Would the Beatles still be the Beatles

[jaxson50]

21 hours ago, 01GT eibach said:

I don't think that is right.  John was 16 when he met Paul (who was 15 at the time) -- and Paul already knew George who was even younger than Paul.  Pretty sure ...

It doesn't matter when they met, if John had been drafted at 18 for two years. Then a year later Paul, that is 4 years they would not have been playing, then George just as both John and Paul returned,  that's  six years.

John and Ringo  were born in 1940,  they would have been inducted age 18, 1958.

Paul was born in 1942, he would have been inducted at age 18, 1960, 

George was born in 1943. He would have been inducted in 1961.

So John and Ringo do 2 years 1958 to 1960. Paul would go in from 60 to 62. George would go in from 61 to 63.  

Edited August 23, 2019 by jaxson50

[01GT eibach]

4 hours ago, jaxson50 said:

It doesn't matter when they met, if John had been drafted at 18 for two years. Then a year later Paul, that is 4 years they would not have been playing, then George just as both John and Paul returned,  that's  six years.

John and Ringo  were born in 1940,  they would have been inducted age 18, 1958.

Paul was born in 1942, he would have been inducted at age 18, 1960, 

George was born in 1943. He would have been inducted in 1961.

So John and Ringo do 2 years 1958 to 1960. Paul would go in from 60 to 62. George would go in from 61 to 63.  

uhhhhh ... okayyyy

[jaxson50]

On 8/22/2019 at 11:14 PM, 01GT eibach said:

uhhhhh ... okayyyy

 

This isn't something I made up out of thin air. As I wrote earlier,  it was from Paul's bio, Many Years From Now.  You can read it for yourself.  

But consider that because of the age differences between the three original members,  before Pete Best was replaced by Ringo, if the British conscription act had not been repealed each of them,  starting with John in 1958,  would have been inducted for a term of no less than 18 months.  Paul would have been inducted in 1960, and George in  1961,. The significance is that those were the formative years, the band became more of a brotherhood.  Other musicians who knew them such as Graham Nash, have stated that they were set apart from other Liverpool bands, the time spent in hour after hour of practicing, playing in dive clubs in Germany. And consider that between 1962 and 63, they preformed 57 shows on the BBC,. That would not have happened if the three have been inducted.  On the Feb. night in 1964 when they played on Ed Sullivan they already bad 240 hr.s of live broadcast experience under their belts. 

That polished band that just blew up the American rock scene may never have swept us off our feet had all those previous details taken place in the time sequence it did. 

[Lord Summerisle]

6 hours ago, jaxson50 said:

But consider that because of the age differences between the three original members,  before Pete Best was replaced by Ringo, if the British conscription act had not been repealed each of them,  starting with John in 1958,  would have been inducted for a term of no less than 18 months. 

 

This actually is quite relevant. When people thing about musicians and conscription (being "drafted") in the '60s, they understandably think of stories like the one about whatever it was Jim Morrison did to dodge the draft. I also read Jim Croce's biography - as I recall he ended up in the National Guard in Pennsylvania. 

Because conscription ended in the UK in early '60s, it had less of an effect on the music scene of that decade. But to someone born in 1940,  it was certainly very much a thing on your mind.

My Dad was born (coincidentally, in Liverpool) in February 1940, and fully expected to be conscripted, pretty much right up until the time he discovered he wasn't going to be. Because he didn't want to be a National Serviceman in the Army, he had already begun the process of enlisting in the Royal Navy. His bother, born in 1937, had joined the Merchant Navy and trained as a Radio Officer, and so was exempt from conscription.

For men born in the UK in 1940, the prospect of being conscripted was most definitely something that hung over you. Reading about the Beatles' backgrounds, perhaps Ringo would have been exempted on medical grounds. John Lennon was lucky Parliament repealed the Act, otherwise he may well have been "Private Gripeweed" in real life.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Lord Summerisle