STU SUTCLIFFE
Stuart Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a Scottish-born artist and musician best known as the original bassist for the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as an artist, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art. Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with inventing the name, “Beetles”, as they both liked Buddy Holly’s band, the Crickets. The band used this name for a while until Lennon decided to change the name to “the Beatles”, from the word Beat. As a member of the group when it was a five-piece band, Sutcliffe is one of several people sometimes referred to as the “Fifth Beatle”. (More from Wikipedia)
Never having been in a band, I can’t say for sure; but it seems to me that choosing just the right name has to be a major decision. Many bands go through several names before settling down. The Beatles, for instance, cycled through a long list of names beginning in March 1957, many totally unknown to their fans: the Blackjacks, the Quarrymen, Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beatles, and finally the Beatles in mid-August 1960. It was Stu Sutcliffe who, in January 1960, came up with the name “the Beatals” – as a tribute to the name of Buddy Holly’s band the Crickets – so he should rightly be credited with the name we all knew them by. (Another British band was more direct in their honoring of Buddy, the Hollies). By the way, Pete Best was hired as the permanent drummer for the Beatals on August 12, 1960 – within days of their starting to use the name without “Silver” – and Ringo Starr wouldn’t be brought in for two more years.
(June 2012)
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Finally, I have a recommendation to go with my confession earlier. If any of you are still signed up with Netflix, you should add the 1994 film Backbeat to your queue. It is the early history of the Beatles mostly when they were in Hamburg, Germany and primarily follows Stu Sutcliffe (played by Stephen Dorff), an old friend of John Lennon who was in an early incarnation of the band. Long before they were famous, Sutcliffe was drawn into photography and found a love; he died tragically young before his 22nd birthday. Along the way, you meet Paul McCartney (the two actors who play John and Paul are dead ringers), George Harrison, and even Ringo Starr, who was hanging around the group even though he wasn’t in the band yet. Actually the words “the Beatles” were only spoken once during the entire movie; John Lennon mostly just called them “the band”.
The idea is that, in those days, the Beatles were the world’s greatest punk rock group, so the band that they lined up to play the music was drawn from the top American alternative rock bands of the day, like the Afghan Whigs, Soul Asylum, R.E.M., and Sonic Youth. The drummer was Nirvana’s Dave Grohl, who later became the front man for Foo Fighters (sadly, I believe that I read that they have gone on a hiatus). However, he still hits the skins from time to time for bands like Queens of the Stone Age. Highly recommended.
(September 2012)
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“Hello Little Girl” was included on the Decca Records audition tape; there is also a home demo recording of the song that features Stuart Sutcliffe on bass guitar, which is currently available only on bootleg albums. A version of “Hello Little Girl” by the Beatles is included on Anthology 1.
(June 2015)
