Chapter 3: Paint It Black (June 1966 - May 1967)

12 June 1966

The London Underground is not just a public transport system; it was the British equivalent to the hippie subculture of the United States with its own magazines, clubs, newspapers, lifestyles, and of course, music groups. Among those groups was Pink Floyd, consisting of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason, and they were to be among the select few of the London Underground that was destined for greater things.

Pink Floyd, 1966.

The band had played several venues during the mid-1960s but had not released an official album, save for a few recordings such as "Lucy Leave" and a cover version of "I'm a King Bee". Syd Barrett was the primary song writer with Roger Waters making his own occasional contributions, as did Richard Wright and Nick Mason. Fate would soon bestow the quartet on that concert in June at the Marquee Club in London.

NORMAN SMITH: "It was the twelfth of June when I first attended a show by Pink Floyd - then known as Pink Floyd Sound - as part of an invitation from a friend. The Beatles were working on the final recordings for their seventh long play, Abracadabra, unaware of the controversy that would bestow them in America. Listening to Pink Floyd do their thing, I felt that they had potential to be one of the biggest bands in the world. After they finished up their set, I asked to have a personal audience with them backstage, and the rest is history." (Synesthesia: A Taste of Music[1], 2007)

ROGER WATERS: "Syd and I were surprised that a record producer, of all people, wanted an audience with us, much less someone who was associated with the Beatles. Still, Norm seemed like a nice guy to talk to, and we spoke about many things like the changing music scene and whatnot." (1984)

1 January 1967

Pink Floyd signing with EMI Records, 1966.

Per Norman Smith's invitation, Pink Floyd (having dropped "Sound" from their name) were signed up to EMI Records by the end of 1966[2], and come New Year's Day, they had begun the framework for what was to be their first album, Projection.

NICK MASON: "Roger and Syd had written up some new material by then; they'd wanted to put out a double album with all the material we had, including the stuff written back in '65. Norm had other ideas, and insisted on a single album instead." (1979)

RICHARD WRIGHT: "[Projection] is practically an album of two sides; the first featuring self-contained songs, and the other's an instrumental jam we mucked around with." (1969)

NORMAN SMITH: "They had a lot of ideas for Projection, but some would eventually find their way onto future albums. It was at times exhausting to work with them, especially Syd, who was very loud and outspoken. Rick was quite cooperative, however, as were Nick and Roger to an extent. Following George Martin's shoes, I knew how to keep those boys in line. They've always been a good lot, they were." (2007)

The cover for Pink Floyd's debut single, "Arnold Layne".

One of the new songs written for Projection was Barrett's "Arnold Layne", about a transvestite man with a fascination with women's clothing. "Hilarious, and yet controversial all at once," Waters recalled. (1994) The single was released ahead of the album for a 10 March release with "Candy and a Currant Bun" as its B-side. The lyrics of the A-side would result in a radio ran, but it still managed to reach #20 in the United Kingdom, later becoming a cult classic in the Pink Floyd catalog.

21 March 1967
During a day off from the sessions, Pink Floyd decided to visit the studio next to them, and there, they witnessed the Beatles recording "Lovely Rita" for a new project they had dubbed Merseyside[3]. Nick Mason recalled the encounter "as if we had met God in a way, or something else that was out of the ordinary." (2006)

PAUL McCARTNEY: "We were very surprised to see Pink Floyd come into our studio whilst we did "Rita". They were nice blokes and all, even if Syd was a bit eccentric. They stayed a bit longer by the time John went up on the rooftops whilst on acid with Syd."[4] (1989)

GEORGE MARTIN: "Both John and Syd were making quite a ruckus when I went to check up on them. They weren't hitting each other, thankfully, but they were making a lot of noise and jumping about. I looked over the edge and saw some kids gazing up waiting for more of their nonsense. 'They seem to be enjoying the show both of you are putting on,' I told them. They both stopped to look at me, and then Syd turned to John and said, 'How do you feel about playing on stage together?'" (2000)

JOHN LENNON: "I don't fully remember [Pink] Floyd coming to see us in the studio. We got lots of visitors in the studio, so they might've turned up, but I can't remember. Lysergic can mess with yer head like that." (1969)

Even though John Lennon didn't remember his first meeting with Pink Floyd at the time, he still fancied the idea of playing with them on stage.

5 May 1967

Pink Floyd - Projection

Released: 5 May 1967

Recorded: January - April 1967

Producer: Norman Smith

Track listing[5]

Side A

Lucy Leave
Arnold Layne
Remember Me
Walk with Me Sydney
Butterfly
Candy and a Currant Bun

Side B

Interstellar Overdrive

Pink Floyd's debut album, Projection, was released to generally positive reviews, topping at #10 in the United Kingdom. The sound was a lot rougher in contrast to the more polished sound of recent releases such as Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced and the Rolling Stones' Between the Buttons, the latter of whom Pink Floyd was compared to sonically. Retrospective reviews would also compare Projection to the Velvet Underground's debut collaboration with Nico, produced by Andy Warhol.

For their future albums, Syd Barrett had wanted Pink Floyd to "sound less like the Rolling Stones, and more like Pink Floyd" (1967). That was a goal they would indeed achieve with their sophomore effort, as well as a brief tour with one of the biggest bands in the world...

Footnotes

1. OTL's John Lennon Called Me Normal, published March 16, 2007.
2. Pink Floyd has attracted the music industry in 1967, not 1966. A point of divergence indirectly caused by the release of the Rolling Stones' Could You Walk on the Water?.
3. OTL's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
4. Pink Floyd did indeed come to see the Beatles record "Lovely Rita". It was also around the time during the overdubs of "Getting Better" that John went onto the rooftop on acid. Syd Barrett never joined him up there, nor did he suggest playing together at a show.
5. Tracks from Side A are sourced from 1965: Their First Recordings and The Early Singles. "Interstellar Overdrive" is the almost-17 minute version taken from the 1990 edition of Tonite Lets All Make Love in London and takes up the entirety of Side B.

Author's Comments

We're still dipping a bit into 1966, but soon we'll be in the thick of 1967 were things really start to change. Whether they be for better or for worse, your stance will vary. Be prepared to suspend some disbelief as we delve into the next chapter of Phase One...

Chapter 2: God Only Knows (May - November 1966)

16 May 1966

The cover for the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, released May 1966.

Ever since Beatlemania first began in the United States, there had been rumors about a "rivalry" with the American rock band, the Beach Boys, which consisted of the Wilson brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine, as well as newbie Bruce Johnston, having joined the band in 1965. The Beach Boys' eleventh long play, Pet Sounds, was released on the 16th of May, 1966. Brian Wilson, who had written much of the music with assistance from Love and Tony Asher, wanted to make it a statement similar to what the Beatles had done with Rubber Soul five months previous, even admitting to have enjoyed the album.

DENNIS WILSON: "We were impressed the way [Rubber Soul] all went together, the way it was all one thing, Brian especially. It was a challenge to him to attempt something similar, that made him, and by extension, us, want to make Pet Sounds." (1980)

Despite the promotion as being "the most progressive pop album ever", critical response was lukewarm, and Pet Sounds topped at #10 in the United States, and stalled at #2 in the United Kingdom, where it was far more successful. An outtake off of the album, "Good Vibrations", would later be released as a single in October.

The Beach Boys in 1966.

14 June - 8 July 1966
When Paul McCartney and John Lennon first listened to Pet Sounds, the former went off to write the track "Here, There and Everywhere" as a response, even citing "God Only Knows" as his favorite off the album. Credited as always to Lennon/McCartney, the track was recorded towards the end of the sessions for Abracadabra, an album that was now being hyped up as "something magical". There was even the possibility of the track being released as a single off of the album, but two other tracks, "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine", were instead chosen as a double A-side.

The sessions were concluded a week later, shortly after the release of Yesterday and Today in America. No sooner was the mixing for Abracadabra done, the Beatles were now playing a couple of shows in Germany for the first time since 1962. Shortly after that, they were on their way to Japan to play at Nippon Budokan, opened 1964.

GEORGE HARRISON: "Everywhere we were going, there was a demonstration about one thing or another. In America, the race riots were going on when Beatlemania had come to town. In Japan, there were student riots; plus, people were demonstrating because the [Nippon] Budokan - where we were playing - was supposed to be a special spiritual hall reserved for martial arts. So, in the Budokan, only violence and spirituality were approved of, not pop music." (The Beatles Anthology, 2000)

The Beatles performing at the Nippon Budokan, July 1966.

The band's arrival in Japan was something of a shock, to say the least. Everything was organized, and they were constantly surrounded by security to obey every one of their commands. When they played their five shows on 30 June, 1 and 2 July, the crowd was very respectful and applauded when they finished performing a song. But the band's performance on the 30 June show was not as good as it could have been because they had gotten used to not hearing themselves play their music due to the crowd noise. For the remaining shows, they performed far better.

If one thought the Beatles performing at Budokan was controversial, it would pale in comparison to what happened in the Philippines. The band had been separated from Brian Epstein, Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans at the airport and their luggage was left behind on the runway, hastily dragged to a press conference to the headquarters of the Philippines Navy at the Port of Manila.

On 4 July, the band was invited to a party hosted by Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos in their honor at Malacañang Palace. Epstein had declined the invitation on the band's behalf, but Marcos had not taken kindly to being refused an invitation, and the event was all over on television. At both shows taking place on the 4th and 5th, the Beatles could hear some audience members jeering them for snubbing their First Lady, and getting to the airport for their flight to Delhi, India proved a nightmare for all involved.

JOHN LENNON: "'You treat like ordinary passenger! Ordinary passenger!' they were saying. We were saying: 'Ordinary passenger? He doesn't get kicked, does he?'" (recalling the appalling treatment the Beatles received at Manila Airport, 1966)

RINGO STARR: "We had fantasies that we were going to be put in jail, because it was a dictatorship there in those days, not a democracy. You lose your rights in a dictatorship, no matter who you are. So we weren't going to get off the plane. [Epstein, Evans, and Tony Barrow] were allowed back on, and that was my first and last time in Manila." (The Beatles Anthology, 2000)

The Beatles went sightseeing in India on 7 July, Ringo's 26th birthday. The trip was very relaxing in contrast to all the chaos that had went on in Japan and the Philippines, with George Harrison even buying a sitar, but the next day, they were back in England, unaware of yet another controversy on their tails...

14 July 1966

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath

Released: 14 July 1966

Recorded: 6-9 March 1966

Producer: Andrew Oldham

Track listing[1]

Side A

Paint It Black
Stupid Girl
Lady Jane
Under My Thumb
What To Do
Long Long While

Side B

Flight 505
High and Dry
It's Not Easy
I Am Waiting
Out of Time

The Rolling Stones' fifth British album (seventh according to American discography) was backed by the lead single "Paint It Black" along with its B-side "If You Let Me". This was the second consecutive album following Could You Walk on the Water? in which all tracks were composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

CHARLIE WATTS: "Walk on the Water and Aftermath sort of feel like Volume 1 and 2. They could've easily been a double album in their own right, and it would still be great." (1986)

Aftermath was stalled at #15 in the United States and only managed to reach #2 in the United Kingdom. Being released off the heels of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde meant that Aftermath got lost in the shuffle in America, not helping that religious folks were protesting the title of Could You Walk on Water? for references to Jesus Christ. But for the worlds of religion and rock music, that was just the tip of the iceberg...

1 - 29 August 1966

The Beatles - Abracadabra

Released: 5 August 1966

Recorded: 6 April - 21 June 1966

Producer: George Martin

Track listing[2]

Side A

Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
She Said, She Said
For No One
I Want to Tell You
And Your Bird Can Sing
Got to Get You Into My Life

Side B

Yellow Submarine
Doctor Robert
Good Day Sunshine
Love You To
I'm Only Sleeping
Here, There and Everywhere
Tomorrow Never Knows

The Beatles' seventh album, Abracadabra, is considered a masterpiece today, but upon release in America - excluding the tracks "And Your Bird Can Sing", "Doctor Robert", and "I'm Only Sleeping", due to already being featured on Yesterday and Today - there was a big outcry from religious and social conservatives, including the Ku Klux Klan, over John Lennon's comments about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus" from March. The quote appeared in an article in The New York Times Magazine on July 3 around the time of the protests against the title of Could You Walk on the Water?. That was what blew things up.

When Abracadabra was released the following month alongside the "Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine" single, religious people accused the band of being witches and burned many records, even claiming that the music contained references to the occult and Satan worship. The movement had only just begun when a teenager committed suicide on August 6 whilst listening to the album and his body was later found by his friend. The controversy was so great that Epstein had considered cancelling the Beatles' American tour, and even accused both The New York Times and Datebook (having republished the article in late July) for taking Lennon's words out of context.

BRIAN EPSTEIN: "There were no 'hidden messages' they implanted on their latest album [Abracadabra]. They had summoned no spirits of Robert Johnson, Buddy Holly, or Glenn Miller, much less any otherworldly creatures such as ghosts or demons. I do apologize on their behalf to those with vivid imaginations, but all the Beatles do is play music." (responding to the controversy about Abracadabra having hidden messages, 1966)

Bruce Morrow interviewing the Beatles, 1966.

JOHN LENNON: "If I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." (1966)

The Beatles' American tour began on August 11, under the condition that they had extra security; even Paul McCartney, usually the most enthusiastic about touring, was frightened about getting hurt. Although Lennon would apologize for offending religious people, this did little to stop protests and disturbances during the tour. Despite the extra security, at the Memphis show on the 19th, a couple of men were killed during riots, and many protesters arrested. A firecracker had even been set off onstage.

The last show was in San Francisco on the 29th. George Harrison had thought about leaving the band for good, but he stayed with the others on the condition that the Beatles would carry on as a studio band. Many rock journalists would forever remember 1966 as The Year Rock Fought Religion, but despite the infamous legacy that Abracadabra had left behind - in the form of a dent on the Beatles' popularity - it was still considered to be influential to the scope of pop music in terms of the range of musical styles featured, with many critics even ranking Abracadabra as their greatest album ever made. Some preferred Abracadabra to Pet Sounds, which made Brian Wilson determined to try and top them once again with an ambitious project he dubbed Smile, aimed for a January 1967 release under Capitol Records.

September - November 1966
The stress over all the controversy that summer had taken its toll on the Beatles, and some journalists believed that they were breaking up because of the terrors they had faced. Epstein had denied those claims, saying that they just need a break to refresh their minds.

John would head off to Spain with director Richard Lester to film the latter's satirical military flick, How I Won The War, starring alongside Michael Crawford and Roy Kinnear. Ringo stayed at home with his family, but would later come to visit John in Spain that October. George and his wife Pattie would travel to India for a month, and Paul would work with Beatles producer George Martin for the soundtrack to the drama/comedy film The Family Way.

John Lennon as Private Gripweed in How I Won The War, 1967.

The Beatles would regroup 24 November to begin recording for their next album, with a concept in mind concerning their childhoods. It's nothing to get hung about.

Footnotes

1. All tracks taken from the American version of Aftermath, excluding "Out of Time", taken from the UK version, and "What To Do" and "Long Long While", both taken from More Hot Rock (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies).
2. All tracks taken from Revolver.

Author's Comments

So now we're getting to where the story really begins to kick off; in 1966, there wasn't a whole lot that changed apart from the religious controversy in America being worse, mostly due to the Rolling Stones choosing to have Walk on the Water released despite the title. That's the story's main point of divergence, and even when many bands don't see it coming, they do get affected one way or another.

I've got the next eight chapters planned out, taking this story all the way up to the end of 1968. If you have some suggestions for how things might be changed, just tell me. I've got some ideas in mind for the Yardbirds and the Zombies...

Chapter 1: Like a Rolling Stone (December 1965 - June 1966)

3 December 1965

The cover for the Beatles' Rubber Soul album, released December 1965.

The Beatles' sixth British long play, Rubber Soul, had been released on EMI's Parlophone label in the United Kingdom, and on the Capitol label in the United States three days later. Sales were huge, and the album was already on the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic. It was the band's second album after A Hard Day's Night to consist entirely of original compositions - eleven were by the famous songwriting duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with a twelfth ("What Goes On") credited alongside their drummer Ringo Starr, and the remaining two ("Think for Yourself," "If I Needed Someone") credited to George Harrison. No singles had been off of the album, although the non-album songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" - both released as a double A-side - were big hits on their own.

Rubber Soul's sound was largely influenced by the work of the Byrds and Bob Dylan, the latter of whom they had met the previous year. Harrison had also met with Byrd member David Crosby in the summer of 1965, who had introduced the junior Beatle to the music of Ravi Shankar. It was Shankar's influence on Harrison that inspired the sitar on "Norwegian Wood."

But it wasn't just the Beatles who were making it big outside of their native England. Rival band the Rolling Stones, fronted by Mick Jagger, had received success by keeping up with contemporaries like the Beatles themselves, Bob Dylan, the Kinks, the Byrds, the Who, and the Beach Boys by composing their own material. Jagger and Keith Richards had together penned Top 10 hits such as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "As Tears Go By," and "Get Off of My Cloud."

The Rolling Stones at Franklin Canyon Park in Los Angeles, December 1965.

Just as the Beatles had come out with Rubber Soul, the Rolling Stones began to work on the material Jagger and Richards had composed during their North American tour that autumn, and within a week, they had completed nine tracks including future hit "19th Nervous Breakdown" plus an outtake from the previous album Out of Our Heads, "Lookin' Tired." Featuring a new sound arranged by Brian Jones, the album was set to be released on 10 March 1966.

12 February - 10 March 1966
KEITH RICHARDS: "All of us were feeling good about the release of our next album. Even now, I think it was some of the best music we'd ever done." (1980)

Andrew Oldham, the Stones' manager and producer, quickly assembled the album together for a rush release, and to be backed by a February single, "19th Nervous Breakdown." The album title he had proposed was to be Could You Walk on the Water?. However, the superiors of Decca Records, the label that had rejected the Beatles in 1962, were reluctant to even release an album with that title, out of concern that it would offend the religious folk of America.

MICK JAGGER: "It was just ridiculous, really. I mean, Decca wouldn't release an album all because of the title? Andrew [Oldham] could've simply given the title Thou Shalt Not Waste Sperm and it wouldn't have made much of a difference." (2006)

ANDREW OLDHAM: "Decca kept on telling me that they'd never issue it with that title [Could You Walk on the Water?] at any price, but I kept convincing them to release the album regardless. When I informed the boys about the potential cancellation, Mick wrote a rather explicit letter to them, saying that if they won't release the album, they'd leave the label and instead move on to Capitol or something like that. 'Who cares what the title is as long as our fans buy it?' he said to them." (1994)

Not happy at the threat one of their biggest money makers had sent them, Decca reluctantly released the Rolling Stones' fourth (sixth, according to the American discography) long play, Could You Walk on the Water?. Despite the initial fears of American Christians raising a fuss over the title, Walk on the Water proved a commercial success, further affirmed by "19th Nervous Breakdown" reaching #1 in the United Kingdom, but stalled at #2 in America. The single's B-side, "Mother's Little Helper," reached #8 in America.

The Rolling Stones - Could You Walk on the Water?

Released: 10 March 1966 (UK); April 15, 1966 (US)

Recorded: 3-8 December 1965 (except "Lookin' Tired," recorded 6 September)

Producer: Andrew Oldham

Track listing[1]

Side A

19th Nervous Breakdown

Sad Day

Take It or Leave It

Think

Mother's Little Helper

Side B

Goin' Home

Sittin' on a Fence

Doncha Bother Me

Ride on Baby

Lookin' Tired

Could You Walk on the Water? had initially been released in England first, and was later released in America on April 15. By that time, the Rolling Stones were working on a new batch of songs that included "Paint It Black," "Flight 505," "Lady Jane," and "Under My Thumb." They had been recorded over a four day period shortly before Walk on the Water's release, and were slated for a July release under the title Aftermath - Mick Jagger's piss-take on the arguments with Decca concerning Walk on the Water's title.

How appropriate the title would become in hindsight come summer...

21 January - 20 June 1966
JOHN LENNON: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." (to Maureen Cleave, 1966)

That March, Evening Standard journalist Maureen Cleave interviewed each of the four Beatles for a weekly series of articles titled "How Does a Beatle Live?" Lennon was the first Beatle she interviewed on the 4th, followed by Starr, Harrison and McCartney on the 11th, 18th, and 25th, respectively. When the interview with Lennon was published, there was no public reaction from the United Kingdom. At the time, Lennon had been speaking the truth; church attendance in 1966 was in decline. However, some reporters pointed out that Lennon had made his comments regarding religion close to the same time the Rolling Stones had put out Could You Walk on the Water?, but at the time, it was simply regarded as a coincidence.

The Beatles in 1966.

The band's manager, Brian Epstein, had planned for 1966 to carry on with a pattern that had been set for the previous two years - a feature film and an accompanying album, and then concert tours during the summer months. Following their displeasure with the end product of their second film Help!, the Beatles voted against a third live action film, and instead chose to focus on personal lives. During this three-month break, on 21 January, George Harrison married his girlfriend Pattie Boyd at Epsom register office, with Paul McCartney serving as his best man.

Following the hiatus, the Beatles began the recording sessions for their seventh album, tentatively titled Abracadabra. Sixteen songs were recorded during the sessions, the first being John Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows" (but credited to Lennon/McCartney), which took influence from Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Other tracks would include Harrison's "Taxman" and "I Want to Tell You," Lennon's "She Said She Said," "And Your Bird Can Sing," and "Doctor Robert," and McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby," "Got to Get You Into My Life," and "Here, There and Everywhere," plus a track for Ringo to sing, "Yellow Submarine." The sessions even included the non-album single "Paperback Writer"/"Rain."

Prior to the start of the sessions, photographer Robert Whitaker took pictures of the band for their next American album, Yesterday and Today. When the album was released on June 20, 1966, reaction to the cover was largely negative. Lennon later stated that this was a commentary by the Beatles against the ongoing war with Vietnam, but some sources say that it was a response to Capitol Records for "butchering" the original British long plays. The now infamous "butcher cover" was quickly replaced by a photograph of the Beatles surrounding a trunk with McCartney sitting inside of it.

The original, infamous "butcher cover" for the Beatles' American album Yesterday and Today.

Despite the controversy surrounding the "butcher cover", the non-album single "Paperback Writer" managed to reach #1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and was noted for having a much harder sound compared to earlier material such as "She Loves You" and "Can't Buy Me Love."

PAUL McCARTNEY: "I'd had a thought for a song and somehow it was to do with the Daily Mail so there might have been an article in the Mail that morning about people writing paperbacks. Penguin paperbacks was what I really thought of, the archetypal paperback." (describing "Paperback Writer" in Barry Miles' Many Years from Now, 1997)

The B-side, "Rain," featured backwards recording that was played by accident when Lennon played the master tape in reverse. The single was the first sign that the Beatles were exploring uncharted territory, but it was not going to be without further controversy surrounding the famous Liverpudlians...

Footnotes

1. Could You Walk on the Water? had originally been planned for a March 1966 release, but it was cancelled and instead replaced by the compilation Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass). However, some tracks ended up being released on Aftermath in April, whilst others came out as non-singles. The above track listing was meant to be the final listing before Decca pulled the plug.

Author's Comments

So here it is; the first official chapter of the Strawberry Peppers series. When it comes to making albums that didn't happen for various reasons, I like to make up stories surrounding them. Unlike many album re-constructors online, I don't go into full depth as to why I picked the songs the way I did. But I will, however, list sources that the songs came from so you can reconstruct the albums for yourself. In the case of Could You Walk on the Water?, I didn't feel the need to since most of them (barring "Lookin' Tired") are available on the official albums.

In addition, I've chosen to include images of the people involved during this period to add a sense of realism alongside the interview snippets I wrote up (apart from the John and Paul quotes, of course, which they actually said in real life). The series will be a sort of mixed format; whilst it will mostly focus on alternate albums, there will also be chapters and/or sections focusing on the culture surrounding them, and each chapter will be named for a song that was released during or before a specific time period. Think of it as like a soundtrack to go along with the story.

Overall, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I have so far, as well as suggestions for improvement and additions I could make.

Prologue: In My Life

13 July 1985 - Liverpool, England

I groaned inwardly as that bloody alarm clock set off. I swear, if I had me way, they wouldn't exist. Reluctantly, I stretched out one of my arms to stop that damned clock and let gravity bring my arm down, almost touching the floor. I was tempted to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. Wembley was four hours away, and we could not afford to dillydally. Even though we were going to be playing in the evening.

So. I pulled the covers off of me, making sure that my wife didn't wake up and went off to the bathroom to get cleaned and dressed.

I looked up at myself in the mirror. I had to shave, so that was the first thing I did. As you get older, more facial hair comes up through the skin, making your face go long. And then something about eggs and walruses - you already know the lyrics to that, I'm sure.

I still find it hard to imagine how much things have changed in the last three decades. On the railways, trains were pulled by engines powered by steam, and now they were run by diesel or electric. Vinyl records were now starting to go out of fashion in favor of compact discs. Automobiles have become faster and more fuel efficient. Movies now have more advanced special effects, and they're in colour all the time. Same thing for television, in fact. Some places remained where they were; others had been demolished to make way for the new. Some friends that I knew had passed on, but others are still living, and I still love them all.

But the biggest change of them all has been the music.

Back in the 1950s, a time when we had Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, you name it, the music was far simpler. Even with brass instruments. It was all about the guitars and the voice. Music had changed a lot since; more use with synthesizers, more studio experiments, bigger stage productions - it's music, for crying out loud, not Broadway!

And yet, I feel like we hadn't changed a lot from what we were twenty years previous. Alright, that may not be completely true - we've all married, raised families, but still love one another regardless - but what's never changed, even when we were apart for nearly a decade, is that we were still part of the biggest band from the 60s.

I'd soon gotten myself showered and had some brekkie with Maddy, and by 8:00, we were walking outside our hotel to where the others and their respective families were waiting. Ringo was with his ex-wife Maureen, their three kids Zak, Jason and Lee, plus Zak's wife and daughter. In the Ringed One's arm was his new wife Babs. Sadly, her kids Francesca and Gianni couldn't be there.

George and his wife Livvy had their little boy Dhani in between them. Pattie wasn't there either, as she was already at Wembley with Eric. Paul and Linda were surrounded by their kids Mary, Stella, and Jimmy. Linda's oldest, Heather, was talking to Julian, my first-born son. They'd grown close in the past few years; a bit like meself and Paul, only they're more like cousins rather than brother and sister if you know what I mean.

Speaking of, Cynthia was there as well with my second-born son Freddie and little girl Alice. As for Yoko, you ask? Well, it's complicated, let's just say that.

They were all talking and laughing together, which warmed my heart to no end. The Beatles were not just a music group; they were a family, and nothing could spoil that.

Paul was the first to notice my arrival. "Ah, good morning, John," he said to me. "You ready for Wembley?" I nodded and smiled, as if to say "yes."

Introduction

There is a small following on Blogger for alternate rock albums and histories. Amidst them, there's Uncle Dan's What If - Misc. that tackles his Melancholia series, as well as Half-Off which reduces double albums like The Wall or Quadrophenia into single albums. Paul's Albums That Should Exist fills gaps in many artists' discographies. AEC of Albums Back from the Dead comes up with albums that never actually existed. Scott G comes up with Alternate Albums and More, and The Reconstructor goes for interesting approaches when it comes to alternate albums. In addition, we have Albums Forgotten Reconstructed, Albums I Wish Existed, and LP RE-construction Discussion, as well as a discontinued blog known as Album Fixer. None of them would have happened without soniclovenoize's Albums That Never Were, but even before that, Uncle Dan wrote up his own alternate Beatles story back in 2009/2010.

But where does the story of Strawberry Peppers fall into all of this? Well, taking inspiration from the aforementioned blogs, as well as a website called Alternate History, I'd begun to shape an alternate universe Beatles story where in the 1970s, they split into two groups with Paul on one side and John, George and Ringo on the other. The genesis of that came from a playlist I'd intended to be a one-off called A Night at the Rock Show, which drew from Paul's Venus and Mars album from 1975, as well as the lead vocal tracks by Brian May ("'39," "Good Company") and Roger Taylor ("I'm in Love with My Car") from Queen's A Night at the Opera. But eventually, it grew to become a timeline all in its own, and the rest, as you'll soon see, is history. Alternate history, that is.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Strawberry Peppers.