Beatles Career Threatened By Bootleg

Before becoming the biggest band to ever grace humanity, The Beatles began their career as most musicians do – playing small clubs. In 1962, the same year they signed to EMI, they played what was to become a haven for many well-known bands, the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany. Unlike many of the big-name musicians who contributed performances to the legendary watering hole – to name a few: David Bowie, Everly Brothers, Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles – little did they know it would come back to haunt them over four decades later.

Well, it has, in the form of what sounds like a major lawsuit. No, this is not Michael Jackson selling “All You Need is Love” to a disposable diaper commercial. This is Apple Corps suing the shit out of Fuego Entertainment - some Miami record company - who claims they own, and will publish, 15 never before heard bootlegged tracks from said Beatles club appearance.

And like most people defending their side of a lawsuit, both sides appear to be totally devoid of any notion of reality. Take, for example, the Apple Corps lawyer who, the New York Timeswrote, claims the release of these poor-quality songs “dilutes and tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image associated with the Beatles.” Does this man really believe that 15 bootlegged tracks will outdo a discography of over 300 beloved songs?

Now take a gander at the president of Fuego, one of five defendants in the case, who said: “Don’t claim that these were just bootlegged. It’s not like today, that you just go in with a phone or BlackBerry and you record.” Um, what kind of incredible technology did they have in Germany in 1962 that recorded live concerts better than a portable computer? Surely not anything you could also check your Gmail with.