Beatles News

How do you separate fact from fiction about the group that has arguably become the world's biggest band, the Beatles?

Since the band's inception well over 50 years ago, there have been thousands of accounts from the international tabloids, overwhelmed venue owners, miniskirted blondes, flabbergasted hotel maids (what they were called at the time), intense production people and countless other "firsthand" resources. Even though the band was really only together just a few years (formed in 1960, first hit in 1962, "Love Me Do" exploded in America in 1964 and they broke up in 1969-70), the number of behind-the-scenes stories outnumber the amount of days the band was in existence altogether.

Rarely do you get a firsthand account of anything major when it comes to an iconic group such as the Beatles. And not only was Alan Parsons (from the studio session band, the Alan Parsons Project) one of the very few people to witness the Beatles' very last public concert, he told me all about it before a show he was about to perform at the Arcada Theatre.

Source: Ron Onesti/dailyherald.com

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Billy Joel has announced he’s finally winding down his record-breaking residency at Madison Square Garden, after a decade of playing one sold-out concert a month at the New York venue.

Legions of fans have flocked to the arena to see him in that time, but early in the residency Joel said he wouldn’t sell tickets to the front rows, because, he told Billboard in 2014, they were often sold at inflated prices to rich people; he’d see them “sitting there puffing on a cigar, ‘entertain me, piano man.’ They don’t stand up, make noise.”
He wanted the “real fans” at the front – so he began sending crew members to the back of the venue to scout them out. “They get people from the worst seats and bring ’em in to the front rows. This way you’ve got people in the front row that are really happy to be there,” he said.

Source: Matthew Cantor/theguardian.com

Ringo Starr didn't often share his opinion in The Beatles. When he did, though, his bandmates paid attention. Here's why.While Ringo Starr didn’t think of himself as one of the driving creative forces in The Beatles, the band respected his ideas. It helped that he was far less embroiled in the complicated band politics than the other three. According to a Beatles audio engineer, though, Starr’s ideas held more weight than expected because he often kept his thoughts to himself. His bandmates knew that when he spoke up, it was important.Starr was often viewed as The Beatles’ weakest link, but he was a key member of the band. He just wasn’t as loud-mouthed as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, or George Harrison. Audio engineer Geoff Emerick worked with the band on multiple albums and noted that Starr was as “quiet as a mouse.” This quality meant that his bandmates paid attention to him when he did speak up.

Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com

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We don't need to add to the superlatives around The Beatles; from a listening, musician and production perspective, the list can get pretty long. But what makes the greatest band of all time? Is there another contender? Super-producer and engineer Steve Lillywhite had an interesting angle on it during his chat with fellow producer Warren Huart for Produce Like A Pro.

After praising Brian May as a guitar great for his sound-sculpting and his playing, he looked at a wider question. "Always it's been the Beatles when you talk about the greatest bands ever," he added. "But there's an argument now that the Beatles never made anything you could play in a stadium. The Beatles never made anything you could play at a huge sporting event.

Source: Rob Laing/musicradar.com

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In 1995, the surviving Beatles reunited for their Anthology series of albums. As part of that project, the band released two brand new songs, but fans have always longed for more.

Partnering with producer Jeff Lynne, the Beatles - Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr - used demo recordings of the late John Lennon's voice to create two new tracks: 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love'.

However, there was another song that was almost included as part of the album: 'Now and Then'.

But what happened to it, and will we finally hear it in 2023? Who wrote and recorded 'Now and Then'? In the late 1970s, John Lennon composed 'Now and Then'.

He made a demo recording of the unfinished song at his home in the Dakota Building, New York City, in 1979.

The story of The Beatles' last ever concert: The full setlist, attendance and ticket prices revealed
The Beatles' 20 greatest songs ever, ranked

The song is a typical example of the kind of love songs that Lennon wrote in the last part of his career, where he expressed regret and apology.

Source: Tom Eames/goldradiouk.com

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Paul McCartney is one of the most-known guitarists and bassists of all time. McCartney always brings attention to his guitar techniques and styles, riff, and solo parts for music band like The Beatles. In this article, we listed 5 things you didn’t know about Paul McCartney and his life.

The famous singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Paul McCartney is regarded as one of the most significant figures in the history of popular music. McCartney was born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England. He started as a young musician performing in local bands before joining The Beatles and becoming a legend.

His voice, together with his superb bass playing and unmatched musical sense, served as the cornerstone for all of The Beatles’ classic songs, from “She Loves You” in the beginning to the ground-breaking “A Day in the Life” and “Hey Jude” in the latter years.

Paul McCartney began a successful solo career after The Beatles split up in 1970. He also co-founded the band Wings with his late wife, Linda McCartney. He proceeded to make successful albums and singles with Wings, including “Band on the Run,” “Live and Let Die,” and “Jet details

The official Beatles fan magazine, The Beatles Book Monthly, is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its debut by making a selection of prints from the magazine’s vast library available for purchase for the first time.

The Beatles Book Monthly was launched in August 1963 by publisher Sean O’Mahony and gave fans the latest news on the band. The first edition featured bios on Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, along with manager Brian Epstein and producer George Martin. Subsequent issues chronicled the band’s rise to superstardom and gave fans the inside scoop on their favorite group.

In total there were 77 issues of the mag, which sold about 330,000 copies each month. The final edition was published December 1, 1969, although that magazine was later revived in May 1976 and again in October 1982. Thanks to photographer Leslie Bryce getting unprecedented access to the band, the mag featured loads of photos; over 6,000 of them went on to become part of The Beatles Book Photo Library.

Source: kslx.com

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In Philip Larkin’s poem Annus Mirabilis, the English poet wrote famously of a significant year for him: “Sexual intercourse began/ In nineteen sixty-three/ (which was rather late for me) -/ Between the end of the Chatterley ban/ And the Beatles’ first LP ...”

It was also pretty momentous year for the four Scousers who released their first album, Please Please Me, in March of that year. According to Paul McCartney, “We were just four guys having fun and doing what we loved, which was playing music.”

And didn’t they have fun, and didn’t they play a load of music. As Britain left the staid and drab world of the 1950s behind, life was changing, art was changing, music was changing. The Beatles – McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, as if we didn’t know their names - stormed the charts there and around the world, and Beatlemania overwhelmed society.

Now we have Paul McCartney’s perspective on that time thanks to a collection of his contemporaneous photographs, preserved in his archives, but not seen for getting on 60 years.

Source: Jason Steger/smh.com.au

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The Beatles' John Lennon said it's "best to go out when you're flying high." He also discussed the reaction to the band's dissolution.The Beatles‘ breakup might be the most famous breakup in all of rock history. John Lennon took a minute to imagine what might have happened if the Fab Four had stayed together. Subsequently, he explored the upsides and downsides of leaving the group.During a 1980 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John discussed what could have happened if The Beatles kept going. “I don’t know, it would have probably gone down the tubes and then been resurrected like everything else,” he opined. “I always thought it was best to go out when you’re flying high.”

Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com

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John Lennon, born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England, was a legendary singer, songwriter, and peace activist who co-founded the iconic rock band, The Beatles. He was a pivotal figure in the music industry and became one of the most influential and celebrated musicians of the 20th century.

In the early 1960s, along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, John Lennon formed The Beatles, a band that would revolutionize popular music and become a cultural phenomenon. As the primary songwriter and co-lead vocalist of the group, Lennon’s creative contributions were instrumental in shaping their sound and style.

The Beatles’ massive success and unprecedented fame brought Beatlemania to the world, influencing an entire generation and changing the landscape of popular music forever. Some of Lennon’s most iconic compositions for The Beatles include “Imagine,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “A Day in the Life,” and “Let It Be.”

Source: Edward Tomlin/singersroom.com

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Some John Lennon songs from 'Double Fantasy' sound like the 1950s. This was because John heard Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” inspired John Lennon songs. The former Beatle explained why Queen inspired him to start making music again. Notably, Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was a bigger hit than John’s No. 1 song from that period.John released his final album, Double Fantasy, in 1980, five years after his previous album, Rock ‘n’ Roll. During a 1980 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John discussed new music. “I love the music of today,” he explained. “It’s the best period since the 1960s: The Pretenders, The B-52’s, Madness. Someone showed me a video of The Clash. They’re good.

Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com

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Paul McCartney can't help but sing the praises of his eight grandchildren, or "chillers," as he calls them.

The Beatles legend is known as "Grandude" to his grandkids, who include daughter Stella McCartney's four children and daughter Mary McCartney's four sons. "One of my grandkids — who used to call me 'Grandad' — just happened one day to say 'Grandude' and it kind of stuck," McCartney told the BBC in 2019. "So the other kids started calling me 'Grandude.' "

McCartney has written two picture books, Hey Grandude! and Grandude's Green Submarine. Both were inspired by his grandchildren, with whom he enjoys dancing, making music and watching soccer.

"I'm really happy with how Hey Grandude! was received, as this was a very personal story for me, celebrating Grandudes everywhere and their relationships and adventures with their grandchildren," he told PEOPLE in a statement. "I love that it has become a book read to grandkids at bedtime all around the world."

Source:people.com

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John Lennon was not a fan of one of Paul McCartney's songs. According to a Beatles engineer, he made his hatred of the song very clear.By the end of the 1960s, Paul McCartney was beginning to get on John Lennon’s nerves. All The Beatles found him domineering in the studio, overly focused on perfecting his songs. One of the songs he spent an exceptionally long time on was “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” He was a perfectionist about the production, much to his bandmates’ irritation. It didn’t help that Lennon disliked the song and did not try to hide it.

McCartney dragged The Beatles through endless takes of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” while working on the White Album.

“The previous week’s work was a typical study in frustration,” audio engineer Geoff Emerick wrote in his book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles. “We’d worked endlessly on just two songs: Lennon’s ‘Revolution’ and McCartney’s ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,’ done over and over again until we were all sick to death of them. Nonetheless, here we were again, breathing in the same stale studio air, working on those same two tracks.”< details

Yoko Ono said one of John Lennon‘s “(Just Like) Starting Over” was a message to all women. “(Just Like) Starting Over” made Yoko feel like crying. In addition, she said the tune had themes of renewal following the horrors of the 1970s.

John collaborated with Yoko on his final album, Double Fantasy. During a 1980 interview with the Los Angeles Times, she discussed the most successful track from that record. “I think John’s song, ‘Starting Over,’ is so beautiful,” she revealed. “It’s a personal message to me, but it’s also like all men saying to all women, ‘Let’s try again.’ It’s not going to be easy.”

Yoko gave her opinion on the state of gender relations. “In the ’60s, there was this sexual revolution which resulted in women waking up to the fact that it was a sexual revolution [only] for men and that women were really being used,” she said. “So, in the ’70s, women became very bitter, which was understandable. They didn’t want to just be ‘toys.’ So, there was this breakdown in relationships and the family.”

Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.c details