What if the Beatles released 'I Saw Her Standing There' as their debut single?

I've always wondered why they went with Love Me Do as their debut single as it wasn't the strongest song in their reportoire. Personally I would have gone with what was used for the opening to the PPM album, 'I Saw Her Standing There'. Such an incredible song, and would have just blown everything else out of the charts.

I wonder if the powers that be (record company) thought ISHST too rocking? Love Me Do is a very inoffensive song for ears unused to rock'n'roll. If you check out chart toppers of that year you see why. Beatles was the most rocking act around. I mean, this was the year when artists like Dean Martin, Roy Orbison and The Supremes topped the charts and Animals had a hit with House of the Rising Sun. Mostly ballads. Tame stuff.

What I find interesting is the I Saw Her Standing There sounds like it comes straight out of the 50s. Well most things in 63 still sounded like the 50s. The sixties didn't really start until 65 or so.

That is an interesting perspective Matt. I'd never looked at it like that, but it does have a Gene Vincent/ Eddie Cochrane type of aggressiveness to it. Loud and Raucous. Very 'rebel' '50's.

The reason The Beatles didn't release I Saw Her Standing there as their first single is they didn't write it until October 1962 and Love Me Do had already been recorded in September.
The Supremes and The Animals did not top the charts in October 1962, they had to wait until the fall of 1964.

If they had written it before they were signed up, do you reckon it could have been a debut single contender, or do you think they would have stuck with LMD?

I can’t believe it was never even released as a single, period the end!

Originally Posted by Harb83

If they had written it before they were signed up, do you reckon it could have been a debut single contender, or do you think they would have stuck with LMD?

Speaking for myself, I think that ISHST makes for a great album opener. I think it surprised and blew away the British listeners who played the PPM album for the first time in a way that it wouldn’t have if they had already been familiar with the song as a single. I’m glad that things worked out the way they did.

I agree that I think it makes for a darn good album cover. It makes you want to start dancing. Bob makes good points above.

Not to quibble with Nikki's timeline, however, there are rehearsal versions of ISHST from as early as March 1962 from an afternoon at an empty Cavern Club. A version with John playing harmonica. It's on a bootleg called Anthology Plus. As to the accuracy of the date provided.... welll