The 500 - #307 - A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 307

Album Title: A Hard Day's Night

Artist: The Beatles

Genre: Pop-Rock, Rock, Beat

Recorded: EMI, London, UK & Pathe Marconi, Paris, France

Released: July, 1964

My age at release: Not Yet Born

How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, 263 (Moving up 44 places)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: And I Love Her

A Hard Day's Night was the third record by The Beatles. It was released in England at the height of Beatlemania on July 10, 1964, exactly one year and a day before I was born. It was released two weeks earlier in the U.S., with a slightly different track listing (including four instrumentals).

Album cover for the US release

There is a part of me that wishes I could have experienced Beatlemania – that wild period of anything goes and “I’m all right, Jack” that gripped the Western world between 1963 and 1966. It was a cultural upheaval and music revolution of a kind that might never happen again.

In the mid-90s, my beer league hockey team won the unlikely chance of playing at the renowned Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Before taking on our competitors we were given a guided tour by a local historian who shared fascinating stories about the famous building.

The iconic Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario

At a loading area at the back of the building the guide told us about the first time The Beatles played in the arena in 1964. It was where the group had been shuttled in a heavy-duty police van for protection. Earlier in the week, their limousine had been set upon by hundreds of female devotees who, seemingly against the laws of physics, managed to claw their fingers into the seams of the doors and rip them open. The four pop idols had their shirts torn from their bodies before escaping with the help of police.

On the day they made their Gardens debut, 4,000 police officers and Mounties were assigned to clear a five-block area around the arena for 12 hours.

A Hard Day's Night became a milestone in the Beatles’ compendium of hits. In contrast with their first two releases, it contained songs exclusively written by the Fab Four  – mainly John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Its issue coincided with the opening in movie theatres of a musical-comedy film by the same name, in which they starred.

My favourite bit of trivia about the film is that it features a young Phil Collins as an uncredited extra. Collins would go on to become the drummer and eventually the singer for one of my favourite bands, Genesis. He would also enjoy a massively successful solo career. I remain a little frustrated that there are no records from Genesis or Collins on The 500 list. I think The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or Selling England By The Pound have the artistic merit and Collins' No Jacket Required was a monster hit with smash singles that dominated the chart for most of 1985. Oh well -- as podcaster Josh Adam Meyers often says "we just accept the list....even when it's butt cheeks."

There are still seven more Beatles records on The 500 list, but we won't get to the next one until #53, Meet The Beatles. That's nearly five years I have to think of more things to say about the four Lads from Liverpool. No prob, mates.