Free When They Were Boys by Larry Kane Page A

and their role as “students” of the art of music provides an insight into the group’s early power dynamics.
    Throughout 1962 and 1963, the Beatles were hooked on music—totally addicted, captivated—and they couldn’t get enough of the stuff. In fact, finding the right product was paramount. And there were two ways to get the music. Radio was the key, though it was scarcely available. But there were other ways to get the stuff.
    And the “stuff” they wanted was mainly American music. Some records, by established stars, were available in stores. Brian Epstein sold many of those two-sided 45-rpm records in the record store his family owned. But the songs of less established stars, many who would set musical standards for the future, were hard to get. Or even hear.
    There is no way to underestimate the impact that American pop music had on the 1962 and 1963 Beatles.
    Joe Flannery, lifelong friend to Brian Epstein and early manager of the Star Club in Hamburg, says, “They spent most of their free time—mind you, there was not a lot of that—listening to 45s. They listened and listened, and exchanged records. John and George would listen together, Ringo by himself; he favored country. Paul listened to everything.”
    Bill Harry, a member of the “bulge” generation, describes a social and cultural vacuum, especially on the radio:
    T HE FIFTIES WERE THE YEARS OF A BULGE OF TEENAGERS IN L IVERPOOL . T HERE WERE MORE TEENS AT THAT TIME THAN ANY TIME BEFORE AND AFTER . I ACTUALLY THINK THAT IS WHEN THE TERM “TEENAGER” WAS INVENTED—IN THE FIFTIES . S UDDENLY WE WANTED OUR OWN THINGS . W E HAD BEEN DOMINATED IN THE MEDIA BY THE GENERATION OF PEOPLE OLDER THAN US . B RITISH RADIO, OR THE BBC, WAS THE FAMILY FAVORITE, THE WORKER’S PLAYTIME . N OTHING TO DO WITH ROCK ’N’ ROLL OR THE MUSIC TEENAGERS WANTED .
    Future promotion executive and Beatles’ buddy Tony Bramwell remembers the swap meet that was going on every week, and the hunger for the music:
    I HAVE TWO OLDER BROTHERS, AND G EORGE WOULD BRING RECORDS AND WE WOULD SWAP RECORDS . S AME WITH P AUL; HE WOULD BRING HIS RECORDS . T HEY WOULD POP INTO MY HOUSE AND BRING RECORDS THAT THEY GOT IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS LIKE THE E VERLY B ROTHERS AND C ARL P ERKINS AND STUFF . A ND I HAD B UDDY H OLLY AND C HUCK B ERRY . W E WOULD SHARE OR SWAP OUR RECORDS . W E USED TO SAVE OUR POCKET MONEY AND BUY RECORDS . I F THERE WAS ONE WE REALLY LOVED, IT WOULD BE STUCK ON THE REPEAT CONTROL ON THE RECORD PLAYER .
    Bramwell and the boys, who were a few years older than him, would crawl under the covers in their bedrooms and take in Radio Luxembourg. He recalls,
    E NGLISH RADIO WAS PRETTY CRAPPY . T HEY DIDN’T HAVE POP MUSIC PROGRAMS [ ON ] THE BBC. W E USED TO LISTEN TO R ADIO L UXEMBOURGFROM THE D UCHY OF L UXEMBOURG . T HEY WOULD HAVE THREE-, FOUR-HOUR MUSIC PROGRAMS SPONSORED BY RECORD COMPANIES . D ECCA . C APITOL . EMI WOULD HAVE AN HOUR . M ERCURY WOULD HAVE AN HOUR . M AYBE EACH A HALF AN HOUR—BUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT . W E WOULD BE LISTENING AT NIGHT IN YOUR BEDROOM TO CRACKLY PRE-TRANSISTOR RADIOS . T HEY DIDN’T HAVE TRANSISTOR RADIOS YET—CAT’S-WHISKER RADIOS . I T WAS LIKE LISTENING TO AN UNDERGROUND STATION . I T WAS FUN .
    From 1957 on, the kids of the so-called bulge were hungry for the “new” music that was being played in the States. But that is not all. Mersey Beat founder Bill Harry says it was a real cultural revolution. In many ways, he says, it was quite anti-establishment:
    W E HAD NO DECENT ROCK ’N’ ROLL ON THE RADIO . I T WAS CONTROLLED . T HE ONLY RADIO WAS THE BBC. W E HAD TO HAVE R ADIO L UXEMBOURG BEAMED OVER IN ORDER TO GET ANY DECENT ROCK ’N’ ROLL ON THE RADIO . S UDDENLY TEENAGERS FOR THE FIRST TIME WANTED THEIR OWN CLOTHING, THEIR OWN IDENTITY . B UT WE COULDN’T HAVE IT BECAUSE THE MEDIA WAS ON A DIFFERENT SORT OF LEVEL . E