Beatles (Members) w/o Elvis

[John Fredrick Parker]

Say Elvis doesn't sign w RCA in 1955, leading to developments similar to those discussed here -- how are the critical teenage years of the OTL Beatles affected? Is it enough to butterfly any of them out of music careers? From what I know of them...

*I can see exactly that happening most easily to George Harrison -- he supposedly started really focusing on music after having an "epiphany" upon hearing "Heartbreak Hotel", a sing that doesn't exist TTL.

*John Lennon is trickier -- he was clearly influenced by Elvis, but he had plenty of others.

*Paul McCartney's the likeliest to end up in music anyway -- his dad was a professional musician who encouraged him, and he more a Little Richard fanboy anyway.

*Of course, if the other three don't get together, butterflies probably assure that Ringo Starr won't get with any of them, much less have a sudden rise to stardom.

Those are my thoughts anyway...

 

[Glass Onion]

Say Elvis doesn't sign w RCA in 1955, leading to developments similar to those discussed here -- how are the critical teenage years of the OTL Beatles affected? Is it enough to butterfly any of them out of music careers? From what I know of them...

*I can see exactly that happening most easily to George Harrison -- he supposedly started really focusing on music after having an "epiphany" upon hearing "Heartbreak Hotel", a sing that doesn't exist TTL.

*John Lennon is trickier -- he was clearly influenced by Elvis, but he had plenty of others.

*Paul McCartney's the likeliest to end up in music anyway -- his dad was a professional musician who encouraged him, and he more a Little Richard fanboy anyway.

*Of course, if the other three don't get together, butterflies probably assure that Ringo Starr won't get with any of them, much less have a sudden rise to stardom.

Those are my thoughts anyway...

Richard Starkey and George Harrison's fate are tough to predict. Paul McCartney would be in music in any case, given his family history and interests. This butterflies a lot, but the roughest estimate I can make for Lennon is that he becomes a cartoonist, and eventually a writer. His cartoons are too far outside the mainstream's taste for popular acclaim though, he finds some popularity in certain circles, but for the most part, he lives in obscurity. His cartoons sometimes appear in books talking about the sixties in Britain, but the name John Lennon doesn't mean much to many people ITTL. Emperor Norton may have a different view then my conception of Lennon the cartoonist/writer.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Richard Starkey and George Harrison's fate are tough to predict. Paul McCartney would be in music in any case, given his family history and interests. This butterflies a lot, but the roughest estimate I can make for Lennon is that he becomes a cartoonist, and eventually a writer. His cartoons are too far outside the mainstream's taste for popular acclaim though, he finds some popularity in certain circles, but for the most part, he lives in obscurity. His cartoons sometimes appear in books talking about the sixties in Britain, but the name John Lennon doesn't mean much to many people ITTL. Emperor Norton may have a different view then my conception of Lennon the cartoonist/writer.

I can actually see Lennon doing quite well for himself in journalism, now that you mention it; maybe he becomes a BBC anchor? I've come across George Harrison as a priest a couple of times before, so I suppose that's possible. As to Starkey -- reading his Wikipedia page, it seems Richard had gone to primary school, that happened to be close to his home, with Billy Fury; maybe they have a better chance of working together? Or maybe he just sticks with Rory Storm...

 

[Macragge1]

I think it's difficult to overstate the influence that Elvis' emergence had on both popular culture and on a young John Lennon. One must bear in mind that before Elvis, Lennon's heroes were almost exclusively writers such as Carroll and Lear, as well as comedians like Milligan. Following this first 'youthquake' in the mid 1950s, the teenage John's dreams and idols changed almost overnight; Lennon's Aunt Mimi described his obsession with 'Elvis for breakfast, lunch and dinner.' Without Elvis, there's probably no skiffle explosion. Either way, John probably doesn't even bother his aunt (or mother; it's not clear) to send away for a Gallotone Champion.

Paul came from a musical family, granted, but without the proto-punk of skiffle or early rock'n'roll it's not guaranteed that he becomes a professional. Either he gets a 9-5 job (he had an apprenticeship as an estate agent or something after the Beatles' first disastrous expulsion from Hamburg); either he ends up doing this or, if he's particularly stuck on music, he could become (if he's very lucky) a professional songwriter in the vein of Gershwin or Hammerstein. The fact is, however, he hasn't the postcode nor the accent for this in what is essentially a pre-Elvis world.

George and Ringo, bluntly, haven't the luxury of time and money that John
and Paul have; there's no skiffle so there's no affordable way of them to start playing in bands should they even want to. They will have to find work without the possibility of art school/college that Lennon and Macartney might enjoy.

Sometime, eventually, there will be an 'Elvis'. The Beatles were not star-crossed, however, and the perfect storm of coincidence and luck that greatness demands will pass them over without so much as a sound.

 

[flippikat]

I can actually see Lennon doing quite well for himself in journalism, now that you mention it; maybe he becomes a BBC anchor?

Interesting.. of course if he gets a job with the BBC in the 1960s, he may well encounter some great comedy writers.


Sure most of them were fresh out of university, but it was the '60s - barriers were coming down - and if John Lennon was creative enough to foot-it with the likes of Cleese, Idle, Palin etc.. he'd surely have a place at the table - see the OTL example of Terry Gilliam as an "outsider" joining the writing group, although very much left to his own devices..

Imagine the mayhem if John Lennon teamed-up with Marty Feldman!