# What if the Beatles never got big? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339 "2002-04-29T19:03:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/1 "2002-04-29T19:03:24Z")
I know I shouldn’t be posting this. I mean, it’s probably more Great Debates than Cafe Society, and it’s just speculative, and there’s no way of really knowing, but the question has been haunting me all day. So… What if, say, the Beatles never gave up the Silver part of their name, and for a variety of reasons, never got any further than occasional gigs at the Cave? How would pop, rock, radio, and culture have been affected? Who would have been big instead? Would the Stones have existed? I worry about the strangest things… ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/2 "2002-04-29T19:43:01Z")
John Lennon wouldn’t have been shot by a deranged fan outside of the Dakota hotel. He probably wouldn’t have married Yoko Ono, either. The barbershop quartet episode of _The Simpsons_ would have never been made. _Yesterday_ wouldn’t have been named by the ASCAP as the best pop song of all time, nor would it be the song played the most on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/3 "2002-04-29T20:04:48Z")
Phil Spector would rule the world! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/4 "2002-04-29T20:09:15Z")
oh, yeah! The “Marge paints Monty Burns” and “Lisa becomes a Vegitarian” episodes of the Simpsons wouldn’t have been made either. Thank God they made it! ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/5 "2002-04-29T22:12:06Z")
Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” Motown music, The Beach Boys, and Dylan would have been the big things that everyone would have been imitating. You would never have heard of The Rolling Stones since John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave them their first big hit and convinced Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to start writing their own songs instead of just doing covers. Someone would have come along to move things along, but Hendrix wouldn’t have been. We would probably be ten to twenty years behind where we are now. Hmm… Yup. Disco would still be dead either way. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/6 "2002-05-01T18:14:55Z")
I think it was at an Emmy or Golden Globes show that someone said, “Just think, if a bomb blew up this place, Pia Zadora would be a star.” A world without the Beatles? Well, back then, the Beatles blew Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Peter Paul and Mary and Elvis off the charts…so most likely there would have been variations of those acts instead of Beatle offshoots (Stones, Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits and the rest of the British invasion.) And then came Jimi and Janis and then Sid and then the Ramones and and and now…oops…Britney Spears?..yeah, it really is a world without the Beatles now. A world without the Beatles…what a sad thought. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/7 "2002-05-01T19:38:06Z")
Presumably, if the Beatles never made it big, Paul would still be alive today. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/8 "2002-05-01T20:44:43Z")
Larry Kirwan, former lead singer of the band Black 47, explored this scenario in his play “Liverpool Fantasy.” In it, after the band breaks up, Paul is the only one to attain success, becoming a successful Vegas entertainer named Paul Montana. [http://pulse.towerrecords.com/contentStory.asp?contentId=5012](http://pulse.towerrecords.com/contentStory.asp?contentId=5012) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-beatles-never-got-big/106339/9 "2002-05-01T22:21:19Z")
Rickenbacker and Ludwig would have gone out of business in the early 60’s. Crazed Southern Baptists would have had to find something else to burn. 😃