50 Years of Please Please Me

March 22^nd this year saw the 50^th anniversary of one of the most influential albums in pop music history – Please Please Me by The Beatles. The 39^th Greatest Album of All Time according to Rolling Stone magazine, Please Please Me contains some of The Beatles most famous tracks, including Twist and Shout, Love Me Do, I Saw Her Standing There and the titular Please Please Me – the band’s first number one single in the UK (With today being the 50th year anniversary of it hitting the chart in the top spot(!)).

The album changed pop music and has remained a big seller, with regular releases ever since, yet it was mostly recorded in just one day on February 11^th 1963, with the band receiving just £7.50 each for each of the three recording sessions. Even then it over ran, because George Martin had only actually booked two sessions for all 10 tracks that were needed.

The band recorded the seminal album in just 9 hours 45 minutes, despite the fact that John Lennon had a cold on the day. In fact, the recording of Twist and Shout was left until last in case it finished off Lennon’s voice. Yet somehow, despite the time pressure, or perhaps because of it, The Beatles managed to recreate all the energy of their live shows on the album. As George Martin said at the time “I don’t know how they do it. We’ve been recording all day, but the longer we go on, the better they get.”

Please Please Me immediately topped the charts, and stayed there for 30 weeks in the UK, before being replaced by With The Beatles. What’s more, it went on to spawn a host of hit singles that are as popular today as they were back in the 60s.

The cover of Please Please Me – the iconic image of the boys leaning over the balcony of EMI’s Manchester Square offices – is just one of the 16 covers on 8Ball’s Beatles Album Covers t-shirt. 8Ball also stock a huge range of Beatles t-shirts, both officially licenced shirts and shirts inspired by the band. Other albums features include the psychedelic Yellow Submarine t-shirt and the all time classic Sgt Pepper t-shirt, along with Rubber Soul t-shirts, Magical Mystery Tour t-shirts and Help t-shirts, with the famous semaphore image from the film.

You can also celebrate The Beatles home town with The Beatles Liverpool t-shirt, or remember their other famous recordings with The Beatles Abbey Road t-shirts. And there’s lots more Beatles t-shirts to choose from.

The Beatles certainly broke the mould with Please Please Me, but some still say that they were really just a boy band who wouldn’t last five minutes in today’s disposable musical culture. Let us know your thoughts on the Fab Four in the comments section below.

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