545 - ‘Nooit meer hetzelfde’ – Beatles in Amerika, begin 1964

Achteraf kunnen we vaststellen dat 9 februari 1964 een belangrijke dag was in de geschiedenis van de popmuziek. Op die dag traden de Beatles op in de Ed Sullivan tv-show. Maar liefst 73 miljoen Amerikanen, oud en jong, keken toe. Ze brachten allerereerst ‘All My Loving’, ‘Till There Was You’ en ‘She Loves You’. Na een pauze, verzorgd door de Nederlandse goochelaar Fred Kaps, voltooiden ze hun eerste optreden met ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ en ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, hun eerste single op het Capitol-label.

Ed Sullivan en de Beatles

Twee maanden later later, op 4 april 1964, gebeurde er iets, dat in de verste verte niet eerder plaats had gevonden in Amerika. De groep uit Liverpool bezette tegelijk de eerste vijf plaatsen van de Billboard Hot 100. De Britse pop-invasie van Amerika was begonnen. Het zou nooit meer zijn zoals het geweest was. Dat was ook de titel van een artikel dat Bob Rolontz op 21 maart 1964 in het Amerikaanse vakblad Music Business publiceerde: ‘Things will never be the same’.

Things will never be the same

De journalist plaatste het succes van de Britse popartiesten meteen in een groter perspectief. De enorme verkoop van de grammofoonplaten, singles én albums was er het bewijs van dat popmuziek een essentieel onderdeel was geworden van de jeugdcultuur. Platenmaatschappij Capitol had in korte tijd maar liefst 3,5 miljoen singles en 3,5 miljoen albums van de Beatles af weten te zetten. Dat was ‘incredible’.

    In de weken, voorafgaand aan het artikel, was de muziekbusiness totaal veranderd: “The attendant success of the lads on TV, in personal appearances and in media coverage, indicates that records are the most dynamic exposure medium available for young artists. Records far outdistance TV and movies, live appearances or anything else in creating a national image in a hurry”.

    ‘Alles’ draaide nu om grammofoonplaten.

    Bob voegde er nog aan toe dat ook twee andere grammofoonplatenmaatschappijen, VeeJay (op het sublabel Tollie) en Swan, ieder meer dan een miljoen platen verkocht hadden. Ze hadden de rechten van de eerste Beatle-platen weten te verwerven omdat Capitol, de Amerikaanse tak van EMI, aanvankelijk geen brood zag in de muziek van het viertal.

    Als Rolontz gelijk had, zouden er op 21 maart 1964 dus al ruim 9 miljoen Beatles-platen in de VS verkocht zijn.

Een kleine terugblik

De plotselinge enorme verkopen van Beatles-platen waren volgens hem niet uit de lucht komen vallen. De trend was al langer gezet. “It indicates that the record industry, working with its partner, radio, can expect at any time that one of its artists overnight can become an overwhelming national favorite, to an extent that would have surprised even the most optimistic record manufacturer less than two years ago. In a year and a half, the record industry has seen three massive breakouts of records featuring new artists, who – until their records were exposed were relatively unknown”.

    Rolontz gaf twee recente voorbeelden: “In the fall of 1962 the album of folk song parodies by Allan Sherman on Warner Bros. sold more than a million in little over two months. In November and December of 1962 and January of 1963, the album by Vaughn Meader on Cadence, ‘The First Family’, sold four million LP’s and broke every existing LP sales record”.

    En nu dan de Beatles, het derde voorbeeld van zijn stelling. “Less than a year later, The Beatles did it again”.

De nieuwe trend was dus niet met de Beatles begonnen. Wat te denken van idolen als Elvis Presley en, langer geleden, Johnnie Ray. En de enorme omzet in albums met daarop de soundtracks van films en de ‘original cast’ van musicals: “There have been, of course, massive sellers before Sherman, Meader and The Beatles. Elvis Presley is the outstanding example on the pop side. Johnnie Ray did it with his smash hit; ‘Cry’. And there have been a number of show albums or soundtracks, ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘South Pacific’, ‘The Sound Of Music’, ‘West Side Story’, which have racked up sales in the millions”.

    Nu was er meer aan de hand. “These have occurred sporadically; the demand has not been concentrated in such a short time span as with the Sherman, Meader and Beatles releases”.

Capitol heeft eigen fabrieken

De explosieve stijging van hit-albums had, schreef Rolontz, heel wat feitelijke productie-problemen gegeven. Waar haalde je al die miljoenen albums in korte tijd vandaan, vooral als je als platenmaatschappij niet over een eigen perserij beschikte.

    “Record companies are now learning to cope with the type of massive demand for records exemplified by these three big-selling artists. Warner Bros. fumbled a bit at first in getting the LP’s and the jackets available at the same time when the Sherman set broke for them in the fall of 1962.

    Cadence did a masterful job in getting its product to market after only a few days of being overwhelmed by what it had wrought with ‘The First Family’”.

Capitol, de platenmaatschappij van de Beatles in de VS, had wél eigen fabrieken. “Neither Warner Bros. nor Cadence owns its own pressing facilities. Capitol Records does. Its plants at Scranton, Pa., and Hollywood are among the largest in capacity in the U.S”.

    Dat was een enorm voordeel. “Being able to turn out its own product was a tremendous advantage to Capitol when The Beatles got hot”.

Capitol-fabriek in Scranton

Capitol zag aanvankelijk niets in de Beatles

Capitol, met kantoren op de westkust van de VS, zag niet zo snel brood in de Britse Beatles, wist Rolontz. “Capitol faced other production problems that did not affect either Warner Bros. or Cadence. No one at Capitol believed the firm had latched on to an all-time seller when Capitol a&r chief Voyle Gilmore made a deal with Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein in November last year for future Beatles’ product. Two previous Beatles’ releases had died in the U.S., one on VeeJay and one on Swan”. 

Vanuit Londen, het hoofdkantoor van EMI, eigenaar van Capitol, werd druk uitgeoefend op de beslissers bij Capitol om alsnog ‘mee te doen’ op de Amerikaanse muziekmarkt. “EMI executive Leonard Wood had told Gilmore and Capitol foreign boss Lloyd Dunn about the Beatles’ continuing success in England, and early stories about the Beatles (New York Times, Variety, Newsweek) had alerted other Capitol brass”.

Voyle Gilmore

Toen Capitol tenslotte ‘door de bocht ging’ en besloot de platen van de Beatles in Amerika uit te willen brengen, ging het betrekkelijk snel. “On word from Capitol president Alan Livingston, eastern operations chief, Brown Meggs, sent out first announcements to the trade. (Meggs, his secretary, Stacy Caraviotis, and West Coast-based publicity chief Fred Martin, were to bear the brunt of wearying public relations during the whole Beatles explosion).

    Immediately after the first press releases, many Capitol executives began to smell a hit. Calls began to come from dealers. There were other calls from press representatives, magazine editors, and newspaper free lance writers, TV bookers – all waiting on the Beatles. And disk jockeys wanted to know when the records would be ready”.

Capitol kan niet meer wachten

De mensen van Capitol waren aanvankelijk van plan om met de release van hun eerste single, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ dus,  te wachten tot in februari 1964. Dan zouden de jongens uit Liverpool in het tv-programma van Ed Sullivan gelanceerd worden. In dat geval hadden ze een houvast in hun plan van aanpak. “At this time the first Beatles record release was scheduled for February, when the lads were set to appear on the Ed Sullivan TV show”.

    Of ze het bij Capitol nou leuk vonden of niet, de zaak kwam in een stroomversnelling, was in Music Business te lezen. De media hadden de platenmaatschappij onder druk gezet. “Capitol decided to move the release date up, and set it for early January. But in December Ed Sullivan began to plug a Beatles appearance on a February show, and Jack Paar, who enjoys tangling with Sullivan, let his audience know that he would beat Sullivan by showing a TV film of The Beatles. This accelerated the excitement at Capitol and the firm again moved back the release date, this time to late December”.

    In die tijd presenteerde Herman Stok (1927-2021) in het VARA tv-programma Top of Flop de Beatles single ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. De jury veroordeelde de kwaliteit van de single, die vervolgens tot een flop bestempeld werd.

Bij Capitol kwamen ze in een moeilijk parket te zitten. Het bedrijf had namelijk ook andere goed verkopende artiesten. “With a company the size of Capitol, it is not easy to play fast and loose with release dates. Capitol was already hot last December, with strong selling singles by The Beach Boys [‘Be True To Your School’], Al Martino [‘Living A Lie’], Nat Cole and other acts, and the firm also had a number of hot LP’s riding”.

    Desondanks liet het Californische bedrijf toch nog ruim duizend singles persen. Die waren niet voor de verkoop bedoeld, maar voor de radiostations. “Somehow, in spite of Christmas (no shifts worked at the pressing plant Christmas eve or Christmas day), the firm had 1,342 Beatles singles in its Capitol distributing branches on December 26. These were immediately sent out to jockeys”.

    Het hek was nu van de dam. “All over the country jockeys appeared to be waiting for The Beatles new record. The teen-age grapevine, which can smell a big hit from as far away as Japan, or as near as England, knew all about The Beatles, wanted the Beatles, and were calling local deejays for Beatles action. All over the country, from December 26 on, The Beatles got radio action – on stations in big cities, small cities and everywhere else”.

Verkoop loopt uit de hand

De publiciteitsafdeling van Capitol werd overstelpt met verzoeken uit de media. “Before the record hit the stands, Capitol publicity had been busy. Bios of George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr were in the works. There was an overall story of the Beatlemania craze. A four-page newspaper, called The National Record News, ‘Special Beatles Issue’, was being printed. Pictures in many poses hit editors’ desks. What seemed to be adequate amounts of each of these were ordered. (They turned out to be underestimated). Capitol was embarked on the biggest promotion campaign in its history”.

De verkoop liet niet lang op zich wachten. De perserijen van Capitol probeerden de bestellingen te volgen toen het kerstreces ten einde kwam. “Within one week from the time the record was released (December 26), Capitol had orders for 200,000 Beatles records. (Most of these orders came from New York). The plants in Scranton [Pennsylvania] and Hollywood moved to catch up. During the week from December 30 to January 6 (in spite of the New Year’s holiday when the plants were closed), the firm pressed 134,225 Beatles’ singles. The next week the plants turned out 233,250 singles, and the week of January 13-17, the plants pressed 535,482 singles. And singles were still being back-ordered. (At this time New York area had used 262,381 singles)”.

    De eigen fabrieken van de platenmaatschappij konden het niet meer aan. “The demand for records became so intense, that the following week, Capitol ordered 300,000 records from RCA Victor’s New Jersey Rockaway pressing plant. And that same week Capitol issued the album called ‘Meet The Beatles’ with 250,000 LP’s ready at date of issue. These were soon gone into the maw of Beatlemania”.

Op 18 januari 1964 verscheen ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ voor het eerst in de Billboard Hot 100 – op 45. In vakblad Cashbox schoot de single op 25 januari door van 43 naar 1. De vorige Beatles-single ‘She Loves You’, nog afgewezen door Capitol en in Amerika door Swan op de markt gebracht, bezette al gauw de nummer twee-positie.

Bij Capitol deden ze hun best om de andere artiesten op hun label niet te benadelen. “While the demand for records was outstripping production, Capitol continued to press records by other artists, who, in spite of The Beatles, were also selling. It has been a practice at the Capitol plants that no matter what the demand might be for one artist, it would also continue to press some other  product, so that it would not get caught with only one artist on the market.

    During the period January 1 to February 28, Capitol pressed, in its own plants, about 1,250,000 records by such artists as The Beach Boys, Jody Miller, Al Martino, Ferlin Huskey, Wayne Newton, Bobby Darin, Nat Cole, Donna Lynn, and the Drew-Vells”.

Meer vraag dan aanbod, ook in de media

De vraag bleef steeds groter dan wat Capitol te bieden had. Ook op het terrein van de publiciteit. “Demand was outstripping production for press matter. More than 25,000 bios of The Beatles were requested by jockeys, reporters and editors; more than 15,000 photos were requested. And one million copies of the four-page newspaper were rim off before the demand was exhausted!”

Op allerlei plaatsen in de VS, aldus de verslaggever van Music Business, werden platen van de Beatles geperst. Het duurde nog tot eind van de maand februari voor de zaken enigszins op orde waren. “On February 14, after Capitol plants had pressed about 1.7 million singles and almost one million albums, it began to farm out some Beatles work. Eight plants started to press Beatles’ singles and LP’s, and of this writing are still pressing, along with Capitol plants It was February 28 before Capitol reached the point where it had enough merchandise on hand to fill back orders for the single”.

Als distributeur van een platenmaatschappij kreeg je – dat was gebruikelijk – een aantal exemplaren gratis. Gezien het succes van de Beatles werd dat zo snel mogelijk flink teruggedraaid. “  Capitol was lucky with its single in one regard. On a sale of more than 3.5 million it gave away only 200,000 records. Though there was a 300 free deal for every 1000 bought when it was first issued, the demand for the record was so strong that Capitol Records Distributing Corp. singles sales chief Vito Samela was able to cut off the deal as of January 7. Samela and distributing promo head Manny Kellem had both been up to their ears in work in the frantic days.

    The firm had a discount arrangement for the album. There was a 15 per cent deal on the LP from the start, and it was still on the first week of March, at which time the label had sold more than 3,000,000 ‘Meet The Beatles’ LP’s”.

Rolontz vergeleek de doorbraak van de Beatles met die van Elvis Presley, acht jaar eerder. “Capitol Records, like Victor with its first Presley release, has now been through its bath of fire”.

Can’t Buy Me Love

Terwijl ze in Amerika volop in de weer waren met ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, waren de Beatles zelf alweer een stap verder. Terug in Europa, na hun verblijf in Amerika, namen ze in Parijs op 25 februari een volgende single op: ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. 

    Het Amerikaanse radiostation WMCA (New York) wist een exemplaar te pakken te krijgen. Rolontz: “The station had a dub of the record on the air on Friday March 6, at 5:20 pm..Where did WMCA get its Beatle dub? No one knows for sure, but England seems the probable source”.

    Bij Capitol werd weinig aan het toeval overgelaten. Er moesten zo snel mogelijk anderhalf miljoen singles geperst worden. In het kleinere Engeland, thuisbasis van de groep, werd ‘volstaan’ met een persopdracht van een miljoen.

    Op 21 maart 1964 kon Bob Rolontz zijn artikel als volgt eindigen: “A new Capitol single by The Beatles was released Monday, March 16. One million copies of the record were available at the Capitol branches the day it was issued. As Samela told Music Business: ‘We will be able to keep up with the demand this time’.

    One thing is certain, the record industry will never be the same as it was before The Beatles, and neither will Capitol Records”.

Harry Knipschild

18 november 2024