The Beatles in Hamburg

by Ian Inglis

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are four of the most famous names in the history of music. In the 1960s, the Beatles became the bestselling pop band in the world, inspiring legions of fans and developing into popular music icons. Fifty years later, their recordings are still in demand. But none of this happened overnight. As Ian Inglis reveals in this tale of the band’s early years, before they took the world by storm, the Beatles were little more than an inexperienced, semi-professional group of talented musicians in dire need of practice.
Inglis tells the story of the Beatles in Hamburg, Germany, where their agent, Allan Williams, first sent them in August of 1960. In addition to showing how Hamburg itself played a role in the Beatles’ remarkable story, Inglis details the difficulties they faced— unusual performance venues, age restrictions, and deportations—and the experiences and personalities that shaped them as performers and composers. Ultimately, Inglis explains, the Beatles not only became proficient musicians in Hamburg, but while there they began to build the reputation that would eventually make them the most popular band in the world.

 

An illuminating look at the group’s formative years, The Beatles in Hamburg is the perfect book for any one in thrall of Beatlemania or fan of popular music history.

Genres: History, Music

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2012

About the author

Ian Inglis is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Arts, Design and Social Sciences at the Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. He has written extensively abut the history, performance and presentation of popular music. His books include Performance and Popular Music: History, Place and Time (2006), Popular Music and Television in Britain (2010) and The Beatles in Hamburg( 2012).

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the usual sensationalist book about the bands time in Hamburg, but a more serious, scholarly approach about what the city meant to them and how it influenced them musically and as performers. Although their time in Hamburg has been represented often, especially in film (Backbeat, Birth of the Beatles) most are less concerned with music than myth. Yet, in Hamburg, the band spent an estimated 800 hours on stage over 273 nights - playing at the Indra, the Kaiserkeller, the Top Ten and the Star Club.

This book examines both Hamburg and the band at the times they visited, including their first visit in which they started as a band that had played infrequently around Liverpool to audiences of teenagers, to a band exhorted to "Mach Shau!" to an audience consisting of gangsters, prostitutes, pimps and off shore sailors. It was on stage here that they learnt stagecraft, where they first properly met Ringo Starr (although they had come across each other, they first shared a stage in Hamburg when Rory Storm and the Hurricanes played with them at the Kaiserkeller). Although the first trip ended in deportation for McCartney, Harrison and Best, it was when they played again in Liverpool that the difference was plain to see.

Overall, this is a very interesting read - discussing reasons why Pete Best was eventually ousted from the group, the influence of Astrid, Klaus and Jurgen, friendship and influence of Tony Sheridan and later visits by the group after they became famous and as solo performers. This cuts out all the sensationalist stories and concentrates on the importance of Hamburg as a place where the Beatles truly became a world class band.

[Ella Schilling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic thesis on Hamburg, kind of like a series of connected essays. Wonderfully intellectual and academic, a real breath of fresh air from the more gossipy, lowbrow types of Beatles books (all still worthy) that thrive on shock factor. Judging by the title, I expected lurid tales of sex, drugs, rock n' roll, George's vomit pile, George's (lost) virginity but was extremely delighted to see the author's incredibly discerning point of view as they tackle just how important this time period was to the Beatles. Inglis makes no mention of lost virginity or vomit piles as they aren't relevant to his thesis.

There are a tonne of sociological type works cited, which I would love to delve further into. Inglis backs up virtually every statement with a source, which I love referencing, to see who said what. Definitely surprised me a few times. (Like Bill Harry's claim, for example, that Hamburg's impact was irrelevant on the Beatles.) Inglis goes against the grain and makes us question some long-held truths about this period and our perception of it. This is not the clickbait type "shocking revelations" thing, but Inglis will definitely have you thinking in ways most other Beatle books don't. He discusses how the trademark Beatle sound developed, and the different musical traditions it developed from, in nuanced ways. Your idea of "Merseybeat" (the genre, not the newspaper) may well be challenegd. Inglis is unlike the typical Beatle author who is usually a retired journalist who clearly talks out of his ass when he's out of his depth when it comes to matters other than biography.

Highly recommend for any academically minded Beatles fan. One thing that made me laugh, however, is that Inglis mentions something about "polite" explanations and introductions of songs to the crowd, delivered by the Beatles on stage to their listeners at the Star Club, which can be heard on the 1962 Star Club tapes. Sure, McCartney's announcements to the crowd are professional, but Inglis seems to ignore Lennon shouting "SHUT UP" every few minutes. So not the most professional yet, but when would Lennon ever be entirely professional for the audience, even beyond Hamburg? (See: Liverpool Town Hall Nazi salute; rattle yer jewelry, cripple faces/walk).

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Beatles' legendary years spent in Hamburg, Germany, which immediately preceded their meteoric rise to global fame, has become a metaphor for a period of deliberate obscurity and hard labor that yields creative fermentation and growth. Ian Inglis does a good job of deconstructing The Beatles' Hamburg experience, showing the falsity of certain myths and confirming it as the critical foundry where the band got its act together.

[Phil Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and, for a book aiming to explore the influence of Hamburg on The Beatles, very even-handed and thorough. It’s a fascinating construction that covers the musical, social, cultural and personal aspects of this time in a way which avoids the list-like features or hyperbolic speculation of many historical accounts.

[Charles Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Surprisingly DEEP KNOWLEDGE in SMALL PACKAGE.
Reminds we sages, teaches them unwashed, of the importance of
NOT THE LIVERPOOL SOUND,
NOR THE MERSEYBEAT,
but of the
HAMBURG SOUND
DAMMIT!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting take on how the city of Hamburg played a crucial role in the development of The Beatles' music. Inglis argues that 'the Hamburg sound' is probably more accurate in describing what became known as 'the Mersey sound'. The Beatles met people that were more 'artsy' and intellectual in Germany, people they were unlikely to have met in Liverpool and Inglis says that this more cosmopolitan setting is crucial in the development of The Beatles' music and projected image. To listen to the tapes of the Star Club date of 12/31/62 is a revelation, as, in many ways, this is the same group that took over the world within the year. Inglis' theory on the real reason The Beatles sacked their longtime drummer, Pete Best, just on the cusp of international stardom is fascinating. I will always remember the quote from Lennon where he bemoaned that 20-minute sets The Beatles played over and over again once they became very big, and how he missed playing the long sets and the rock and roll songs he loved so much that they played in Hamburg hours on end. Very enlightening read.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hér er hinum ævintýralegu mótunarárum Bítlanna lýst af fagmennsku og ég er þegar búinn að læra eitthvað nýtt um bestu hljómsveit í heimi; m.a. það að When I’m sixty-four var eldgamalt lag (Paul samdi það 16 ára), sem bandið spilaði á píanó ef slitnaði strengur og slíkt. Þeir fengu hugmyndina að endurvekja lagið á Sgt. Peppers af því pabbi Pauls var nýorðinn 64 ára um það leiti. Einnig að John leit á Hamborgarárin sem bestu ár Bítlanna og reyndi að snúa aftur í þann fíling og svipaða músík þegar hann var kominn í sólóferilinn.