(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post)
The Beatles - "I Feel Fine"
Hit Number 1: December 26, 1964
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
The Beatles were reaching the phase where they were done with the cutesy boy band type songs, and were entering their "experimental" phase. Their little experiment on "I Feel Fine" was them tampering with guitar feedback. The Beatles had "mastered studio basics" and were looking for new sounds to incorporate into their music that are usually regarded as mistakes, with one being guitar feedback through an amplifier. What they did, was at the very beginning of the song, Paul McCartney plucked the A string on his bass, with John Lennon's guitar leaning up against McCartney's bass amp picking up the feedback. This was the first rock record to feature guitar feedback, and the Beatles found a way to make guitar feedback sound COOL and not like a mistake.
"I Feel Fine" was a song that Lennon had written while the band was recording "Eight Days a Week". (Which is a song that will appear in this blog very soon) The riff in the song was one that Lennon had come up with on his own, and he really wanted to have it in a Beatles song. When he had "I Feel Fine" all written out, he thought the song was lousy, but the band still recorded it anyway as a potential B-side for one of their other records. After actually hearing the band perform it, they knew it was probably good enough to be an A-side, so it was released as one. The result? A #1 hit that stayed at the top for 3 weeks.
Of course with the help of the guitar feedback at the beginning, and that recognizable monster of a riff that Lennon came up with, "I Feel Fine" is yet another early Beatles banger. It's also the best showing of Ringo Starr on the drums so far, as he's banging out a hailstorm of a drum pattern in the background. My arms get tired just listening to that. And the three part harmony of Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison is the same old rich blend that made these guys so great. I'll be honest, "I Feel Fine" is still pretty cutesy, with lines like "I'm so glad that she's my little girl, she's so glad she's telling all the world", but you can also tell that they were branching out of their comfort zone a little bit. We'll see more of that in the "Help!" era, which will bring a few more #1 hits to this blog.
As a final note, I don't understand why you don't hear this song more often these days. Everyone knows songs like "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Can't Buy Me Love", but "I Feel Fine" gets lost. I call it the "most underrated Beatles song". Because it slaps just as hard as the other songs by them that I've covered so far! At least at the tail end of 1964, it did hold down the #1 spot, so it had its moment in this blog. I feel fine about that.
GRADE: 9/10
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