#band dynamics

So when Norman writes Paul joining the Quarrymen, he’s bitchy about it: carefully deploying quotes to say that Paul was big-headed, he was catty, he bitched about how the others played, he was a Machiavellian plotter. When you compare it to interviews or memoirs from the surviving Quarrymen, it becomes clear that Norman was cherrypicking; they’ve got good and bad things to say about John, Paul, George, and each other, including plenty of positive memories of Paul. I’ve certainly seen posts debunking Norman by comparing sources (or just by giggling over his image of Paul as bossy baby diva.)

But that still frames the early days in Norman’s terms: it’s still asking Precisely How Annoying Was Teenaged Paul McCartney? The story you don’t get, and which is surprisingly rare in Beatle narratives, is this one: Paul joined the Quarrymen, and transformed its musical standards (not least by bringing in George). He joined a ramshackle skiffle group whose lead singer couldn’t tune his guitar and whose two guitarists could only play in banjo chords. Next thing you know, they’re the kind of band whose members will go on multi-bus odysseys across Liverpool in search of a new chord.

Acknowledging that isn’t belittling John. Just the opposite: it shows just how exciting and inspiring he must have been. Paul and George were music nerds, and Liverpool was full of baby skiffle and rock’n’roll groups. They had plenty of other options. But no, John’s was the band they wanted to join. John’s charisma was enough to make Paul rebel against family expectations, and George accept a leader who was quick and slapdash about things that George would devote long, hard hours to getting exactly right. Paul and George’s talent and dedication were enough to make John buckle down and rehearse. And they all thought it was worth it.

It also set up a pattern for how they would work together. Just as they’d sought out that B7 chord, George and Paul went right on exploring new sounds - Indian music for George, electronic music for Paul. And having found them, they offered them to John. So George’s sitar first appears in Norwegian Wood, Paul’s tape loops in Tomorrow Never Knows.

Later still, when John’s insecurities kicked in, he was uncomfortable with that. He insisted to interviewers that he’d written the Norwegian Wood riff, or complained that he should have stuck with his original idea of chanting monks for Tomorrow Never Knows. But again, it doesn’t devalue John to recognise the others’ contributions. It shows how he inspired them, how the Beatles worked as a unit, how they made each other better. (Can you imagine George offering the sitar to Paul first, or Paul suggesting the tape loops made their first appearance on a George song? I can’t.) Ignoring what Paul and George gave John is to ignore a big chunk of what made John special.

A light will shine in the darkest of shadows; the new beginning is in a hue of vermillion. From where they stand, flourishing roses blooming in all their splendor and grandeur are souls attuned to their own uniqueness, their own sound. And from the wilderness, flowers bloom from the drought of your heart upon their song. The young light-blue-haired lad closed his eyes, savoring this very moment. Hearing the loud applause everywhere boosted his confidence, making him want to play more and more. "Ah… I'm finally here at last," he thought. Ajax. Hu Tao. Albedo. Kaeya. This stage was where they belonged.

That dynamic is what drove them on and arguably what would drive them apart.

We see it early on in Paul’s jealousy of the position occupied by Stuart Sutcliffe.

We see it in George’s disappointment in his failure to keep John at his side after the Maharishi fell from grace.

Despite John’s lack of engagement on George’s songs, George was more than happy to move back up to stand beside John after 1970. And to be fair John had in late 1969 expressed regret at how George had been sidelined.

George expressly said he would join a band with John at any time, but not with Paul.

Of course John would, perhaps inevitably, pull away again. And this time the rift was substantial - the accounts of their argument in 1974 are quite shocking.

I would say that that drive to be John’s partner - or perhaps in George’s case to position himself as custodian of John’s ‘no bullshit attitude within the group - still informed much of the dynamic after 1980, and maybe even how Paul has shaped the narrative right up to date.”

Bolding is mine… Source is the Nothing Is Real Podcast Facebook group (author is co-host Steven Cockcroft)

Thoughts? I’ve put mine below a cut.

TO BE QUICK (for once in my life)

The ninja star logo was sketched/created by James in that era. It's made of 4 Metallica Ms, one for each of them, and together they form the ninja star!

Now. One could go off the fact that they together form a weapon and lose themselves in what could that metaphor mean.

BUT!!! the thing that is sure is that it's a symbol of unity, and the symbol chosen to represent the new era. The logo for the band changed and the ninja star showed up.

James drew it thinking about them together. So...

The irony, right?

It takes four people to form a ninja star, to form metallica. Four.

And in James' head for sure one of those M was Jason. Not Cliff, not in that moment. (Of course Cliff is part of metallica forever, not saying the opposite)

And not a lot years later.... the same dude, who DESIGNED a sign of unity, drove away one of the four M. The desire to keep him near, to be together, was the breaking point. Tragic irony.

AND!!!!!!

This was not on purpose, but-- Idk abt you, my dear anon duder, but if I think abt Rob during a tallica gig, I think about him in that long black metallica tank top WITH THE NINJA STAR ON IT.

He used it an awful lot during the DM era, and I loved it!!! And it was the first ever tallica album in which every damn song was credited to ALL of them (for my fellow queen fans.... a parallel for you: The Miracle)

And here it is, the symbol of unity, on a band member chest, in a band who is now rock solid and truly glued as a ninja star in a way that is good and makes everyone involved happy.