So why is The Beatles’ Please Please Me on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I rewrote the start of this piece several times. This relates to the fact that it’s hard to get a perspective on (and then write about) an album such as Please Please Me that includes iconic songs such as “Love Me Do” and the title track.
So maybe that’s why I wound up beginning with some of the relatively less iconic and lesser-known tracks off of Please Please Me.
“Misery” is as good a place to start as any, and what a great example of a song that makes you feel the precise opposite of its title: it’s a wonderful pop gem that shows how dynamic, expressive, and bursting with creativity The Beatles already were on their first studio album.
“Do You Want To Know A Secret” is pure crooning musical bliss. It’s one of those Beatles moments where you think, if they only ever did this, they’d still be all kinds of amazing.
I wrote the above paragraph, then listened to the next track, “A Taste of Honey,” and thought, “Argh, I want to write the same thing again!”
Okay, back to the super iconic stuff. I’m ready! The Beatles version of “Twist and Shout,” a song originally recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1962, remains one of the most popular songs of all time. And why not, it’s fabulous and exciting and rocking while somehow appealing to people of all ages, proclivities, and tastes. Think about it: have you ever met anyone who doesn’t like “Twist and Shout”?*
* Well… there’s Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) from True Detective Season 4, but that only proves out the enduring legacy of “Twist and Shout,” running from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to the prestige TV of 2024.
I feel much the same about “Love Me Do,” though I could understand how the harmonica part could feel ever so slightly antiquated to younger listeners. But the harmonizing vocals are just so glorious.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to The Beatles’ Please Please Me
It’s incredible to think that there was a relatively brief period when The Beatles took over British pop culture but hadn’t yet reached beyond the pond to the U.S. It wasn’t until October, 1963 that “Beatlemania” began to be covered by the American press, and indeed a Beatlemania story was shelved by CBS the night that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 23rd, 1963. By early 1964, the “British Invasion” of America was in full force, led by The Beatles’ February 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Recently, Paul McCartney published a book of photos he took himself during The Beatles’ famous initial visit to the U.S. in 1964. It’s called 1964: Eyes of the Storm.
Some stats & info about The Beatles – Please Please Me
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, British Invasion, British Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Please Please Me released? 1963
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #257 out of 1,000
The Beatles’ Please Please Me on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The Beatles’ Please Please Me that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Love, love me do. You know I love you.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.