How one review made The Beatles’ career
The evolution of The Beatles from ruffian Liverpool teenagers to tailored pop superstars didn’t happen naturally. If the members of the band had their way, they would have likely continued to wear leather jackets and jeans throughout their entire (likely short-lived) careers. Instead, future manager Brian Epstein saw promise in the group, but only if they were willing to clean up their act.
“They were a scruffy crowd in leather, and they were not very tidy and not very clean. They smoked as they played and they ate and talked and pretended to hit each other,” Epstein observed to the BBC. “I encouraged them, at first, to get out of the leather jackets and jeans, and I wouldn’t allow them to appear in jeans after a short time, and then, after that step, I got them to wear sweaters on stage, and then, very reluctantly, eventually, suits.”
As Epstein began to angle Th Beatles towards the mainstream of entertainment, early reviews of the band treated them with dismissal or even contempt. When The Daily Express sent one of their columnists, Derek Taylor, out to review one of the band’s concerts in the Spring of 1963, the editorial team had expected it to be critical of The Beatles’ teenage fandom. Instead, Taylor’s review was highly positive and proved to be a key move in his future association with the band.
Taylor’s review was seen by Epstein, who invited the journalist to meet the band. Soon after, Taylor collaborated with George Harrison on a weekly column and eventually got lured into working for Epstein full-time. Initially working as Epstein’s assistant, Taylor soon became The Beatles’ official press officer and helped Epstein co-author his autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise.
One of Taylor’s first jobs was to promote The Beatles’ 1964 American tour, the band’s first. Although they were some of the biggest stars in British music, American audiences had yet to experience Beatlemania in full. In order to spread awareness, Taylor devised a series of billboard advertisements that proclaimed, “The Beatles Are Coming”. Taylor would later use similar promotional tactics to raise the profiles of Brian Wilson and The Byrds.
Partially thanks to Taylor’s advertising and partially thanks to the growing popularity of the band’s single ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, The Beatles managed to work up enough excitement for their arrival that 4,000 people met them at John F. Kennedy Airport in February of 1964. By then, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ had already hit number one, solidifying The Beatles’ unmatched popularity in the entertainment business.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.