It’s simply not possible to be the biggest band of a whole century and not get into a mishap or two. The Beatles, both collectively and as individual people, got into hot water a few times throughout their career. Even the quiet one, George Harrison, got deported from Germany back in the day.
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The story takes place at the very start of The Beatles’ career. In 1960, an early iteration of the band was set and ready to make it big. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe were sent by then-manager Allan Williams to Hamburg in Germany with another band. The intention was to get them to build an audience outside of their home country. It was a smart move, considering Hamburg was where Brian Epstein first caught a whiff of the Fab Four.
The early days weren’t so easy, though. McCartney was on the hunt for a drummer, as the band lacked any real form of percussion. They needed a temporary fill-in for their sets in Hamburg, which was difficult considering how pricey drumsets were at the time. Harrison was the one to find Pete Best, the original drummer of The Beatles.
Hamburg was a messy place at the time, rife with crime during the post-World War II depression. The clean-cut Beatles weren’t exactly treated well, and they didn’t appreciate it. So, they opted for a bit of troublemaking in the foreign land.
How George Harrison Got Deported From Germany After Ruffling a Few Feathers
The group took turns jumping on a wooden stage at the Kaiserkeller music club to test how strong it was. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t that strong. The weight of the band broke the stage. The owner of the club was furious and sent a few men to chase the Fab Four and rough them up.
From there, the group moved on to the Top Ten club, breaking the contract they had with Kaiserkeller. The owner, again, was furious. He decided to get some revenge. He reported the then-young Harrison for working in Germany under the legal age, despite being guilty of hiring the English kid to perform at his own club. On November 21, 1960, George Harrison was promptly deported from Germany.
“I had to go back home and that was right at a critical time, because we’d just been offered a job at another club down the road, the Top Ten, which was a much cooler club,” said Harrison of the incident. “Here we were, leaving the Kaiserkeller to go to the Top Ten, really eager to go there. And right at that point they came and kicked me out of town. So I was moving out to go home and they were moving out to go to this great club.”
Losing the gig and getting ousted from Germany could have cost Harrison his place in the band. Harrison had to spend all of his money on transportation to get back to Liverpool, England from Hamburg, Germany in just one day. Thankfully, though, the rest of the band welcomed him back afterwards.
Moral of the story: Don’t mess with the locals in foreign lands.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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