 This video is sponsored by Brilliant. The first 200 people to go to brilliant.org slash polyphonic will get 20% off an annual premium subscription. When the Beatles broke up it shocked the world in a way no band breakup ever had or ever will. For nearly a decade they had been the voice of rock and roll, they were the subject of hysteria and adoration. It seemed wrong that these four boys from Liverpool who had grown up alongside an entire generation would never make music together again. Eventually, as with all things, people moved on. But then six years later a strange, unknown band broke onto the scene. They had an album full of psychedelic sounds, ambitious arrangements, and beautiful melodies. The very things that the Beatles had gained acclaim for in the back half of their career. Rumors began to spread quickly and soon people all over started to believe, wanted to believe, that the Beatles had gotten back together. Let's take a closer look. In August 1976, a band named Klatu released their debut album, 347 EST. The album's artwork contained no words other than the group's name and the production and songwriting credits were all given to just Klatu. The album received positive praise from a few critics but soon faded into obscurity and perhaps that's where it would have stayed, one of a countless number of well-reviewed, poor-selling albums forgotten in time. But it was saved from this fate by a man named Steve Smith. Smith was a writer for The Providence Journal. That paper frequently received albums from labels who were hoping to get some reviews for their up-and-coming bands. Many of these records ended up in a record grab, a bin full of records free for anyone at the paper to grab and take home if they so desired. Something about Klatu's album artwork caught Steve Smith's eye and so he took it home to give it a spin. Upon listening, Smith noticed some familiar sounds on the album. He picked out drumming that sounded to him like Ringo Starr, guitars that reminded him of John Lennon and George Harrison, and even vocals reminiscent of Paul McCartney. Ideas started to formulate in Smith's mind and so he reached out to Klatu's label Capital Records. It's worth noting here that Capital Records had a history with the Beatles, releasing a number of their North American records. Capital told Smith that the band weren't currently doing press and that they were a quote, mystery group that wanted to be known for their music, not their personalities. It seemed at least to Smith that mystery was a particularly choice word and bells went off for him. So he pitched an article to his editors who ran with it giving it the title Could Klatu be Beatles? Mystery is a magical tour. In that piece, Smith discussed the album, noting that the third track, Dr. Marvello, sounded like Blue J Way and adding that the whole album is about magic, mystery and touring. Smith called Frank Davies, who identified as Klatu's sort of manager. Recognizing the opportunity, Davies gave Smith a series of non-answers that could be taken as hints that there were secrets to be found on Klatu's album. He even said there was a message hidden in Morse code on it. When Smith's article hit the press, the speculation began. Everyone wanted to find hints that the Beatles were back, and to find hints, you of course needed to listen to the album. On top of this radio stations began to speculate and play Klatu's songs alongside that speculation. All of it helped propel Klatu from obscurity into charting success. 347 EST climbed its way up to number 32 on the Billboard Top 200. A pair of tracks calling occupants of interplanetary craft and Sub Rosa Subway became rock radio staples for a short period. People all over took note of the album's similarity to the Beatles, but the clues weren't just in the music. Smith's original article did its due diligence, noting a number of other hints that the band could be the Beatles. The biggest of these came in the band's name. Klatu was a reference to a character in the 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Two years before Klatu came onto the scene, Ringo Starr had released a solo album called Good Night Vienna. The artwork for that album was a reference to The Day the Earth Stood Still. Then, of course, there was the fact that the artwork of 347 EST featured a sun rising, a potential reference to the Beatles Here Comes the Sun, or even Sun King, given the face on the sun. As with any conspiracy theory, the evidence gets more tenuous from here. In Smith's original article, he noted that the song Sir Bodworth Rugglesby III was spelled Rubblesby on the album's cover. He wrote that you could define Bodsworth Rubblesby as persons of importance born of quarrying. The Beatles, of course, went by the name the Quarrymen in the early stages of their career. And then there's the fact that Sub-Rosa Subway kind of sounds like Red Rose Speedway, Paul McCartney's second studio album with wings. Somewhere in all of this, people also got the idea that the phrase Klatu meant being here before, another hint that the band could have been the Beatles reborn. As speculation grew, capital records leaned in. Whenever press called to ask about Klatu, they would respond with half-answers and cryptic statements. And as Klatu Manio was taking over the world, word got out that Klatu were recording their second album in London with the help of the London Symphony Orchestra. This rumor, of course, gave more fuel to the conspiracy theorists. But not everyone thought that this was the second coming of the Beatles. New Music Express made their thoughts on the topic abundantly clear when they released an article about it. Headlined, deaf idiot journalist starts a Beatles rumor. And soon enough they would be proved right. The whole conspiracy theory came crashing down thanks to the Washington radio station WWDC. That station's program director, Dwight Douglas, went to the US Copyright Office and looked into the copyright of the album. And of course, the names that showed up were not John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. Instead it was Terry Draper, Dee Long, and John Willis-Chuck, a trio of Canadian musicians. So why all the secrecy around their identities? It turns out what their manager had told Smith in that first article was the truth of it. The band genuinely wanted their music to be judged on the merit of the music alone. There was no ulterior motive for the lack of press and interviews. There were just three guys that wanted to know what the world thought of their music. But the unexpected fame they gained from this anonymity turned out to be a double-edged sword. The phenomenon launched Klatu in the spotlight for a brief moment and helped them develop a cult following that still support them to this day. But on the other hand, the backlash when the truth came out was severe. When the hype had died, radio stations moved on from their songs. And then there's the fact that everyone held their future work up to the standard of some imagined Beatles reunion. But for a brief period in the mid-70s, Klatu captured the world's imagination. Their success stands as a testament to them as a band, but also to the intense love the world had for the Beatles, and the desire to close up the wound that formed when they disbanded. We can't all be the Beatles, but we can all master our own domains by learning new things with Brilliant. If you like my videos, I'm going to guess you like learning, and Brilliant is a great way to master complex topics by solving fun, challenging problems. If you want to learn more about the science behind music, you should try out the waves course. In that class, you can learn all about the different types of waves and how they behave. When it comes to audio waves, this is fundamental science that's applied in all kinds of music technology, such as amplifiers and noise-canceling headphones. Brilliant can teach you all about this and more, with step-by-step courses and challenges that make complex topics seem easy. If you want to give it a shot, head on over to Brilliant.org slash Polyphonic. Not only will that show support for my channel, but the first 200 viewers to follow that link will get 20% off an annual premium subscription. So please, go check it out, learn something new, and become the master of your own domain.