Silver Laughter 1976 – Jon, Ken, Mick and Paul
This post is about the height differences we had to “overcome” to be more like our heroes, The Beatles. According to press releases when they first came out, the three guitarists, John, Paul and George were all listed at the same height; 5′ 11″. This is tall for a bunch of Englishmen. Then there was little Ringo at 5′ 8″.
So if you saw any of my earlier posts, I was concerned when Jon wanted to get Ken to replace Mark on guitar. Ken is (was) around 6′ 3″. Jon was about 6′. And I was about 5′ 8″. We so wanted to be like the next Beatles, that I thought we should all be about the same height with our drummer (Paul) being the shortest of the group just like Ringo. But I think Paul was about my height, 5′ 8″.
Silver Laughter 1978 – Paul, Ken, Jon and Mick
Look at the 1976 photo of Silver Laughter and you can see Paul and I are about the same height with Jon and Ken towering over us. However, in the 1978 picture of the band, I am closer to 6′ thanks to the platform “disco” boots I found in Minneapolis (which I have mentioned elsewhere on this site). Around this time I believe Jon had found an article on the band, Kiss, who said they had incorporated platform shoes to make themselves the same height on stage like their heroes… The Beatles!
Mick Orton
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