Expounding upon a comment I read today on the
Induct Brian Facebook page
"Without Brian, the Beatles almost positively wouldn't have made as big as they did, and would have been one of those little English bands who were popular for a few months in the early sixties."
To this I replied:
Hmmm. Here in the U.S., I don't recall that there were ANY British groups popular at any time before Brian and his boys caused the British Invasion. (They called them "groups" then. "Bands" played marching music.)__________________________
Billboard 1962 Top 40
Billboard 1963 Top 40
I am convinced we would never have had any British Invasion at all if not for Eppy. English culture was considered by American youngsters (even me) to be intolerably uncool. Unless you were a fan of David Niven or something.
It all comes down to this:
That extremely small pocket of Liverpool Cool was invisible until Brian shouted from the rooftops about them ~~ meanwhile, almost everyone scoffed at him. Very, very few people were on his side about this, the loyal Alistair Taylor being a notable example.
Brian's own family and friends thought he was looners, and (before he finally started to succeed) even the artistes he was trying to help early-on laughed behind his back about his obsession. Of course, they were quick to take advantage of whatever handouts he offered, for sure ~ but this rich pansy is a fool, they snickered to each other.
How ironic it became later on, when they were on top of the world, that people (including his own boys a couple of times) would accuse HIM of taking advantage of THEM.
Photo by Michael McCartney "Mike McGear" ~~
Brian's nickname for him was "Flash Harry"
