The Beatles’ Secret Side Job In Hamburg Had Nothing to Do With Music
The Beatles grew up playing several residencies in Hamburg, Germany. And not just because George Harrison lost his virginity while his bandmates watched. The hours-long sets each night refined their skills and sharpened their edges as they cut through pop music conventions in the 1960s. Playing music was the main gig, but The Beatles had a secret side job in Hamburg’s Kaiserkeller club that didn’t require any musical talent.
The Beatles had a side job yelling curfew announcements at Hamburg’s Kaiserkeller club
Harrison once said The Beatles didn’t have a clue — about how to operate like a proper band or how to play live — until they went to Hamburg. Playing several sets a night there during multiple residencies between 1960 and 1962 helped make them the band they became.
The not-yet-Fab quartet started in the Indra, moved to the Kaiserkeller, played the Top Ten Club, and wrapped their residencies with multiple stints at Star-Club. While refining their musicianship, The Beatles performed a side job at the Kaiserkeller when 10 p.m. came around.
According to 150 Glimpses of The Beatles author Craig Brown, the band called out the nightly curfew reminder for the under-18 members of the crowd (in German): “It is twenty-two hours. We must now make a passport control. All youth under eighteen years must now leave this club.”
The club owners and authorities would have happily called curfew each night. By doing it instead, The Beatles displayed some deference to their hosts and showed some interest in living like the locals, even if it didn’t always seem that way.
The Beatles behaved like rock stars in Germany
George, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney made the most of their time away from Liverpool. The Beatles were young, unproven, and unsigned foreigners, and they behaved like it.
They drank heavily. The group ingested diet pills that helped them stay awake like they were potato chips. Harrison’s debut romp with the opposite sex wasn’t just a blip on the radar; the band frequently made liaisons with the local females, writes Brown.
The Beatles were hardly on their best behavior. Lennon once wore underwear and a toilet seat as a necklace — and nothing else — during a performance. That was after a bouncer broke up his make-out session with a lady by throwing cold water on John.
The group’s first manager was sure Lennon would get arrested in Germany eventually. He had the wrong guy. McCartney and Pete Best lit a condom on fire, got accused of attempted arson, were detained by the police, and got deported because of it.
They lived in squalor in Hamburg. George turned diva and refused to clean up his own vomit for several days. The stench and mess grew for days until someone else took care of it. Still, playing in Germany proved to be a crucial turning point for the band.
We might not have had the Fab Four without Hamburg
The misadventures in Germany might not be among the most important Beatles moments, but playing there was crucial for the band.
The first time Ringo Starr played with Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison happened in Hamburg. Their intense playing schedule paid off huge. They left Liverpool as a naive and unpracticed unit. When they arrived back in England for good in 1962, they were a tight crew that could hold their own with the best Liverpool bands.
Beyond the music, though, the band built camaraderie playing in Hamburg. Yelling the curfew announcement was a secret side job of The Beatles at Hamburg’s Kaiserkeller. The easy-going back-and-forth between them was a hidden skill they developed in Germany. Harrison missed that aspect of their Hamburg days.
The Beatles grew up in Hamburg. They might not have become the Fab Four as we know them without those intense stints in Germany. It was nowhere near as valuable as the constant live playing, but The Beatles’ side job of yelling the nightly curfew announcement showed their willingness to fit in with their surroundings.
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