The Beatles fans remember ‘fake’ group who ‘conned’ South America and were ‘chased out by police’

A group pretending to be The Beatles “conned” South America and were “chased out” of the country by police.

Fans of the real Fab Four recalled the wild moment The American Beetles, a very similar name but a somewhat different band, headed to the continent. The real Beatles would never perform in South America, though Paul McCartney would play there as a solo artist. Cover bands are common these days, but the key to the likes of The Bootleg Beatles and The Vox Beatles is that they make it clear they are not associated with the original group beyond performing those hits. But a pitch to South America in the 1960s conned dozens of fans with a gig from The American Beetles, leaving some in tears.

Manager Bob Yorey was the man behind the fake group, though Bill Ande, lead guitarist, shared how it came together. He shared: “I got these four guys and I said, ‘Listen. Grow your hair and we’re gonna call you ‘The American Beetles’. We wore our hair the same, we dressed the same, we wore suits. It was pretty good.” It would have been better had the band been pitched as The American Beetles, and not The Beatles.

Those who were told The Beatles were coming to South America were thrilled. Carlos Santino said their cousin “was going nuts” once the announcement was made. She was one of many going wild for the upcoming performance, though some details for their Channel 9 performance were warning signs of this deception.

An employee of Channel 9, Roberto Monfort, confirmed people realised they were “fake Beatles” rather quickly. Those in the studio were split “between indignation and laughter.” But boss Alejandro Romay believes the public bought into it being The Beatles, at least for a time.

He said: “No, people went crazy! They bought it! We had 63 rating points with The Beetles. I think it was the highest peak in the [channel’s] history.”

Santino said his cousin was livid at the dupe. He shared: “When she saw it wasn’t Paul McCartney who was coming out from behind the curtain, she started to cry inconsolably.” Though The Beatles would never play in Argentina, and The Beetles were chased out of the country by an irate population, the influence of the real Fab Four is clear.

Listeners from South America took to the r/Beatles subreddit and shared the long-term impact John, Paul, George, and Ringo had on the country. One listener wrote: “One of our first bands, called Los Gatos, even took a lot of their aesthetic.

“You can tell the influence in subsequent bands like Almendra y Sui Generis (Charly García, one of our biggest musicians and songwriter of Sui Generis, once said, ‘I wouldn’t believe in anybody who doesn’t like the Beatles’.

“One funny thing about their records here is that the lyrics and song titles were translated to Spanish, so those generations know the songs that way. Sometimes the translations were awful lol, Strawberry Fields Forever was translated just as Frutillas (Strawberries).”