Insect (beetle) jokes, the drum logo, etc.
Above: Not a real record cover. Just a funny mock up.
Have you noticed that sixty years ago people's first reaction on hearing mention of the Beatles was often negative? Squares especially found the name to be “terrible” because of the association with the insects. Six decades later, when most of us hear the word we think of the pop group, Beatles with an "a." Beatles are bigger than beetles.
We’re finding in our daily review of the Beatles’ story that in the early 60s the wordplay/pun was noted often and we find insects mentioned all the time.
Rolling Stone magazine has called the Beatles’ name “stupid.”
We at B60 don’t necessarily agree. It’s a bit of Stu Sutcliffe legacy after all, isn’t it?
To learn more about the naming of the group, definitely give this a look: HOW BEAT AND A BRITISH POET CHANGED THE HISTORY OF ROCK MUSIC
60 years ago even the boys themselves were emphasizing the wordplay. Early in 1963 Paul sketched the first drum head logo. This had antennae like the beetle (insect).
Anyway, the antennae didn’t make it into future logos. The dropped-T logo makes its first public appearance on 12 May, 1963. See Chazz’ blog
Below, the full story of the drum head logo:
It seems that the more familiar you are with the pop group known as the Beatles the less likely that insects come to mind. The closer you were in time to their earliest days, the weirder the name probably sounded.
Jumping ahead decades, the Beatle-beetle association is weak. But some people still think of insects. Here’s a recent emphasis on the wordplay on TikTok. And here’s another recent one:
And, of course, カブトムシ外伝…
