4 Rejections, 1 bribe: The true, chaotic story of The Beatles breaking the US
In fact, despite their raw talent and collective charisma, John, Paul, George and Ringo’s story could have been very different.
Up until now, rock and roll history accounts tell how, in 1964, during the Beatles’ first trip to the US, American teens inevitably fell in love with the band that was taking the UK by storm.
But investigative historian Andrew Cook, whose new book, Capitol Gains, examines previously unknown documents and archives, says that story must be retold. In fact, many around the Beatles doubted they would ever break America, after every major US record label rejected them.
The Fab Four were signed to EMI over here, on a contract which paid them just one penny per record sold - split four ways, of course. Without the American market, the group would never make their fortunes or worldwide fame. But even Capitol, which was owned by the EMI group, turned down the chance to sign the band four times.
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Eventually, Beatles manager Brian Epstein persuaded small Philadelphia-based label Swan to take She Loves You, but the record was released with no great enthusiasm and sold sparingly. The Beatles looked like they were going in the same direction as Cliff Richard and the Shadows, who had no impact across the Atlantic, despite a huge fan following over here.
“The response from US labels was generally that the name ‘the Beatles’ sounded funny. They looked peculiar, and the market for this kind of thing in the United States just did not exist,” says Andrew, who was given exclusive access to Capitol’s long-forgotten company files.
Eventually, though, in November 1983, Epstein did manage to persuade Capitol to sign the Beatles - against their better judgement, especially after She Loves You had tanked so badly. Andrew discovered that the group’s manager had called in a favour from influential music publisher Lou Levy and a close friend of Capitol executive Dave Dexter, offering him a huge incentive to swing the deal - the US publishing rights to the Beatle’s new record, I Want to Hold Your Hand.
He says: “Epstein convinced him that the song would be a sure-fire hit in America, and that the agreement he had just signed with the CBS-networked Ed Sullivan Show would catapult the Beatles to stateside stardom.” Levy was also promised the rights to future Lennon and McCartney compositions in Australia and New Zealand. It worked - Capitol signed the band after Levy told them he would personally commit a record $40,000 to promoting it.
It turned out to be the best deal Levy had ever struck. The single, released on December 26, 1963, shot to No1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, catapulting the Fab Four to stardom and starting the British invasion of the American music industry. It became the Beatles’ biggest-selling single worldwide, selling more than 12million copies.
When the group stepped off the plane in New York a month later, they were greeted by thousands of hysterical fans. An estimated 73million viewers watched their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, launching Beatlemania across America. But, finally getting a US label to sign them wasn’t the end of Epstein’s struggles.
After going from being sceptics to realising that the Beatles were going to make them a lot of money, Capitol decided they needed to brand the band for US audiences. Andrew says: “From the very beginning Capitol believed, with some justification, that the UK approach to the record industry was as antiquated and fatally flawed as other declining spheres of British business, such as manufacturing and consumer goods.
“Capitol believed that EMI in London had no experience of the US market and little idea how to effectively sell records anywhere other than the UK and British Commonwealth.” The record label decided that, in order to sell the Beatles in the US, they would first need to change the records themselves by remixing the master tapes they had received from EMI in London.
Not only that, but they would have to create entire new albums of their own for American listeners that were distantly different from the ones being sold in Britain, including the song content, sleeve design and even title. That their original albums, expertly crafted and organised by the Beatles and their producers, were chopped up, rearranged and redesigned with no concern to the Beatles’ artistic choices was a matter of huge frustration to the band.
US albums also rarely included more than 12 songs, while all of the Beatle’s UK albums contained 14. And then there was the matter of the non-LP singles, a practice common in the UK, but not the US, meaning Capitol needed to place hits like I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You within one of the 12-song albums.
It meant that first US Album, Meet the Beatles! - a version of their second UK album With the Beatles - included the single I Want to Hold Your Hand, as well as This Boy and I Saw Her Standing There from their first album, while omitting five tracks to fit the shorter US album standard at the time.
Capitol then released the unimaginatively titled The Beatles’ Second Album in the US in April 1964, compiled mostly from leftover tracks from With the Beatles as well as some covers from their Long Tall Sally EP. It meant that A Hard Day’s Night, released in July 1964 in the UK and a month earlier in the US, was the third album on both sides of the Atlantic.
But the American version had a different track listing, a different sleeve design and also included four orchestral versions of Lennon and McCartney songs arranged by George Martin for the 1964 Beatles’ film of the same name.
Again, the meddling caused discomfort, but Capitol insisted their strategy would pay off. The record went straight to No1, replacing Meet the Beatles! And spending 14 weeks there, the longest run of any album of that year.
The fact the label had rushed the album into stores a month before the film’s US premiere meant the Beatles had the No1 album and the No1 single in the country when the movie opened on August 11, 1964. In fact, that year the Beatles dominated the Billboard Hot 100, achieving eleven top ten hits and holding the record for the most No1 singles, with 18 weeks at the top.
Their success paved the way for the British Invasion by opening the doors to British rock and roll and pop music, and paving the way for bands like The Rolling Stones, The Animals and The Whole to find audiences stateside. As Capitol president Alan Livingston later said: “Capitol has taken much criticism for changing British Beatles albums for release in America, but we knew what we were doing. We knew how to sell records in America, and it paid off for us and the Beatles.”
He also pointed out that, as a consequence of their success in America, the band finally broke into other world markets and managed to conquer the world. For that reason, despite the love-hate relationship between Capitol and the Beatles, and the inevitable artistic tensions over changing their songs and albums, the relationship - which was making both sides unimaginably rich - endured.
Author Andrew says: “That’s why when you listen today to most live Beatles concerts recorded overseas, the Beatles announce their songs as being from albums such as Beatles 65, Yesterday and Today and Beatles VI. If they had mentioned With the Beatles or Beatles for Sale, for example, no-one would have known what they were talking about.”
He adds that while, in one of their first interviews with the British music magazine the New Musical Express, John Lennon declared his goal in life was to “to be rich and famous”, it was the record label that had rejected them on three separate occasions that actually meant “they achieved their ambitions, but achieved it well beyond their wildest dreams.”
He says: “The band would eventually cut a separate deal with the American company that boosted their earnings even further. Of course, one might accurately argue that it was the Beatles who made EMI and Capitol rich, not the other way round.”