The post below began as a brief piece about a short-lived 1960s Slovakian band with a Beatles bent, The Beatmen. It seemed entertaining enough; a bit laughable, really. While researching the subject, it quickly became evident that the story of The... Read More
The Beatmen/ “Safely Arrived”
If The Beatles’ emergence in the Western world in 1963 and ’64 seemed revolutionary, imagine its effect on Eastern and Central European countries under Communist rule. Beatles music, officially speaking, was forbidden in the Soviet Union... Read More
The Pleasers
“No Elvis, Beatles or Rolling Stones in 1977,” goes a line from The Clash’s “1977,” the B-side of a single released that same year. This fairly well sums up the sneering (as well as shortsighted) dismissal of mainstream... Read More
The Pleasers/ “Breaking My Heart”
Formed in 1977 in West London, England, The Pleasers appeared as though out of nowhere—unfortunately for them, smack-dab in the middle of the punk-rock uprising—with a string of singles bearing the unmistakable stamp of British Invasion-styled pop.... Read More
April Fool’s Special: Beatles Parodies
Don’t You Think the Joker Laughs at You? You can’t expect to be the most famous rock band in history and not get a few comic swipes taken at you. It would take a government grant and a research team to compile all the TV skits, editorial... Read More
The Left Banke, Part Two
The Left Banke’s balance becomes hard to maintain As pop music history can now attest, the year or so it took for The Left Banke’s Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina album to be completed and released was not a year for dilly-dallying around.... Read More
The Left Banke, Part One
The Left Banke’s deposit: Pop music that is still generating interest This introductory entry for Liverpool Genepool is dedicated to the memory of keyboardist-songwriter-producer and founding Left Banke member Michael Brown, 1949–2015. Scores... Read More