How Brian Epstein’s death changed rock and roll
There have been many different people who have been awarded the title of the ‘Fifth Beatle’ throughout history. While the Fab Four have been the prime fixture of pop culture since the 1960s, they have had plenty of folks helping them along the way. However, If there was ever going to be one definitive addition, then Brian Epstein might be the key X factor when it comes to the band reaching such loft heights.
When the group first cut their teeth, Epstein spied them in the Cavern Club and saw the potential for a mainstream act. After signing with them as their manager, Epstein brought a sense of professionalism to their stage banter, getting each member to wear suits whenever they played live and even choreographing the famous bows they did at the end of their sets.
Outside of their iconic stage look, Epstein was pivotal in making the British Invasion happen on a grand scale. Though the Beatles remained Epstein’s crowning achievement, he also had a hand in many local acts from Liverpool, most notably Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black. Since Epstein knew John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s ability to pump out one hit after another, he also commissioned songs to be written for other artists, which led to the band lending ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ to the Rolling Stones and the prototype song ‘Bad to Me’ to Billy Kramer and the Dakotas.
Once the band came off the road, there was a big question mark surrounding Epstein’s involvement. He had nurtured the Beatles into an act that conquered the world with enamouring performances, but in a solely studio environment, he worried that he might not have a place. Soon, however, it was actually the Beatles’ future that hung in the balance when he was found dead in his home of a drug overdose on August 27th, 1967.
Behind the scenes, Epstein was also struggling with his identity. Being a gay man working with one of the biggest bands of all time, Epstein was afraid of coming out. He developed an addiction to painkillers that would ultimately claim his life. As he spiralled into substance abuse, Lennon eventually sent him well wishes, including a floral bouquet to mark his appreciation for what Epstein had done for the band through the years. Although the Beatles had had a tricky relationship with Epstein, Paul McCartney talked about how difficult it was to take in the news of his death. He said: “You can come to terms with your parents dying because you’ll know that they’ll probably die before you. But when Brian passed, it was like one of us dying”.
The one person hit the hardest by his death was John Lennon. Although Epstein had a friendly relationship with every member of the band, his connection with Lennon was the most personal. While Lennon was always known for his quick wit during interviews, he was shaken up the first time he addressed the issue, saying, “I don’t know what to say. He’s just a beautiful fellow, you know. It’s terrible”.
Without their manager, the band had a whole new level of responsibility. Since most of their business affairs had to do with Epstein, his death left a lot of questions hanging in the air. When the band set up to regroup, their initial vision was to keep working, starting the production of what would turn into the Magical Mystery Tour movie. Outside of their creative drive, though, the Beatles didn’t know how to handle being part of a business.
While Epstein’s death cast a shadow over the band, their way of recovering involved putting all of their business affairs under one roof. As a way of moving forward, the Beatles started Apple Corps in order to use their money to feed creativity, creating a company that would work as a fashion boutique, art project, and record label all in one.
The Fab Four did take a few cues from Epstein before he passed as well. When putting Apple together, the band sought out the kind of talent that would work in a similar vein to themselves, such as folk singer James Taylor and the power pop outfit Badfinger. McCartney’s penchant for writing classic songs hadn’t gone anywhere either, lending Badfinger their first hit ‘Come and Get It’. While Badfinger could have easily put their stamp on the song, McCartney was adamant about recording it as is, saying that the band would have a hit if they recorded it straight like the demo. Despite seeming like McCartney’s perfectionist side coming out, Epstein’s drive to never settle for anything less than perfect was ingrained in Macca’s work ethic at this point.
Outside of getting them in the studio, Epstein’s knowledge of the music industry behind the scenes was pivotal in their early years, carefully choreographing every single detail of their shows day in and day out. While the band initially set out to make a new label with Apple, their vision started floundering once they tried to find new management. After trying to self-manage, the band started to see personal tensions boil over, never being on the same creative page and John Lennon bringing Yoko Ono into the recording sessions with the rest of the band. Though Epstein was no longer with the group, George Harrison mentioned the hole he left in the band, saying in the Get Back documentary, “ever since Mr. Epstein passed away, nothing has been the same”.
As the band tried to work out their differences, their choice to find new management drew a firm line in the sand, with McCartney wanting to go with his father-in-law Lee Eastman while the rest of the band wanted Allen Klein. After Klein won out, the band started to crumble over business issues. They were tied up in legal battles that led to miles of paperwork that wouldn’t be completed until the 1970s when the Beatles legally ended. In essence, they simply weren’t ready for this; Epstein had paved all that over smoothly in the past.
Outside of the Beatles’ creative drive, Epstein was always the missing link that drove them to become one of the biggest rock bands of all time. While some of their most celebrated work like The White Album and Abbey Road came out after his passing, the business mindset of Epstein kept the band in check and even set up a scenario where they didn’t have to break up.
Elsewhere in the Get Back documentary, Harrison mentioned making a record on his own and Lennon being fully in support of this. Though the band seemed to be crumbling in the public eye, there was still a good chance that each of them could take a break, do their own solo projects and come back to the Beatles at some point. When it came time to sign documents of their legal rights, though, everything started crashing down pretty quickly.
While the band were already drifting apart by the end of the ‘60s, their musical differences weren’t what broke them up. Though 1967 may be considered the Beatles’ peak, the death of Brian Epstein was the real beginning of the end for rock’s most celebrated band. However, it also strangely signposted a new spiritual angle as grief was ingrained in chart-topping music.
His impact on music may well have been profound while he was alive as a manager and ushering the notion of fan-led pandemonium into pop, but his passing also had a seismic impact. Not only did Apple Records shape the industry side of the future and further the commercialised notion that a band can’t do it alone – in part mere evidence that Epstein was so adept at taking care of business that he made it look effortless – but the blow that the band felt helped them to edge towards a progressive approach.
Suddenly, in the wake of his passing, The Beatles felt like the best way to honour him would be to liberate themselves. He had set them up as giants, now they could freely wander into the avant-garde and other acts would inevitably follow, leaving commercialism to management and ensuring the arts stayed as spiritual as possible. In this sense, Epstein remained the caring Svengali of modern music even beyond the grave.