Brass Tacks Trivia

The Beatles – Just Kidding August 15, 2009

HOW TO VIEW THIS BLOG: Read the questions, then highlight the area between the > < to reveal the answers, then click “more” for the explanations.

1. Which of the Beatles was the first to have a solo Number 1 hit?

Answer: >George Harrison<

2. Before the Beatles came along, what was the name of the Liverpool band formed by John Lennon in 1957?

Answer: >The Quarrymen<

3. Quick, name 7 Beatles albums. Do it!

Answer: >A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, Abbey Road, Let it Be<

Explanations:

1. George Harrison, aka “the forgotten Beatle,” somehow knew when to hop off the Beatlesmania bandwagon. Or at the very least he was tired of being overshadowed by his fellow band members. His album was the soundtrack for a movie entitled Wonderwall, which I am told is no relation to the angsty ballad by the similarly British group, Oasis. A bizarre turn of events, as Harrison is considered by Beatles experts, or at least me, to have the least successful solo career. John Lennon had his whole thing with the Plastic Ono Band; Paul McCartney went on to release an album entitled McCartney, and the equally creatively titled McCartney II. And Ringo Starr went on to a lot of VH1 specials. Just kidding, he had an album called Ringo, and then he was on Shining Time Station!

2. It was still the Quarrymen when Stuart Sutcliffe suggested they change their name to the Beatles as an homage to Buddy Holly and Crickets, as their first recorded song, “That’ll Be the Day,” was a Buddy Holly original. It was then they hired drummer Pete Best, only to realize he was not, as his name indicated, the “best,” and 2 years later replaced him with Ringo Starr. “Love Me Do” was the Beatles first song to be a hit on the UK charts and the first to reach number 1 on the U.S. charts.

3. There are several not listed here, including Please Please Me, and all their anthologies. The Abbey Road cover art, perhaps one of the most famous album covers in music history, shows from left to right, George, Paul, Ringo, and John leading the line or opposite order if you want to know first to last. This could be a trivia question by itself, a sort of British Mount Rushmore recall question. For some reason, Paul is barefoot, damn hippie. “Yesterday” is considered to be the most covered song ever written. Their manager, Brian Epstein, managed several other musical acts. It must have been a little frustrating for those other groups. “Any day now, Epstein keeps telling us, we’ll make it big like his other client, the Beatles.” And it happened just like Epstein said, which is why everyone knows the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, The Fourmost, and Cilla Black. Just kidding, Epstein died at 32 of a drug overdose, but no doubt if he had just had a little more time…