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Beatles News
The Beatles didn’t have nearly as bad a reputation as bands like The Rolling Stones, but even they dealt with scandals in their time as a band. Many of these seem tame by today’s standards, but they still placed the band in hot water with the general public. Here are four of the scandals that The Beatles faced throughout the 1960s.
In 1966, John Lennon entangled The Beatles in what was likely their biggest controversy. In an interview, he spoke about the enduring quality of rock music versus religion.
“Christianity will go,” he said, per Rolling Stone. “It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I know I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first – rock & roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
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The first time music producer George Martin began working with the Beatles in May 1962, he thought little of them or their songwriting skills. "The material was either old stuff ... or very mediocre songs they had written themselves," he recounted in "All You Need Is Ears: The Inside Personal Story of the Genius Who Created the Beatles." He would later recall that they were "rotten composers" whose "own stuff wasn't any good" (via The Beatles: The Biography). Martin laid into the crestfallen band for more than an hour, ticking off all the negatives, including the band's "lack of suitable material."
In response, George Harrison cheekily retorted that he didn't like Martin's tie, which shocked his bandmates, but had Martin in stitches. Harrison broke the ice and helped solidify a history-making creative union. As Martin and the Beatles continued to work together, the producer's opinion of Paul McCartney and John Lennon's songwriting changed for the better, especially when their songs continued to become massive hits. But Harrison had a harder time of it since he hadn't been writing as long as Lennon and McCartney.
Source: Andrew Amelinckx/grunge.com
There’s not much Lennon music heard in this doc about his affair with May Pang, and given how much Pang trashes his wife, Yoko Ono, it’s no surprise it was withheld.
Interest in John Lennon’s personal life goes back to early ’60s Beatlemania, when a waggish producer on the Ed Sullivan Show captioned a shot of the then-moptop, “Sorry girls, he’s married.”
As we have learned over and over, the emotionally damaged and frequently volatile Lennon was often no picnic as a spouse.
During his second marriage, to the artist Yoko Ono, Lennon had a long and serious affair with May Pang, who had been a personal assistant to the couple in the early 1970s. This sojourn has been nicknamed Lennon’s “lost weekend,” partly because of the drunken acting out he did with Pang in tow. Also because he reunited with Ono in 1975, had a child with her, and entered a period of devoted, near-reclusive domesticity before he was assassinated in 1980.
Source: Glenn Kenny/nytimes.com
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The Beatles exist in a stratosphere all their own decades after they broke up. The music still resonates, and the band members — living and dead — are still celebrated. So are the group’s other projects, such as The Beatles’ first movie A Hard Day’s Night. It cost $500,000 to make, which was well worth it beyond the box office receipts. Paul McCartney said filming the movie was nerve-wracking, but it came with a huge payoff.
George Harrison (from left), Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon on the set of The Beatles' movie 'A Hard Day's Night' in 1964.
‘A Hard Day’s Night’ more than recouped its $500,000 budget
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was like many other movies. A screenwriter (Alun Owen) penned the script. A director (Richard Lester) helmed the shoot. And actors (many of them anonymous in the U.S. aside from The Beatles) performed in it.
Yet it comes off as a quasi-documentary with Paul, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr fending off rabid fans at the height of Beatlemania as they try to get to a TV appearance.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
Before The Beatles became global superstars in 1964, the band was rocking Liverpool’s Cavern Club. They eventually found their way to producer George Martin, and the band released two singles that had modest commercial success in 1962.
The Beatles recorded their first LP, Please Please Me, over a single day in 1963. It was released in the U.K. on March 22, 1963, and popular music would never be the same.
Looking back on 60 years since the album’s debut, here are seven little-known facts about the Fab Four’s first full-length record:
1. The Beatles Beat Themselves
Please Please Me spent 30 weeks at No. 1 on the U.K. album charts. It eventually dropped to No. 2 behind the band’s second LP, With The Beatles.
Source: Ryan Berenz/remindmagazine.com
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If it was possible to pinpoint a single moment when the Beatles’ journey took a turn away from “just pop stars” to being serious artists, then it was the release in December 1965 of their second LP of the year, Rubber Soul.
Just four months earlier, Help! had shown signs that their music was becoming more erudite, with songs like “Yesterday” and “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” bringing new sounds to the mix. By the following year’s Revolver, they were charting a new course, reinventing pop music with otherworldly pieces like “Eleanor Rigby” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
Rubber Soul, sandwiched between the two, reflects the joys of both camps. Glorious pop songs such as “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” and “If I Needed Someone” seem loaded with a knowing wink that the times were indeed a-changin’. But it was on “Michelle,” “Norwegian Wood,” and “In My Life” that the sophistication of their songwriting and performance clearly raised the bar.
Source: Paul McGuinness/yahoo.com
When The Beatles broke up in 1970, each member wasted no time jumpstarting their solo careers. George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon released solo work in the same year. Some had more success than others, but it proved that each member could work without being part of The Beatles. Here is a ranking of the first solo albums released by each member.
4. ‘Sentimental Journey’ – Ringo Starr
Surprisingly, Ringo Starr was the first Beatle to drop a solo album, released a few weeks before The Beatles officially announced they were breaking up. Sentimental Journey is a collection of covers performed by Starr and produced by George Martin. While many of the covers are nicely done, many Beatles fans were confused about Starr emerging with an album that stuck closer to the popular music formula.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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Many of The Beatles’ songs are perfection. While not every song is a knockout, many have remained prominent, even as the years go by. However, John Lennon was often cynical about some of his work with The Beatles, and there is one song he said he wished he could have re-done, and it may surprise fans. The Beatles all grew up in Liverpool, and several songs are based on locations from their hometown. John Lennon wrote “Strawberry Fields Forever” about a location he used to play in as a child near his home. The 1967 track is based on a garden from Strawberry Field, a Salvation Army children’s home in Liverpool. In Many Years From Now, Paul McCartney detailed what the garden looked like and why it was important to Lennon.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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Several Beatles songs are part of the fabric of modern music. It’s difficult to tell the story of classic rock and pop music without the Fab Four. Still, some Beatles songs were banned in the United States. Before they wrote tunes that foreshadowed the end of the band, the Fab Four penned tunes that U.S. radio wouldn’t touch.
1. ‘Cold Turkey’
OK, so it’s not a Beatles song, but John Lennon wrote it during his Fab Four days before releasing it on his solo debut, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, in 1970. So we’ll call “Cold Turkey” a song by one of the Beatles that was banned in the United States. And it’s easy to see why. The lyrics describe heroin withdrawal in plainly harrowing detail, and it featured some of John’s freaky singing (read: screaming) over a heavy, distorted guitar riff near the end. It’s not an easy listen, but some fans didn’t have to worry about stumbling across it on their radio since most stations refused to play it.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
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George Harrison said he didn’t consider himself a “guitar hero” for several reasons. Many other things sidetracked him on his guitar-playing journey, and he only played his instrument when necessary. However, George couldn’t have been more wrong about his self-assessment. He’s one of the best guitarists in rock ‘n’ roll.
During a 1989 interview with Mark Rowland (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George said, in a way, he knew he was supposed to be a guitar player, but he didn’t feel like one.
He only picked up the guitar to write a tune or make a record. Most of the time, George was happy to relinquish his guitar-playing rights to another guitarist if it meant he got to work with that person. For instance, George often allowed his friend Eric Clapton to appear in his songs because he just liked working with him.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
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Working with Paul McCartney would be a dream for many musicians. He proved himself to be a talented musician and songwriter with The Beatles. Some of their most notable songs feature only Paul by himself. Collaborating with the bassist wasn’t a bucket list item for guitarist Chris Spedding, but he said Paul’s whining proved how different he was from other musicians.
The closest you could get to a Beatles reunion in the mid-1980s was getting two of the remaining three members in the same studio.
Since George Harrison paused his solo career after 1982’s Gone Troppo, that meant Paul and Ringo Starr. And Paul was the only option since Ringo spent most of the decade on the sidelines, too.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
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The Beatles members rarely performed songs by themselves, but there were times when they recorded solo tracks. While there was primarily only one lead vocalist on each song, the other members were usually in the background, rocking out on their instruments. However, there are a few songs by Paul McCartney that he sang and played the instruments on without any other members. Here are four Beatles songs featuring only Paul McCartney. “Blackbird” is a 1968 song from The White Album. The track addresses the racial tensions during the U.S. Civil Rights movement. After witnessing the Little Rock Nine, a group of students escorted into a recently desegregated school in Arkansas, he was inspired to write a song. In Many Years From Now, McCartney said the title refers to a black woman and is written from her perspective.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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Many of The Beatles’ fans were shocked and devastated when the band announced they were splitting up. However, behind the scenes, it was inevitable as tensions between the band members rose. While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason why The Beatles called it quits, there are a few songs that hint at their dissolution.
“The Ballad of John and Yoko” was a single released in 1969 that chronicled the events of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s wedding, along with their honeymoon activities that included the infamous “bed-in” peace protests. The track featured only Lennon and Paul McCartney. George Harrison and Ringo Starr didn’t skip the track out of spite but because it felt like a track specifically for Lennon.
While this song didn’t create turmoil within The Beatles, it was a sign that Lennon was becoming more interested in creating music with Yoko rather than his fellow bandmates. In Anthology, producer George Martin said “The Ballad of John and Yoko” was evidence that John Lennon had already “mentally left the group.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
The short but winding road that made the Beatles the greatest recording act and pop-culture sensation of all time ended publicly on this day in history, April 10, 1970.
Paul McCartney announced a "break with the Beatles" in press materials that accompanied the scheduled release of his first solo album a week later.
His announcement confirmed months of rumors about the band's dissolution.
"Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family," McCartney said in the statement.
Not one of the Liverpool lads had yet turned 30 when the Beatles imploded after a brief but spectacular seven-year period of prolific creative genius perhaps unmatched in human history.
Source: Kerry Byrne/foxnews.com
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Paul McCartney almost called it quits after The Beatles broke up.
The rock legend admitted that when the group disbanded in 1970, he wasn't sure he would be able to embark on a solo career as he feared it would pale in comparison. In a post published on his website on Tuesday, McCartney answered fan-submitted questions about taking risks in his career. He replied, “The main question I had was whether to keep going after The Beatles because it was a hard act—some might say, an impossible act—to follow.” He continued, “The ingredients in the Beatles were so unique. You had John [Lennon] right there, who could have made any group brilliant. Then you had George [Harrison]'s talent, and Ringo [Starr]'s, and then me.”
Source: Emily Kirkpatrick/vanityfair.com
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