The Fab Four: 10 Interesting Facts about The Beatles You Might Not Know
The Fab Four of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are perhaps the most influential rock band of the 20th Century (if not all time). Though only active for a decade from 1960-1970, they have nonetheless had the greatest impact, even beyond contemporaries such as the Rolling Stones and the Who that continue to tour as a group to this day. Even so, remaining members McCartney and Starr have shown no signs of slowing down themselves. So from music to movies and all manner of culture in-between, there are some pretty interesting facts about The Beatles that you may not know.
Back in the USSR
The Soviet Union had a pretty strict ban on Western music, which included all rock n’ roll and definitely included The Beatles. Trying to get vinyl on the black market was difficult and also illegal. However, in the 1950s, a resourceful loophole focused on imprinting the music onto x-ray scans either purchased or picked up from a hospital dumpster. The practice was called “music on the bones” and demand for The Beatles created a spike in this process.
First Time on TV
Though Ed Sullivan was the band’s first live television performance in the US, it wasn’t their first time on TV in the States. Pre-recorded footage of The Beatles was actually shown on 18 November 1963 for the Huntley-Brinkley Report featuring them in concert. The Jack Paar Show broadcast another pre-recorded concert on 4 January 1964, a full month before they would appear on Sullivan.
By: John Rabon
Source: Anglotopia
