Every Beatles Album's Opening Track Ranked From Worst To Best
11. No Reply - Beatles For Sale
The group’s fourth album, Beatles for Sale, isn’t widely regarded as a classic, but there’s some good stuff on there.
This is the album where The Beatles get a bit grumpy, the pressure of being the biggest stars in the world finally getting to them. As a result, the songs get a bit sadder, a bit angrier, as evidenced by No Reply.
A John number about a man who discovers his beau is cheating on him, No Reply is a thoroughly melancholy affair. It very nearly didn't end up a Beatles song at all, as Lennon offered it up to another Brian Epstein client Tommy Quickly.
Quickly said no, presumably because the song needed to have as silly a name as he did.
It’s in a minor key, a Beatles rarity for the time, and John sings about being so upset that he “nearly died”. Considering that The Beatles were the happy clappy Brits with funny haircuts at the time, this was pretty shocking.
Sadly, No Reply doesn’t quite match up to the rest of this list in terms of classic value or musical ability, but it’s still a fascinating insight into the band’s minds at a crucial point in their career.