5 FAMOUS DEATHS ON THE ROAD OF "STRANGE DAYS" (PART 4)

 

The fourth of five articles in this series takes us back to August 1967, at the end of the recording sessions of "Strange Days". This is The Doors' second LP, released in September '67, and its recording was punctuated by some famous deaths, which continued on August 27th with the death of Brian Epstein.

He was The Beatles' manager from the beginning of their success in 1962 until his death.

The Doors had just finished recording the wonderful ideas that made up their second album when this important figure died at the age of 32. Epstein's importance in the history of music, which we will summarize in a moment, comes from his work in promoting The Beatles.

In doing so, his entrepreneurial and managerial skills had an indirect effect on other groups and artists of the time, including The Doors.

In fact, The Beatles played a particularly important role in the musical elaboration of the Doors' LP "Strange Days", inspiring the psychedelic atmospheres that were absent from the first record ("The Doors", January 1967). The artistry showed by The Beatles in 1966 and '67 also provided an anticipation of the sound effects and distortions that made "Strange Days" such a fascinating record in its aura of mysterious enchantment.

As we have said, Epstein is a figure who played a very significant role in promoting The Beatles to international star status, enhancing their public image and elevating them to a musical and cultural benchmark for the West and beyond.

Doing this, he helped shape the history of music in a way that few can equal. We have chosen three highlights among The Beatles' career in which Epstein played a decisive role. Here they are.

The first was the idea of radically changing the band's image in favor of a “cleaner” look that, at least for the first two and a half years, included a suit, tie and elegant trousers.

The second breakthrough to be attributed to the manager came when he took the four of them from Liverpool to London after getting them contacts for auditions and concerts.

The third and last episode we mention concerned the dismissal of the original drummer, Pete Best, and the subsequent entry of Ringo Starr in August 1962. Three months later the first single was released (A-side "Love Me Do", B-side "P.S. I Love You") and a whole new musical world called “Modern Music” began.

It should be noted that the death of Brian Epstein, among other important factors, marked the beginning of the artistic disintegration of the group. In fact, a year later The Beatles no longer had the necessary cohesion to carry on and less than three years after Epstein's death, the Fab Four officially broke up.