In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, I present this thoroughly researched piece on a very over-looked period of the band's history yet one that would prove to be the turning point for their success.
We are all very familiar
with the imagery and music that the mention of the name, The Beatles, evokes: four skinny,
mop-top British lads with endearing smiles, wearing tight grey and black suits,
ties, and heeled boots singing in angelic harmonies about youthful love and
infatuation to jangly yet rhythmic guitar strumming and crisp, driving drum and
hi-hat beats. Other images and sounds accompany this as well: massive throngs
of fans mobbing limousines and charging police barricades, the volcanic
cacophony of thousands of screaming girls tearing at their own hair, weeping,
and fainting. Much of the imagery of Beatlemania was the result of the
unprecedented boom in the merchandising industry. The faces of John, Paul,
George, and Ringo adorned lunchboxes, lapel pins, posters, dolls, and their
signature mop-top hairstyle was a marketed product in the form of “Beatles
Wigs”. All of these aspects of The Beatles and the sensation surrounding their
success in the early sixties are well known throughout the tiers of popular culture
and its history. Every aspect of the image of the Beatles during Beatlemania is
a personal possession of every subsequent generation of Beatles fans. Their
guitars, their on-stage movements and stances, and even the Times New Roman
print of the band’s name on the head of Ringo’s kick drum are what characterize
the unforgettable image of the greatest band in the history of music, a band
with an image that has always belonged to their fans.
It is widely known yet not often acknowledged in the day-to-day
discussions or popular references to the Beatles that they had a much different
image in those early days. The most familiar terms heard in referencing the
pre-Beatlemania era of their history are “the Quarrymen” and “the Cavern Club”.
In the broader scope of layman’s history, these two aspects seem to bleed
together, one right after the other, before being overshadowed by the advent of
Beatlemania, the Royal Command performance, and the Beatles’ first arrival in
the US. This is a common occurrence in historical periods that take a back seat
to the more prominent and popularly referenced eras. Scholarly examination of
the Beatles history has revealed consensus on three major factors, in addition
to the capability of the band’s own personas and musical cohesion that lead to
the success of the Beatles as the ultimate force of popular culture they
became. The key to their popular success, ie, their image and marketing success
was through the influence of Brian Epstein and his astute vision of the band’s
potential and the means of achieving that potential. The second was George
Martin with his masterful knowledge of recording studio techniques and
aesthetic vision that allowed the band to create the quality of iconic pop
music they did. But the third and most under-acknowledged factor, that would
allow the first two factors to take place along with the development of the
musical abilities of the band themselves, was Hamburg. The importance of the
Beatles’ first trip to Hamburg,
Germany in the late summer of 1960 to perform in the clubs and bars on the
Reeperbahn in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district cannot be overstated in how it
shaped the band’s persona and honed their musical chops as an ensemble.
The environment into which the Beatles were plunged provided them with
the opportunity for long hours of playing for audiences who demanded a certain
level of musical and aesthetic entertainment. This five month period built the
Beatles’ act and sound through trial and error, spontaneous adaption and
incorporation of repertoire, resources for stage presence, and endurance. All
of these qualities achieved during the first Hamburg trip would accompany and
serve the band throughout the rise of their world conquest. It is safe to say that without the
opportunity to go to Hamburg, the Beatles would not have been the Beatles the
world knows and loves. Even during the Hamburg stint, the Beatles as a band
were nothing like the band they would become. Their performance style, music,
dress, and even the members of the group were a far cry away from the Beatles
of the masses. Closer examination of the Hamburg trip from August to December
1960, reveals an eye opening, and to a certain degree almost unimaginable, tale
of miraculous events and occurrences that belie the popular conception of the
Beatles as individuals and as a group.
The Hamburg excursion saw not the Beatles everyone knows and loves but
rather a different Beatles of stark contrast; absent of the cuddly, endearing
qualities that made the band known to the world. Delving into the Hamburg
history of the band reveals a tale of dark, dingy, clubs with decrepit stages,
long hours of intoxicated frenetic playing for boisterous and unruly German
audiences, sweaty and filthy lifestyles wrought with the constant consumption
of alcohol, amphetamines, and sex. The Hamburg period is also a tale of
relationships and artistic inspiration, of the coming together of creative
minds and personalities. For the Beatles, Hamburg was an adventure that made a
collection of rock and roll devoted Liverpool novices into “The Beatles”, the
band that would conquer and change popular music and culture forever. My goal
and purpose in the course of this examination is to bring to light the story of
the Beatles in Hamburg through outlining the intimate details of those five
months that make up this obscure yet mesmerizing tale while affirming the
lasting importance of this period on the band’s subsequent history. “Germany gave the Beatles
their first great audience with ambitions of its own, one that rose to meet
them in their ambition. The first
audience to challenge the group, force them past their limits; to urge and
adore them in their wildness, their profanity and ecstasy. . .No invisible wall
separated the Beatles from those who had paid to be stimulated by them” (McKinney
32).
The Road to Hamburg
The road to Hamburg for the Beatles began with a problem. Not even their
own problem, but rather a problem of their acting booking agent and manager
Allan Williams. Williams was a magnate
for the Liverpool music scene as well as the owner of a coffee bar called the
Jacaranda which attracted a clientele of college students and Rock n’ Rollers.
The bar had become a hub of the Liverpool art and music scene after Williams
had demonstrated his efficiency as a booker and a promoter after the production
of a Rock n’ Roll feature show at the Liverpool boxing arena with a bill of
local Liverpool acts. In conjunction with Larry Parnes, the top promoter and
talent scout for the emerging British rock scene, Williams’ efforts marked the
first consolidation of the rock community in Liverpool. Many local bands were
exposed to one another and networking connections became exchanged and future
collaborations possible. The vibrancy of the scene was enhanced as bands
attended one another’s performances and passed along new repertoire material.
With Williams in the picture, the interest in his coffee bar as a
hangout spot and developing hub of the scene increased. The “whose who” of the
rock music scene came to congregate and consume the cheap espresso, toast,
beans, and the ever fervent mingling and discussion of musician and rock
related topics. The Jacaranda’s popularity was further enhanced by the weekly
performance of a West Indian Steel band in the makeshift stage and rehearsal
space in the Jacaranda’s basement where an enthusiastic clientele would spend
all night watching. The recurring performances were a great source of promotion
and income for Williams and his problem occurred when the steel drum band
failed to show up for the regular Tuesday night performance. Trying to figure
out what other location for employment this band could have found, Williams
initially had suspected a rival who owned a competing restaurant had convinced
the band to jump ship. But through word-of-mouth Williams soon learned that the
steel band had traveled to Hamburg, Germany. Puzzled by this choice of
location, Williams also soon learned that the German city was home to a
thriving cabaret district where clubs and bars featuring live rock bands took a
back seat in reputation to the assorted businesses providing live sex displays
and services. The demand for American music was augmented by the presence of
British and American service men plus foreign sailors who frequented the
bustling port city.
Feeling this to be a potential untapped source of employment for
Liverpool groups, Williams traveled to Hamburg to see for himself. In Hamburg,
the potential for opportunity appeared to be great as the only competition
against the Liverpool groups were knock-off German and Indonesian Elvis bands.
Having come across a club called the Kaiserkeller, Williams sought out the owner
and proprietor, Bruno Koschmider “…introducing himself as the manager of the
world’s best rock and roll groups…Koschmider inquired if they were as good as
Tommy Steele. Williams assured him they were better than Elvis Presley” (Norman
83). Unfortunately for Allan Williams the cassette of recordings he had brought
to Hamburg to play for potential employers was nothing but audio white noise
and no actual music. This didn’t seem to leave things sitting very well for
Williams’ prospect of bringing the Liverpool talent to Hamburg. But low and
behold, Bruno Koschmider had retained enough of an interest in the original
proposal to travel to Great Britain himself to see the British bands. Arriving
in London, not Liverpool, he came upon the 2 I’s coffee bar where he discovered
and recruited Tony Sheridan. The following evening Allan Williams came to the 2
I’s with Derry & the Seniors. Koschmider was also impressed by their
performance and formally hired them to play at his Kaiserkeller club. Both Tony
Sheridan and Derry & the Seniors quickly became popular acts leading
Koschmider to write Williams about sending another band to perform in another
one of his clubs called the Indra. Williams’ first two choices for the offer
were higher up on the Liverpool scene’s totem pole. Both Rory Storm & the
Hurricanes and Gerry & the Pacemakers turned down the offer leaving Williams
with a third yet tentative choice of the Beatles. Following a disappointing
tour of Scotland where the Beatles were on a bill backing Johnny Gentle, they
were sitting idle in Liverpool once again without a drummer. Maintaining only one
gig at Mona Best’s Casbah club, they quickly considered her son, Pete Best who
had been drumming for the Blackjacks before their recent breakup. Pete was a
relatively capable drummer and had been familiar with John, Paul, and George
for a while before further attracting their aesthetic interest with a newly
purchased drumkit. At the invitation of Paul, Pete accepted the offer to join
the group and go to Hamburg.
The City of Hamburg
Hamburg sits on the River Elbe at the
southern edge of the Jutland Peninsula in Northern Germany. Hamburg’s history
as a settlement dates back to approximately 810 CE when it was established as a
fortress to protect Christian missionaries. Early in its history it became a
port where merchants could conduct free trade subsequently leading to the
consolidating of a vibrant sea trading community. Hamburg’s plight during the
Second World War would eventually transform it into the Hamburg that the
Bealtes would come to experience. The Allied fire bombings of the city claimed
50% of its residential area, 40% of its industrial section, 80% of its port,
and 55 thousand lives. Many lines can be drawn between the aftermath of the
Third Reich and what Hamburg’s St. Pauli district came to be and represent. The
Reeperbahn was not just a hub for boundless forms of entertainment and pleasure
but also a cesspool of gang violence, drug and weapons smuggling, as well as a
presiding mob presence that reaped all of the monetary benefits. Many authors
who recount the Bealtes’ Hamburg days touch on this correlation including Devin
McKinney in his book The Bealtes: In
Dream and History who eloquently summarizes the state of both Germany and
Hamburg’s national and cultural psyche: “In the absence of some sense of
self-determination, one will gravitate to an underground where the roles are
fiercest and freest and the lower creatures of a desexed and disempowered
society can run and shoot and screw in a shadow society of their own making” (McKinney
30).
The audiences that awaited the Bealtes’ in Hamburg were seeking a
visceral quality of entertainment whose popularity was already repainting the
modern German cultural landscape just over a decade after the events of World War
Two and the Holocaust. The Reeperbahn was a product of the German social environment just as the
Bealtes were a product of the Liverpool environment. Their own individual life
experiences up to that point in front of the backdrop of Liverpool society and
expectations had led them to take on a challenge like the Reeperbahn in hopes
of the opportunity it could bring. McKinny goes on to tie the city of Hamburg
to the Beatles: “But this new phenomenon, unique in rock and roll to this
point, lies in the collision between one irresistible force (the Bealtes) and
one immovable object (Germany), each with its own freight of history, memory, psychology,
passion, prejudice” (McKinney 30).
Repertoire & Equipment
“In addition to making vast
improvements in the Beatles’ technique, stamina, and stage presentation, these
long sessions required a doubling of repertoire” (Everett 85).
In the study of the Beatles’ first Hamburg period, it is important to
touch on the content of the band’s repertoire both during and leading up to
their first engagement. Although the group had gone through various incarnations
and names from when they were the “Quarry Men”, then “Johnny & the Moondogs”,
“the Silver Beatles”, and finally just “the Beatles”, the repertoire explored
and incorporated by John, Paul, and George continued to build and adjust each
year from 1956 to 1960. Even prior to 1960, the number of songs covered by the
group, still under the Quarry Men title, were as numerous as the artists from
which they were covered:
“Elvis Presley (28 songs)
The Coasters (5)
Chuck Berry (14) Eddie
Cochran (5)
Buddy Holly (14) The
Everly Brothers (5)
Little Richard (14)
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee (5)
Gene Vincent (13)
The Vipers
Skiffle Group (5)
Carl Perkins (12)
Johnny Burnette (2)
Jerry Lee Lewis (10)
Ray Charles (2)
Lonnie Donegan (8)
Les Paul & Mary Ford (2)
Larry Williams (7) Peggy
Lee (2)
Fats Domino (6) Rick
Nelson (2)
Duane Eddy (6) Big
Joe Turner (2)”
(Everett 40)
The
popular sources for songs in Liverpool groups at this time differed from the
rest of Great Britain’s skiffle scenes. There was an underlying desire on the
part of Liverpool musicians to move away from the Skiffle trend exulted by new
British artists like Cliff Richard and Craig Douglas in favor of songs from
American R&B records. This gave the Liverpool scene a stylistic edge over
others and helped to strengthen the wide array of music performed in that
scene. Groups were always swapping songs and very conscious of which songs were
played by whom. Many groups sought out alternate numbers to ones being played
by other bands. It became common to trade certain songs for others between
groups. Creating arrangements for songs became a common practice among
Liverpool’s bands as well as the adoption of lesser-known B-side material and
older standards from the swing and early jazz era like “It Ain’t Necessairly
So”, “I Got Rhythm”, and “Sweet Georgia Brown”.
More commonly adopted numbers by the Beatles at the threshold of their
Hamburg excursion were “Long Tall Sally”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Hippy Hippy
Shake”, “ Be-Bop-A-Lua”, and “My Bonnie”. The Beatles first stint in Hamburg
featured them as primarily a cover band although John and Paul had been writing
a fair amount of original material, “Like Dreamers Do”, “The One after 909”,
“I’ll Follow the Sun”, and “When I’m Sixty Four” to name a few, which they inevitably
included to fill out their long sets.
A number of title-less “scat” tunes over simple blues forms were also
used for spontaneous performance. By the time the Beatles left for Hamburg,
they had codified their repertoire by omitting most of the old Skiffle tunes
and a few instrumentals. The approximate number of cover songs was one hundred
and ninety one. With this list and with additions of original songs and other
new releases, the Beatles were able to accumulate five hundred hours of
on-stage time in four months. The Hamburg undertaking allowed them to not only
develop as a live band but also to hone their skills at learning and
incorporating new material in a very short amount of time. This would prove a useful
tool as their future during Beatlemania would consist of rapid and grueling
touring schedules followed by the recording of full albums within very narrow
windows of time.
In addition to the Beatles’ iconic image of mop top hair and matching
outfits, their instruments were also very much apart of the image. But the
Beatles didn’t always have the signature Rickenbocker guitars and Vox
amplifiers. As the Quarry Men they didn’t even possess working amplifiers.
Their first excursion out of the British Isles saw them with their first
collection of presentable and functional equipment. The most flashy piece of
gear the band had by this time were Pete Best’s drums, a blue mother-of-pearl
British Premier kit with a calfskin cover, twenty four inch kick drum, hi-hat,
snare, a ride cymbal, single tom, and a floor tom. John’s talented artist
friend, Stu Sutcliffe, had purchased a hollow-bodied President bass with a small,
12 watt Watkins Westminster amp with a ten inch speaker. Upon arriving in Hamburg,
John was using a Hofner Club 40 he barrowed and would later purchase his first
American built guitar, his pre-Beatlemania 1958 Rickenbacker Capri, while in
Hamburg. John also purchased a 14 watt Fender Deluxe “Tweed” amp. George would arrive in
Hamburg with a Futurama guitar and after sharing a Truvoice amplifier with
John, would eventually purchase a 14 watt Gibson “Les Paul” with a 12 inch
cone. Paul came to Hamburg with his recently acquired red Rosetti Solid 7 and
an Elpico amp, the largest of the others.
A Gig in the Life
On August 16th, 1960, the Beatles along with Allan Williams
left Liverpool for Hamburg in Williams’ van. They crossed the English Channel
by ferry and arrived in Arnhem, Holland where John shoplifted his first
harmonica during a pit stop to later add to the Beatles’ instrumentation. They
arrived in the city itself as the sun was setting and the nightlights were
coming on. The first visual introduction for John, Paul, George, Stu, and Pete
of Hamburg was a tree-lined boulevard in the Monckebergstrasse shopping
district. As they turned a corner in the van, they found themselves entering
the renowned St. Pauli district: “Alas, Babylon! If ever a stage designer tried
to create a set for depravity, this was it. St. Pauli rushed in on them from
every direction. It resembled a carnival midway, only gaudier and more vulgar”
(Spitz 207). The scene that the Beatles beheld was beyond anything they could
imagine. The Reeperbahn was a sensory assault of lights, prostitutes, drunken
sailors, neon-lit doorways from where live music blasted onto the streets. The
Beatles could hardly contain their excitement especially when Williams pulled
up in front of the Kaiserkeller. The Kaiserkeller was a nautical-themed club
with an elevated stage and a functional PA system. The Beatles were awe-struck
by the room and were also under the impression that this club was to be their
venue of hire. It wasn’t. In fact, the Kaiserkeller’s house band was Derry &
the Seniors. Williams had taken the Beatles to the Kaiserkeller only to meet
Bruno Koschmider who would then show them the actual club where they would be
performing.
Koschmider’s other club, The Indra, was a few doors down the street from
the Kaiserkeller but was a stark contrast. The room was much smaller, darker,
and only inhabited by a few sullen, beer-drinking patrons. There were only six
tables on the main floor and five sitting booths against the wall. The stage
was nothing more than a stack of wooden apple crates covered on top with two by
fours and with no microphones or a PA. The walls were decorated with dusty red
curtains and the bar’s carpeting was old. Any disappointment the band felt
toward the venue was strongly rivaled by their disgust with the living
accommodations they were provided. In addition to the Indra and the
Kaiserkeller, Koschmider owned a movie theater called the Bambi Kino where the
principal films of choice were gangster films, westerns, and pornography flicks.
The Beatles would reside in three hovel-like storage closets in the hallway
behind the movie theater’s screen. For light, each room contained a light bulb
fixture hanging from the ceiling. The bands’ sleeping accommodations were
nothing more than folding cots, the bedding for which was supplied later at the
insistence of Allan Williams. The filth of the rooms was augmented by the
presence of human feces covered by old newspapers. The band were not given any towels
and had to use the theater’s public bathrooms along with the patrons.
Koschmider had hired the Beatles to help turn the Indra from what it was,
a a low-key bar and strip club, into an active rock club. He felt that all the
Indra needed was a British band. He had contracted the Beatles to perform four
hours a night on weeknights and six hours a night on weekends. Each musician
would receive thirty deutschmarks per day. For the Beatles who had come from a
music scene where bands did short, often only twenty minute long sets, this was
a daunting expectation. The band had also not yet codified a consistent stage
act or setlist, nor had any actual rehearsals to work their new drummer, Pete,
into the dynamic, not to mention Stu’s painfully slow development as a bass
player. They were essentially unprepared as a group and as performers for this
engagement, but between John, Paul, and George, there was an extensive roster
of rock and roll standards that allowed for a forty-five minute set to be assembled
without playing any of the selected songs twice. There was still a tremendous
amount of work to be done not only for their musical situation but also for
their stage presence situation. Their inexperience with stage presence didn’t
make for the spectacle that Koschmider expected. The band would stand
motionless and recite one song after another as if in a rehearsal room. The
band also had to share the stage time with the club’s employed stripper whom
most of the people in the club had come to see.
The Indra, though small, was clearly not getting turn out. For
Koschmider and other proprietors of the Reeperbahn’s club selection, this was
the most important function of a band, to draw in a crowd and keep them there.
Koschmider contacted Williams about the Beatles lack of entertainment value and
persuaded Williams to come to Hamburg to instruct them. Williams was also
rather disappointed in the band when he secretly stood and watched in the back
of the club. After instructing them to spice up their show he returned to
Liverpool only again receive a contact from Koschmider about the Beatles’
uninteresting and ineffective live show. Returning for a second time to
Hamburg, Williams realized his managerial words had not made a difference. Frusterated,
Williams and Koschmider began shouting “Mach Schau!” or “Make a Show!” at the
band. The following moment as described by Bob Spitz is a fine example of the
effect that Hamburg would have on the Beatles, helping to change them into
something different from what they were before:
“Make a show: it sounded
completely inappropriate for rock ‘n roll. John couldn’t stop snickering. He
lurched around the stage in mock-theatrics, diving toward the mike and
duck-walking like Chuck Berry or dropping into a split . . . Paul raised his
guitar as though fencing with John . . . he made pass after pass, speeding up,
slowing down . . . George chimed in, stamping and scrabbling his feet like a
demented Cossack” (Spitz 209-210).
Many other stage antics entered into the Beatles’ performances. Imitations
of Nazi storm troopers, goblins, and
leaping around and off of the stage. The band was beginning to demonstrate
their skill of adaptability and it was paying off. The raw, youthful quality of
their shows were attracting entire crowds to the Indra as their notoriety began
to grow on the Reeperbahn. The more popular they became the more demand was put
upon them to provide constant entertainment. They began playing into the early
mornings on weeknights well passed their four hour long requirement. The breaks
they were supposed to have every forty-five minutes were really just on-stage
pauses to sip from a drink or discuss the next several songs. The patrons
showed their appreciation for the Beatles by passing them pint after pint of
beer, as is cultural custom, especially in the St. Pauli district, to never
refuse. The Beatles were completely submerged in a daily gauntlet of rigor with
an astounding lack of necessary rest, food, or accommodation. The band played
into the early mornings everyday with sometimes only a few hours of sleep. They
would be woken by the sound of the films playing on the Bambi Kino’s screen. In
the theater’s bathroom they sometimes could obtain means for a sponge bath but
never a real bath or shower. Their breakfast consisted of a bowl of cornflakes
and the only other food they could obtain other than a common meat with onion
dish at the Indra, was from a sailors’ mission where the owner would give them
free or discounted meals often consisting of chicken soup.
Although they devoted many of their free hours to working on their
repertoire, they would occasionally venture around the city to take in the
sights. They never strayed very far as they would quickly return to the
Reeperbahn and the Indra for the night of long, ferocious performing. One of the
band’s most valued comforts was the availability of Preludin, “prellys” which
were amphetamines both cheap and available. In fact, most of the prellys the
band consumed were acquired for free from a German lady named Rosa who worked
as the Indra’s bathroom attendant. Even after their night at the Indra was
done, they would not always head back to the Bambi Kino but instead traverse
the landscape of hedonistic debauchery and entertainment that the St. Pauli
district had to offer. The contrast of Liverpool with Hamburg was jarring for
the Beatles in every aspect. In Liverpool, girls were reserved and more
demanding to court but on the Reeperbahn and the Herberstrasse both girls and
women threw themselves at men, especially young foreign men, as casually as
offering someone a cigarette. After a long night of drinking, performing, and
ingesting prellys, the Beatles would venture into the arms of barmaids,
waitresses, working girls, and other female customers. Being young, attention
grabbing rock musicians, free sex was not hard to come by. The amount of sex
the band consumed would eventually result in the acquiring of various venereal
infections. When Allan Williams came to Hamburg to visit them he would often
provide necessary examinations and medications that would aid just long enough
for them to go out and become infected all over again. The Beatles’ Hamburg
lifestyle was wrought with scant sleep, long uninterrupted hours of performing,
physical stage antics, unsubstantial food consumption, sex, and most
importantly, the sharpening of their technique, performance chops, group
dynamic, and over-all musicianship. Their performances had taken on a spectacle
quality as the audiences found their visceral and
unpredictable nature very appealing. Their musical sound while still raw, was
rapidly picking up pace. It was loud and gritty as any lack of technique was
coupled with shear force of enthusiasm to create one large machine-like sound
that got the people moving and dancing. Bob Spitz says of the Beatles’ rapidly
developing talent: “Exceptionally conscientious about expanding their appeal,
they worked as painstakingly as engineers, constructing a set of songs needed
to engage the fitful crowds” (Spitz 212).
Bruno Koschmider was very impressed with the progress that the Beatles
were making as a crowd-drawing act. With the Indra’s capacity filled every
night, Koschmider began having to contend with noise complaints from nearby
residences. This coincided with his decision to send Derry & the Seniors back
to Liverpool as they were exhausted from their own long stint. He then promoted
Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, with Richard Starky on drums, as the house
band. Koschmider had decided to cut his losses and close the Indra. The Beatles
were promoted to playing the Kaiserkeller underneath Rory Storm’s band as well
as having their contract extended for the engagement. The Kaiserkeller was
certainly a step up from the Indra in its size and décor but also hosted a
rougher crowd. Koschmider employed the services of bouncers to provide crowd
control, which almost always meant pulling an unruly customer out into the back
alley and working them over with batons. The head bouncer, Horst Fascher, kept
a watchful eye over the Beatles, especially John, ready to protect them at any
moment from potential violence to which they would inadvertently expose
themselves. Outside of the Kaiserkeller was another story. One of the mythic
accounts of this period claimed that while sharing the Kaiserkeller bill with
Rory Storm & the Hurricanes who were also employed at the club, the two
bands had a contest between them of who could actually stomp a hole in the
stage. Rory Storm and his band won and the Beatles treated them to some drinks
at a more expensive bar after the show. Discovering that his stage was damaged,
Koschmider sent a group of his cronies to rough up both of the bands. The
ensuing brawl between Koschmider’s men and the joint opposition of the Beatles
and the Hurricanes did not produce any serious injuries and was followed by a
truce which kept the arrangements of the engagement going. As the Beatles began
performing at the Kaiserkeller, they began to take part in some musical
competition with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes eventually had
their flashy, Liverpool-esc act out matched by the Beatles command of the stage
and their sharp musicality. The Beatles had begun to resort to even more
outlandish stage antics including Paul performing in a bed sheet toga, and
George wearing a toilet seat around his neck, and John performed his usual beer
and prelly-induced antagonization of the audience. The intensity of the
evenings at the Kaiserkeller grew and grew. The smoke filled club would be
packed as both bands pulled out the stops and the atmosphere became a dense
interaction of sound and motion. Rory Storm and his band realized that it was
becoming harder for them to hold a candle to the Beatles’ performance.
Everything was progressing for the Beatles with the exception of two
things. The first was the condition of their clothes. The Beatles were always
conscious of dressing sharply as was Liverpool the bands’ style. They had arrived in Hamburg attired in
matching suits consisting of lilac-colored sports coats with black button-up
shirts with silver collars, black slacks, and crocodile skin pointed shoes
called “winkle pickers”. Performing sweat-drenched in them every night had
begun to cause them to decay. They were able to have small repairs done on them
by Rosa, the Indra’s bathroom attendant, but the suits weren’t getting any
better. Unable to afford department store prices, the Bealtes were tipped off
by Tony Sheridan about a store called the Texas Shop, which sold cheaper
material. The store’s content was primarily leather outfits including bomber
jackets, boots, and leather trousers. The Beatles purchased themselves a new
look, which was more reminiscent of the Marlon Brando and James Dean image. The
black leather attire also complimented their new reputation as did the nickname
that St. Pauli’s patrons had bestowed upon them: verruckt Beatles, or “crazy Beatles”. The other issue of arrested
progression for the Beatles was that of their living conditions. As they became
more aware of the progress they were making in providing crowds for Koschmider,
they were also asking for better accommodations, including an increase in pay.
Koschmider, being a stingy business owner with no interest in anything but
making money, evaded the band’s requests. It was this that led to their
decision to start playing another club owned by one of Koschmider’s business
rivals. This decision would mark the beginning of the end of their first
Hamburg journey.
Astrid & Klaus
Klaus
Voorman often ventured into the St. Pauli district as he lived in an apartment
nearby and enjoyed walking to the harbor city’s harbor. The St. Pauli district
was a hub for outsiders: tourists, sailors, and musicians. There were a number
of locals who were addicted to its bounty of hedonistic entertainment but
Hamburg’s citizenry at large did not spend much time there. Although he passed
through the neighborhood, he rarely entered any of the businesses. On one evening
he made an exception and entered a club called the Kaiserkeller after hearing
some amazing rock ‘n roll coming through the entrance. Despite feeling dubious,
Klaus entered the Kaiserkeller and sat at a table watching Rory Storm & the
Hurricanes finish their set and decided to stick around for the next band.
Klaus Voorman was a gifted illustrator and art student at the Meister Schule
art academy in Hamburg. He had particular interest in designing and
illustrating album covers. He had a genuine passion for rock ‘n roll though had
seen very little of it performed live. His girlfriend with whom he lived had
very little interest in the music.
Astrid Kirchherr was also an artist, a photographer, with a personal
style all her own. She wore her blonde hair short around her head and dressed
in exclusively black clothing often with leather boots and frocks. Jazz was her
music of choice and she and Klaus were members of an exclusive art circle in
Hamburg known as the “Exis”, for existentialists, who valued art forms that
exhibited intellect, beauty, ascetic and avant-garde
qualities. Astrid never ventured into the St. Pauli district until Klaus told
her about the band he had discovered there. Klaus persuaded Astrid to accompany
him to the Kaiserkeller. They watched the Bealtes perform and Astrid became
immediately enchanted with them and especially with Stu Sutcliffe. “For me,
seeing them was like a dream come true. I was always longing to take pictures
of boys who looked like them, but I had never met any before…All I wanted was
to be with them and to know them” (Pritchard, Lysaght 47). After biding their
time, Klaus and Astrid worked up the nerve to introduce themselves to the band.
They were timid at first but were quickly made comfortable by the Beatles
personable nature.
The Beatles found Klaus and Astrid’s interest in them to be very
flattering and were also enthusiastic to meet two locals who were not of the
usual crowd of patrons and musicians they encountered. Astrid’s interest in the
band’s aesthetic persuaded her to ask if they would be interested in being
photographed. The Beatles had never been professionally photographed before let
alone even offered. They agreed to meet Astrid at noon the next day in the Der
Dom city park. It was here that Astrid took the most iconic photos of the band
prior to Beatlemania. The first professional photo shoot of the band portrayed
them with the elements of mystery and existential intrigue with which Astrid
saw and captured them. The photos were of the band at the height of their early
rock ‘n roll period calling themselves “the Beatles” yet nothing like the image
that their name evokes to the world today. Astrid’s relationship to the band
deepened, especially with Stu Sutcliffe. Her relationship with Klaus was coming
to an end and her infatuation with Stu quickly turned romantic. For Stu the
feeling was mutual. A talented artist himself, he was drawn to Hamburg’s art
scene and its art academies in particular. Although he was on a detour as a
bass playing rock musician, painting was where his heart truly lay.
Being artists, he and Astrid began influencing one another in little
ways. Astrid was designing and adding to Stu’s wardrobe. She eventually
persuaded him to let her re-style his hair in a popular French fashion that
would become the mop top “Beatles hair cut” adopted by all of the band members.
Even after Stu Sutcliffe’s death, the Beatles’ relationship with Astrid and
Klaus would continue with each of their four return trips to Hamburg. Despite
the constraints of their later fame, the band would see Astrid again and use
her and Stu and their relationship as subject matter for “Baby’s in Black” off
of their fourth album Beatles for Sale.
Klaus Voorman would later be employed to design the album cover for Revolver. The Beatles’ relationship with
Astrid and Klaus would become one of the pinnacle events in their development
and their legend.
Eviction from Hamburg
The Beatles’ first Hamburg trip, though life changing for the group,
would come to an anticlimactic, and rather disappointing end. The full effects
of the time spent playing in the St. Pauli district would not materialize and
make themselves apparent until well after the band returned to Liverpool. The
falling out with Bruno Koschmider was due to the
band’s inability to convince him of giving them better living conditions and
wages. The other culprit was the opening of a new club on the Reeperbahn called
the Top Ten Club, owned by Peter Eckhorn. The Top Ten almost immediately began
competing with other venues. The Beatles weren’t the only ones to feel that
greener pastures lay with better employment than that of Koschmider. Rory Storm
& the Hurricanes had already been hired as the Top Ten Club’s house band.
Even the bouncer Horst Fascher and Rosa the bathroom attendant had re-employed
themselves at the Top Ten. The Beatles saw from Rory Storm’s experience that
they too could receive farer employment and accommodation if they could
persuade Eckhorn to hire them. This prospect infuriated Koschmider who had
pointed out a special condition of his contract with the Beatles that prevented
them from playing in any club not owned by Koschmider within a twenty-five mile
radius. Koschmider is said to have even turned the reminder into a threat that
the Beatles would not be safe in the St. Pauli district if they left his
employ.
Unfortunately for Koschmider, the contract was technically up in early
December and the Beatles felt no inclination to heed his warnings. Not only did
Peter Eckhorn agree to hire them, he provided them with much better sleeping arrangments
than Koschmider had. The hovel-like rooms with folding cots were replaced with
an actual bedroom above the Top Ten Club with bunk beds and a bathroom. It
seemed to the Beatles that they had successfully improved their situation until
the next morning German police arrived at the Top Ten looking for George.
Hamburg had a strict curfew ordinance in the St. Pauli district for people
under the legal age of eighteen. George who was seventeen had skirted under the
authoritie’s radar as had the whole band for not having actual work permits.
Enraged at the Beatles’ defection, Koschmider had informed the Hamburg police
that George was under age. The result was George’s immediate deportation from
Germany. Stu and Astrid accompanied him to the train station, sending him off
with a sack of apples and biscuits to last him the journey.
Meanwhile, despite having lost the band’s featured guitarist, they were
determined to stick it out at the Top Ten. Paul and Pete went over to the Bambi
Kino to retrieve the last of their belongings. Upon entering the hallway behind
the screen, they found it too dark to see and so improvised some temporary
lighting by setting fire to some condoms Paul had. They pinned the burning
condoms to the wall which gave them just enough light to grab their belongings
and leave. The next morning, the Hamburg Police arrested Paul and Pete and held
them for twenty four hours at the Reeperbahn police station on charges of
attempted arson. The charge which was most likely that of Koschmider’s, was
lifted and the two were released with orders to leave Germany immediately. Paul
and Pete were on a flight back to Great Britain so fast that they weren’t able
to retrieve their any of their belongings including Pete’s new drum kit. Only
John and Stu remained but with no other choice but to return home as well. Stu
chose to stay behind in Hamburg with Astrid but John took the train. Upon
finally arriving at his Aunt Mimi’s home, he threw pebbles at her window until
she opened the door. John pushed passed her telling her to pay the cab driver that had brought him.
When Mimi demanded to know where all of the money was that John had claimed he
would earn in Hamburg, John replied: “Just like you, Mimi, to go on about one
hundred pounds a week when you know I’m tired.”
Aftermath at Litherland
A sullen mood hung over the Beatles upon their return to Liverpool after
four months in the St. Pauli district in Hamburg. The experience was like a
dream that had ended abruptly as if the dreamer was rudely awakened. They had
returned with no earnings from their long engagement at the Indra and the
Kaiserkeller, having spent it all on the temptations of the Reeperbahn. The
sense of disappointment, failure, and the prospect of never being able to
return to Hamburg due to the legal snags was cause of great depression in John
who spent several days lying in bed and not leaving his room. The only person
he received was Cynthia who doted upon him. Paul finally gave into his father’s
advice about getting a day job. He felt there was no other recourse available
since the band had ground to a halt. He got a job with a package delivery
company. George was sitting idly at home with there being no playing
opportunities for him. Paul eventually contacted John just before Christmas and
they went together to see Allan Williams who was once again having problems of
his own.
Williams had attempted to open a Liverpool club named after Hamburg’s
Top Ten but the property for the club had been burned down. The only club still
in operation it seemed was Mona Best’s Casbah Club. The Beatles finally got
together for a return performance. Compared to the decadence of the Hamburg
clubs, the Casbah was significantly unintimidating. There was no alcohol,
fighting, or boisterous crowds, which was all the Beatles had known for the
last four months. Their performance reflected this even though many of the
people attending the performance didn’t remember them very clearly especially
under the title for the event “The fabulous Beatles direct from Hamburg”. It
seemed to come as a surprise to the audience that this band was actually John,
Paul, George, and Pete, or as they remembered them, the Quarry Men and Pete
from the Blackjacks. The attendees were struck by the band’s appearance in
leather jackets and pants with the mop top hairstyles. Pete Best remembered the
reaction despite this confusion: “After the first number, the kids went wild.
They forgot where we came from and who we were. We were The Beatles. That’s all
that mattered, and it went on from there” (Pritchard, Lysaght 52).
It was agreed that the Beatles were the best band to have ever played the
Casbah. Already, even after an unhappy hiatus, the band brought their newly
honed brand of rock ‘n roll back to Liverpool. Bob Wooler was a Liverpool disc jockey who had partnered
with Allan Williams to establish Liverpool’s Top Ten Club. After losing the
club to fire, Wooler went to work for promoter Brian Kelley who booked town
hall dances at Lathom Hall, Aintree Institute, and Litherland Hall. Williams
asked Wooler to persuade Kelley to book a concert for the Beatles at one of the
halls. Kelley later agreed and
booked the Beatles, although he had remembered seeing them perform before going
to Hamburg and did not remember being all that impressed. The date was December
27th, 1960. The crowd was large and the Beatles, once again booked
under the Hamburg title, launched into a roaring version of “Long Tall Sally”
as soon as they were announced. Kelley immediately realized he could have made
much more money on the show in ticket sales. While the number of attendees was
at a large capacity for dancing, the crowd did not dance but flocked in rapped
attention directly to the edge of the stage leaving most of the dance floor
vacant.
The Beatles had such an impact on the audience that many agree the
Litherland performance saw the first manifestation of the Beatlemania hysteria when
the band was mobbed by girls outside in the parking lot and their van was
decorated with messages of praise in lipstick. “The crowd was as stunned as I .
. . But they were transfixed, and they were drawn as if by a magnate, toward
the stage . . . They hadn’t heard anything like it” (Pritchard, Lysaght 55).
From this point on the Beatles notoriety and success would climb higher and
faster. The success of the Litherland Hall concert would create a productive
collaboration with Bob Wooler who would continue booking the Beatles for town
hall shows and helping spread their name around Liverpool. It wasn’t long
before they began making better than average money for bands in Liverpool. The
notoriety of the band’s town hall shows would spread to Ray McFall, owner of
the Cavern Club, who with the proposition from Mona Best, would eventually book
the Beatles into their next great engagement. The band would eventually return
to Hamburg from March to July of 1961 to perform at the Top Ten Club. They
would return to Hamburg again three more times after that, but it was the first
Hamburg excursion in the fall of 1960 that acted as the springboard from which
the other advances in their career would fall into place and build upon one
another. So much about the first Hamburg trip shows a different band with style
and tendency far removed from what was later to become associated with them and
their name. The Beatles in Hamburg in 1960 were an entirely different
incarnation whose tale is as captivating as their eventual rise to the Beatles of
history.
Bibliography
Written Sources
-Brown, Peter & Gaines, Steven. The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles. New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1983.
-Everett, Walter. The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2001.
-Spitz, Bob. The Beatles: The Biography. New York, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2005.
-Norman, Philip. SHOUT!: The Beatles in Their Generation. New York: Fireside (Simon & Schuster, Inc.), 1981.
-Pritchard, David & Lysaght, Alan. The Beatles: An Oral History. New York: Hyperion, 1998.
-McKinney, Devin. The Beatles: In Dream and History. Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Online Sources
“History of Hamburg”
www.motherearthtravel.com
