Things The Beatles Should Have Done Differently

[Stephe96]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it occurs to me that during The Beatles' unprecedented reign in the '60s there was really no previous band that the boys from Liverpool could look at for examples when it came to charting their own career moves. No career 'template,' if you will.
I suppose that is the price for blazing new trails.

With this in mind I was curious what kind of career advice Dopers would give to The Fab Four given the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

I guess I'll start with the obvious:

This was their album output from '63 - '70:

Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles (The White Album)
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Let It Be

13 classic albums in 7 years? And this doesn't include, of course, the singles they released during this period. My advice to them? DON'T RELEASE EVERYTHING AS SOON AS IT'S FINISHED! An album per year, AT MOST!

Other thoughts?

[An Arky]

Don't listen to the yogi...

Don't form Apple Corps.

Don't stop touring in 1966.

[FranticMad]

Edit the double album down to one disc.

Send Ringo to Frank Zappa for 5 years to learn about percussion.

[Gatopescado]

Keep John the hell away from Yoko and play far more Harrison tunes. Don't chew gum in public. Its positivly grotty.

_______________
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.

[bup]

Don't manage yourselves. Find another manager.

[Ukulele Ike]

The Walrus shoulda been George.

[kunilou]

The 1971 reunion tour.

The 1976 reunion tour. . .

[Qwertyasdfg]

Stephe96, I don't understand why you would have them release less? Assuming that they still would break up in 1969, 1 album per year would mean that they would never have gotten past Revolver, wouldn't it?

My advice, don't let Ringo sing.
Bitch-slap John every once in a while.
More George.
Less garbage.

[Ethilrist]

Call a more reputable cab company if you're invited to show up on Saturday Night Live.

[KneadToKnow]

Instead ofluaP deirub Ihow aboutdraug doots ogniR dna egroeG elihw okoY deirub I dna luaP

[Stephe96]

Qwertyasdfg,

What I mean is, keep some good stuff on the shelf and maybe release an album each year or so. Then each of the Beatles could've spent time away to pursue solo projects, whatever...and maybe they would've stayed together longer and recorded more. It seems to me that the pressure to be constantly producing material played a part in their eventual break-up.

I think that's what I meant.

[MissBungle]

Fatalist.. maybe. But I don't think they did anything wrong.

Let music speak for itself.

[Hamlet]

Advice only for John:




DUCK!!!!!!!


It's a joke. I'm still upset that Chapman robbed the world of a great musician.

[CaptMurdock]

1) Definitely keep John away from Yoko, but also...

2) Keep Paul away from Linda.

3) More George songs.

4) Sloooow down that album release rate. Mind you, this was a time when if you didn't have a new song every couple of months, "the fans will forget about you!"

5) Make sure Lord Grade can't knab your sheet music (only to sell it to Michael Jackson years later...)

6) If Paul still bitches and wants a "divorce," kick him out of the band, hire Billy Preston and a couple of studio musicians and wait for Paul to get a little hungry. By "Venus and Mars," he'll come crawling back.

(Can you imagine "Band on the Run" as done by the Fab Four? Yowza!)

Isn't hindsight fun?

[Ceejaytee]

(1) Don't let Phil Spector ruin Let It Be. Paul was right--Phil sucked. Sappy strings and goofy choruses. Yuck. LET IT BE, damnit.
(2) I agree with the "more George songs" people.
(3) Find a better manager after Brian dies. You four are lousy at it.
(4) Do the voices in Yellow Submarine yourselves. Don't even think of taping Magical Mystery Tour.
(5) Get Billy Preston and Eric Clapton to sit in more often.

Otherwise, they're the greatest band ever. Well, even with the above.

[Odieman]

Don't open your own clothing boutique[Apple]...and don't trust people who claimed to invent perpetual motion devices [Magic Alex].

[Already in Use]

Do like George wanted and, instead of breaking up, merge with Monty Python and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. The mind boggles at the potential coolness.

[JThunder]

Let Mike do more of the vocals, and let Peter compose more tunes.

[FranticMad]

George, quit smoking
John, stay out of trouble so you will be allowed to live in Toronto instead of NYC

[Cholo]

Don't EVER photograph yourself naked ala "Two Virgins"

[Jack Batty]

Quitcherbitching, do your thing, don't disolve and just get together ever so often and pump out some righteous tunes.

That's my after 1970 advice. Other than that, I'd concur on the Apple debacle.

And Magical Mystery Tour? Dudes, fine drop acid for two solid years, but stay off the buses and stay in the studios.

And more touring would have been cool too. I realize Beatlemania sucked for them, but once they moved out of pop and into cool, they would have been great in concert. Especially in the 70's when concert technology started to catch up to their concepts.

[Sampiro]

Don't sign with Tom Parker, the man's a crook.

Oh, wait...

Don't sign with Allen Klein (J, G, & R, only): the man's a crook.

Make it explicit in HELTER SKELTER that you're not saying "let's start a race war by brutally slaying rich people in Los Angeles", because let's be honest, it's what we all thought the song was saying first time we heard it.

At least one album with George & Ringo contributing half the track (minus Ringo).

Another light comedy instead of LET IT BE and MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.

[SadTomato]

Originally posted by MissBungle
Fatalist.. maybe. But I don't think they did anything wrong.

Let music speak for itself.

I agree.

The break-up (assuming much of the preceding advice was meant to avoid it) was inevitable.

However...they should've taken a movie camera and some recording equipment along when they went to go see Elvis.

That must have been a bizarre night.

[pepperlandgirl]

I wouldn't change anything at all, except this
(1) Don't let Phil Spector ruin Let It Be. Paul was right--Phil sucked. Sappy strings and goofy choruses. Yuck. LET IT BE, damnit.

No shit! Look, if someone is too fucking sappy for Paul, then you know you're in trouble. Don't let that jerk anywhere near Let It Be!


1) Definitely keep John away from Yoko, but also...

2) Keep Paul away from Linda.
Yeah, keep the men away from the true loves of their lives. :rolleyes:

[Anamorphic]

Keep John from making that "We're bigger than Jesus" remark, even if it was misinterpreted, and, well, most likely true.

And I definitely agree with keeping Spector the hell away from Let It Be.

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, keep the men away from the true loves of their lives.

It's not about them! It's about us! ;)

[riserius1]

Originally posted by CaptMurdock
4) Sloooow down that album release rate. Mind you, this was a time when if you didn't have a new song every couple of months, "the fans will forget about you!"



John, Paul AND George have said in past interviews that it was the hectic tour/makearecord/tour/etc pace that made them write such great songs. They apparantly worked extremely well under pressure. The fact that the quality of their work slowly but surely atrophied over the years apart from each other attests to this.
Also, Believe it or not, there was a lot of competition in those days.
As far as the OP the only thing I can see that they definitely should have done different would be to have lost Brian Epstein WAY before his OD. He was a really poor manager; he had them sign away most of the royalties to their own songs.

Chris W

[Sam Stone]

You guys know that Paul is re-releasing 'Let it Be' this summer - in the original mix he desired, and sans the Wall of Sound.

[MikeyWorld]

Originally posted by JThunder
Let Mike do more of the vocals, and let Peter compose more tunes.

Yeah...and sell "Last train to Clarksville" to some monir band, like The Monkees.

Or is there some other mike and peter in the area?

[JThunder]

You randy scouse. Git.

[Splanky]

Paul, don't release a live album ever again. Ever.

[gex gex]

1. Fire Paul as soon as he's written Eleanor Rigby.

2. Don't let John sing, only write (his voice bugs me).

3. Move to New York and hang out with Lou Reed

4. Don't release Sgt Peppers. Except for Within You Without You and A Day in the Life (rehire Paul for his contribution, then fire him again).

5. NO MOVIES!!!

6. NO MATCHING SUITS!!!

7. The White Album should not have been a double.

8. LESS SONGS ABOUT LOVE!!!

9. Lower production values.

[gex gex]

Keep John from making that "We're bigger than Jesus" remark, even if it was misinterpreted, and, well, most likely true.

No, more remarks like this, I say. This should've been the title of their second album. The Beatles didn't stir up enough shit.

[pepperlandgirl]

Uh...gex gex if you fire Paul and make John stop singing, you don't have the Beatles anymore. You have George and Ringo making subpar albums.

[Anamorphic]

Originally posted by gex gex
No, more remarks like this, I say. This should've been the title of their second album. The Beatles didn't stir up enough shit. A fair point, but I suppose it depends on perspective and what you're trying to accomplish. I think it's fair to say the Beatles definitely lost sales because of the remark. So, if you're looking at the 'things they should have done differently' from a purely selling more records point of view, I think not having the shit storm that followed the remark very well could have helped their sales. But you may even be right on that angle... maybe if they had 'stirred up more shit', they might very well have gained a whole new audience that may have been even bigger than the one they lost. We will never know.

And if they had named their second album "Bigger Than Jesus", the B-Sharps wouldn't have had a name for their second album! :D

[Shoeless]

Screw Ringo... they should have kept Pete Best!

[Voyager]

1. Keep Spector away from Let it Be. I have the bootleg version, without him, and it's much better. (They should add that charge to his trial. He'll really hang.)

2. Lock John and Paul together and keep them collaborating. The real
Lennon McCartney songs are better on average than the White album
and beyond individual songs.

3. Just jam more. More stuff like the second side of Abbey Road instead of overproduced, over-mixed stuff.

[gex gex]

originally posted by Pepperlandgirl
Uh...gex gex if you fire Paul and make John stop singing, you don't have the Beatles anymore. You have George and Ringo making subpar albums.

OK, less John singing. He can still do some. No Ringo singing. John can still write his songs, he's just got to give more George to the public.

[Shagnasty]

1) John - Stay away from communism and eastern mysticism quackery. I doesn't age well and it makes you sound like a flake. Even if you are a flake, keep it to yourself so that you don't influence the gullible and create problems in the world. If you want to imagine "no possessions" that's fine, I will help you. Just give all of yours to me.

Also, apologize to Forrest Gump for being rude and condescending to him on that talk show. Here he was protecting your sorry ass and you go making stupid remarks about how great communist China is.

[Stratocaster]

I, too, would love to hear a George Martin-produced Let It Be. But, ya know, I guess I wouldn't want them to change anything. The Beatles have moved beyond pop band into mythos. They are icons. They are legends. They are perfect in their own way.

Keep it all the same...

[Already in Use]

Originally posted by Shagnasty
If you want to imagine "no possessions" that's fine, I will help you. Just give all of yours to me.Now that's classic.

I notice a lot of people hate the movie Magical Mystery Tour. What's up with that? I LOVE it!

[handy]

A Nono to selling music library:
Does Michael Jackson control the Beatles music library?
URL: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a951027.html

Or Weird stuff:
" What do all four Beatles hold on the cover of the Beatles '65 album?"

What's the truth about weird stuff on Beatles' album covers?
URL: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/980109.html

[pepperlandgirl]

Yeah, in hindsight, they probably shouldn't have done the Butchered Babies Cover.

And I too love Magical Mystery Tour.

[Cholo]

They should have paid George Martin for helping them create some of the greatest recorded sounds in the world. IF thereis a 5th Beatle...it's George Martin.

Apparently ol' George was only paid his EMI salary. He didn't actually make any money off the Beatles according to a quote I just read tonight.

[Broadway Danny Rose]

When John Lennon left they should of replaced him with Sammy Hagar.

[TV Casualty]

Who are The Beatles? :confused:

[Boo Boo Foo]

Originally posted by Cholo
They should have paid George Martin for helping them create some of the greatest recorded sounds in the world. IF thereis a 5th Beatle...it's George Martin.

Apparently ol' George was only paid his EMI salary. He didn't actually make any money off the Beatles according to a quote I just read tonight.

You know, if this is true - and I suspect it is - then I rather think that if none of the Fab Four ever leave a cent to Big Daddy in some capacity then I will choose to look upon them less charitibly in the future. Considering the extraordinary wealth the Beatles collected - even AFTER so much of it was extracted out of them by epicly poor management contracts with EMI and the tax people and the stupid publishing rights decisions etc etc etc - still... even after that... the four of 'em should have sent a little annual gratuity to Sir George.

Just think of those wonderful mesmeric arrangements. Just have another listen to "I am the Walrus" or "Something" to see what I mean. Sir George deserved a better deal from the Fab Four - no doubt about it. I always thought their "dumping" of him to make "Let it Be" was a low blow to be sure.

[Stratocaster]

Originally posted by Boo Boo Foo
I always thought their "dumping" of him to make "Let it Be" was a low blow to be sure. Hmm, was this a "dumping" of Martin? I believe George Martin and Glyn Johns made several attempts to turn the 30 hours of recordings into an album, none of them to the satisfaction of the Beatles or even themselves. Am I misremembering?

[Walloon]

What I don't understand is if the Beatles owned their own record label, under EMI, why did the Beatles allow Phil Spector's version of Let It Be to be released if they hated his impositions? Isn't that one of the reasons why you form your own label?

[MaxTheVool]

Just to clarify something here... you all who are complaining about Let it Be are complaining about the album, not the song, right?

Because the song is my absolute favorite Beatles song, and pretty much my favorite song of all time...

(Or does that just prove what a bad Beatles fan I am?)

[Stratocaster]

I don't believe all the Beatles hated Spector's production. I believe John was the one who pushed for Spector, prompted by the fact that Spector had recently produced John's solo hit "Instant Karma." I think.

[pepperlandgirl]

Yeah, I think it was just Paul who was annoyed, and that was mainly because of "The Long and Winding Road" and "Let it Be"--not about the entire album itself.

[Boo Boo Foo]

Was Instant Karma recorded as early as January 1969 was it?

I always thought "Instant Karma" came out around 1972 on the "Sometime in New York" album. I could be wrong of course. I'm happy to stand corrected.

And Bob Cos? My earlier comment regarding "dumping" George Martin? Just as some clarification, I should have been clearer. I was referring more to the decision by The Beatles to leave "Abbey Road" and setup in the BBC studios for the duration of the making of the film - with Phil Spector being involved as well.

Just as a bit of trivia - I see the name "Glyn Johns" was mentioned earlier. Where did "Alan Parsons" fit into all this? I understand Alan was quite involved at Abbey Road during the "Dark Side of the Moon" sessions too.

[Walloon]

John Lennon recorded "Instant Karma" on Jan. 26, 1970, a year after the Get Back sessions, but months before the resulting album Let It Be was released in May 1970.

The studio where Let It Be was shot was Twickenham Film Studios, not the BBC.

Alan Parsons was an engineer on the Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road.

[JThunder]

Originally posted by Walloon

Alan Parsons was an engineer on the Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road.
One of his many projects, I'm sure.

[Walloon]

P.S. Only rehearsals and filming were done at Twickenham. The album tracks for Let It Be were recorded at the Abbey Road studios.

[Zoe]

No heavy orchestration on "The Long and Winding Road."

Half the songs written by Lennon and McCartney should say "McCartney and Lennon."

If someone hands you a piece of paper that has "Breathe" written on it, just smile politely and run.

On the last album, leave information on where one can purchase the red rain slicker Ringo wore at the roof top concert.

Do not sell the rights to your songs to anyone.

[Jervoise]

And in the category of Breath-Takingly Bad Puns, special awards go to Ceejaytee ("LET IT BE, dammit!") and JThunder!

:)

[RTFirefly]

The weird thing from today's perspective is, the pace of the Beatles' output at the time hardly seemed exceptional. Everyone else was putting out albums almost as frequently as they were. I can't see that it was a bad thing, especially not in the Beatles' case; how many bad songs did they have? But also for everyone else. The Sixties ('The Sixties', in initial caps, would be roughly 1964-1973 on the calendar) produced a whole lot of amazingly good rock n' roll.

What should the Beatles have done differently? Yeah, keep Spector's hands offa the "Let It Be" album, especially "The Long and Winding Road," which was too smarmy for me, even when I still liked bubblegum music. (As pepperlandgirl memorably said, "Look, if someone is too fucking sappy for Paul, then you know you're in trouble.") And have the "Paul is dead" hoax be about George - with him being the "quiet Beatle", it would have been far more believable.

Apparently they had an actual quota of George songs - at most two per disc. That's something they should have ditched.

But by and large, there's very little about the Beatles' career as a group that I would want to change. Why mess with something that astoundingly good?

I don't see the point in trying to condense the White Album to a single disc. After "Revolution #9", "Why Don't We Do It In the Road", and "Good Night", what are you going to cut? I'd cut "I Will", maybe, but that's only 4 cuts, which still leaves us with 26 songs, and I've already probably stepped on someone's toes.

I'll go along with getting a new manager, and not forming Apple Corps.

Oh yeah - regardless of what it said on "Glass Onion", Milo Bloom had it right: the walrus was John.

[bup]

Ringo looks the most like a walrus.

[LonesomePolecat]

Originally posted by MaxTheVool
Or does that just prove what a bad Beatles fan I am?

Bad Beatles fan! No jelly beans!

[HeatMiser]

Originally posted by RTFirefly
- snip! -
I don't see the point in trying to condense the White Album to a single disc. After "Revolution #9", "Why Don't We Do It In the Road", and "Good Night", what are you going to cut? I'd cut "I Will", maybe, but that's only 4 cuts, which still leaves us with 26 songs, and I've already probably stepped on someone's toes.
Well, since you practically asked for some dissent, I'll be happy to oblige. :D

"Why Don't We Do It In the Road": It's a funny little song, and it pains me to imagine losing another opportunity to hear Paul really cut loose with the vocals and scream like a rocker.

"Revolution #9" and "Good Night": These songs, in that order and in their current position at the end of the album, are absolutely, critically necessary for the full enjoyment of the entire work under the influence of chemical substances. Reportedly.

So in short, I agree with your assessment 100%: leave the double-album alone. Well, 107%, since I'd leave those other songs too. :p

[gex gex]

originally posted by RTFirefly
Everyone else was putting out albums almost as frequently as they were. I can't see that it was a bad thing, especially not in the Beatles' case; how many bad songs did they have?

I'm not a huge Beatles fan, but I can look at their career objectively, and they had a huge amount of filler.

Let's take a look, for instance, at their opus, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Side One

1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Novelty song

2. A Little Help From My Friends

Obligatory Ringo track, terribly sung, almost universally considered inferior to the subsequent cover version.

3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

John goes trippy with drugs. I bet it sounded really out there back in the 60s on acid, maaaan.

4. Getting Better

Standard Beatle pop. Nothing special.

5. Fixing A Hole

Novelty Song

6. She's Leaving Home

At last, a classic.

7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite

Novelty Song


Side Two

1. Within You, Without You

Very interesting piece of experimentation. I rate it.

2. When I'm Sixty-Four

Paul expresses his ghastly love for 40s era popular music. Terrible. This is what current affairs shows play when they want background music for a feel good piece about old people.

3. Lovely Rita

OK pop song, nothing special, but nothing awful like other tracks.

4. Good Morning, Good Morning

I learnt this song in kindergarten, and got over it about the same time I got over Three Blind Mice and One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught A Fish Alive. Then again, the Beatles have always done nursery rhymes - Octopus' Garden... Yellow Submarine.

5. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

Reprise of a novelty song.

6. A Day In The Life

Decent song, worthy of inclusion.

---

It's hardly a gem-laden work. Other albums are similar. Compare that to an OK Computer, a Doolittle, a Velvet Underground and Nico, a My Aim is True or a Murmur.

Sure, the Beatles produced some acclaimed work, but they also produced a hell of a lof of crap. Since you asked about the White Album, Bungalow Bill and Oblah-di Oblah-da in particular are terrible songs that the world could do without.