SPRING 2026 MUS 354 Unit 1: In the Beginning (1958 - 1963) LECTURE 6: GEORGE
MARTIN AND RINGO STARR Arizona State University
Unit 1: In the Beginning (1958 - 1963)
Lecture 6: George Martin and Ringo Starr
, Audio Lecture
Featured Songs
• "Love Me Do"
• "How Do You Do It"
Clip:
I mentioned to you that Paul had made the transition out of base. This was because Stu Sutcliffe had
unfortunately passed away at a very young age. While living in West Germany with his fiancé Astrid
Kircher, he takes ill and passes away from a brain hemorrhage, still in his early 20s. Astrid was
quite a good photographer and was part of the French existential art student scene there, and it
seemed some art students were wearing their hair in a bowl cut style, and she cut Stu's hair that
way, and so did the Beatles themselves wearing that haircut when they returned from Germany.
The Beatles do return for 48 nights in Germany, and Brian Upside is still shopping their demo tape
around. But every major record company including Decca Pie, Columbia HMV, and even the major
band of BMI Records turn the Beatles down. Thankfully, a small arm of BMI, Harlephone Records,
and George Martin will take interest in this group. The fortuitous meeting of Brian Upside and
George Martin came about when Brian was getting his tape of the Beatles transferred to an acetate
for a record. The gentleman who was doing that process, the engineer, likely heard, and he pointed
Brian in the direction of George Martin. George Martin was written for BMI with a small label I
mentioned called Parlophone who was putting out comedy records and light classical. George
Martin, born in 1926, was the Beatles' senior by a good 14 years, and was very well versed in
professional music, having a degree from the Gilholtz School and being adept at keyboards and
oboe. He was the one who could translate anything the Beatles could sing or think of into notation
for other musicians such as flute clarinets, strings, who would later join the Beatles and enhance
their sound. In all honesty, George Martin signed a group without even hearing them in June of
1962 simply to do something new. His records with The Gooming Show and Peter Sellers were
decent-sounding records—in fact, the Beatles themselves listened to these comedy albums— but
George Martin was searching for some new musical direction himself and his interest was aroused
just from the phone conversation with Brian about this new musical group—the Beatles— now
having changed their name to this permanently and adding Paul on bass permanently. The set-up:
John Paul George and Pete. With John and George doing guitars, Paul on bass, and Pete on drums. So
on June 6th of 1962 the group makes its debut at EMONI Studios for Parlophone Records and they
meet George Martin. The engineer at the session when Smith was running the board said: Your
sound didn't impress us! They were pretty bad! We had adjusted our amplifiers for them! They
came in singing silly songs like Best Amy Mucho! But they had some originals—"PS I Love You"—
and Ask Me Why that were pretty good! That was when we got talking to them. That was the
fascinating part. The Beatles got the recording contract because of their conversation. Orrin Smith
goes on: Let's be honest they're enthusiastic. They had presence, not because of their music at this
point. During that one conversation with them in the booth, we realized there was something
special. The story of George Martin and the Beatles' relationship was one that started out a bit
MARTIN AND RINGO STARR Arizona State University
Unit 1: In the Beginning (1958 - 1963)
Lecture 6: George Martin and Ringo Starr
, Audio Lecture
Featured Songs
• "Love Me Do"
• "How Do You Do It"
Clip:
I mentioned to you that Paul had made the transition out of base. This was because Stu Sutcliffe had
unfortunately passed away at a very young age. While living in West Germany with his fiancé Astrid
Kircher, he takes ill and passes away from a brain hemorrhage, still in his early 20s. Astrid was
quite a good photographer and was part of the French existential art student scene there, and it
seemed some art students were wearing their hair in a bowl cut style, and she cut Stu's hair that
way, and so did the Beatles themselves wearing that haircut when they returned from Germany.
The Beatles do return for 48 nights in Germany, and Brian Upside is still shopping their demo tape
around. But every major record company including Decca Pie, Columbia HMV, and even the major
band of BMI Records turn the Beatles down. Thankfully, a small arm of BMI, Harlephone Records,
and George Martin will take interest in this group. The fortuitous meeting of Brian Upside and
George Martin came about when Brian was getting his tape of the Beatles transferred to an acetate
for a record. The gentleman who was doing that process, the engineer, likely heard, and he pointed
Brian in the direction of George Martin. George Martin was written for BMI with a small label I
mentioned called Parlophone who was putting out comedy records and light classical. George
Martin, born in 1926, was the Beatles' senior by a good 14 years, and was very well versed in
professional music, having a degree from the Gilholtz School and being adept at keyboards and
oboe. He was the one who could translate anything the Beatles could sing or think of into notation
for other musicians such as flute clarinets, strings, who would later join the Beatles and enhance
their sound. In all honesty, George Martin signed a group without even hearing them in June of
1962 simply to do something new. His records with The Gooming Show and Peter Sellers were
decent-sounding records—in fact, the Beatles themselves listened to these comedy albums— but
George Martin was searching for some new musical direction himself and his interest was aroused
just from the phone conversation with Brian about this new musical group—the Beatles— now
having changed their name to this permanently and adding Paul on bass permanently. The set-up:
John Paul George and Pete. With John and George doing guitars, Paul on bass, and Pete on drums. So
on June 6th of 1962 the group makes its debut at EMONI Studios for Parlophone Records and they
meet George Martin. The engineer at the session when Smith was running the board said: Your
sound didn't impress us! They were pretty bad! We had adjusted our amplifiers for them! They
came in singing silly songs like Best Amy Mucho! But they had some originals—"PS I Love You"—
and Ask Me Why that were pretty good! That was when we got talking to them. That was the
fascinating part. The Beatles got the recording contract because of their conversation. Orrin Smith
goes on: Let's be honest they're enthusiastic. They had presence, not because of their music at this
point. During that one conversation with them in the booth, we realized there was something
special. The story of George Martin and the Beatles' relationship was one that started out a bit
