Beatles News
The estate of former Beatles star John Lennon has appointed a UK music licensing company to collect royalties on all sound recordings where the late singer or his widowed wife Yoko Ono are listed as a performer.
Music licensing company Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) will collect neighbouring rights royalties for the estate when music from the pair is played in public venues including shops, bars, or aired on commercial radio or TV.
Lennon died in 1980 in New York after he was shot by Mark David Chapman.
The John Lennon estate said in a statement: “PPL has shown they are the leaders in advocating for neighbouring rights globally.
“We have the utmost respect for the team and look forward to working with them.”
PPL analysed radio and TV airplay data from the 21st century to compile a list of most played Lennon recordings – which saw Woman take the top spot.
Source: Ellie Iorizzo/standard.co.uk
Ringo Starr said some things about The Beatles' "Love Me Do" that are just plain wrong. His comments don't make sense in light of his career.
Sometimes, classic rock stars don’t understand their own work. Ringo Starr said some things about The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” that are just plain wrong. His comments don’t make sense in light of The Beatles’ career or Ringo’s career as a solo artist.
Ringo Starr said The Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’ is his defining song. During a 2023 interview with Vulture, Ringo was asked to name the defining song of his career. “Because it was the first song, my answer is ‘Love Me Do,'” he said. “We were on vinyl. We made a record.
“Even though when I got to the studio, George Martin had a session guy for the drums, Andy White, but I played on it anyway,” the “Photograph” singer added. “He played it, I played it — he’s on the album, I think, and I’m on the single, so go figure. We were just blessed that George Martin took a chance on us because many record labels sent us down. But the fun was the fact that we were still touring. And only the BBC was playing the song. It would say, ‘Oh, at 3:14 p.m., this song will be on the BBC.’ So we’d all pull over and think, ‘Wow, we’re on the radio.’ I mean, it was a really big moment. It was magic because we were on this piece of vinyl all to ourselves.”
Ringo opined that the Fab Four made many fabulous tracks after “Love Me Do.” However, that tune would always be important to him because it was his first. He seemed proud that The Beatles wrote many songs without being able to read music.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
While George Harrison could be critical of The Beatles, he still thought their music sounded good — as long as it wasn’t produced in the United States. For the most part, he explained, The Beatles had control over their creative output. They were able to put what they wanted on their albums, in the order they thought was best. This changed when publishers in the United States got ahold of their records.
George Harrison did not like the way U.S. publishers made The Beatles’ music sound
According to Harrison, many of The Beatles’ records did not meet the standards the band set for themselves. When their label in the United States began releasing their music, they went against the band’s wishes for how to present their albums. While it didn’t bother him much in the years after the band broke up, it once stung.
Source: imdb.com
The Fab Four were the biggest band of the 1960s, if not the entirety of the 20th century. They pushed through their career as a band for seven years (give or take) before ultimately calling it quits (officially) in 1974, though the band was done with long before that year. Many would say that The Beatles had gone through their breakup by 1970.
So, what caused The Beatles to break up? Surely the Fab Four could have enjoyed another few decades of fame, considering their insanely massive popularity. Lesser bands have lasted longer. What happened?
Well, it’s complicated. Live performances for The Beatles were very different from live performances for other bands. Beatlemania was a certified global phenomenon. Though, by 1965, the band started to see it as more of a pandemic.
George Harrison was allegedly the first to want to stop touring, but Paul McCartney was dead-set on maintaining an ongoing tour schedule. Eventually, the other two were sick of it too, and McCartney couldn’t help but agree: Live performances were exhausting and had become, at times, straight-up dangerous. After their 1966 tour of the US, they decided to retire from touring for good.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
It’s natural to get excited when your favorite artist puts out a new album, but on occasion that excitement turns to disappointment when the album isn’t as great as you’d hoped it would be.
Rolling Stone is examining that very subject with its just-released list of the 50 most disappointing albums of all time.
The mag notes that albums on the list aren’t necessarily bad, but were considered disappointing when they came out. Also, some disappointing albums are only disappointing because of the artist who released them, with the mag noting they could be “seen as a masterpiece if almost anyone else” recorded them.
Topping the list is John Lennon’s 1972 release, Some Time in New York City, calling the protest songs on the album “half-a****, at best,” and noting they “seemed dated almost instantly.”
The mag adds, “Some Time in New York City is as disposable as the newspapers on the cover,” referring to the album’s artwork, which featured a fake newspaper front page.
Coming in at #2 is The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, followed by Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait at #3, David Bowie’s Tonight at #4 and Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy at #5.
Source: mikeeves@wxhc.com/wxhc.com
George Harrison didn't make any music in 1977. He shared why his step away began to feel embarrassing to him.
For a good portion of his time with The Beatles, George Harrison fought to have his bandmates take his music seriously. He wanted to be a songwriter and contribute to the band’s albums like John Lennon and Paul McCartney did. When the band broke up, Harrison finally had the chance to showcase his music in the ways he’d always wanted. After less than a decade, though, he tired of the music industry altogether. He admitted he went a full year without making any music, a fact that eventually embarrassed him out of his semi-retirement.
After nearly two decades in the music industry, Harrison completely stepped away from music in 1977. He said he didn’t so much as write a song.
“Well, all of 1977 I didn’t write a song, I didn’t do anything; I was not working at all really, so I decided I’d better start doing something,” he told Rolling Stone. “I’d just turned off from the music business altogether.”
George Harrison plays guitar during the Concert for Bangladesh.
Source:Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Today, Disney+ announced that Beatles ’64, an all-new documentary from producer Martin Scorsese and director David Tedeschi, will stream exclusively on Disney+ beginning November 29, 2024. The film captures the electrifying moment of The Beatles’ first visit to America. Featuring never-before-seen footage of the band and the legions of young fans who helped fuel their ascendance, the film gives a rare glimpse into when The Beatles became the most influential and beloved band of all time.
On February 7, 1964, The Beatles arrived in New York City to unprecedented excitement and hysteria. From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country. Their thrilling debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show captivated more than 73 million viewers, the most watched television event of its time. Beatles ’64 presents the spectacle, but also tells a more intimate behind the scenes story, capturing the camaraderie of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they experienced unimaginable fame.
The film includes rare footage filmed by pioneering documentarians Albert and David Maysles, beautifully restored in 4K by Park Road Post in New Zealand. The live performances from The Beatles first American concert at the Washington, DC Coliseum and their Ed Sullivan appearances were demixed by WingNut Films and remixed by Giles Martin. Spotlighting this singular cultural moment and its continued resonance today, the music and footage are augmented by newly filmed interviews with Paul and Ringo, as well as fans whose lives were transformed by The Beatles.
Source:thebeatles.com/
All four of The Beatles took on various acting roles throughout their careers. Some of those roles were small and cheeky, while others were actually quite serious and impressive. Let’s take a look at just four times the members of The Beatles stepped outside of music and took on acting roles!
1. George Harrison in ‘Life Of Brian’
Out of all of The Beatles’ acting roles in their respective filmographies, this is probably the smallest one. George Harrison only plays a minor background role in Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, but his role in the film as a whole is much larger than his brief appearance as Mr. Papadopoulos. Few might know that Harrison had his own film production company called HandMade Films, which produced the entire film.
2. John Lennon in ‘How I Won The War’
This 1967 film stars none other than John Lennon. How I Won The War is a British dark comedy movie that explores the similarities between war and games, and features John Lennon in the role of Gripweed. Out of all of the Beatles, Lennon took on acting the least number of times. Gripweed was his only non-musical role as an actor.
Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com
In the years after The Beatles’ split, George Harrison dealt with a number of lawsuits. Perhaps most significantly, Paul McCartney sued his three former bandmates. He wanted to regain control of their music from manager Allen Klein. The former Beatles spent several tense years battling over this. Harrison also dealt with a lawsuit over plagiarism. He believed he should begin to fight back and start filing suits of his own.
George Harrison wondered if The Beatles should have been more litigious. In the years after The Beatles, a number of projects about them, or using their music, cropped up. Harrison said the band should put a stop to that.
“There’s not much more we [the Beatles] can be sued for, but we can sue a lot of other people,” he told Rolling Stone. “Being split and diversified over the years has made it difficult to consolidate certain Beatles interests. For example,...
Source: Emma McKee/Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Sir Paul McCartney helped a couple get engaged on stage during a soundcheck ahead of a sold-out show in Chile.
Sir Paul, 82, spotted Chilean couple Yamil Alamo and Leonora Pereira dressed as 1970s versions of himself and his late wife Linda McCartney holding a sign that said: “Paul: Give us a handshake and we’ll get married.”
The Beatles star invited the couple up on stage in Santiago during Friday’s soundcheck where, in front of Sir Paul, Mr Alamo got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend of six years.
Chilean couple Yamil Álamo and Leonora Pereira got engaged in front of Sir Paul McCartney during a soundcheck as The Beatles star is currently on his Got Back tour.
Mr Alamo said: “This was a very special moment for us because for many years we have tried to meet him and today is the day! I don’t have words to describe the experience.”
Source:Kerri Ann-Roper/standard.co.uk
