Certainly they had their influences - the Beach Boys point is a good one especially - but I feel like after they broke the Atlantic barrier, the lads didn't so much have to worry about rivals. I'd say their biggest worry when they headed to the US was the Beach Boys because they were so popular over there at that time, but otherwise everyone else was just following after them in England, and the biggest acts there were playing other stuff at the time because the big-selling acts had to be original enough that they wouldn't be taken for imitations. The Stones and The Who were playing the blues, Dylan was openly political and had a completely different sound...in terms of their genre at the time of the US visit, they didn't have any competition, and when they started branching out, they were still the forerunners of things.
Probably the period where they should have been most worried about rivals is during the making of Sgt. Pepper, when people were starting to refer to them as old hat since they hadn't put anything out for a while after Revolver, but as we all know they weren't idling about at that time and really didn't have anything to worry about.
The Beach Boys weren't so much the Beatles' rivals when it came to record sales, but more on an artistic level. Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney have both said on many occasions that they were intimidated by how good each new album of the other band was. They had a friendly but pretty tough competition going.
Funny thing though is that Brian Wilson always says that he didn't see the Beatles as his main rivals, but Phil Spector. But that could partially be because the Beatles openly admired him while Spector seemed to enjoy bringing him down.
I may have missed the odd record , but i think it illustrates Motown were a hit making machine during The Beatles period , and continued to be throughout the 70's
Of course the original 'Rivals of the Beatles' were the groups they competed with on their home ground in the days before they recorded. They competed to get the various numbers in their reportoire (before the Lennon/McCartney songs got off the ground), with Epstein even asking groups not to do certain numbers because the Beatles wanted to include them in their repertoire. In fact, on John's wedding night they were appearing on a bill with the Remo Four and John had an argument with them because they used a number the Beatles used to play. They competed at the Cavern, Litherland Town Hall, Lathom Hall, Aintree Institute and other venues with great groups such as Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes, the Big Three, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Searchers, the Strangers, the Remo Four (one of Paul's favourite groups, he used to go down to the Cavern on his nights off just to see them), Rory Storm & the Hurricanes etc
Of course the original 'Rivals of the Beatles' were the groups they competed with on their home ground in the days before they recorded. They competed to get the various numbers in their reportoire (before the Lennon/McCartney songs got off the ground), with Epstein even asking groups not to do certain numbers because the Beatles wanted to include them in their repertoire. In fact, on John's wedding night they were appearing on a bill with the Remo Four and John had an argument with them because they used a number the Beatles used to play. They competed at the Cavern, Litherland Town Hall, Lathom Hall, Aintree Institute and other venues with great groups such as Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes, the Big Three, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Searchers, the Strangers, the Remo Four (one of Paul's favourite groups, he used to go down to the Cavern on his nights off just to see them), Rory Storm & the Hurricanes etc
Maybe this is the reason that they played (and later recorded) some pretty obscure stuff?
I just want you to reassure him - talk to him, make him see the error of his ways. Then I'll hit him.
One of the major musical influences on the Liverpool groups at the beginning of the 1960s was the Tamla Motown label, created in Detroit by Berry Gordy Junior in 1959. Berry had originally derived the name Tamla from a Debbie Reynolds film 'Tammy' and Motown was an abbreviation of the nickname of Detroit: Motor City. Berry actually used the name Tamla as a label in America in 1959 and Motown in 1961. The name Tamla Motown was used on the European releases.
In Britain in 1962, Tamla Motown was distributed by a small record label, Oriole, and the largest market for the records by the Detroit groups was on Merseyside.
At that time I began to feature Motown regularly in Mersey Beat, profiling the artists and reviewing the latest releases. Oriole Records began to take half page advertisements due to the interest aroused by the label in Liverpool.
When I received the latest Motown singles I'd take them down to the Cavern and ask Bob Wooler to play them. When I took 'Fingertips' by Little Stevie Wonder, Ringo was there and asked me if he could have the record. I gave it to him. When, shortly after, he told me that it was his favourite record I told John Schroeder of Oriole who arranged for a complete Tamla Motown collection to be sent to Ringo.
The Tamla Motown numbers were included in the repertoire of the Liverpool bands. They adapted the songs to fit in with the developing Liverpool sound, the basic three guitars/drums/harmony line-up which produced a hybrid sound, known locally as 'the Mersey Motown sound.'
This particular sound found its way on record when a number of Mersey acts recorded their own versions of Motown numbers. Faron's Flamingos recorded 'Do You Love Me' and 'Shake Sherry', Ian & the Zodiacs with 'Beechwood 45786', 'Beryl Marsden with 'When The Love Light Shines', Steve Aldo with 'Can I Get A Witness', The Trends with 'You're A Wonderful One', the Dimensions with 'Tears On My Pillow' and so on. Numbers such as 'Money' were also part of the repertoire of numerous Mersey bands such as the Searchers, Undertakers, Dominoes and All Stars.
Differing from the Mersey-Motown sound was the straight Motown-sounding presentation of numbers by local black vocal group the Chants. I lent them my albums of the Miracles and the Marvellettes which they literally wore out by playing them so often!
In 1963 the Motown distribution in Britain went to EMI's Stateside label and Motown artists soon began to have their first British hits, particularly since the Beatles had begun to mention the Motown artists in interviews. 1963 is the year in which the Beatles made their own Mersey-Motown recordings, with no less than three Motown numbers on their 'With The Beatles' album: 'Please Mr. Postman', 'You Really Got A Hold On Me' and 'Money (That's What I Want).' When Smokey Robinson heard that they'd recorded his composition 'You Really Got A Hold On Me', he said, "When they recorded it, it was one of the most flattering things that ever happened to me' I listened to it over and over again, not to criticize, but to enjoy it." He was also to comment, "They were not only respectful of us, they were downright worshipful. Whenever reporters asked them about their influences, they'd go into euphoria about Motown. I dig them, not only for their songwriting talent, but for their honesty."
The Beatles also requested that Mary Wells be included on their autumn tour of Britain in 1964. When I interviewed Mary backstage she asked me if I could get her a Lennon & McCartney number to record. I went for a chat with John and told him and he said he'd write one for her, but he didn't in the end. Mary was later to pay her own tribute to the Beatles with an album of Lennon & McCartney songs, 'Love Songs To The Beatles.' Diana Ross & the Supremes, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Jimmy Ruffin were among several Motown artists who began to record Lennon & McCartney material, a sort of Motown-Mersey sound! Brian Epstein also became a fan of Motown artists and brought the Four Tops over to Britain to tour. Paul McCartney was later to forge a close association with Motown artists, recording 'Ebony and Ivory' with Stevie Wonder and 'This Girl Is Mine', 'Say Say Say' and 'The Man' with Michael Jackson.
When promoters Peter Bletchford and Jeff Hale invited Mike and Rowena McCartney and Virginia and I to attend a convention in Detroit, Martha Reeves took us around the Motown Museum where we discovered that, ironically, the only reference to the Mersey Motown Sound was an inaccurate one. There is a picture of the Dave Clark Five with the Supremes which is captioned 'Liverpool Meets Detroit.
Although the rock 'n' roll influences of rock artists such as Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and other musicians have been acknowledged in the history of the Mersey Sound, little has been told of the effect Motown acts had on the Liverpool artists. A&R man John Schroeder provided me with some of his memories
Excellent stuff Bill. Is the old Cunard Yanks handing out unavailable 45's to scouse urchins story just a myth? I take it most american music was available if you knew where to look?
Yes, the Cunard Yanks story is a myth. Obviously, some of the Stewarts on ships brought presents, including records to younger brothers, but this had no real influence on the scene as every number covered by a Mersey band was available from record shops. Every number performed by the Beatles, apart from their own compositions, was available on record in Liverpool. To try to get an edge Kingsize Taylor wrote to Chess Records in America for their catalogue, Earl Preston used to get records from his brother-in-law at the Burtonwood American base outside Liverpool and the Undertakers used to buy records at markets.
Incidentally, you might be interested in this:
In Helen Shapiro’s autobiography, ‘Walking Back To Happiness’, she recounts how she was travelling in a coach with the Beatles and they sang Tamla Motown numbers. She wrote: “They were into Tamla Motown before most people over here knew anything about it. With Brian Epstein’s record shops being so near the docks, they imported material by people like Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells and the Miracles direct from the States.
This totally inaccurate piece of information probably derives from the misconception that Liverpool bands had the edge over other groups in the U.K. because they got their records direct from the States, because of Liverpool’s prominence as a seaport.
Neither the Whitechapel nor Great Charlotte Street branches of NEMS were anywhere near the docks. Both stores stocked the normal record releases available anywhere in the U.K.
Tamla Motown records were released in Britain on Oriole American, a branch of Oriole records, whose A&R (artists and repertoire) man was John Schroeder and who, coincidentally wrote and produced Shapiro’s ‘Walking Back To Happiness.”
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