $237,000

John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for The Beatles’ 1967 song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” have been sold at auction for more than $237,000 in Los Angeles, according to Spinner.com. The lyrics are on a single sheet, and feature the opening lyrics for the track and a rough sketch of four people in a room with windows draped in curtains. The sheet also includes the opening lines to another Beatles tune – “She’s Leaving Home.”

The Beatles’ song featured on the 1967 Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but has long been the subject of argument. For years, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” has been regarded as a reference to LSD, based on its mercurial lyrics and the fact that the words “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” spell out the initials of the drug within its title. British woman Lucy Vodden, who died in 2009, claimed in 2007 that she was the inspiration for the song.

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This Day in Music Spotlight: “The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band Since The Beatles”

Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.

Alan McGee loved rock and roll. Loved it. Growing up in Glasgow, Scotland, McGee was enamored with psychedelic British guitar bands of the 1960s and the punk rock movement that later swept the nation during his late teenage years. In fact, McGee even formed a band with future Primal Scream bandmates Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes while sorting out his own post-school plans. Eventually, he moved down to London and started his own record label, Creation Records (named after the ’60s band, The Creation). From that point forward, McGee embarked on an almost Quixotic search for that perfect sound that married the swirling guitars of those ’60s bands with the aggression and venom of punk.

For a decade, from 1983 to 1993, McGee was the center of London’s underground music scene, launching bands like The Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Teenage Fanclub. All of them touched some part of McGee’s musical psyche, because Creation didn’t sign bands McGee didn’t love. But still, the search continued.

It was mid-May, 1993, when Alan McGee visited his family in Glasgow. On the night of May 18, Alan and his sister decided to hit a club called King Tut’s Wah Wah Club to check out one of his signees, 18 Wheeler. Also on the bill were Manchester band Sister Lovers, a band called Boyfriend and, beyond that, the details were a bit fuzzy. Sister Lovers had invited the band that rehearsed in the room next to their rehearsal space back in Manchester. The group were a rough looking bunch fronted by a tall young man who looked remarkably like The Stone Roses’ Ian Brown.

The group were called Oasis. They had been together for roughly two years, having formed out of another band called The Rain. The Rain were an admittedly rough bar band featuring Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs on guitar, Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan on bass, drummer Tony McCarroll and a singer named Chris Hutton. In 1991, the group had sacked Hutton in favor of an acquaintance of Arthurs who seemed like a more suitable frontman. His name was Liam Gallagher. The foursome played their first gig in Manchester in August 1991. In attendance that night was Gallagher’s older brother, Noel, who was employed at that time as a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, though he aspired to be on the other end of the equation. Noel didn’t think the band were great, at that moment, but he saw enough raw potential to make them an offer: he would join the band as a guitarist if the band would agree to follow him as their leader and sole songwriter. With little to lose, the band agreed, and for two years, the five-piece rehearsed like the devil and took any show they could get.

On this day, they packed a van with themselves, their equipment and some friends and drove six hours to get on a Glasgow stage for 20 or so minutes as an opener for Sister Lovers. But no one told the doorman. Club security had heard nothing of this surly looking lot as they showed up and weren’t about to let them show up and hijack the stage. Things were coming to a boil when, mercifully, Sister Lovers intervened and the group were allowed to play.

From McGee’s perspective, with multiple double Jack Daniels consumed, it was a somewhat confusing scene. McGee recently told The Sun: "I was up in Glasgow seeing my dad and I wasn't sure I'd even go to the gig. I got there early by mistake. Oasis were on first, before most people arrived. There was this amazing young version of Paul Weller sat there in a light blue Adidas tracksuit. I assumed he was the drug dealer and that Bonehead, the guitarist, was the singer. It was only when they went on stage I realized it was the lead singer, Liam Gallagher.”

They only played four songs—to an audience of 12 or so people—but within seconds, McGee was mesmerized. Here before him was the band he’d been looking for all along. In Liam, he saw the archetypal frontman, a magical combination of good looks, killer voice and sheer and utter menace. McGee could see, though, that the boss was the diminutive guitar player, who led the band into an overdriven barre chord blitz on the audacious opener, “Rock N’ Roll Star.”

As the group plowed through a setlist that would be burned into the hearts of rock fans everywhere within a year—“Bring It on Down,” “Up in the Sky” and a killer cover of The Beatles’ “I am the Walrus”—McGee had a single thought: ““I knew I had to sign them.”

After the show, McGee approached Noel at the bar and introduced himself as Alan McGee of Creation Records and offered to sign them on the spot. Gallagher reached for a demo, but McGee said, “I don’t need to hear it.” They shook hands and four days later made it official: Oasis signed with Creation Records.

McGee would later gush that he had just seen “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band since The Beatles.” History would seem to agree. In 1994, they would release the fastest-selling debut album in U.K. history with Definitely Maybe. That and the group’s second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, would be voted the top two British albums of all time in a 2008 poll conducted by the U.K. magazine Q and HMV record stores.

“I was lucky to be there,” McGee said. “We didn't send out scouts. Most of my signings were because I happened to see new bands. That couldn't happen any more. If a new band as much as farts [now] it's all over the Internet.”

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This Day in Music Spotlight: The Beatles ‘Get Back’ and Break Up

Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.

Following the sessions for the “White Album,” which produced legendary music but also found tensions rising to an all-time high, The Beatles planned to get back to their roots on their next recording. As it turned out, the not always smooth experience would be filmed for a documentary titled Let it Be, which made its world premiere on this day in 1970.

For the new album, Paul McCartney’s idea was to leave behind all of the Sgt. Pepper-style studio tricks and make music that was stripped-down and relatively straightforward to play live. The plan was that the new album would be recorded as a live performance, and not in the studio. At this point, the band hadn’t toured in two and a half years and McCartney liked the idea of going back on the road. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were less keen on that notion, so the plan became for The Beatles to play a single concert – perhaps in London, or on an ocean liner or in a Roman amphitheater in Africa. Rehearsals began on January 2, 1969 with no concrete plans in place.

But, before those sessions started, Dennis O’Dell, the head of Apple Films, suggested that the rehearsals be filmed for a television documentary that could serve as a companion piece to the live concert/album. To make filming easier, The Beatles set up camp at London’s Twickenham Film Studios under the watchful eye of two cameras and director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who had previously worked with the band on promotional films for “Paperback Writer,” “Revolution” and other songs).

From the start, it was clear that the conditions were not right for the band. The recording studio had been their sanctuary – perhaps the one place outside of their homes where they didn’t have a camera in their face. Now they were trying to make music in a film studio (that was anything but cozy), on a schedule (that wasn’t theirs) with cameras catching every moment. Add in the tensions that already existed in the band and it’s no wonder Lennon called the experience “hell… the most miserable sessions on earth.”

But it was Harrison who seemed to have the worst time. There’s a famous part in the finished film that features the George and Paul arguing over a part on “I’ve Got a Feeling.” “I’ll play whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all if you don’t want to me to play,” an exasperated Harrison says. “Whatever it is that will please you, I’ll do it.” Before long, he decided it would please him most to leave the band, which he did on January 10.

Harrison reversed his decision five days later, on one condition – the sessions had to be moved from the film studio to Apple’s new recording studio. It also was decided that The Beatles wouldn’t do a big concert broadcast/album and that the footage being shot would be edited into a theatrical release. Filming began again on January 21 and continued through the rest of the month. These sessions were much happier, partially because of the move to Apple and partially because George brought Billy Preston to play keyboards with the boys. “Straight away there was 100% improvement in the vibe in the room,” Harrison would later say. “Having this fifth person was just enough to cut the ice that we’d created among ourselves.”

As a culminating event for the film and the sessions, the band decided to give an unannounced rooftop concert during the day on January 30. The Fab Four, plus Preston, performed “Get Back,” “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Don’t Let Me Down” and other songs before being shut down by the police after 42 minutes. The impromptu show ended with Lennon’s famous, sly remark, “I’d like to say ‘thank you’ on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition!”

The next day, the boys returned to Apple for one more day of filming and shot full performances of “Two of Us,” “The Long and Winding Road” and “Let it Be” (although those performances are shown before the rooftop concert in the final version of the film). The movie, which was to be titled, Get Back, was in the can.

Lindsay-Hogg had assembled a two-and-a-half-hour rough cut of the footage, which was screened by The Beatles in mid-July of ’69 (during the time the band were making what would be their final recording, Abbey Road, although it was released before the Let it Be album). The director remembered the guys not being completely thrilled with the movie, mostly because of how tensions within the band were on full display. “They wanted to make it a ‘nicer’ movie,” Lindsay-Hogg remembered. “They didn’t want to have a lot of the dirty laundry, so a lot of it was cut down.”

For the final version, Lindsay-Hogg glossed over Harrison leaving the band and removed other negative scenes, although he retained the argument between Paul and George and other instances where it’s clear that The Beatles are not having the best of times. But it wasn’t all bad news for Beatles fans. Seeing songs come together and watching the band’s final public performance on a London rooftop would be thrilling footage for many. In early 1970, the film’s title was changed to Let it Be, to dovetail with the band’s album of the same name.

After Let it Be (the album) hit stores on May 8, Let it Be (the film) made its world premiere in New York City on this day in 1970. By that time, the band had broken up and none of The Beatles attended the premiere. Reports on what the members thought of the finished film were mixed. Lindsay-Hogg recalled in 2003 that both McCartney and Lennon liked it, but that it was difficult for Harrison to watch, because “it represented a time in his life when he was unhappy.” Of course, Lennon is on record as having said “the camera work was set up to show Paul and not to show anybody else” and “the people that cut it, cut it as ‘Paul is God’ and we’re just lyin’ around.”

The response from fans, critics and the public was mixed. Some found the documentary fascinating, others found it a drag and others were upset by seeing their favorite band start to break up. Over the years, Let it Be has earned respect as an important document of the “end” of The Beatles. Of course, it’s gained plenty of praise for its musical performances, too.

In addition, the film’s legacy has been enhanced by its unavailability for many years. Outside of a VHS and laserdisc release in the early ’80s, the film has only been readily available via substandard bootleg copies for decades (although you can see clips from the movie in The Beatles Anthology). Let it Be has been rumored to be released on DVD more than a few times, including in 2003, to coincide with the debut of Let it Be… Naked, but it has yet to come out. The late Neil Aspinall, who headed Apple Corps, shed some light on what happened, in 2007: “The film was so controversial when it first came out. When we got halfway through restoring it, we looked at the outtakes and realized: this stuff is still controversial. It raised a lot of old issues.”

When The Beatles went before the cameras in 1969, they wanted to create something raw. Who knew that the results would be so raw, it would be hard for them to have people see it, even more than 40 years later.

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Keith Richards Reveals New Album Plans, Favorite Beatles Song

Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Wednesday night in an interview filled with stories of drug-laden Bentleys, the Beatles-Stones rivalry and giant lemons. Among the many tales, though, was a spicy tidbit about Richards’ own plans for 2011.

When asked whether the Stones would be working together this year, Richards answered evasively, “I’m trying to nail them down, but I don’t want to crucify them.”

Fallon revealed that he had visited Richards working in a New York recording studio two weeks before.

“Well, I’d got to working with [drummer] Steve Jordan with The X-pensive Winos and, you know, when inspiration hits…yeah,” he enthused. Richards went on to say that a new X-pensive Winos album was “starting to blossom.”

Richards later answered a fan question, asking the guitar legend to name his favorite Beatles song:

“I’ve always told McCartney, ‘Please Please Me.’ I just love the chimes, and I was there at the time and it was beautiful. Mind you, there’s plenty of others, but if I’ve got to pick one, ‘Please Please Me’…oh, yeah!”

Richards will appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which hits theaters on May 20.

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<em>Harry Potter</em> Producer Lands Beatles for Next Movie

David Heyman, the producer who brought the J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter books to the silver screen, is looking to recapture that magic with the help of none other than The Beatles, according to Collider.com. Heyman’s next film is an animation project that will feature ten songs by the Fab Four. The film itself will center around a dung beetle trying to woo a ladybug. According to Heyman, landing The Beatles for his soundtrack was “not easy, but we’re really excited about it.”

The film wouldn’t be the group’s first appearance in an animated film. John, Paul, George and Ringo all starred as characters in the 1968 surprise hit, Yellow Submarine. The film was directed by Canadian filmmaker George Dunning, who had previously created the animated opening for the Pink Panther classic, A Shot in the Dark.

As for which Beatles classics will appear in the film, Heyman said, “It’s a bit early to say what the songs are, but I’m really, really excited.”

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