Origin of term 'Beatleg'

[jpgrcat007]

From an article for 'Beatles Now' Magazine, I termed, the Red & Blue Albums
because most get tongue tied saying
The Beatles 1962-1966 & The Beatles 1967-1970
The idea came from the Coloured Vinyl in 1978

[General Pepper]

That picture sure isn't in my copy of the book. Was it only in the original edition?

Yes. The 1975 edition had a double page on bootlegs. By the next edition, it was a short paragraph.


GP

[MrMurphMcgee]

Yes. The 1975 edition had a double page on bootlegs. By the next edition, it was a short paragraph.


GP

That double-page spread was the flame that lit the bootleg fire for me. I had never heard of a bootleg before, and even though I only owned a couple of Beatles albums at that point, I HAD to find a bootleg. The one in my profile photo being the first I found.

[General Pepper]

That double-page spread was the flame that lit the bootleg fire for me. I had never heard of a bootleg before, and even though I only owned a couple of Beatles albums at that point, I HAD to find a bootleg. The one in my profile photo being the first I found.

I was 12 when I bought this in 75. I read this page over and over. I wondered what those songs I'd never heard of sounded like.

Had no idea where to even find a bootleg.

It was a few more years before I found my first one. Live in Anytown. File Under was added a short time later.


GP

[Mr Bump]

How do you start a campaign to get the word into the dictonary?

[Lord Reith]

That picture sure isn't in my copy of the book. Was it only in the original edition?

Yes. The 1975 edition had a double page on bootlegs. By the next edition, it was a short paragraph.

You know, this explains a lot. I always thought that tiny little paragraph was weird and out of place. I mean, why even include it? It now looks like EMI must have complained about that double page and the authors added this dismissive paragraph in order to make them sound completely undesirable. I remember in the years before I bought bootlegs, my only knowledge of them was those few short sentences and what I took away from that was that they were some kind of con and a rip off. So when I first started hearing dealers saying, "This is a bootleg" that was something bad in my mind.

I also found it strange because in that book "All Together Now" Carr and Tyler added a very lengthy piece about bootlegs, and in an issue of Beatlefan they positively waxed lyrical about them. It was like that paragraph and those articles were written by completely different people.

[beatlesbelmo]

I am now on the hunt for the 1975 version of this book! I have the later version without this information for the word 'beatleg' in it.
So very cool that this has turned up. Thanks!

[Wogew]

I use Beatlegs in our fanzine "Norwegian Wood" as title of a column with Beatles bootlegs reviews. First used in issue 26 from February 1988. The albums reviewed then was McCartney's "Cold Cuts" vols 1 and 2.

[General Pepper]

I am now on the hunt for the 1975 version of this book! I have the later version without this information for the word 'beatleg' in it.
So very cool that this has turned up. Thanks!

There's the 75 edition with a white background, a 1978 edition with a blue background (some have a yellow star with "1978 Revised Updated" in it) and a 1981 edition (some have a pink star with "New Expanded Edition" in it, and I recall seeing one that I think had a sash across the corner that mentioned something about including Lennon's last album) ETA: Reverts to white cover, and sash states "Includes the Tragic Death of John Lennon"

I have the 75 and 78, and I also have the Stones Illustrated Record. I've seen one for Bowie as well.

ETA: Illustrations of the various editions of which I am aware.





GP

[Chuck and Dave]

there was also Elvis' Illustrated Record as well.