1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast am on

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori

3
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,879
Speaker 1: with you. Chuck Anderson with Us. Was raised in San Diego,

4
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,760
Speaker 1: the side of the Beatles eighth stop on their nineteen

5
00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,239
Speaker 1: sixty five North American tour. He was a little too

6
00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,079
Speaker 1: young to attend the show, but fondly recalls his older

7
00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 1: siblings spinning the records of the Fab Four as he grew,

8
00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,160
Speaker 1: which perked a lifelong love for the band. He has

9
00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,240
Speaker 1: worked in the outdoor advertising industry most of his life,

10
00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,960
Speaker 1: although his true compassion is history. Having published a few

11
00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,440
Speaker 1: articles over the years, Chuck turned his sights to researching

12
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,360
Speaker 1: and writing the critically acclaim Some Fun Tonight, The backstage

13
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: story of How the Beatles Rocked America, the Historic Tours

14
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,840
Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty four to sixty six. He has consulted

15
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,159
Speaker 1: on a number of various Beatles related subjects and projects,

16
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:54,240
Speaker 1: such as director Ron Howard's recent documentary Eight Days a

17
00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,120
Speaker 1: Week as well. Chuck, thank you for joining us. I

18
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:02,000
Speaker 1: can't believe it's been forty years since we've lost John Lennon. George, Hello,

19
00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,240
Speaker 1: how are you? It's so good to be on. And

20
00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,000
Speaker 1: when you played that little cliff of Howard Cosell announcing

21
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,720
Speaker 1: the the you know, terrible event that happened in New

22
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,160
Speaker 1: York City that night, it just brought back a blood

23
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,880
Speaker 1: of memories. Chili Chili? What got into and Mark David

24
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,760
Speaker 1: Chapman is sixty five down? How he's still in prison.

25
00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 1: He comes up for parole, it gets denied. And what

26
00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,760
Speaker 1: compelled him to do this? I thought he was a

27
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,600
Speaker 1: fan of John Lennon. Yes, but as you know, you

28
00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,679
Speaker 1: know some fans are they also turned violent and it

29
00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,680
Speaker 1: happened that night. It was it was a terrible event.

30
00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,840
Speaker 1: I don't know, George. I don't know if you remember

31
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,280
Speaker 1: where you are at, but I certainly remember where I

32
00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 1: was at. I was eighteen years old and I was

33
00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,760
Speaker 1: sitting on our couch in our family room watching Monday

34
00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,240
Speaker 1: Nights football. The field goal kicker was lining up for

35
00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,520
Speaker 1: a kick and Cosell interrupted that to tell all the news.

36
00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 1: And what's interesting is if you go on to YouTube,

37
00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 1: there's an amazing clip of the broadcast crew, including Don Meredith,

38
00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,680
Speaker 1: talking about if they should announce it on the air,

39
00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:14,760
Speaker 1: and they were kind of debating if they should or

40
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,760
Speaker 1: not in. Cosell was actually kind of against it. And

41
00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:22,440
Speaker 1: it was actually I Pullie Frank Gifford who who convinced

42
00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,960
Speaker 1: Cosell to announce it, because it was so so paramount

43
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,000
Speaker 1: to announce and to give the world that news. But

44
00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,280
Speaker 1: it was surreal, George. I was sitting on the couch

45
00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,640
Speaker 1: and you know, just enjoying Monday night football as a

46
00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,639
Speaker 1: young kid, and you know, I'd love the Beatles all

47
00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,000
Speaker 1: my life, and to hear that, It's just set me

48
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,400
Speaker 1: into utter shot. Oh my gosh. I didn't believe it.

49
00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 1: I was in Saint Louis at the time, running a

50
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 1: news department. I'm in Saint Louis right now, but I

51
00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,600
Speaker 1: was there in the newsroom when we had all we

52
00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,240
Speaker 1: were at an NBC station, but we had all the

53
00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:01,720
Speaker 1: networks up on different TV screws, and I heard the

54
00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 1: co Cell remark and I couldn't believe it. I mean,

55
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,240
Speaker 1: it was And then our wire machines were going off.

56
00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,320
Speaker 1: They kept dinging, you know, ding ding, and you'd look

57
00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,120
Speaker 1: at the wire machines from the Associated Press or United

58
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,720
Speaker 1: President or National and it showed that he had been

59
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,520
Speaker 1: shot and was killed. It was it was a shocker. Yeah,

60
00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:21,920
Speaker 1: And to go back to your first question about these

61
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,280
Speaker 1: You know there are bestive fans. I mean there's a

62
00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,160
Speaker 1: history of them. I mean, we have people that have

63
00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,960
Speaker 1: done this in the past to several superstars in the

64
00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,400
Speaker 1: music industry and you know the acting world. I mean,

65
00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:37,880
Speaker 1: look at you know, the person that tried to assassinate

66
00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,800
Speaker 1: the President Reagan, who had this fascination with Jodie Foster.

67
00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,760
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just part of the fandom, and I

68
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,280
Speaker 1: think that is why, you know, security now is so

69
00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 1: much higher than it was. You know, in the Beatles

70
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,760
Speaker 1: toured around the world. You know this. You know, even

71
00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,200
Speaker 1: though they required one hundred and fifty policeman to be there,

72
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 1: there there's still the you know, situations where ams could

73
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,440
Speaker 1: get to them. Mark David Chapman has been denied parole

74
00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:09,440
Speaker 1: eleven times, and he had earlier refused requests for interviews,

75
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,360
Speaker 1: but he has said that he did not kill John

76
00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,040
Speaker 1: Lennon for fame or notoriety. He just went into that

77
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,559
Speaker 1: and did what he did. If you had a chance

78
00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,200
Speaker 1: to interview him, Jack, what would you what would you

79
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,720
Speaker 1: first ask him? I guess it would be why, well, yeah,

80
00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:27,599
Speaker 1: of course, I mean you want to get into the

81
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,240
Speaker 1: into his head of you know, why he did it,

82
00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,279
Speaker 1: and I just, you know, I don't even know really

83
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,720
Speaker 1: if i'd you know, even as a historian, George, and

84
00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 1: I know other of my colleagues who study and follow

85
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,680
Speaker 1: the Beatles, you know, some of us said they would

86
00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,200
Speaker 1: love to go and interview him. I would have a

87
00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,800
Speaker 1: little bit of trepidation doing it. I mean, he just

88
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,839
Speaker 1: took the life of such a beautiful man who gave

89
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,360
Speaker 1: so much and so short of a time in his

90
00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,800
Speaker 1: I mean forty years, George, that's it. I'm well past that.

91
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,640
Speaker 1: And you know, to take the life of someone that

92
00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,000
Speaker 1: was so gifted, so talented, just so unusually bright, and

93
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,800
Speaker 1: gave the world so much and was willing to give

94
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:15,000
Speaker 1: the world a lot more, it would be a hard

95
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,760
Speaker 1: thing for me to do. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean he

96
00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,080
Speaker 1: was given twenty years to life, and as I mentioned,

97
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,000
Speaker 1: he's been denied parole eleven times. A lot of people

98
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:28,440
Speaker 1: might not know this, Chuck, but Mark David Chapman contemplated

99
00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,359
Speaker 1: killing other public figures. He was thinking about killing Johnny Carson,

100
00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney, Ronald Reagan at the time as well. He

101
00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,719
Speaker 1: had no prior criminal convictions and he had just resigned

102
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,640
Speaker 1: from a job as a security garden Hawaii when he

103
00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:47,000
Speaker 1: made his way to New York. Just a shocker. It's

104
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,480
Speaker 1: terrible to think of those people who are lurking around,

105
00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,839
Speaker 1: who kind of go unnoticed. And I think that's why

106
00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,400
Speaker 1: security has gotten so much more strict now. Boy, when

107
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,880
Speaker 1: you go, you know, to a concert, or you're near

108
00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,279
Speaker 1: the red carpet of any sort, I mean, there's people watching,

109
00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,000
Speaker 1: there's people checking you for firearms or any kind of threats.

110
00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,120
Speaker 1: A lot more, a lot more now than there was

111
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,720
Speaker 1: back then. Oh yeah, you get padded down in some

112
00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,080
Speaker 1: places too now these days exactly. Well, let's talk about

113
00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,280
Speaker 1: some fun things about the life of John Lennon and

114
00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,160
Speaker 1: the rest of the Beatles. I remember back in nineteen

115
00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,320
Speaker 1: sixty four when they first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.

116
00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,560
Speaker 1: I was just a little teenager at the time, but

117
00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:36,560
Speaker 1: they had seventy three million people watching television that night,

118
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,520
Speaker 1: absolutely unheard of. Yeah, it was a television record at

119
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,800
Speaker 1: that point. It just they just, you know, a lot

120
00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,640
Speaker 1: of people think that they kind of, you know, rose

121
00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,000
Speaker 1: to fame right then and there before our eyes. But

122
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,920
Speaker 1: in reality, you know, they had worked very, very hard

123
00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,920
Speaker 1: in their native Britain to get where they to get

124
00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,520
Speaker 1: where they were to, you know, even be invited on

125
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,360
Speaker 1: the solo and show. You were lucky to possibly watch

126
00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,839
Speaker 1: him there, George on TV. It's interesting. I was born

127
00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:08,920
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two, so it's about a year and

128
00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,640
Speaker 1: a half, so I don't remember. You were too little.

129
00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,080
Speaker 1: I was, Yeah, my family telling me about it. But

130
00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,080
Speaker 1: so I call myself not a first generation fan like

131
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,360
Speaker 1: you are. I called myself a generation one point five fan.

132
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,520
Speaker 1: You know, I really discovered the Beatles and the seventies,

133
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,640
Speaker 1: going to school and having friends at like the Beatles.

134
00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:30,680
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's when they burst onto the scene here

135
00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,600
Speaker 1: in America. Was that February ninth performance on The Ed

136
00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:39,080
Speaker 1: Sullivan Show in front of seventy three million people. One

137
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,000
Speaker 1: in four television sets in America were turned on that day.

138
00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,320
Speaker 1: And Ed got him back two more times. He got

139
00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,960
Speaker 1: him for three total times. And he got them cheap too.

140
00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:52,920
Speaker 1: Normally he would give ten thousand dollars to one performance

141
00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:56,080
Speaker 1: to some person or group. He got them for thirty

142
00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:00,400
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars a night. Amazing. You know, Ed drove

143
00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,720
Speaker 1: a hard bargain, But I think that the Beatles manager

144
00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:06,880
Speaker 1: Brian Epstein was even smarter and saying, look, look at

145
00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 1: the exposure we're gonna get. We're gonna be on the

146
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,480
Speaker 1: Ed Sullivan Show. I mean, but you know, Brian was

147
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,360
Speaker 1: also savvy as well. And one of the things that

148
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,320
Speaker 1: kind of mister Sullivan didn't like too much about Brian

149
00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:25,080
Speaker 1: was that Epstein Epstein wanted the Beatles to have top

150
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,960
Speaker 1: billings on the Ed Sullivan Show that night. I mean

151
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,720
Speaker 1: that was kind of unheard of. I mean, you had

152
00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,720
Speaker 1: other bigger starred to see Gainer things like that, so

153
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,280
Speaker 1: you know, it was a good It was a good

154
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:37,560
Speaker 1: deal for both of them, or for both Sullivan. And

155
00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,439
Speaker 1: of course you know Brian Epstein and his band the Beatles.

156
00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,000
Speaker 1: Was it Elvis Presley who really was obsessed with the

157
00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,240
Speaker 1: Beatles or the Beatles with Presley? Oh? It was the

158
00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:49,680
Speaker 1: Beatles with Presley. I mean they fell in love with

159
00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,320
Speaker 1: him and when they were all in Liverpool. I mean,

160
00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,520
Speaker 1: Paul often talks about hearing the song all Shook Up

161
00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,880
Speaker 1: and you know, it just it just sent him. And

162
00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,880
Speaker 1: what's really interesting, George, I've got a good friend in Dallas, Texas.

163
00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,880
Speaker 1: You won't believe this, but he actually has the physical

164
00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,679
Speaker 1: record all shook up that John Lennon listened to. He

165
00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,800
Speaker 1: would go over to his friend's house, Wow, listen to

166
00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,800
Speaker 1: this record. And my friend in Dallas was actually able

167
00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,840
Speaker 1: to get that record, and so has that original record

168
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,439
Speaker 1: that John or that Paul listened to over there. Well,

169
00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,760
Speaker 1: here's a funny story for you, Chuck. In Saint Louis

170
00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,720
Speaker 1: years ago, I used to own a small video production

171
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,320
Speaker 1: company which did commercials and industrials for corporations and things

172
00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,360
Speaker 1: like that. And one day somebody just walked into the

173
00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,520
Speaker 1: office and had a tape in his hand and was

174
00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,640
Speaker 1: just walking around looking for a machine to play the

175
00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:52,120
Speaker 1: tape in our video production studio. And I'm going, who

176
00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:57,520
Speaker 1: is this guy walking around? It was Chuck Verry. Yeah,

177
00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:01,719
Speaker 1: the Beatles loved all the early rock and roll pioneers, Elvis,

178
00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,599
Speaker 1: Chuck Barry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, you know, all the

179
00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:09,120
Speaker 1: Motown girl groups. I mean, they loved them all, and

180
00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:11,120
Speaker 1: they cut their teeth on it. And the Beatles were

181
00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: the best at taking that American music and repackaging it

182
00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,280
Speaker 1: and then singing it their way and selling it, and

183
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,440
Speaker 1: they did it a phenomenal job. Well, the song killed

184
00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,760
Speaker 1: There was You, which was in the musical The Music

185
00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,440
Speaker 1: Man was an old time classic, and when I heard

186
00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,439
Speaker 1: the Beatles do it, I thought that was theirs exactly.

187
00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,480
Speaker 1: And they actually did it on the Ed Sullivan Show

188
00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,640
Speaker 1: on that second performance in Miami when they were playing

189
00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:43,760
Speaker 1: at the Doville Hotel, which was a really rendition of

190
00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,280
Speaker 1: that really nice rendition of that song, and I think

191
00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,120
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney just sang it beautifully. Now, they toured three

192
00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,880
Speaker 1: times in the United States and North America, and if

193
00:10:52,880 --> 00:11:00,840
Speaker 1: I remember, they hit some stadiums, packed crowds, right, Yeah,

194
00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,680
Speaker 1: that didn't really happen until the nineteen Well, it started

195
00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,319
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixty five tour when they played Shape

196
00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,360
Speaker 1: Stadium in New York. At was a absolute sellout crowd.

197
00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,319
Speaker 1: Fifty five thousand, six hundred people were there that night.

198
00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:19,319
Speaker 1: And yeah, they were starting to attract bigger crowds. In

199
00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:23,520
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, you know, Brian Epstein didn't want them

200
00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:27,160
Speaker 1: to play in big stadiums, feel they were quite ready.

201
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,040
Speaker 1: They didn't want to, wanted people to kind of want more.

202
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:35,319
Speaker 1: So in sixty five and sixty six they accepted engagements

203
00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,120
Speaker 1: in larger cities and in your Saint Louis area. There

204
00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:42,520
Speaker 1: George they played Bush Stadium US. They did twenty first

205
00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:47,839
Speaker 1: sixty six the original Bush Stadium before they bus Stadium. Yeah,

206
00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,600
Speaker 1: that is something. It was dramatic. I remember my dad

207
00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:55,880
Speaker 1: talking about their haircuts. Chuck and adults, all adults were

208
00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,600
Speaker 1: freaking out about those haircuts because they knew that we're

209
00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:01,760
Speaker 1: going to are growing our here a little longer and

210
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,200
Speaker 1: a little longer. And every time I now look at

211
00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,360
Speaker 1: pictures of the Beatles, the four of them with his

212
00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:12,079
Speaker 1: bowl cut haircut, I went, God, that didn't look good

213
00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,800
Speaker 1: at all. But I mean that was the craze. Yeah,

214
00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,679
Speaker 1: shocking at the time. I mean everybody just thought their

215
00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,000
Speaker 1: hair was so long. And actually journalists at press conferences

216
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,440
Speaker 1: when they had tour in America, they would ask they

217
00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,040
Speaker 1: had asked a serious question, they said, is your hair real?

218
00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,280
Speaker 1: I mean they really thought they were wigs. And of

219
00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,760
Speaker 1: course the Beatles kind of set that look from their

220
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,319
Speaker 1: time when they're doing gigs in Germany in the early

221
00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:42,280
Speaker 1: days and the very early sixties, and they kind of

222
00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,240
Speaker 1: got that look from some of the German friends that

223
00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,080
Speaker 1: they had over there at the time. I had a

224
00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,040
Speaker 1: friend who passed away a couple of years ago. He

225
00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:53,320
Speaker 1: was in Los Angeles. He was a record producer, Russ Reagan,

226
00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:58,640
Speaker 1: and he discovered Neil Diamond, Elton John and the Beach Boys.

227
00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,240
Speaker 1: And when he found the Beach Boys, they were called

228
00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:06,240
Speaker 1: the Pendleton's. They were named after a sweater and uh

229
00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,320
Speaker 1: Riggan said no, no, no, no, no, you are now

230
00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,560
Speaker 1: the Beach Boys and change their name. And it was dramatic.

231
00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,440
Speaker 1: How did the Beatles, do you know? How did the

232
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:20,360
Speaker 1: Beatles get their name? Well, um, so in Liverpool where

233
00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,000
Speaker 1: they were playing, there were there was a craze called

234
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,760
Speaker 1: the skiffle music, which you know after the war, there

235
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,080
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of instruments around. You couldn't just you know,

236
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,520
Speaker 1: go and they're expensive as well, you're sure about you know,

237
00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,560
Speaker 1: post war Britain here, especially in the northern territory, you know,

238
00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:39,360
Speaker 1: just you know, rough and tumble town. So they would

239
00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,280
Speaker 1: kids would get washboards and tea, chess, bass and whatever

240
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,839
Speaker 1: they could find, old scrappy guitars and they'd play this

241
00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:49,880
Speaker 1: kind of skipple music that was kind of you know,

242
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,240
Speaker 1: you would hear a guy by the name of Lonnie

243
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,440
Speaker 1: Donegan playing music like that, and so then they started

244
00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,280
Speaker 1: getting into this early rock and roll and beat music

245
00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:03,920
Speaker 1: and they call that beat music, so they were, you know,

246
00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,640
Speaker 1: thinking about that. And then John Lennon had a friend

247
00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,640
Speaker 1: by the name of Stuart Sutcliffe, and of course one

248
00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:13,959
Speaker 1: of the Beatles idols here in America was Buddy Holly

249
00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:19,280
Speaker 1: and the Crickets, and so John and Stu kind of

250
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:24,320
Speaker 1: thought about this name with beat in it, and you know,

251
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,240
Speaker 1: and they just came up with Beatles to kind of

252
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,960
Speaker 1: symbolize the beat music up there in Liverpool and to

253
00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,840
Speaker 1: kind of symbolize the crickets here in America. So obviously

254
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:39,160
Speaker 1: they spelt it beat l E. That's right. How soon

255
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,680
Speaker 1: after the Beatles did the Rolling Stones pop up? So

256
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones popped up kind of in a contemporary

257
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,440
Speaker 1: space with the Beatles. As a matter of fact, one

258
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,000
Speaker 1: of the Rolling stones first major hits, I Want to

259
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,320
Speaker 1: Be Your Man, was actually written by John Lennon and

260
00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:59,200
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney, and the Rolling Stones were given that song

261
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,800
Speaker 1: to to record and of course they scored a hit

262
00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,440
Speaker 1: with it. So, you know, the Rolling Stones were more

263
00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 1: down in the London area. The Beatles were up in

264
00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,960
Speaker 1: the North. Um. You know, they were friendly rivals and

265
00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,800
Speaker 1: but obviously the Beatles were way tops over the Rolling Stones.

266
00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,760
Speaker 1: And the Beatles popularity was generally to what age bracket

267
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:24,040
Speaker 1: at the time. Well, it's interesting because here in America,

268
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:28,760
Speaker 1: and in researching my books on Fun Tonight, in interviewing

269
00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,320
Speaker 1: some of these fans over the years, I've had I've

270
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:34,760
Speaker 1: had people tell me, you know, Chuck, I was eight

271
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,040
Speaker 1: years old and my parents dropped me off at the

272
00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:42,840
Speaker 1: Hollywood Bowl, picked me up in two hours and George,

273
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,280
Speaker 1: you know, La, I know you lived there. Yeah, you

274
00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,080
Speaker 1: know the Hollywood Bowl. Imagine in the sixty four it

275
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,200
Speaker 1: was you know, you probably still wouldn't let your kid

276
00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,600
Speaker 1: run around, but you know, it was kind of that

277
00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,720
Speaker 1: starting about eight years old up into the you know,

278
00:15:55,800 --> 00:16:00,200
Speaker 1: preteens and the teenage, you know, younger teenagers, that was

279
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,480
Speaker 1: really kind of the core audience of the Beatles, and

280
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,960
Speaker 1: that well, now, did this core audience go to their

281
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,400
Speaker 1: parents and say, please buy these records for me, because

282
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,360
Speaker 1: the kids the demos, like an eight year old, they

283
00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,280
Speaker 1: don't have any money, No, they don't, they don't. And

284
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:18,640
Speaker 1: you know, it would be the rich friends that they

285
00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,440
Speaker 1: had or friends that had privileges that that had had

286
00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,160
Speaker 1: the records and they went over and listened to the

287
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:30,240
Speaker 1: records and yeah, It's interesting because you would think that,

288
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,920
Speaker 1: you know, records were so accessible back then everyone, you know,

289
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,880
Speaker 1: you'd think everyone had a record player, and people really

290
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,320
Speaker 1: didn't back then. You know, you were you were kind

291
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,320
Speaker 1: of just like the Beatles did. If you they had

292
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,160
Speaker 1: radio a really good record, they would go to someone's

293
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 1: house or something and listen to it. Yeah. Absolutely, and

294
00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:54,240
Speaker 1: they had their radios. That was about it. That was it. Well.

295
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,400
Speaker 1: Of course, Frank Sinatra for a while could not stand

296
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,760
Speaker 1: Elvis Presley because he thought that music was going to

297
00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,720
Speaker 1: destroy his and then of course the Beatles came in

298
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:08,960
Speaker 1: and the rest is history. Listen to more Coast to

299
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,479
Speaker 1: Coast AM every weeknight at one a m. Eastern and

300
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,120
Speaker 1: go to Coast to Coast am dot com for more