The Beatles Don't Break Up in 1970 - A Timeline

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August 1970 - November 1970
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    • YellowSubmarine93

    August 26, 1970 - Brian Epstein releases a statement in the wake of some backlash from the comments John made about the Vietnam War. It says that while the rest of the group has known about John's views on the war for a long time, none of the other members or Epstein share that view.

    September 5, 1970 - Paul McCartney travels to the New York to support Badfinger on their tour of the US.

    September 22, 1970 - Due to one of Badfinger's opening acts not being able to show up to the concert in Pittsburgh, Paul reluctantly volunteers to become an impromptu opening act. He goes to the piano on stage and, with the help of another opening act, performs three songs, "Let It Be", "Hey Jude", and "Fool On The Hill". The crowd reacts quite positively to this and Paul comes to the realization that The Beatles should begin touring again.

    October 9, 1970 - John Lennon meets his father, Alf, for the final time at Tittenhurst Park.

    October 23, 1970 - "Across The Universe" b/w "Dig A Pony" is released in the UK as Apple R 5870. Both tracks are from the Let It Be album. The single version of the A-Side includes a backing choir and instruments not present on the album version. These were added by George Martin for possible inclusion on the album but were not approved by the group. The song goes to #1 to become their 19th such record in the UK.

    October 27, 1970 - "Across The Universe" b/w "Dig A Pony" is released in the US as Apple 2942. The record becomes their 24th #1 US hit.

    November 15, 1970 - Paul McCartney returns to England after supporting Badfinger's US tour.
     
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    • SavoyTruffle

    SavoyTruffle

    With the Beatles likely touring after they come back from hiatus, I see their subsequent albums being more "live-friendly" and less experimental.
     

    danmartin73

    SavoyTruffle said:
    With the Beatles likely touring after they come back from hiatus, I see their subsequent albums being more "live-friendly" and less experimental.
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    Yeah, I know Paul probably won't become a control freak, due to the other 3 members participating more in the band. But, I can kind of see the 70's Beatles following the OTL Wings' trajectory - live-friendly albums full of rock arena songs. I'm sure of which the boys will be ecstatic to play, considering not only that with better monitors, they will be able to hear themselves, but also because the audience will love singing along to a band that has been at the top for a decade, showing no signs of slowing down.
     

    cortz#9

    danmartin73 said:
    Yeah, I know Paul probably won't become a control freak, due to the other 3 members participating more in the band. But, I can kind of see the 70's Beatles following the OTL Wings' trajectory - live-friendly albums full of rock arena songs. I'm sure of which the boys will be ecstatic to play, considering not only that with better monitors, they will be able to hear themselves, but also because the audience will love singing along to a band that has been at the top for a decade, showing no signs of slowing down.
    Click to expand...
    I could see the Beatles continuing with the "Get Back" idea of a more raw hard rock sound, Lennon did this IOTL on the first Plastic Ono band and Paul was always a rocker at heart. I then could see them doing more as you put it arena rock and then going a little prog-rock.
    In other words they wouldn't stick to just one thing. I don't think they would go disco though, at least I sure as hell hope they don't.
     

    cortz#9

    Garrett_Cartoonist said:
    Ya don't like Silly Love Songs?
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    I'm not fond of that song but I don't consider that a disco song either, it's just a silly love song.

    danmartin73 said:
    Or Goodnight Tonight?
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    I don't consider that song a disco song either, you can dance to it but I don't consider it a disco song. Disco songs IMO usually have a lot of synthesizers, a drum machine, an artificial sound that's purely beat driven.
    Nothing Paul ever did falls under that category. IMO that is, you guy might disagree and there's nothing wrong with that.

    SavoyTruffle said:
    I can see Jet being a Beatles song TTL, funnily enough.
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    I could easily see that too and quite a few other songs by Macca and Wings like Junior's Farm, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Hi Hi Hi and Band on the Run.
    There are a lot of post-Beatles solo songs that could've easily been Beatles songs, because in a way they are, they were all written by Beatles.
     

    YellowSubmarine93

    No additions to the timeline tonight, but does anyone have any thoughts on the possible Apple signees? In case you missed them, they are Grand Funk Railroad, Crosby Stills & Nash, Fleetwood Mac, and The Four Tops.
     

    cortz#9

    YellowSubmarine93 said:
    No additions to the timeline tonight, but does anyone have any thoughts on the possible Apple signees? In case you missed them, they are Grand Funk Railroad, Crosby Stills & Nash, Fleetwood Mac, and The Four Tops.
    Click to expand...
    Well don't forget Badfinger and someone mentioned Bowie auditioned for Apple. Queen?
     

    arrowiv

    Yes, Queen and Bowie did approach Apple just when they were beginning their careers but were never signed, unfortunately.
     

    ejr1963

    YellowSubmarine93 said:
    June 6, 1970 - The Beatles release a statement to the press reinforcing the fact that they have not broken up. They announce that they will be taking a break from recording until the middle of the next year at the latest, citing that they have spent eight years almost constantly recording music. The members of the group will make appearances individually during that time. The statement is released eight years to the day from when they first recorded at the Abbey Road studios.

    June 15, 1970 - Paul McCartney travels to the US to supervise the mixing of CCR's upcoming album, Cosmo's Factory and discover other possible American bands to sign to Apple.

    June 20, 1970 - John Lennon and George Harrison travel to Greece to visit Aphrodite's Child.

    July 8, 1970 - Paul returns from the US and presents to the group four American bands that he is considering adding to the Apple roster. They are: Grand Funk Railroad, Crosby Stills & Nash, Fleetwood Mac, and The Four Tops.

    July 27, 1970 - James Paul McCartney II is born to Paul and Jane McCartney at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London. John Lennon and his mother Julia attend, as do Brian Epstein and Paul's brother Mike. Now all the members of The Beatles have children.

    August 23, 1970 - In an interview on ITV, John Lennon states that he is firmly against the Vietnam War. This is the first time he has spoken publicly on the subject. The statement makes waves on both sides of the Atlantic:
    Click to expand...

    Just a correction here - the guitar player (yes, I play guitar - I even played semi-pro in bands for a period of time) in me needs to state that Fleetwood Mac is really NOT an American band - especially during this time period, which was around the time that Peter Green (who was, and still is to an extent a fantastic guitar player [it's too bad that he wound up suffering from major mental illness, that basically wrecked his career]) was about to leave the band. The American element to the band didn't occur until after Peter Green left the band. As it stands, the majority of the band (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine Perfect/McVie are British), and they really didn't base themselves out of the US until Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham joined the band in 1974 (ugh!!!, cokehead era Fleetwood Mac!).
     
    SavoyTruffle

    SavoyTruffle

    tbh despite sharing a name and a rhythm section the Peter Green Fleetwood Mac and the Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac are pretty different bands. One's a blues rock outfit while the other's pop rock.
     
    December 1970 - January 1971 (AH newbie woes)
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    • YellowSubmarine93

    ejr1963 said:
    Just a correction here - the guitar player (yes, I play guitar - I even played semi-pro in bands for a period of time) in me needs to state that Fleetwood Mac is really NOT an American band - especially during this time period, which was around the time that Peter Green (who was, and still is to an extent a fantastic guitar player [it's too bad that he wound up suffering from major mental illness, that basically wrecked his career]) was about to leave the band. The American element to the band didn't occur until after Peter Green left the band. As it stands, the majority of the band (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Christine Perfect/McVie are British), and they really didn't base themselves out of the US until Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham joined the band in 1974 (ugh!!!, cokehead era Fleetwood Mac!).
    Click to expand...

    Thanks for pointing that out. I guess the list's down to just three bands then. Also, sorry everyone for the delay. I was previously using the timeline on beatlesbible.com as a sort-of template. But now that we are past the group's breakup in OTL, the training wheels are off, so to speak and I have to be more creative. Any advice on moving forward without a "template" will be greatly appreciated because as I mentioned in the beginning, this is my first foray into alternate history. Anyway, let's continue:

    December 5, 1970 - John Lennon attends a London club and sees a group performing there that immediately catches his interest. The group is led by a rather flamboyant lead singer with an operatic voice who also plays keyboards. John finds out that the group have been performing for only a few months and that they call themselves Queen.

    December 17, 1970 - The Beatles receive Grammy nominations for the Let It Be album and it's title track for Album and Record Of The Year respectively.

    January 1, 1971 - Crosby, Stills & Nash are formally signed to Apple Records.

    And, that's all I can do this time. Any help, guys?
     
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