1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: Stu Sutcliffe are insane. He was an original member of 3 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: the Beatles, back when they played the violent and depraved 4 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: nightclubs of Hamburg, Germany. He was arrested when the group 5 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 1: double crossed a notorious club owner. In the Reaver Bomb, 6 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: he attacked Paul McCartney on stage in the middle of 7 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: a set. He was beaten up by a gang of thugs. 8 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: That beating may have contributed to what many have suspected 9 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: was a brain aneurysm which took Stu's life at just 10 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: twenty one years old. And despite his shortcomings as a musician, 11 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: his influence on the Beatles' style and intellect was massive, 12 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: and influence that gave them the confidence to make great music. 13 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: Unlike that clip I played for you at the top 14 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: of the show that wasn't great music. That was a 15 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: preset loop for my melotron called Let's Hear It for 16 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: Dennis o'bell MK one. I played you that clip because 17 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: I can't afford the rights from its Now or Never 18 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: by Elvis Presley. And why would I play you that 19 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: specific slice of Mario Lanza parroting cheese could I afford it? 20 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 21 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: August seventeenth, nineteen sixty and that was the day the 22 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: Beatles pulled into the notorious Reaper Bond for a residency 23 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,279 Speaker 1: at a rowdy nightclub, an engagement that would forever change 24 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: them and forever alter popular music and really the entire world. 25 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: On this episode Violence in Deprevity Thugs a double cross 26 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: the Reaper Bond and the Beetles. Stu Sutcliffe. I'm Jake 27 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is Disgraceland Sin as far as the 28 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: eye could see Sin. Saint Polly, the Reaper bond Hamburg's 29 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: mile of decadence in Depravity stretched out ahead lit by neon, 30 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: lined with prostitutes, pimps and thieves, more red light back 31 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: alley than yellow brick road. Either way, the Beatles were 32 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: definitely not in Liverpool anymore. They weren't in Scotland either, 33 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: where they just toured with Johnny Chenn. Contrary to that 34 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: pop singer's surname, Scotland was anything but gentle. At least, 35 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: the locals weren't rough and tumbled, teddy boys looking to 36 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: smash the face of any musician, making eyes at their 37 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: girls from the stage, but musicians could be rough and 38 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: tumble too. It came with the territory. War may have 39 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: been over, but rock and roll groups routinely found themselves 40 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: in the shit in the spotlight, the afterglow of performance 41 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: suddenly a combat zone where jealous, drunken boyfriends turned hostile 42 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: at the first whiff of out of towners. The Beatles 43 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: could handle the teddy boys, and they had each other's 44 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: backs because the Beatles weren't just a band. They were 45 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: a gang, which is what a band truly is at 46 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: its core, all for one and one for all, closer 47 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: to each other than they were to their own girlfriends, 48 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: and today they were physically close too. Stuffed inside their 49 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: manager's cream and green colored minibus, their amplifiers and instruments 50 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: strapped to the top, pulling into Hamburg, Germany, after the 51 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: longest ride of their young lives, prepared to embark on 52 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: their most formidable tour of duty to date, a residency 53 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: at the infamous kaiser Keller Club. Hold up, this is 54 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: not the Beatles you're thinking of. This is August seventeenth, 55 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,679 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, back when the band's repertoire consisted almost entirely 56 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: of covers of American R and B and rock and 57 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: roll back, when eighteen year old Pete Best was still 58 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: on the drums, when Paul McCartney, also eighteen, was still 59 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: playing guitar. Stu Sutcliffe at twenty years old, the oldest 60 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: Beatle was the bass player, his good art school buddy 61 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: John Lennon nineteen also on guitar, and young George Harrison 62 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: the third guitarist, just seventeen years old, young enough that 63 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 1: simply by being there he was breaking the law. And 64 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: the one place in Europe where breaking the law was 65 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: very hard to do, Hamburg made I readily available. Sex 66 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: with women, sex with men, sex with men who dressed 67 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: like women. Pills Thaspier. The place was wild, especially for 68 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: five impressionable to repressed English boys. Hamburg was a circus 69 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: run by the likes of Bruno Koshmeder, himself a former 70 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: circus cloud, now a gruff character who walked with a 71 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: limp and who carried around a knotted hardwood chair leg 72 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: Why because Bruno's nightclub, the kaiser Keller, was a den 73 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: of iniquity, a place of sin, and sinners must be punished, 74 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: that is, when they sinned against dark guy Bruno. Here, 75 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: drunken sailors, stupid tourists, petty criminals try to screw Bruno 76 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: over have more pints than you could afford at his place. 77 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: That was a one way ticket to the dirty floor 78 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: where Bruno's waiters, big men, capable men, men Bruno hired 79 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: away from the Hamburg Boxing Academy held you still, Maybe 80 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: you didn't hear Bruno was in a circus clown no more? 81 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you did hear, and why the fuck are 82 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: you treating him like a clown. Bruno reached in the 83 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: back of his pants and pulled out the knotted chair 84 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: leg tonight's dead beats played out on the floor. Proceeded 85 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: to get his head cracked open, one whack for stealing, 86 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: another for thinking he could actually get away with it. 87 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: One more, well, just for kicks. The guy's face opened up, 88 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: blood painted the floor Bruno's office while his goons kicked 89 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: the poor bastard for good measure. The goons proceeded to 90 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: pick up the offending patron, opened the back door with 91 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: his bloody head, and dump his barely breathing body in 92 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: the alley where the neon lights and the strip joints 93 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,719 Speaker 1: and sex shops and every other that praved outlet in 94 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: the same Poli district lit up his pummeled face like Christmas. 95 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: Best to get on Bruno's good side, and get on 96 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: it early. The Beatles understood this. Bruno was their benefactor, 97 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: their lifeline. John, Paul, George, Stu and Pete. They were 98 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: all Nobody's an amateur band if there ever was one. 99 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: But like all amateur bands, the Beatles had dreams of 100 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: making it big. Making it big meant no more looking 101 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: for a real job, and no more school, not that 102 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: school would take them back. Paul was such a poor 103 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: student that his teachers stopped trying, and George failed every 104 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: one of his high school exams. Pete renounced education for 105 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: the siren call of music, and John Board of Art 106 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: School released himself from Higher ed on his own recognisance. 107 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: They needed a guy like Bruno to like them. Well, 108 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: like was maybe too strong a word. The Beatles weren't 109 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: Jerry and the Pacemakers, and they certainly weren't Worry Storm 110 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: in the Hurricanes, the group with that wonderbard drummer, the 111 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: one with all the rings on his fingers. The Beatles 112 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: were on a good day. Liverpool's third best rock and 113 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: roll band, but demand for live music in Hamburg, especially 114 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: for rock and roll, far exceeded the supply. So when 115 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: Bruno needed to book a band to entertain the rowdy 116 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: clientele patronizing his place of business, he took what he 117 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: could get, and he got the Beatles. He needed the Beatles, 118 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: just like John needed somebody, not just anybody, not Paul, Stu. Stu. 119 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: Suckcliffe had it all. The Chelsea boots, the leather jacket, 120 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: the dark shades, and the cool attitude. He read the 121 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: beats and studied the impressionists. He was handsome and beautiful 122 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: at the same time. John wanted to get girls like Stu, 123 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: got girls to have a brain like Stu, to be 124 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: talented like Stu and Stu. Suckcliffe did have crazy talent, 125 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: just not necessarily when it came to music. He was 126 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: a painter so unique and impressive that his teachers didn't 127 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: even try to teach him. He taught them. He taught 128 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: John too, how to approach a canvas, how to be 129 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: an intellectual, and he taught the Beatles how to look, 130 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: how to dress how Any rock and roll band worth 131 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 1: their salt was first and foremost a gang, A gang 132 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: with a unified front and a unified look, a look 133 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: to cut like a switchblade, a look that was cool 134 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: as fuck. Stu Suckliffe was the template not just for 135 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: the Beatles, but for the Ramones and for the Strokes, 136 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: for the new band you're going to fall in love 137 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: with ten years from now. It didn't matter that Stu 138 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: didn't know how to play. He was Sid Vicious years 139 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: before sid Vicious was a thing, and just like Sid, 140 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: stue knew image was everything, which is why in any 141 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: given photo he looked so badass holding his big archie 142 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 1: top Hofner president base, an instrument he didn't want in 143 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: the first place. No one wanted to play bass, not 144 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,199 Speaker 1: even Paul. Bass players were a hermetic breed shoved in 145 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: a corner of the stage while a guitar play there 146 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: was peacocked out front and got all the girls. But 147 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,960 Speaker 1: John was persistent, always putting the bug in Stu's ear, 148 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: especially after he sold one of his paintings for sixty 149 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: five pounds. Though he used to do with that money. 150 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: Stew by that Hoffner and join our gang. John needed 151 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: Stu as inspiration, as a friend, as a beatle. Meanwhile, 152 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: Stu needed a gang and Bruno. Bruno needed the Beatles, 153 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: but not here, not at the kaiser Keller, which was 154 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: even bigger and better than advertised, with a killer sound 155 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: system in a stage like a pirate ship. No, Bruno 156 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: had booked them for his other club in Hamburg, the Indra, 157 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,559 Speaker 1: a reaper bond shithole with a waning pulse and drab curtains. 158 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: It was at the Indra that the Beatles were to 159 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: perform four and a half hours every night, six hours 160 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: on weekends, a far cry from the one hour show 161 00:10:57,640 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: is on the Johnny Gentle Tour, the twenty minute seve 162 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: that were used to playing back home. But this wasn't Liverpool. 163 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: This was Battle, a test of the gang's strengths. We 164 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:12,200 Speaker 1: young artists are like young sailors do, Suckcliffe wrote in 165 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: his notebook around this time. Unless we encounter rough seas 166 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: and are buffeted by the winds, will not become real sailors. 167 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: So Stu and the Beatles steadied themselves in anticipation of 168 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:28,839 Speaker 1: the oncoming waves ways of adversity and temptation that were 169 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: about to crash into their unified front. With this, Hoffner 170 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,040 Speaker 1: slung over his shoulder, Sutcliffe turned his back to the audience. 171 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: He knew he wasn't any good at his instrument. He 172 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: wasn't thinking about the bass or about music. He was 173 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: thinking about painting. He missed it. Oils in a brush 174 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: didn't make him feel like this insecure forced to turn 175 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: his back, not because it was Miles Davis level cool, 176 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: which it most certainly was, but because he was embarrassed, 177 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,719 Speaker 1: not unlike George was embarrassed when he lost his virginity 178 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 1: to that German bombshell. While Paul, John and Pete watched 179 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: their accommodations here in Hamburg were atrocious, tiny rooms that 180 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: had to share with each other in the back of 181 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: a movie theater, filthy cubicles with no windows, no heat, 182 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: no privacy, not even for a shag. But at the 183 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 1: Indra it was hot and loud. The Beatles grinding through 184 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: Ray Charles's What I Say, an R and B single 185 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: originally divided into two parts five minutes, told that they 186 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: were now stretching into an hour. They were at Bruno's 187 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:06,439 Speaker 1: club to do one thing, play for hours, whatever it took. 188 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: Mock show. Bruno screamed like some Wild West outlaw, telling 189 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: a fellow to dance before filling his boots full of lead. 190 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: Mack schaw as in make show. In other words, loosen 191 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: the hell up and entertain us. The Beatles took the 192 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: challenge to heart. Proper English manners tossed to the wayside, 193 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: Paul dressed in nothing but a bedsheet, John Goose stepping 194 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: cursing out the German audience in English, go on, you 195 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: fucking crowds, you fucking igre in German bastards. The audience 196 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: didn't know what they were hearing or what they were seeing, 197 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: but they loved it. John Lennon, the original troll, the 198 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,199 Speaker 1: Beatles were feral animals. Word around the Reaper Bond was 199 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:56,080 Speaker 1: that they were verruchd, absolute nut jobs. But the Beatles 200 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: didn't just get crazy, they got better. We have improved 201 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: to a thousandfold since our arrivals, Stue wrote to his 202 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: sister nearly two months into their residency. Stu himself wasn't 203 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 1: improving as fast as the others. He continued to struggle 204 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: to turn his back on stage and let us tell 205 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:17,439 Speaker 1: John get all the attention. This irritated Paul to no end, 206 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: not just because Stu's remedial skills were holding the band back, 207 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: but because John was going to defend his art school friend. 208 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: To the bitter end. John didn't want to hear Paul's 209 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: criticism of Stu. The Beatles were a gang, all for 210 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: one and one for all. Besides, who was going to 211 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: play bass if not Stu? Paul, Ah, that'll be the day. 212 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: It was, like George said, better to have a bass 213 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: guitarist who couldn't play than not have a bass guitarist 214 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: at all. Stu was a Beatle. Stu was playing, and 215 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: for hours, days, months on end, the Beatles played Little Richard, 216 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: Larry Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, upbeat Up Temple, so fast, 217 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: so furious, so physically demanding, that the suits they wore 218 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: literally fell apart. They replaced their lilac colored sport coats 219 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: with black leather bomber jackets, pointy towed shoes with cowboy boots, 220 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: and then they replaced the Indra with the kaiser Keller. 221 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: By October third, the Beatles had performed forty eight sets 222 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: at Bruno's small club, hundreds of hours hours of noise 223 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: that generated one too many complaints, So Bruno moved the 224 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: Beatles over to the kaiser Keller, the place they wanted 225 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: to play in the first place where they began opening 226 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,240 Speaker 1: for Rory Storm in the Hurricanes, that band with the 227 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: drummer with the awesome beard and the Zephyr Zodiac. What 228 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 1: a badass, But I digress. The kaiser Keller had a 229 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: bigger stage, a bigger crowd, A crowd that consisted not 230 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: just to thieves and prostitutes and drunken gis, but gangsters, 231 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: Gangsters with money to burn, Gangsters who said jump and 232 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 1: all of Hamburg said how high. Members of the city's 233 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: organized crime family sent trays of schnapps to the band. 234 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,040 Speaker 1: The band was expected to stop what they were doing 235 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: and to drink them. Soon it was more than schnapps. 236 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: Soon the wise guys were sending up Prelles by the handful. 237 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: Prellies preduline over the counter, uppers, real rocket fuel. The 238 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: Beatles did as they were told. They gobbled them up 239 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: like candy and washed them down with pints of German beer. 240 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,520 Speaker 1: Prellees gave them energy, stamina. Prellees made them feel invincible. 241 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: Five lads turned into Superman, and they took so many 242 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: that they were frothing at the mouth, foaming, complete and 243 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:44,160 Speaker 1: utter lunatics, making a horny, sweaty perverted racket. It was unadulterated, 244 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: liberating one hundred percent root. The air was thick with derangement, 245 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: cat calls from the audience, tables, overturned, fights breaking out, 246 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: waiters with their truncheons, wailing on the unruly wood of 247 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: Runer Hashmeiter's chair leg, delivering yet another punishment. Blood, sex, music, 248 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:15,120 Speaker 1: sim and then she walked in blonde hair, blue eyes, 249 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,280 Speaker 1: a stoic face, a German face, a face full of 250 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: mystery and wonder. She was beautiful of all the gin 251 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: joints in all the towns in the world. Stu was 252 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,400 Speaker 1: smitten head over heels, not in the way Pete had 253 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: it for his saint poly stripper girlfriend, the one whose 254 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: actual boyfriend was doing time in prison. This was different. 255 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: Astard Kercher was different, and so were her friends, all 256 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:47,640 Speaker 1: of them dressed in suede jackets, wool sweaters, jeanes, existentialists 257 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: aka xies, intellectuals, visionaries, artists. Stu's kind of people, yes, 258 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: but also the Beatles' first serious fans. And Astor was 259 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: the Beatles' first serious photographer. The shots she took of 260 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: the group hanging around a municipal park near the Reaperbahn 261 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: weren't just one offs. They came to define how rock 262 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 1: bands would be photographed for years to come. No mugging 263 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: for the camera, just attitude and unfazed, cool faces of 264 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: mystery and wonder, just like the face of the woman 265 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: behind the lens and Stu with his dark sunglasses, slick 266 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: back hair, black turtleneck, one part of the Formidable Beatles Gang, 267 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: a gang that felt stronger together, emboldened by their new 268 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: German fans. Stu emboldened by the love he was now 269 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: feeling for Astrid and that she felt for him. So 270 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,399 Speaker 1: embolden that when a new club opened in Hamburg, they 271 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: came together as a group. As a gang, they made 272 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: the collected decision to burn a bridge in order to 273 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 1: reach greener pastures. The Top Ten club was where it 274 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,679 Speaker 1: was at. It was larger than the Kaiserkeller. It had 275 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: a new stage, a the art sound system with echo 276 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: and reverb. The working conditions were better and so was 277 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: the pay. But it was a crazy idea to go 278 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,159 Speaker 1: behind the back of a guy as crazy as Bruno 279 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,199 Speaker 1: Cashmeier to accept a gig at the Top Ten, a 280 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: decision that was a violation of their existing contract. A contract, 281 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: which included a clause forbidding them from performing at another 282 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: club within a five kilometer radius. Bruno was beyond pissed. 283 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: Who did they think they were? The fucking Beatles? Didn't 284 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,160 Speaker 1: they know that the Germans pronounced their name as Beetles, 285 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: local slang for the little Willie's. They were a dick joke, 286 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: But Bruno wasn't laughing. He was clinging to his knotted 287 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: old wooden chair leg and thinking about the ways in 288 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: which it could rearrange stew Suckless's face, or maybe Paul's 289 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 1: send them pretty boy straight to hell. But then he 290 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: thought of something better, a sweeter revenge. Hamburg got to 291 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: George first, busted for being under a given twenty four 292 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: hours to leave the country or go to prison. Next 293 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,680 Speaker 1: were Paul and Pete arrested for attempted arson, some childish 294 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:10,640 Speaker 1: prank in which they nailed the condom to a wall 295 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: lit it on fire, and that wall being in the 296 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: building where they lived in Hamburg, in those cramped rooms 297 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: behind the movie theater, a building that Bruno owned. Paul 298 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: and Pete were taking to the airport in handcuffs and 299 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 1: deported immediately. Stu wasn't aware of any of this when 300 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: he showed up at the Top ten with Astrid ready 301 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,440 Speaker 1: to play that night, hadn't he heard George, Paul Pete. 302 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: They're all on their way back to Liverpool and the 303 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: cops were looking for John and Stu at this very moment. 304 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: Why because someone had let slip that they'd been working 305 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: in Hamburg this whole time without the proper permits. Shit Bruno. 306 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: Stu just turned himself in, even though he hadn't done 307 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 1: anything wrong, not really. He wasn't sure what he was 308 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,280 Speaker 1: being charged with. Marched into a holding cell where he 309 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: sat on a bench alone for six hours. He signed 310 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: a confess and written entirely in German. He said he 311 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: was not aware of any burning rubbers, at least he 312 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,160 Speaker 1: hoped that's what it said, and then the cops let 313 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: him go. The next day, John flew home to Liverpool. 314 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: He was broke and depressed, and so were the rest 315 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: of them. George went looking for a real job. Paul 316 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: found work at a factory winding electrical coil. Just absolute drudgery. 317 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: None of them were speaking to each other and none 318 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: of them were happy. Back in Hamburg, Stu fared better. 319 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: He was falling deeper in love with Astrid. She inspired him, 320 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: She gave him purpose. She made him want to dream, 321 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: not about rock and roll, and not about gangs, but 322 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: about art, about painting. It was November nineteen sixty. The 323 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: Beatles as a band, as a gang, for all intents 324 00:21:53,040 --> 00:22:01,919 Speaker 1: and purposes, were over you right back after this word 325 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: word word. The Beatles, of course, were not over, not 326 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: for another decade, give or take. They recognized this pretty quickly, 327 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,479 Speaker 1: mostly in terms of how they compared with other bands 328 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: back home. When they first left Liverpool in August, they 329 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,920 Speaker 1: were mediocre at best. Now three months later they returned 330 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: completely changed. Five rocous wild lunatics. All that playing hours 331 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 1: upon hours, the reps, the prellies, the trial by fire, 332 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,000 Speaker 1: under a constant threat of violence. It made them stronger 333 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,240 Speaker 1: than even they realized. And when they further realized that 334 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: they were not cut out to be working stiffs, that 335 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,919 Speaker 1: they were rooted to their core, true children of the Riaperbond, 336 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:56,719 Speaker 1: they gave the band their gang one more shot. Liverpool 337 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: was not prepared. The audience had assembled at the Litherland 338 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: Town Hall on December twenty seventh, nineteen sixty, went into 339 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: a full blown riot. The Beetles the way they looked 340 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: the way they sounded, dripping with sex and sweat, a 341 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 1: true manifestation of the red light pleasures of Hamburg, who 342 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: was overwhelming, disorienting. The crowd shrieked, they shed tears of joy, 343 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: and they went crazy. Beatlemania was born. Stu Suckcliffe wasn't 344 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,920 Speaker 1: there the day his band suddenly blew up in their hometown. 345 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,199 Speaker 1: He showed up a few weeks later, in January of 346 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:41,000 Speaker 1: sixty one, with Astrid Kircher, now his fiancee. For Stu, 347 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: Liverpool was no place to get born. Liverpool was a 348 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: brass coffin, so he wrote in the letters he sent 349 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: home from Hamburg, the city where he now envisioned spending 350 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: the rest of his life. He could say the same 351 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: about the Beatles. Rock and roll wasn't his thing. Making 352 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: music didn't make him artistically fulfilled. But the band needed him. 353 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: John needed him at least for now, and Stue needed 354 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:11,160 Speaker 1: them The Beatles his gang Liverpool, though not so much 355 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: in Liverpool. Stu didn't turn his back like he had 356 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 1: on a Hamburg stage. He was forward, facing, on high alert, 357 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 1: slowly backed into a corner by a group of pissed 358 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: off teddy boys. They hated him, or maybe they hated it. 359 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: They loved him. Didn't matter. Teddy boys didn't need a reason, 360 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: Not in Scotland on the Johnny Gentle Tour, not here, 361 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: the one place on earth where Stu didn't want to be. 362 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: He was outnumbered. One Tad threw the first punch. Stu 363 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: put his hands up, but the fist connected anyways. Then 364 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 1: another and another, and all of them now beating on him. 365 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 1: Stu on the ground, dirt in his mouth, a foot 366 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:56,680 Speaker 1: straight to his head. That fucking hurt. His vision went 367 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: a little blurry. He couldn't be sure if what he 368 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: was seeing was actually happening. But it was John and 369 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: Pete materializing before his very eyes, throwing themselves into the scrum, 370 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,679 Speaker 1: peeling the Teddy Boys off Stew's bloody and battered body. 371 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 1: His boys, his gang, there when he needed them. Back 372 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: in Hamburg, it wasn't Stu or the other Beatles who 373 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,880 Speaker 1: were taking the beating. Once again, it was the unruly patrons. 374 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: Now it was April nineteen sixty one. Thanks to a 375 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: polite apology and also to procuring actual work permits, this time, 376 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: the Beatles were once again standing on a Reaperbond stage. 377 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,680 Speaker 1: The top Ten to be exact, the club they had 378 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: previously tried to play before Bruno went all vindictive and 379 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 1: pulled the rug out. Better hours, better room, better money, 380 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: better connections too, like Tony Sheridan, the fellow English ex 381 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: pat rock and roller, who could get them some studio time. 382 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: But the violence, the punishment, it grew in direct proportion 383 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 1: with the opportunity. Jacked waiters patrolled the place with teargas 384 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: guns and knuckle dusters, just dying for some dumb motherfucker 385 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 1: to do something stupid. And when they did, those meatheads 386 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: sprang into action like it was their job, which it was. 387 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: And as the Beatles ripped through dizzy Miss Lizzie top 388 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,479 Speaker 1: Ten's muscle dragged another drunk victim outside with the trash, 389 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 1: a rank smell of urine ripening on a slimy alley wall, 390 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: and proceeded to beat the living shit out of them 391 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: with a fistful of brass. But it wasn't the calendars, 392 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: say hey, the waiters that the Beatles had to worry about. 393 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: It was each other, a gang that had once been 394 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: so close that it spent hours together, not just on 395 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: a stage, but in small vans and cramped living quarters, 396 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: the guys that had been there for each other when 397 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,640 Speaker 1: they needed it the most. Those close knit bonds were 398 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,159 Speaker 1: now becoming as worn as the outfits they wore on 399 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: Hamburg stages. Just as quickly as they had rebounded, the 400 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: Beatles were falling Apart's love for Stu was beginning to curdle. 401 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,439 Speaker 1: His hero worship turned to jealousy. No longer thinking like 402 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: Stu and looking like Stu and wanting the girls that 403 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: Stu got. The simple fact that Stu had all those 404 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 1: qualities and all those things that John lacked ate away 405 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: at John and made him angry, resentful, nasty. He pushed 406 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: Stu away. Paul was angry too, not just because Stuke 407 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: continued to be a less instellar bass player, because Stu 408 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,159 Speaker 1: was hogging all of John's attention, attention that Paul desperately wanted. 409 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,199 Speaker 1: When Stu showed up with a brand new haircut, no grease, 410 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,639 Speaker 1: just this combed forward mushroom head, pills and cough the 411 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: Germans called it, the boys gave him an endless amount 412 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 1: of shit, but within days the rest of the group 413 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,919 Speaker 1: began to wear their hair the same way. Like everything 414 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: else about the Beatles' style, the group soon to be iconic. 415 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: Mop tops started with Stu Suckcliffe. Stu, however, didn't think 416 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: of himself as a trend. He was an artist, but 417 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: his pursuit of art, of real art, was taking a 418 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,640 Speaker 1: back seat to all of this, to whatever this bizarre 419 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: love triangle was with John and Paul to the bass, 420 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 1: an instrument he would never master, to the insults so 421 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: many from John and Paul both now, no matter how 422 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: playful they were intended to be. The insult on stage 423 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: at the top ten though, that wasn't meant to be playful. 424 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: That was Paul being a sad, pathetic little dick, as 425 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: the Germans put it, a peedal to take out his 426 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: anger about Stu's playing and Stu's role in that way, 427 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 1: to make a derogatory comment about Astrid. Stuart had enough. 428 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: He dropped his Hofner bass in the middle of the song. 429 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: It landed on the stage with a thud, and then 430 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,480 Speaker 1: he ran at Paul sitting there at the piano like 431 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: he was fucking Mozart more like Seliary, that smug fuck. 432 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,719 Speaker 1: Stu wasn't a violent man, at least he didn't think so. 433 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: But it just came out of him, came from somewhere 434 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: down inside, don't you dare talk about her like that? 435 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,719 Speaker 1: And Stu hit Paul so hard that Paul fell off 436 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,320 Speaker 1: the piano stool. Paul hit him back, and they rolled 437 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: around on the stage all while John, George Pete they 438 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 1: kept playing Mack Shaw Mack Show. Paul and Stu were 439 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: still throwing punches, and the rest of the band pried 440 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: them apart. It was the end. Everyone could see that, 441 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: not just the end of the song or the fight. 442 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: It was the end of Stu Suckcliffe's time as a Beatle. 443 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: Stu Suckcliffe quit the Beatles about a third of the 444 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: way through their run at the top ten in Hamburg. 445 00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: He handed his base to Paul. Because Paul, despite his 446 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: growing position as the group's primary motivating force, drew the 447 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: short straw. John just bought a brand new Rickenbucker and 448 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: George could play raunchy like nobody's business. Paul had no excuse, 449 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 1: seeing as how he was left handed. Paul flipped Stu's 450 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: base upside down and accepted his fate. Like Paul, Stu's 451 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: own fate was rewritten, free to pursue his two loves, 452 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: Art and Asterid, and because he was no longer a beatle. 453 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: His relationships with Paul and John actually began to improve 454 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: once again. His creativity was unbounded. He painted like a 455 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: man possessed, like an artist who is no longer crippled 456 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: by his own insecurities. He was Miles Davis level cool 457 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: whether he had a base or a paint brush in 458 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: his hand, and he knew it. Everyone knew it. But 459 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: before long, Stu's newly rewritten fate was flipped upside down, 460 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: just like that Hoffner President of his migraines convulsions see 461 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: flashes of pain that came out of nowhere. Pain not 462 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: unlike that experienced by Kaiser Keller deadbeats who found themselves 463 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: on the wrong side of Bruno Kashmeiter's wooden chair leg. 464 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: Stew's pain was in punishment for his sins. Steu's pain 465 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: was a question that one of the German exies would ask. 466 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: Why was he losing weight? Why was he falling over 467 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: when he walked? Why were his moods so volatile? Why 468 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: Astard's family doctor ran blood tests and X rays. Increased 469 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: in skull pressure, so said the diagnosis. He was given 470 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,960 Speaker 1: cranial hydrotherapy and massage, but the pain got worse and 471 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: the pressure built. He could feel his brain crowding his cranium. 472 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: It was like a bomb going off in his head slowly. 473 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: That's how Astor described it to John and Paul. On 474 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: April eleventh, nineteen sixty two, one year after Stu left 475 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: the group, a year in which the Beatles gained steam 476 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 1: at a furious rate, now managed by by Brian Epstein, 477 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: auditioning for George Martin, soon to sack Pete Best and 478 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: replace him with that bearded force of nature from Rory 479 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: Storm's band. They were making a triumphant return, back in 480 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 1: the city that made them, the City of Sin, the 481 00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:17,880 Speaker 1: city run by the unforgiving hands of men like Bruno Koshmeiter. 482 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: Back for round three, this time with an engagement at 483 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: a place called the Star Club. This time traveling not 484 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: by bus but by plane at the Hamburg Airport, they 485 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 1: were greeted by Astrid, but this seemed odd. She was alone. 486 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: Where was Stu? Astard didn't answer at first. John could 487 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,720 Speaker 1: sense something was wrong. He knew what Astor was going 488 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: to say before she said it. Stewart died. He's gone 489 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: just one day earlier, the day before the Beatles returned 490 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: to Hamburg, Stu slipped into a coma. He died in 491 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: arms on the way to the hospital. Cerebral paralysis due 492 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,520 Speaker 1: to bleeding into the right ventricle of the brain was 493 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: the first official cause of death. Like a bomb going 494 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,719 Speaker 1: off in his head, perhaps a brain aneurysm, as many suspected, 495 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 1: though it was never known for sure, Perhaps from getting 496 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: kicked in the head by that gang of teddy boys 497 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: in Liverpool the year prior, or perhaps as Stue's sister 498 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 1: shockingly claimed, from an unprovoked attack by a jealous John 499 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: Lennon in a fit of rage. That claim would be 500 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: made years later, back in nineteen sixty two and Hamburg 501 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 1: for the first time without his friend Stu. John indeed 502 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: had rage inside him. He grieved with equal parts rage 503 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,920 Speaker 1: and absurdity at the Star Club. He no longer goosestepped. 504 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: Now he dressed as a cleaning woman, knocking over all 505 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: the mic stands like a lunatic. Paul too grieved in 506 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: his own private way, racked with guilt for how he 507 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: treated Stu, the things he would say say if only 508 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: his friend wasn't gone. But though he was physically gone, 509 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: Stu Suckcliffe never actually left the Beagles, how they looked, 510 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: how they dressed, how they remained above all else, A 511 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: gang that was all Stu's doing. Their patrons. Saint He 512 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 1: gazed down on them from above, not from the heavens, 513 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: but from the top left corner of the Sergeant Pepper's 514 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 1: Lonely Hearts Club band album cover, or a black and 515 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,840 Speaker 1: white cut out of Stew sandwiched in between a Hindu 516 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 1: guru and a wax model of Sonny Liston watches over 517 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 1: his old band as their unprecedented rise to the toppermost 518 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 1: is about to go super sonic. Turn off your minds. 519 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:47,319 Speaker 1: You can imagine Stew saying, relax, float downstream, surrendered to 520 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: the void. This is not the end. This is simply 521 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:55,799 Speaker 1: the end of the beginning. I'm Jake Brennan, and this 522 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:06,759 Speaker 1: this Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is 523 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:10,440 Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode 524 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 1: can be found on the show notes page at disgracelampod 525 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 1: dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, 526 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,879 Speaker 1: thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, 527 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,399 Speaker 1: and if not, you can become a member right now. 528 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 1: By going to disgracelampod dot com Slash membership members can 529 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,879 Speaker 1: listen to every episode of Disgraceland ad free. 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