There are a few sayings that you need to keep handy when record collecting. The chase is better than the catch. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And in a recent month at Discogs, the online database of audio recordings and marketplace, one saying stands true: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Or more accurately, a record's worth is really how much a person is willing to pay for it. And it might shock you how much someone paid for an EP by an Irish quartet, and how it outsold The Beatles.

When Discogs revealed its monthly "The 25 Most Valuable Records Sold" report for September 2025, it was surprising to see that an ultrarare copy of The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, came in at second place. At No. 1? The debut release from U2.

U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.) experienced their breakthrough success in the 1980s with albums like War, The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. But in 1979, they were just starting out, releasing their debut EP, Three.

The band pressed 1,000 copies of their three-song EP, each coming with a hand-numbered sticker on a CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) sleeve. This particular copy has the band's name spelled as "U-2" on details

‘I’ll be around for another 60 years’: Lost tapes reveal John Lennon’s best-laid plans. Only ‘acts of God’ can stop me making music, former Beatle told DJ five years before he was shot dead in New York

John Lennon said he believed he would keep making music for “another 60 years” five years before his death, a newly-unearthed recording has revealed. The Beatles star was shot dead outside his residence in New York in 1980, aged 40.

In the interview, carried out by DJ Nicky Horne in 1975, he said: “Apart from acts of God, I will be around for another 60 years and doing it until I drop.”

Horne recently rediscovered the original recordings in his basement, and elsewhere in the conversation Lennon said he was dissatisfied with his work and wanted to throw away his album Walls and Bridges.

Mark Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times when the musician returned home on Dec 8 1980. Just hours before, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman, who remains in prison.   Horne said Lennon had made him feel comfortable by baking him chocolate cookies and insisting on doing the interview cross-legged on the carpet in his details

The upcoming quartet of Beatles biopics is one of the most intriguing film projects currently in the works – and one of the stars of the movies has given an update about his "dream" role in Sam Mendes's ambitious project.

Harris Dickinson – who will portray John Lennon in all four films – spoke to RadioTimes.com about the process of getting into character as the iconic musician during an exclusive interview to promote his directorial debut Urchin.

“ It's been amazing," he said. "It's such a unique experience to play someone of that calibre. I mean, it's intimidating, but it’s enriching, it's like an opportunity to delve into something incredibly complex and challenging, which I've loved."

He continued: "I feel really lucky to go to work every day and get to, kind of, attempt to dig into who and what that is."

The films will also star Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, with a lengthy shoot having got under way during the summer.

Some reports have suggested that the filming process will take as long as 15 months ahead of the simultaneous release of all four films in 2028, but Dickinson has by no mean details

Four-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) has inked a deal to play Linda McCartney, the first wife of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, multiple sources tell Deadline.

Reps for Sony declined to comment. Ronan joins a cast that includes Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. With each of the Mendes-directed Beatles films telling the story of a different member of the band, Ronan is expected to feature prominently in the installment centered on McCartney, though it’ s unknown to what extent she might appear in the other three.

Linda McCartney was a photographer, musician and animal rights activist who rose to prominence in the 1960s with her portraiture of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. The first female photographer to have her work on the cover of Rolling Stone, she married Paul McCartney in 1969 and worked alongside him as part of his band Wings in his post-Beatles career. A passionate advocate for vegetarianism and animal welfare, she launched her own company, Linda McCartney Foods, in 1991 and passed away from ca details

For the first time since it was originally published in 2000, Chronicle Books will release The Beatles Anthology, 25th Anniversary Edition in a unique co-release with Disney+, UMG, and Apple Corps
The Beatles’ expanded Anthology Collection music releases will also be released Nov. 21 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe
The Beatles’ restored, expanded “Anthology” documentary series begins streaming November 26 on Disney+

RINGO: In 1963 the attitude of my whole family changed. They treated me like a different person.

One absolutely clear vision I had was round at my auntie’s, where I’d been a thousand times before. We were having a cup of tea one night and somebody knocked the coffee table and my tea spilt into my saucer. Everyone’s reaction was, "He can’t have that. We have to tidy up." That would never have happened before. I thought then, "Things are changing." It was absolutely an arrow in the brain.

Suddenly I was "one of those," even within my family, and it was very difficult to get used to. I’d grown up and lived with these people and now I found myself in Weirdland.

GEORGE: My family changed, but in a nice way. They were details

Imagine, released in 1971, dug as deep lyrically as John Lennon’s solo debut (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band). But Lennon also focused on making the album a more commercial affair that would reach a wider audience. He ended up with perhaps the most beloved album of his career. Here are five tidbits of trivia surrounding the songs on Imagine.

The whole idea behind the Imagine album was for John Lennon to deliver his opinions and beliefs in ways that were much more palatable to the music listening masses. Thanks to this strategy, the title track became an anthem almost instantly upon its release. Lennon had borrowed some ideas from Yoko Ono’s work for the concept of imagining a better world. After the song was released, Lennon mused that he should have given Ono credit as a co-writer. Years later, he would make good on his devotion to Ono’s musical input, as she would write and sing half the songs on Double Fantasy. 

John Lennon did everything he could to leave behind the specter of The Beatles once he left the group. On his first solo album, he even included the song “God”, which made clear his intention to put the Fab Four in his rear view mirror. But he didn’t shy away fro details

April 10, 1970, is one of the most memorable days in music history. It is the day the world lost the greatest band of all time, The Beatles. The Beatles’ breakup came in the form of a press release announced by Paul McCartney. To this day, the breakup seemingly makes many skip a heartbeat and lose a breath or two. It was just that culturally severe to the world. Though it wasn’t unexpected, as The Beatles’ breakup was years in the making, and their growing divide was rather common knowledge.

The most common timeline of The Beatles’ demise more or less starts in 1968 with the recording of the White Album and ends in 1970 with McCartney’s announcement. That is the arc the majority of fans refer to and have accepted. However, a source close to The Beatles once said that their demise started years before their end. Specifically, after The Beatles quit touring.

That source is Hunter Davies, the author of the only authorized biography of The Beatles. According to Davies, The Beatles’ decline started before the White Album, and in total, lasted roughly around four years.

Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com

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Las Vegas has hosted its share of spectacles (and then some), but nothing quite like the night Sir Paul McCartney turned Allegiant Stadium into Abbey Road West. One of pop music’s most celebrated living legends brought his Got Back tour to Sin City, and the result was a euphoric, nearly three-hour romp through a rock n’ roll time machine that had nearly 60,000 fans singing, dancing, crying, and grinning like teenagers seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan all over again.

It was McCartney’s first show at Las Vegas’ shiny Allegiant Stadium—opened in 2020—and the energy was off the charts from the opening chord. With no Los Angeles stop on this leg, the stars turned out in force, with Amy Schumer, Drew Carey, and even Celine Dion among the crowd of fans and fellow icons who came to worship at the altar of Macca.

McCartney remains the embodiment of rock’s eternal youth. At 83 years young, he’s still cheeky, tireless, and bounding across the stage like a man half his age. This Got Back run marks his first major North American tour since 2022, and though he’s now playing to grandkids of his original fans, the music has lost none of its bite or brilliance.

He an details

Sony's long-awaited Beatles movie biopic plans are finally coming together.

Director Sam Mendes took the stage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas to reveal the cast for the features and said that all four films are set for theatrical release in April 2028. The surprising plans to make four films - one for each member of the famed band - were first announced last year.

Drumroll, please: Mendes also brought the cast onstage. Set to star in the films are Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Each of the four movies will focus on one of the members of the Fab Four.

"We're not just making one film about the Beatles - we're making four," Mendes said. "Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply."

Mendes claimed that Sony film boss Tom Rothman called the projects "the first binge-able theatrical experience." After hitting the stage, all four actors recited lyrics from the band's song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and then took a Beatles-style synchronized bow.

"You have to match the boldness of the idea with a bold release strategy," Rothman told The Hollywood Reporter last year abo details

Sixty-two years ago today, on October 5, 1962, a single song marked the start of the most influential band in modern music history. “Love Me Do” introduced The Beatles to the world and launched a career that would transform popular music forever.

“Love Me Do” was released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone Records, under the catalogue number R4949, according to the official Beatles website. It was backed with “P.S. I Love You,” and became The Beatles’ debut single after years of performing in Liverpool and Hamburg clubs.

The song was one of the earliest originals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney, written several years before the group was signed. Early recordings featured three different drummers – Pete Best, Ringo Starr, and session player Andy White. Each one offered a slightly different sound that captured the band’s developing identity.

Though “Love Me Do” only reached No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1962, it was a big deal for an unknown band with no radio reputation. The harmonica-led tune and dual vocals by Lennon and McCartney gave the track a unique sound that set it apart from the heavily orchestrated pop that was details

The first recorded use of guitar feedback can be found on The Beatles‘ I Feel Fine, according to John Lennon.

The guitarist claimed he and George Harrison‘s work on the track would be an innovative moment not just for the band but for music history, as it is allegedly the first recorded example of guitar feedback. Lennon would claim this in interviews after The Beatles broke up, where he would speak highly of the song. Lennon once described his work with Harrison on the A-side track as featuring a “typical Beatles bit”, and it seems to have worked. The song would top the charts in the UK and the US on release. Lennon would suggest I Feel Fine featured the first “feedback”, and doubled down on it in later interviews, going as far as to say The Beatles were ahead of Jimi Hendrix and The Who.

He said in 1972: “This was the first time feedback was used on a record. It’s right at the beginning.” Lennon would claim again in 1980 in an interview with Playboy, issuing a challenge for anyone to find a conscious use of guitar feedback. He said: “That’s me completely. Including the guitar lick with the first feedback anywhere.

“I defy anybody t details

Given the strength of the Beatles’ albums, it may come as a surprise to learn that John Lennon didn’t enjoy making them. Making albums is a strenuous process. It’s more than compiling a collection of songs. They need to work together in a way that makes it better than the sum of its parts. In Lennon’s point of view, albums weren’t always the strongest medium. Singles interested him more. However, there were a couple of artists who were exceptions to that rule. Find out who below.

The Beatles were more than ahead of their time when it came to making albums. They wrote the rulebook on experimental recording in their heyday. They altered the album-making process. Despite changing the game, Lennon once spoke about feeling like he had to make albums for others. It did little for him personally.

According to Lennon, it was an artist’s singles that really made them. He was more focused on writing a killer song that could stand alone. He felt that other artists also flexed their skills in that way. There were really only two artists that Lennon thought were worth buying a whole album for, and they weren’t a part of his generation. Lennon felt like no one post-Beatles was album-w details

Many things contributed to the Beatles’ breakup, and every fan has their own opinion on what moment was the “final straw.” However, according to Paul McCartney, that breaking point had nothing to do with the Beatles’ creative differences, Yoko Ono, or the songwriting cuts. Instead, it was something somewhat out of the band’s control.

There are many theories as to what exactly happened to the Beatles. Some blame McCartney’s iron grip on the creative process, while others blame the wedge Yoko Ono supposedly built between McCartney and John Lennon. While those things certainly contributed to the band’s downfall, there was one member of their personnel that McCartney credits with being the “final straw.”

Towards the end of the band’s career, the Beatles hired Allen Klein as their interim manager. In addition to the other reasons why the Beatles came to dislike Klein (withheld royalties, stolen publishing rights, etc.), McCartney believed he meddled too much in the band’s creative process.

“We made Let It Be but, because of all the fraught personal relationships, the final straw was Allen Klein coming in,” McCartney once said. &ldqu details

The Beatles’ powerful songwriting duo, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, are known for writing iconic Beatles hits until the band's disbandment. However, they were also responsible for this legendary rock band going mainstream after giving them a helping hand. Over 60 years ago, The Rolling Stones got their first taste of mainstream success thanks to Lennon and McCartney’s genius songwriting, and the song in question was “I Wanna Be Your Man.”

“I Wanna Be Your Man” was released by The Rolling Stones in 1963 in the UK and in the US in the following year. It was the song that first introduced many fans to The Rolling Stones, and it became a stepping stone to the band's success. However, despite the helping hand from Lennon and McCartney, what once was a collaboration soon turned into a rivalry fueled by the media and fans.
The Rolling Stones Needed New Material, and Lennon-McCartney Stepped Up.

There are several stories of how “I Wanna Be Your Man” ended up in the hands of The Rolling Stones, as Lennon, Mick Jagger, and The Rolling Stones’ historian Bill Janowitz have different accounts. Janowitz claimed that The Rolling Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Ol details

Ringo Starr recently wrapped up a series of September tour dates with his All Starr Band. Now the legendary Beatles drummer says he’ll turn his attention to finishing up a sequel to his 2025 country album, Look Up, which he recorded with acclaimed producer, songwriter, and musician T Bone Burnett.

Starr, who turned 85 in July, revealed some new tidbits about the project in a recent Associated Press interview.  

Ringo reported that he’s eyeing a February 2026 release for the album, although he admitted that those plans could change. “We’re busy and [Burnett is] busy, too,” Starr noted. “And we’re gonna work on the record in October. So, how long will that take? We don’t know. So, let’s relax. It’s out February. But you know, the record label may change my mind.”

Ringo added, “[The label might ask,] ‘Do you think we could have it January the 19th?’ But whatever. … We’ll see.”  Starr told the AP interviewer that it’s been a busy time for him. He noted that as he prepared to head out on tour with the All Starrs earlier in September, he also was busy with the album.

&ld details

One of the most infamous stories about the Beatles is the love triangle between George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Patti Boyd. Though the late Beatle and Clapton were close friends and collaborators, the latter’s infatuation with Boyd drove a wedge between them. This rift produced many stories we, as rock fans, can’t help but be enticed by. They give color to the songs both of these rock giants wrote.

At one point, after Clapton’s love for Boyd was out in the open, Harrison decided to take his friend to task in a way only a musician could.
The Time George Harrison and Eric Clapton Got Into a Silent Duel

Both Harrison and Clapton were great guitar players. Though Clapton is considered, perhaps, more technically skilled, Harrison’s playing with the Beatles completely changed the trajectory of rock music. Their shared love of their instrument was what brought them together in the first place, but it later became a fighting tactic.

Boyd has given extensive interviews about this period of her life. She hasn’t been shy about the reality of this trio’s messy situation. “George came over and demanded, ‘What’s going on?’” Boyd once said. &ldqu details

During their ten-year career, The Beatles were responsible for more seismic shifts in music than any other band. But they rarely get the credit for playing such a formative part in the development of rock music. Here are a dozen tracks that show just how important they were - and how much they rocked.

I’m Down

Tired of having Long Tall Sally and Twist And Shout as their usual set-closers, Paul McCartney decided to write something where he could really let rip and rival John Lennon as the Beatle with the rock’n’roll edge. “I could do Little Richard’s voice,” he told Barry Miles in 1997. “Wild, hoarse, like an out-of-body experience.”

I’m Down (the B-side of the seven-inch of 1965’s Help!) was a last blast (for the time being) of the raucous stylings typified by Lennon’s versions of Money (That’s What I Want) and Chuck Berry’s Rock And Roll Music.

From 1966’s Revolver, it’s the one time a George Harrison track would open a Beatles album, but what a statement, and what an album. As biting musically as it is lyrically – thanks to a little help from a reluctant Lennon – it snapped at the heels of HM T details

 Directed by Simon Hilton and David Frearson (with graphics and guerilla street art animation by Frearson) and produced by Sean Ono Lennon, Delphine Lamandé-Frearson, Sophie Hilton, Faye Jordan and Grace Davyd, the captivating video illustrates, through a kinetic text narrative and statistics of how many civilians and soldier's lives have been tragically lost from violent conflicts around the world, and the perpetually escalating financial costs incurred - including The Troubles in Ireland, the Vietnam War, the Iran-Iraq War, Lebanon, Tiananmen Square, the Lockerbie bombing, the Bosnian War, the Rwanda and Darfur genocides, the Chechen Wars, 9/11, the Iraq War, Syria, the Ukraine War, the War in Gaza and from mass shootings in the United States of America.

It poignantly ends with the reminder that more than 1.5 million people have been killed by guns in the U.S.A. since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 December 1980. He would have been 85 on 9 October 2025.

Written about Bloody Sunday, the January 30, 1972, massacre of 13 unarmed protesters, including six children, by British soldiers during a protest march in Derry, Northern Ireland. The tragedy also famously inspired U2’s classic 1983 son details

Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late John Lennon by performing Beatles hit Help for the first time in almost four decades amid his US tour in California on Friday.

The music icon, 83, who wrote the track alongside Lennon in 1965, included a whole host of the band's songs in his setlist, with Help featuring for the first time since way back in 1990. McCartney took to the stage for a one-off show at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Palm Desert ahead of the North American leg of his Got Back tour kicking off on Monday.

The Beatles legend also performed a string of the other band's hits including Hey Jude, Let It Be and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lennon was tragically shot dead at the age of 40 by fan Mark Chapman outside his home in New York City in 1980.

He had left the Beatles in 1969 and in 1970 the split hit headlines when McCartney announced publicly that he was no longer working with the group. Sir Paul McCartney paid tribute to the late John Lennon by performing Beatles hit Help for the first time in almost four decades amid his US tour in California on Friday.

The icon, who wrote the track alongside Lennon in 1965, sang Help for the first time since way back in 199 details

Autographs of all four Beatles, collected by a teenage fan in 1963, have been sold at auction.

A photograph of the group – signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Starr also writing a personal dedication at the top – went for £1,900.

It was taken before a gig in Coventry at the start of the Beatlemania era, and went under the hammer on Monday with Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Lichfield.

Seller Chris Barrows, 74, said his late brother Phil collected the signatures during a trip out with their father Ron, who was a piano tuner.

"My dad came home one day and said he was going to tune the piano ahead of The Beatles' show and other performances," said Mr Barrows.

"I didn't go as at that time I was more interested in football, but my brother had been playing guitar for six months and went along."

Richard Winterton Auctioneers A close-up image of the signed black-and-white photo of the Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are wearing suits with white shirts and black tiesRichard Winterton Auctioneers

Mr Barrows' late brother Phil, obtained the autographs after meeting the band in Coventry. details

Ringo Starr shared his vision for the Beatles' enduring legacy, expressing delight that their music continues to reach every generation.

In a new interview with the Financial Times, Starr spoke fondly of the Beatles' enduring popularity, and gave a compelling reason for their continued popularity.

"Every generation, if they like music, listens to us. And you know, we still sell records. We have billions of streams a year! It's incredible. I know why. The music was great, the songs were great, the attitude was great," Ringo said.

He took the opportunity to praise his original collaborator, Paul McCartney.

"Paul and I are still doing what we were doing back then. We're touring, we're making records," Ringo stated.

During the interview, he also reflected on the success of the album "Abbey Road", commenting:

"I love the Abbey Road story because we all sat in a circle and said, 'We have this album, let's go to India and do it, let's go to Everest, let's go to the Pyramids or just cross the street.' And that's exactly what we did. A lot of times the Beatles would just sit around and talk about big ideas and then say, 'Let's just cross the crosswalk.' And it turned out great."

So details

A song written by legendary musician Jimmy Page was done so in response to criticism from The Beatles‘ George Harrison.

Led Zeppelin member Page would take on the challenge set by the so-called quiet one of The Beatles. Harrison would be an accidental influence of sorts on one of Led Zeppelin’s best-known songs, Rain Song. Page would tell biographer Brad Tolinski the All Things Must Pass hitmaker had effectively challenged him to write a “ballad” instead of the usual rock and roll work. Harrison had seemed to know of Page from The Yardbirds, being told of Led Zeppelin’s formation by engineer Glyn Johns. Harrison would ask: “Is he the one that was in The Yardbirds?” It may have been an exciting time on the music scene, but it seems a passing comment from Harrison pushed the band into writing one of their very best tracks.

Page would say: “George was talking to Bonzo one evening and said, ‘The problem with you guys is that you never do ballads,’ I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad,’ and I wrote Rain Song, which appears Houses of the Holy. In fact, you’ll notice I even quote Something in the song’s first two chords.”

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Paul McCartney’s solo career has seen him revisit countless Beatles songs over the years, from early hits such as Love Me Do and Eight Days A Week to late-period classics such as Let It Be and various elements of the medley that closes Abbey Road.

But there are many more Beatles songs that McCartney has never played live as a solo artist, sometimes partly due to his unofficial policy of steering away from songs that were mostly written by his late bandmate John Lennon.

However, audience members at the opening show of his current US tour, at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California on Friday September 27, got an unexpected surprise when McCartney opened his set with the Fab Four’s 1965 anthem Help! for the first time in 60 years.

McCartney has played a section of the track before, but that was as part of a medley of Lennon songs during Macca’s Flowers In The Dirt tour in 1989 and 1990. The last time Help! was performed in its entirety was by The Beatles themselves on December 12, 1965, at the Capital Theatre in Cardiff, Wales – the same year the song and its parent album of the same name were released.

With a capacity of just over 4500 people, the Santa Barbara B details

The iconic dance hit “Twist and Shout” has been through a few iterations. R&B vocal group The Top Notes originally recorded the song, written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns, in February 1961. After their version failed to chart, the Isley Brothers gave us the rendition we know and love, complete with the instantly recognizable bridge, in 1962. By 1964, the Beatles had gotten ahold of the song, recorded it in one single take, and sent it to #2 on Billboard’s singles chart. On this day in 1986, “Twist and Shout” resurfaced on the charts thanks to a John Hughes classic.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it. However, if you’ve seen the seminal 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you probably didn’t miss the epic parade scene.

The film centers around the eponymous high school senior, played by Matthew Broderick, who goes to creative and extreme lengths to play hooky from school. Apropos of nothing, he ends up commandeering a float in Chicago’s Von Steuben Day parade, where he lip syncs to “Danke Schoen” and “Twist and Shout.”

Recently, actress Mia Sara, who played Fer details

Beatles fanatics have the chance to see the world as John Lennon did. A pair of his tinted, circular Windsor Glasses are heading for auction at Propstore in October and have been given an upper estimate of £300,000 ($402,000).

Lennon wore the pair of American Optical gilt framed glasses from 1973 to early 1974, a turbulent period of the musician’s life that he would later call his “lost weekend.” He was drinking heavily, partying in public, and on a break from Yoko Ono.

The story of the glasses echoes this rambunctiousness. In 1974, Lennon was watching the Smothers Brothers at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles with his friend and fellow musician Harry Nilsson when the pair began heckling the rock comedy duo. Soon a fight erupted. Before being thrown out, Lennon lost his glasses in the ruckus and they were picked up by the wife of Tommy Smothers. As the story goes, the Smothers brought the glasses to an afterparty at the house of the actor Peter Lawford and the guests spent the rest of the evening donning Lennon’s eyewear.

“Lennon is fondly remembered as a pioneering musician and a strong advocate for peace, and during his career one accessory became his trademark: his details