Shake It Up, Baby!
The Rise of Beatlemania and the Mayhem of 1963
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected May 7, 2024
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- $20.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
A vivid, captivating account of the Beatles’s musical transformation throughout the pivotal year of 1963, as the world became caught up in the maelstrom of Beatlemania and its far-reaching cultural impact.
The Beatles broke up more than half a century ago, yet millions around the globe are still drawn to the legacy of four lads from Liverpool. From the carefree innocence of "A Hard Day's Night" to the experimental psychedelia of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” their message of love, peace, and hope still resonates.
In Shake It Up, Baby! we go back to the start—to 1963, when they went from playing in small clubs in the remote Scottish Highlands to four number one singles, two number one albums, three national tours, and being besieged by thousands of fans at gigs all over Britain.
Ken McNab tells the story through gripping, exclusive eye-witness accounts from those who were there: the Beatlemaniacs, the journalists, broadcasters, and television producers who were scrambling to make sense of it all—and the other bands who could only watch in awe as the Beatles went from bottom of the bill to headline act to the biggest band on the planet, forever transforming musical history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Music historian McNab (And in the End) delivers a granular chronicle of the Fab Four's breakout year, which began with the group in relative obscurity and concluded with "four number one singles, two number one albums" and three national tours." Moving month by month, McNab details the recording and release of the Beatles' debut album (Please Please Me) as well as a game-changing single ("She Loves You"), and the fervor that had fans fainting at concerts. Though McNab sheds some light on developments in the band members' personal lives—including John Lennon's marriage to Cynthia Lennon and Paul McCartney's burgeoning romance with Jane Asher, both of which the group's management sought to downplay in the media—he devotes most of the account to TV and radio appearances; contract deliberations; concert set lists; and sketches of the drivers, photographers, and managers in the band's orbit. The profusion of granular detail is both a strength and a weakness: it provides a revealing behind-the-scenes look into the Fab Four's day-to-day, but bogs down the narrative and distances readers from the buzz surrounding the group. Still, Beatles superfans eager for new trivia will want to pick this up.
