YouTube Gold: The Beatles In 1962 Liverpool...

Before the Beatles hit it big, they put in a tremendous amount of hard work.

A lot of it came in Hamburg, West Germany prior to reunification, where they played in the ‘60s. They played exhaustively, set after set, day after day and night after night. This was just 15 years or so after the end of World War II remember, and while young people had put it behind them, there were a lot of reminders of the war. There were plenty of veterans with amputations around, still fairly young themselves, and many former members of the Nazi party walked by them every day.

Talk about a bizarre environment.

But it made them an incredibly tight band and helped catapult them to enduring global fame. They were also the first great rock n roll group to ascend to international stardom that wasn’t American.

Here’s some video of them in Liverpool’s Cavern Club from 1962 as Beatlemania began to build.

Peter Jackson has been working on a documentary about the band that has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are some excerpts that are really fun.

They were active from 1960 to 1970 which seems like a tiny fraction of time now given their massive cultural influence. Great trivia: Steve Jobs was a huge fan and picked the name Apple as an homage to their recording label, Apple Records.

When they broke up in 1970, none were older than Ringo Starr, who was 30. John Lennon was also 30 but a bit younger. Paul McCartney was 28 and George Harrison just 27.

Lennon would live another 10 years before being murdered in New York City. Chapel Hill native James Taylor lived nearby and heard the gunshots and was quickly told what had happened.

Harrison died of cancer in 2001 at 58. McCartney and Starr are still living.

What they accomplished in their 20s is still incredible. The movie looks like it will be great fun as well.

Bonus Gold: Some early Beatles in color.