It's hard to imagine a time when the Beatles weren't a household word – but before the Fab Four took the world by storm, they headed into the studio and recorded their very first album, Please Please Me.
That album was recorded 50 years ago this week; so in honour of the occasion, CBC Music has compiled 12 fun facts about one of the most important albums of all time, courtesy of thebeatles.com:
12. The album was recorded and rush-released by Parlophone in order to capitalize on the huge success of the song "Please Please Me," which was the group's second single. ("Love Me Do" was their first.)
11. The title track was the group's first number one single on the U.K. charts.
10. Ten of the album's tracks were famously recorded in a single day, February 11, 1963. The four remaining songs had been recorded in 1962. Of the recording, manager George Martin said, "I'd been up to the Cavern and I'd seen what they could do and I said, let's record every song you've got. Come down to studios, and we just whistled through them in a day."
9. The album was recorded in a marathon 11-hour session, from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. Remembered John Lennon, "[The] last song to be done was a song called 'Twist and Shout' which nearly killed me."
8. Although you can hear Lennon's raw throat on the recording of 'Twist and Shout' – which was recorded in one take – music fans can thank a cough drop for getting Lennon's voice through the long day. "He was sucking Zoobs all day, those little throat tablets," remembered Paul McCartney. "And he finally had to do 'Twist and Shout' knowing he had to do it last because it would just rip his throat apart to do it. It was great, you can still hear that on the record."
7. The album's iconic cover shot was taken at the headquarters of EMI Limited in London's West End in early 1963 by legendary theatre photographer Angus McBean. When EMI moved from the building in 1995, they took the famed balcony railing with them.
6. At the time of the release, the UK charts were dominated by film soundtracks and easily listening – not pop or rock 'n' roll. So it was a surprise when Please Please Me hit the top of the chart in 1963 and stayed there for a whopping 30 weeks.
5. What replaced that album on the charts? The band's next album, With The Beatles.
4. Please Please Me didn't have an official U.S. release until 1987, but many of the songs found their way to the other side of the pond on Introducing... the Beatles and The Early Beatles.
3. Just before the album was released, NME wrote: "Things are beginning to move for the Beatles, the r-and-b styled British group. The disc ‘Please Please Me’ follows closely on the heels of their first hit ‘Love Me Do’ written by group members John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It looks like a bright future for the Beatles, but knowing them I don’t think they’ll let it go to their heads."
2. "I personally love George because he gave us a shot at putting down on a piece of vinyl," remembers drummer Ringo Starr. "No one else really wanted to put us on the label. George Martin said yes."
1. The whole day's recording session cost around £400 - the equivalent to roughly $15,000 today.
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