The Beatles' First Album Took Less Than A Day To Record
The Beatles may be the most well-known band in history. It is hard to go to a department store without seeing merchandise from T-shirts to mugs to Christmas ornaments. The band is known for innovation and expansive discography. With the release of Peter Jackson's three-part documentary "The Beatles: Get Back" on Disney Plus, "Let it Be" hit the top spot on the Billboard rock album charts in December of 2021 — 51 years after its release. "Let it Be" was the last album that The Beatles released as a band.
As The Beatles created more and more complex — and at times experimental — albums, they spent more time in the studio. "The Beatles" (most commonly called "The White Album") took the longest to record, with around 709 hours of studio time. Some Beatle magic took only a fraction of that time. To hear the album that took the least amount of hours to record, we must go back to the band's very first album.
John Lennon lost his voice recording the album
In 1962, the final Beatles lineup was solidified. After performing in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, The Beatles swapped Peter Best for Ringo Starr and released their first single "Love Me Do," which took weeks to promote in order to climb the charts. They finally got to appear on a national television broadcast in January of 1963, just one month before recording their first album "Please Please Me."
The album consisted of early Beatles classics, such as "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Twist and Shout." The entire album took less than 13 hours to record. "Twist and Shout" was the last one of the day. This was done on purpose. Producer George Martin, who worked with The Beatles throughout their entire decade as a band, knew that "Twist and Shout" would cause the most strain on John Lennon's voice. Martin referred to the song as "a real larynx-tearer." After finishing it, Lennon had completely lost his voice (via Ultimate Classic Rock).
Please Please Me hit No. 1 on the album charts
Initially, John Lennon did not like the way that he sounded on "Twist and Shout," claiming that he knew he could sound better than the finished product used for the album. But with it all done in a day's work, how else would it have sounded?
It was the success of the single "Please Please Me" that left The Beatles in a rush to finish their debut album. It was the band's first No. 1 single. The album went on to hit the top of the album charts in the U.K. Seven months later, The Beatles knocked it off of the top spot with the release of their second album, "With The Beatles" (via The Beatles).
The Beatles performed songs from "Please Please Me" on their iconic television appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Around 40% of the United States' population watched their performance. "Please Please Me" may not be the most well-known or the most critically acclaimed of the band's discography, but it is the one that kicked off the Beatlemania that was to follow.