Beatles News
Paul McCartney may be a much-loved figure in British music, but the family favourite also has a raunchy side. After all, when The Beatles were playing tiny clubs in Hamburg it was Macca who took the mic for those Little Richard numbers, shrieking to his heart’s delight.
So when the mid 60s brought a tit-for-tit war of distortion between top tier British groups, there was only ever going to be one winner. Reading an interview with The Who’s Pete Townshend about the band’s single ‘I Can See For Miles’, Paul McCartney’s eyes were drawn to a quote saying the 45 was their loudest and most extreme record yet – so he decided to top it.
Entering Abbey Road once more, he began sketching out ideas for ‘Helter Skelter’ – arguably one of the first true rock or metal records, it was born out of friendly competition.
Source: Robin Murray/clashmusic.com
After The Beatles broke up, John Lennon and Paul McCartney's relationship disintegrated completely.
The years-long pop battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar concluded with something of a TKO when the latter performed the massive diss track 'Not Like Us' at the Super Bowl in 2025.
But the warring rappers are far from the first friends and collaborators whose relationship devolved into a back-and-forth of insult in songs.
Paul McCartney opens up about his last ever conversation with John Lennon. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney reconciled and nearly reformed The Beatles.
Over half a century earlier, John Lennon and Paul McCartney exchanged a series of barbs at one another in their music.
And while Drake and Kendrick were pally before things went south, that was nothing like the closeness of Lennon and McCartney, who met as teenagers on July 6, 1957 and formed what became arguably the greatest songwriting partnership in history.
Even before The Beatles broke up, things had turned sour between John and Paul, and after the split was made official, things went public. Below we look at each of the diss tracks in
Source: goldradio.com/Mayer Nissim
Decades after their split, The Beatles’ classic compilations remain U.K. favorites as 1967-1970 ... [+] returns to the charts, joining 1962-1966 on key rankings. Portrait of British pop group The Beatles (L-R) Paul McCartney, George Harrison (1943 - 2001), Ringo Starr and John Lennon (1940 - 1980) at the BBC Television Studios in London before the start of their world tour, June 17, 1966.
The Beatles remain one of the most successful and beloved bands in history, and that will likely always be the case. Decades after breaking up, the band’s music is still finding new life on the charts – a statement which may also ring true for the rest of time.
This week, one of the group’s most popular compilations returns to a pair of rankings in the U.K. as listeners across the country continue to revisit the band’s biggest hits. As 1967-1970 makes a notable comeback, it joins its longtime companion, 1962-1966, on the lists.
Source: forbes.com/Hugh McIntyre
John Lennon’s death in 1980 absolutely shook the world. Not only was it the passing of one of the world’s finest musicians, but it was also the death of an activist, a spokesperson, and the voice of a generation. That being so, the masses mourned his loss, and musicians did the same, both through song and ceremony.
Some musicians who paid homage to their fallen friends went the extra mile by writing and releasing a full-fledged single. As a matter of fact, several of these singles found quite a bit of success. Sadly, the context that supported that success was incredibly melancholic. With all that in mind, here are three songs that pay homage to the generational voice, John Lennon.
“Roll on John” by Bob Dylan
Released by Bob Dylan in 2013, his single “Roll On John” is a lengthy tribute featured on his album, House of The Risin’ Sun. Dylan’s single is a total of seven minutes long and poetically captures the cradle to crib story of John Lennon.
By name-dropping Liverpool, The Beatles’ former name, The Quarry Men, and other facts personal to John Lennon, Dylan truly tries to define the undefinable figure in his lines. Even if he doesn’t accomplish this task, it still shows that he was thinking about his musical contemporary for quite some time after his death.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Peter Burditt
Elvis Presley had a mixed relationship with The Beatles. The Fab Four were heavily influenced by the King of Rock and Roll during their 1950s upbringing. And by the time the five men finally met 60 years ago this August, The King saw them as his rivals whose music careers were in a much better place than his own. By 1970, he was telling President Nixon that the Beatles were “un-American” due to their association with hippy drug culture. And yet Elvis would end up covering a number of their hits live during his residency years from Yesterday to Hey Jude.
Daily Express spoke exclusively with the King’s step-brother David Stanley, who we interviewed on that very Las Vegas stage where the star performed every show. During our conversation, the Memphis Mafia confidant and bodyguard shared that, of all the Beatles, Elvis “loved George Harrison.” Davis shared: “He thought George was the most prolific writer. He really liked his writing.” He then listed off Elvis’ four favourite Beatles songs all penned by the Quiet Beatle.
This is the only Beatles song on the list Elvis regularly covered live, including at his 1973 concert movie Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite. Penned by Harrison for the Abbey Road album, the track is believed to be a love song to his first wife Pattie Boyd.
Source: express.co.uk/George Simpson
The Beatles are one of the most iconic bands of all time, but not every song that Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote was a classic - and they admitted some were just 'work'.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote a number of hits for The Beatles, but not every song turned out so well.
After retiring from touring in 1966, the band could devote more time to honing their albums in the studio, but their early years were a whirlwind. Their record label, Parlophone, was eager to capitalize on their skyrocketing popularity by releasing a steady stream of music.
As a result, Paul and John weren't always happy with every track they wrote. Paul admitted that some songs were simply churned out just for work and ended up as "filler on albums," some of which he can't even remember much of.
Speaking about their 1963 track Hold Me Tight, he confessed, "I can't remember much about that one. Certain songs were just 'work' songs, you haven't got much memory of them. That's one of them."
Source: themirror.com/Dan Haygarth
Instead of taking pictures with fans, Paul McCartney has confirmed he does something far nicer.
The Beatles and Wings legend confirmed he rarely poses for photos with people who may bump into him on the street, instead preferring a chat and a handshake. Part of McCartney’s reasoning behind the lack of photos is that his adaptation to being one of the most famous musicians in the world needs some distance between fans and his private life. McCartney also confirmed he does not do autographs either, finding the experience a “bit strange”. In an interview with Reader’s Digest, McCartney confirmed his distaste for selfies with fans.
He said: “What you’ve usually got is a ropey photo with a poor backdrop and me looking a bit miserable. Let’s chat, let’s exchange stories.” McCartney went on to explain his distaste for photos in a separate interview, where the legendary songwriter said being “recognised” was still a weird experience.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
In 1997, George Harrison agreed to make a rare TV appearance, dropping by VH1 along with his longtime friend and collaborator, Ravi Shankar, and his wife to help promote Shankar's latest release, Chants of India, which the former Beatle had produced and played on.
Shankar was the only one set to perform music on the show that day. However, thanks to a mixture of kismet and a persistent host, it turned into a mini George Harrison concert, marking the final time the music legend would perform in front of an audience.
At the time, the former Beatle had largely moved away from the limelight. His last full-fledged U.S. tour concluded more than two decades before, in 1974. By this point in his career he was more comfortable behind the scenes, producing music and the occasional film, rather than performing.
However, as a favor to Shankar — whom Harrison and the Beatles had met through George's deep interest in Eastern music and philosophy — he was happy to make an exception. Harrison had been supportive of Shankar for years, helping him reach a new audience with his music and launching the groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 after the sitar master alerted him to that country's humanitarian disaster.
VH1 host John Fugelsang recalled that George committed to a short interview consisting of a soundbite about Shankar’s album, and that, if all went well, Harrison "might stick around a bit longer."
Source: guitarplayer.com/Jonathan Graham
A 120-year-old former snooker hall where the Beatles once performed is set to be knocked down ahead of plans to replace the venue with flats.
The former site of Oldham's Grand Theatre, a entertainment venue which opened on King Street in 1908 and later became a cinema, has been approved for demolition by local authorities.
It comes as Developers Footprint Design have submitted plans to turn the former complex into a tall red-brick block of more than 100 apartments.
After closing as a cinema in 1961 it later, briefly, became a concert hall called The Astoria Ballroom, where The Beatles performed their only Oldham gig in 1963.
The building on King Street has stood empty for several years, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
At one point it was used for cue sports under the name of Riley's Snooker Hall, and was last used as a training ground for the Rainy City Roller Derby team under the name of the Thunderdome.
The site originally started out as the Grand Theatre, a performance space designed by London architects Thomas Taylor and Ernest Simister who also designed Chadderton Town Hall.
In 1937, Gaumont Super Cinemas took over the building, gutted the auditorium and transformed it into stalls and one circle seating totalling 1,842 to open their 1930s cinema.
It became disused and was nearly demolished in 2008-2009 before being taken over by the roller derby group.
Source: bbc.com/Charlotte Hall
Before they hit the recording studio, The Beatles had already made a name for themselves rocking out in clubs across Liverpool and Hamburg. Their first single, the McCartney-Lennon classic Love Me Do, dropped in the UK on October 5, 1962, but only managed a peak at number 17. Nevertheless, Paul McCartney sensed something big, though, reminiscing: "In Hamburg, we clicked. At the Cavern, we clicked.
"But if you want to know when we 'knew' we'd arrived, it was getting in the charts with Love Me Do. That was the one. It gave us somewhere to go." The band tossed around ideas for their second single with tension brewing between the band and their producer, George Martin, about whether to cover Mitch Murray's How Do You Do It? or stick to their self-penned tunes.
McCartney was firm, saying: "It was symptomatic of our group that we turned down How Do You Do It? with Ringo Starr chiming in with equal conviction, commenting: "I remember us all being ready to stand up for the principle of, we have written these songs and we want to do them.'"
Opting for originality, the band went on to record Please Please Me. The track, penned by Lennon at his aunt Mimi's place on Menlove Avenue, was initially set to be the B-side for Love Me Do.
John reminisced, "We almost abandoned it as the b-side of Love Me Do. We changed our minds only because we were so tired the night we did Love Me Do."
Source: themirror.com/Dan Haygarth
