August 5, 1966: The Beatles Get Psychedelic With 'Revolver'

“Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.”

The sixties were about to get an injection of psychedelia with The Beatles’ Revolver. These lyrics from “Tomorrow Never Knows” are the perfect primer for an album that changed the course of Beatles history, and rock and roll, forever.

The acid-influenced masterpiece spawned hits such as “Yellow Submarine,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Got to Get You Into My Life,” all of which cracked the top-20 of the Billboard Charts.

Coming off the heels of Rubber Soul, a turning point for The Beatles had been reached. Soul started to introduce some folk rock themes while keeping a pop rock tune. Then Revolver took those changes and ran with them.

“Their ideas now were beginning to become much more potent in the studio,” said producer George Martin in a documentary, “and they would start telling me what they wanted, and they would start pressing me for more ideas and more ways for translating those ideas into reality.”

Experimentation fueled the Fab Four’s creativity. Many Beatleologists call this album their “acid album” while Rubber Soul was their “weed” album. They even started experimenting with backwards guitar solos and Indian-flavored tunes and instruments.

“That’s the first record with backwards music on it,” said Lennon in the same documentary. “Before Hendrix, before The Who, before any f*ckers.”

Revolver was certified 5x platinum by RIAA and spent six weeks atop the Billboard charts.Rolling Stone ranked it as the No. 3 album of all-time in their “500 Greatest Albums” list, and it was their second-best selling album at the time behind its predecessor Rubber Soul.

Through the years, Revolver has stood the test of time as one of the most innovative albums in history. It seemed impossible for The Beatles to be able to replicate the success and creativity of that album...until they replicated the success and creativity of that album less than a year later with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Getting ready for the US Tour.

Getting ready for the tour

The station manager of WAQY-AM radio in Birmingham, Alabama became the first to urge listeners to boycott record stores and bookstores that sold music and memorabilia of The Beatles, starting an American backlash against the British rock group that was preparing to make a tour of the United States. Manager Tommy Charles told reporters, "We just felt it was so absurd and sacreligious  that something ought to be done to show that they cannot get away with this sort of thing." On March 4th, John Lennon had been quoted by a British interviewer as saying "We're more popular than Jesus now", and the statement had largely gone unnoticed until it was reprinted in the July issue of the American teen magazine Datebook. On July 28, Charles and disc jockey Doug Layton stopped playing the group's records and announced plans for a bonfire of records on July 30. Other radio stations joined in the boycott, including in South Africa and Spain before Lennon made an apology when the group arrived in Chicago on August 11.

Studio B15, Broadcasting House, London

Just as Paul had once agreed to a solo appearance on a David Frost TV Show. (A Degree of Frost), so he now agreed to participate with him, and without the other Beatles, in a BBC Light Program radio show, David Frost at the Phonograph, a series in which Frost interviewed "a personality" and commented on everyday matters in between playing records new and old. The entire program, including Paul's "Live" personal appearance, was recorded from 8:30 this evening in a basement studio at Broadcasting House, it was transmitted from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm on Saturday, August 6th.

The Beatles started a five week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Yesterday...And Today', the group's 8th No.1 album.

On July 30, 1966 The Beatles were at No.1 for 5 weeks straight. They accomplished this admirable task with their album Yesterday…And Today, which had been the groups 8th No.1 album.

Datebook republishes John Lennon’s ‘Jesus’ comments.

Setting off a chain of events that would culminate in public bonfires of The Beatles' records and a public backlash that at times made the group fearful for their lives, the US teen magazine Datebook on this day republished John Lennon's remarks that "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus".

Lennon's remarks had first appeared in England in March 1966 by journalist Maureen Cleave.

Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; 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 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.

Although the remarks were barely noticed in the UK, they were featured in Datebook in a cover story titled "The Ten Adults You Dig/Hate The Most." The article contained a section on Lennon, which republished the Jesus quote out of its original context.

The magazine, hitherto a minor player in the teen market, unexpectedly sold around a million copies. American Christian fundamentalists were outraged, and angry hordes, concentrated in the southern states, organised bonfires of Beatles records and memorabilia.

The group's music was banned by a number of radio stations in the south, and The Beatles were forced to attempt to limit the damage. Their manager Brian Epstein attempted to explain that Lennon had merely expressed surprise at his level of fame.

With The Beatles' US tour looming, and with death threats being made against the group and their families, Lennon was eventually pressed into apologising at a Chicago press conference on August 11th.

Lennon's comments did much to quell the animosity against the group, and a planned wave of Beatles bonfires were called off. However, The Beatles remained nervous throughout their final tour.

The Beatles relaxing in between tours.

Getting ready for the tour!

The Beatles planning their next tour in the U.S.

The Beatles thinking about the tour ahead......

July 24, 1966 - "Brian Epstein" was supposed to fly back to "England" from "America" this day, a trip to prepare the next ßeatles' North American Tour.

Beatles laying low today.....

Does anyone remember this back in July 1966?

Beatles taking a break

The Beatles decided to take a break today.

Nothing much to report today.

The Beatles are taking a much needed break.

The Beatles are taking a break.

The Beatles having a day of rest.

Another day of free time (or was it?) for the Beatles.

The Beatles were given three prestigious Ivor Novello awards on this day in recognition of their outstanding achievements in 1965.

Yesterday was judged to be the most outstanding song of the year. The other two awards were for sales: We Can Work It Out was the top-selling single of 1965, while Help! was the second-best selling.

The Beatles recovering and having jet lag from the tour.

xxxxx

Saturday, 9 July 1966

It was Saturday, under the sign of Cancer. The US president was Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic). In that special week of July people in US were listening to Paperback Writer by The Beatles. In UK Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks was in the top 5 hits. Torn Curtain, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was one of the most viewed movies released in 1966 while Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann was one of the best selling books.

Travel: India to England

Following their first trip to India, The Beatles returned to England on this day.

They arrived at London Airport at 6am. A brief press conference was held, and George Harrison and Ringo Starr were interviewed by the radio show Today on the BBC Home Service.

The following is a transcript of The Beatles' interview with the ITV network.

Q: At the airport, did they come up and start physically threatening you?

Paul McCartney: We got to the airport and our road managers had a lot of trouble trying to get the equipment in because the escalators had been turned off, and things. So we got there, and we got put into the transit lounge. And we got pushed around from one corner of the lounge to another, you know.

John Lennon: 'You're treated like ordinary passenger! Ordinary passenger!' Ordinary passenger, what, he doesn't get kicked, does he?

McCartney: And so they started knocking over our road managers and things, and everyone was falling all over the place.

Q: That started worrying you, when the road manager got knocked over.

McCartney: Yeah, and I swear there were 30 of 'em.

Q: What do you say there were?

Lennon: Well, I saw sort of five in sort of outfits, you know, that were doing the actual kicking and booing and shouting.

Q: Did you get kicked any?

Lennon: No, I was very delicate and moved every time they touched me. But I was petrified. I could have been kicked and not known it, you know. We'll just never go to any nuthouses again.

Q: Would you go to Manila again, George?

George Harrison: No, I didn't even want to go that time.

Lennon: Me too.

Harrison: Because we'd heard that it was a terrible place anyway, and when we got there. It was proved.

Source: The Beatles Bible

 

The Beatles go sightseeing in India

The day after their arrival in India, The Beatles managed to sneak out of their New Delhi hotel, the Oberoi, and did some sightseeing.

Ringo Starr: That was our first time in India, and it was quite interesting; but we had a bad day when the guys from British Airways took us out to see a camel drawing water - they go round in circles to work the pump where the water comes out. You could always tell the people who worked for BA in Delhi, because they all wore ties even though it was about 300 degrees in the shade. One guy thought it would be a bit of fun to jump on the poor animal that was walking round - probably that was all it would ever do in its life, drag this harness and draw the water. It was crazy, so we all got a bit angry with him.

The Beatles arrived in India for the first time, following a brief refueling stop in Bangkok, early in the morning of 6 July 1966.

Although they had hoped to spend time in India resting and discovering the country's music, their stay was anything but relaxing.

George Harrison: Before the tour was planned, I had an arrangement made that on the return journey from the Philippines to London I would stop off in India, because I wanted to go and check it out and buy a good sitar. I had asked Neil if he would come with me, because I didn't want to be in India on my own. He agreed, and we had booked for the two of us to get off in Delhi.

The Beatles managed to sneak out using the hotel's rear exit, and did some sightseeing and shopping.

George Harrison - Delhi was a really funny feeling. I'm sure a lot of people have had this experience when they go there. In the parts of New Delhi that were built by the British, it isn't the little streets you might expect: we were on big wide roads, dual carriageways with roundabouts.