ON THIS DAY IN 1968, THE FAMOUS RECORD LABEL OWNED BY THE BEATLES, APPLE RECORDS, OPENED IT’S DOORS IN LONDON FOR THE FIRST TIME

The label was intended to act as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both in their group and individual releases, and to financially support a number of other artists. The idea of the umbrella company, Apple Corps, was conceived in 1967 alongside Beatles manager Brian Epstein, although the plans were accelerated when he passed away unexpectedly. Apple Corps on the other hand was created to give the members of The Beatles various financial benefits, including a lowered corporate tax rate. John Lennon was quoted as saying of the company, “Our accountant came up and said ‘We got this amount of money. Do you want to give it to the government or do something with it?’ So we decided to play businessmen for a bit because we’ve got to run our own affairs now. So we’ve got this thing called ‘Apple’ which is going to be records, films, and electronics – which all tie up.”

Eventually, the company descended into chaos due to the band’s naivety and generosity. Apple Corps had been intended to offer financial aid to struggling artists, which many were glad to take advantage of. There was an excessive number of staff and artists passing through the offices daily, with a curiously small amount of work actually being completed. Ringo Starr said of the business “We had, like, a thousand people that weren’t needed, but they all enjoyed it. They were all getting paid for sitting around. We had a guy there just to read the tarot cards, the I Ching. It was craziness.”

John Lennon was introduced to Allen Klein in 1969 and was impressed by both his business manner and the work he had already done with the Rolling Stones. He decided Klein should be their business manager over Paul McCartney’s choice of Lee and John Eastman, the father and brother of his girlfriend Linda, a decision all other band members agreed with. An attempt was made to include them as attorneys but they were eventually dismissed as the conflict made the arrangement almost unworkable, though they went on to successfully manage McCarney’s solo career. Klein went on to turn the company back into a profitable business and is often credited with financially rescuing The Beatles.

The company continued after the bands demise, taking control of the production and publishing of the group’s individual projects. It has continued throughout the years, surviving a considered dissolution in 1975 and numerous lawsuits with Apple Inc. and continues on today, although it’s headquarters have relocated. It’s control remains with McCartney, Starr and the estates of Lennon and Harrison.

Ritchie Yorke was fortunate enough to visit the old headquarters of Apple numerous times during his career, and a number of photos have survived and can be seen above. He also was in possession of an extensive amount of Apple memorabilia and records which are still in his archives today.

ON THIS DAY IN 1967, THE BEATLES OPENED THEIR APPLE BOUTIQUE STORE IN LONDON

In theory, the store was designed to be an aesthetically appealing place where everything was for sale. The stock ended up largely being fashion garments and accessories leading to it’s naming as a boutique store, against Lennon’s wishes.

The store originally had a psychedelic theme, with a large mural outside commissioned by the band. However approval was not sought before the artwork was undertaken and it subsequently had to be removed, replaced with a minimalistic white sign with ‘Apple’ written in cursive. Interestingly this is reminiscent of the changing style of the bands music at the time, between the psychedelic Sgt. Peppers and the stark contrast of The Beatles, or ‘The White Album’ to be released the next year.

Unfortunately, the business did not take long to start losing significant amounts of money. Shoplifting was a constant issue, with customers and staff helping themselves to the stock. The store’s ethos also prevented staff from accusing customers of shoplifting or contacting police. Eventually, the store was announced to be closing in July after only seven month’s in business. Before the shop closed, the band members grabbed the items they wanted, and then gave the rest away to passer-bys.

ON THIS DAY 50 YEARS AGO, THE BEATLES RELEASED THEIR NOMINAL EIGHTH ALBUM, SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

The albums concept, created by Paul McCartney, involved a fictitious band called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band which allowed the group to further change and experiment with their musical styles. This freedom certainly seemed to pay off, as the album featured an eclectic list of styles, instruments and sounds from various genres like piano jazz, big band, circus and Western and Indian classical music, as well as being the first pop album to be mixed without gaps between songs allowing for a more flowing listening experience. The albums biggest inspiration however is psychedelic hard rock, apparently inspired by Jimi Hendrix, who McCartney had seen perform just prior to the albums recording. Hendrix clearly appreciated the attempt as he performed Pepper in London just two days after the albums release. 

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band suffered some poor early reviews due to the drastic change of style from many of the band’s earlier releases, but it performed commercially nonetheless, debuting at #1 in the UK charts. This is especially impressive as the album received little radio play at the time due to it’s alleged references to recreational drug use. Critics soon changed their tune however and commended the album for it’s experimentation and unique sounds. The album is now remembered as an iconic release for The Beatles, and a revolutionary and legendary release in the psychedelic hard rock category. Today’s 50th Anniversary comes with a number of celebrations, including television features, a movie, the trailer of which is above and a 50th anniversary edition of the album itself. 

In other Beatles history from this day, John Lennon made the important decision that the next stop of his peace campaign should be in Canada. John and Yoko had held their first Bed-In for Peace as their honeymoon in Amsterdam on March 25, 1969. They flew to the Bahamas a couple of months later, intending on holding their next bed-in there, but after an uncomfortable night in 5-star hotel Sheraton Oceanus Hotel in Freeport, the sweltering heat and the areas distance from the United States caused the couple to doubt their decision, and after a single night they flew on to Toronto, Canada. They were detained by immigration authorities for a few hours before being released on their way. They spent the night at the King Edward Sheraton Hotel in Toronto before heading to Montreal the following day to begin the bed-in on midnight, May 26th. A firsthand account by Ritchie Yorke for Rolling Stone Magazine of the bed-in can be read here.

ON THIS DAY IN 1967, THE BEATLES MET UP TO PHOTOGRAPH THE NOW ICONIC COVER OF SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB

The band met at Chelsea Manor Studios, a popular London photography studio to shoot the album’s artwork. The cover is now considered a definitive snapshot of 1960’s pop culture due to its featuring of iconic characters of the time like Lewis Carroll, Shirley Temple, Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando and Fred Astaire.

The album itself is a concept dreamt up by Paul McCartney who had tired of being suffocated by The Beatle’s sound and thus invented the concept of an imaginary band known as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club to afford the group more freedom in their recording. The characters featured on the albums cover are meant to be members of the Lonely Hearts Club, although permission had to be obtained to use many of the celebrity images in this way. The band themselves chose their own eye-catching outfits in terms of colours and materials and the final choices very much reflected the psychedelic nature of the album.

Designer of the cover, Sir Peter Blake used life sized, full colour cardboard cutouts of more than 70 famous people to achieve the collaged cover, although apparently it’s original concept featured the Sgt. Pepper group performing in a park. Also visible on the cover are a number of small novelties from the boys homes, such as some small statues taken from John Lennon’s house. The covers photographer Michael Cooper was also renowned for his chosen profession, going on to work with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Andy Warhol. He later tragically committed suicide in 1973, leaving behind only his fantastic work and family. Silkscreen prints of the album cover are still available for purchase from Sir Peter Blake, and all purchases come hand signed and numbered by the artist.

On this day in 1967 The Beatles scored their thirteenth Number One hit with ‘Penny Lane’

Written primarily by Paul McCartney, the band began recording the song in December of 1966 with the intention of including it on their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Instead, it was later issued as a single after demands were made for new material by record companies.

Penny Lane is a road in the south Liverpool suburb of Mossley Hill, and a frequent stopover point on early bus journeys for the band. McCartney said of the song in 2009 that “‘Penny Lane’ was kind of nostalgic, but it was really [about] a place that John and I knew … I’d get a bus to his house and I’d have to change at Penny Lane, or the same with him to me, so we often hung out at that terminus, like a roundabout. It was a place that we both knew, and so we both knew the things that turned up in the story.”

The song quickly went to number one in the US and top five throughout Europe. This made the song the groups thirteenth number one song. It was also just the first of three number one songs by the band for 1967.

On this day in 1967, The Beatles announced their song “Yesterday” was one of the most covered song in history

“Yesterday”, originally recorded in June of 1965 and then released in August on the album Help! The song was written by Paul McCartney and had been worked on for almost year before its release. It became an immediate hit and soon rose to number one on the Billboard charts.

Within two years, the band made the statement that “Yesterday” had been covered over 446 times since its release. Numerous other artists had claimed they wished they wrote the song, such as Chuck Berry. On the other hand, Bob Dylan notoriously dislike the song, claiming “If you go into the Library of Congress, you can find a lot better than that.” 

“Yesterday” was then entered into the book of Guiness World Records stating that the song had been covered over 1,600 times by January of 1986. The current number of covers is unknown but is estimated to be over 4,000.

ALSO ON THIS DAY, THE BEATLES WERE BUSY RECORDING THE LEAD AND BACKING VOCALS FOR “SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND”

The album of the same title was a concept proposed by McCartney, whose idea was to create a fictitious band to enable the band to drastically change their sound. The title song, recorded on February 1st and 2nd, 1967, is in the vein of psychedelic hard rock. This style was apparently inspired by Cream guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who McCartney had seen perform only two nights earlier. Their take on his style must have impressed Hendrix, as he opened with “Pepper” at a live show in London just two days after the albums release (see the below video).

The song itself is largely a Paul McCartney composition although all of the members of the band played their parts in its recording. The entire album is considered very experimental, both in terms of instruments and the technology used to record and edit them. It is also the first pop album to be mixed without the customary gaps between songs, making the album feel more like a flowing live performance.

“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” suffered from some poor reviews due to it’s drastic change in the band’s sound and lack of airtime due to it’s numerous alleged references to drug-taking, despite its immediate commercial success, debuting at number 1 in the uk. Later however, the album racked up a huge number of positive reviews and was lauded as one of the Beatles best albums and one of the best albums in the psychedelic genre. Other reviews praise it for it’s eclectic list of different sounds and genres, such as rock and roll, big band, circus, piano jazz, blues and both Indian and Western classical styles. It is now remembered fondly in articles alongside terms like revolutionary, iconic and masterpiece.

TODAY MARKS A SIGNIFICANT DAY IN THE CAREER AND THE LIFE OF JOHN LENNON, AS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY HE FIRST MET YOKO ONO

In 1966, Lennon decided to visit the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono was preparing a conceptual art exhibit. Lennon was reportedly unimpressed initially with the exhibits but soon found some pieces to his liking, including a ladder with a spyglass at the top. When looking through the spyglass, Lennon saw the word “YES” which he liked due to its positivity – most concept art he had encountered had been “anti” everything.

Lennon also became intrigued with a piece by Ono called Hammer a Nail where viewers would each hammer a nail into a board, thus creating the art piece. Lennon asked to hammer a nail but his request was initially refused by Ono as the exhibition had yet to open. Gallery owner John Dunbar, who introduced the two, was shocked by this and had to explain who Lennon and the Beatles were, after which Ono relented, on the condition he pay five shillings, to which Lennon replied, “I’ll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in.”

The couples first encounter set a precedent for the rest of their relationship, which was tumultuous, creative and long. The pair worked together for the rest of Lennon’s life on music, art, poetry, writing and numerous other concepts, including the War Is Over! campaign.

On this day in 1966, Jimi Hendrix arrived in the UK

Brought over by Animals great and new manager Chas Chandler, the group arrived in London in the early hours of the morning, his bags containing a change of clothes, pink plastic curlers, soap, acne cream, a toothbrush and his Fender Stratocaster. The guitar was carried through the airport by a road manager from the Animals named Terry McVay as they didn’t want anyone to know that Jimi was in the UK to work.

One of Hendrix’s first stops once arriving in London was to change his legal name from James to Jimi, before traveling to various jam sessions to find new musicians for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He went on to play at a nightclub that evening to an amazed audience. Hendrix also met his girlfriend of the next three years at that event.

The UK trip lasted for 9 months and catapulted the group’s careers into superstardom, before returning home to perform at the Monterey International Pop Festival.