Before the Beatles ever existed, there were the Quarrymen. John Lennon formed the group in Liverpool in 1956, pulling together a handful of schoolmates to play skiffle — a style of music that mixed folk, jazz, and blues, and was hugely popular in Britain at the time.
The name came straight from their school. Lennon and several of the original members attended Quarry Bank High School, and the band took their name from a line in the school song. Lennon had briefly called the group the Blackjacks, but changed the name before they ever played a public show.
The Quarrymen played wherever they could — parties, school dances, cinemas, and local skiffle contests. It was small-scale, but it was real experience.
On July 6, 1957, Paul McCartney watched the Quarrymen perform at a church fete in Woolton. Lennon was impressed enough to invite him to join, and McCartney was officially in the band by October that year. McCartney then recommended his friend George Harrison in early 1958. Lennon resisted at first because Harrison was only 14, but eventually agreed after seeing him play. Both McCartney and Harrison attended the Liverpool Institute, just a different school from Lennon.
In 1958, the group recorded two songs on a single acetate disc at a private home studio. One was Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day.” The other was “In Spite of All the Danger,” written by McCartney and Harrison. That recording is the earliest known document of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison playing together.
As the band shifted from skiffle to rock and roll, the original members drifted away. By 1959, only Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison remained. They performed under different names — Johnny and the Moondogs, Japage 3 — before returning to the Quarrymen name. In 1960, they changed the name one final time.
