Post a "hard-to-answer" question about a rock musician/band & see if anyone knows the answer

[malthaussen]

58. Lennon and Sutcliffe were brainstorming names...

... Stu came up with the name "Beatals" (and he always spelled it that way). So Lennon said, anyway, but people prefer to credit Lennon because who ever heard of Stu Sutcliffe?

The "Silver Beatles" thing was very temporary. Here's the deal: the Beatles were auditioning for one of the shows Larry Parnes put on in Liverpool in 1960. Brian Casser, leader of Cass and the Casanovas, who were Liverpool's biggest band at the time, told them the name "Beatals" was ridiculous, and that they should change their name to "Long John and the Silver Beetles," as groups were always known by the leader's name "and" the band. It was a vague reference to Long John Silver of Treasure Island fame.

Believe it or not, in those days the Beatles were as prone to hero worship as the next teenager, so they briefly adopted the name, except John didn't like the "Long John" nickname (and the group didn't want to have a regulation name like all the others; even in the early years they were a collection of equal members). So "Silver Beetles" it became, except in some bills it was truncated to "Silver Beats." After a month or so of that, they adopted the name "Silver Beatles," which lasted for a couple of months. Their manager (Allan Williams at the time), never got over that name, although he frequently misspelled it (spelling was not his long suit). After the Scotland trip, they chucked the "Silver" part and were at last, simply, the Beatles. (And not "The Beatles," the article was never part of the name, but of course in English it is kind of habitual)

Along the way, they picked up their first drummer, which is what the question was about.

-- Mal