It was fifty years ago today...
December 4, 2020 7:31 PM Subscribe
And in the end: inside the heartbreak, the brotherhood, and why the Beatles' music still matters. (Rolling Stone)
(Well, not exactly today of course, as everyone was too preoccupied this April 10 to mark one of the epochal events in pop culture history. Here is a collection of Beatles links I've come across this year; I'm hoping others will share their favorites as well.)
Why the Beatles broke up: the inside story of the forces that tore apart the world's greatest band. (Rolling Stone)
One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time. (Dominic Green, Literary Review)
(That) Bill Maher reviews 150 Glimpses of The Beatles.(NYT)
The Everything Fab Four podcast. (Salon)
Previously, Good Ol' Freda: the Beatles secretary tells her story.
Recent previously, The Genius of Ringo Starr.
(Well, not exactly today of course, as everyone was too preoccupied this April 10 to mark one of the epochal events in pop culture history. Here is a collection of Beatles links I've come across this year; I'm hoping others will share their favorites as well.)
Why the Beatles broke up: the inside story of the forces that tore apart the world's greatest band. (Rolling Stone)
One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time. (Dominic Green, Literary Review)
(That) Bill Maher reviews 150 Glimpses of The Beatles.(NYT)
The Everything Fab Four podcast. (Salon)
Previously, Good Ol' Freda: the Beatles secretary tells her story.
Recent previously, The Genius of Ringo Starr.
I agree with hippybear. An alternate history in which they'd felt able and willing to periodically go off and do some solo projects and reunite for an album every few years might not have been as intense as that several-year period of white-hot creativity, but would have been better than the post-breakup bickering. I'd always understood that it was McCartney who was especially keen on keeping them going--that Magical Mystery Tour was his attempt to revive the band--especially because he seemed to think that they wouldn't get back together if they were off doing their own things; when people asked him later if the Beatles would ever reunite, his answer was that you couldn't reheat a souffle. And he may have been right.
Anyway, Allen Klein's perfidy has long been known, but the real villain here may be Mick Jagger, who could have warned them but didn't. Also looking forward to the Jackson film.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:57 PM on December 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Anyway, Allen Klein's perfidy has long been known, but the real villain here may be Mick Jagger, who could have warned them but didn't. Also looking forward to the Jackson film.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:57 PM on December 4, 2020 [2 favorites]
Scenes From An Alternate Universe Where The Beatles Accepted Lorne Michaels’ Generous Offer
posted by RakDaddy at 10:01 PM on December 4, 2020 [21 favorites]
posted by RakDaddy at 10:01 PM on December 4, 2020 [21 favorites]
Jackson's words strike me as wise: "Just me personally as a fan, looking at the 56 hours, I get a sense of a group that wants to do something different, but they’ve run out of places to go."
It's OK for bands to break up. It's sad too. But maybe we avoided an alternative universe where for forty years people shook their heads saying the latest Beatles album was no White Album.
posted by zompist at 10:50 PM on December 4, 2020 [17 favorites]
It's OK for bands to break up. It's sad too. But maybe we avoided an alternative universe where for forty years people shook their heads saying the latest Beatles album was no White Album.
posted by zompist at 10:50 PM on December 4, 2020 [17 favorites]
Curse Sir Walter Raleigh!
posted by fairmettle at 2:46 AM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by fairmettle at 2:46 AM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
Nice post! I'm a bit surprised that the top story says no one has seen Let It Be since 1970, I've seen it more than once, probably several times between 1979 and 1982 and I loved it. I was a Beatles fan as early as I can remember, my first record was a single with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, but I was only 7 when they broke up, too young to really notice. So for me, the melancholy and weirdness of the film when I watched it a decade later was just fine. I do look forward to the new doc, though.
posted by mumimor at 3:42 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mumimor at 3:42 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Came into the comments to make sure MightyGodKing's alternate history was included. Was not disappointed.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:03 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 4:03 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Just popping in real quick to add a link to a demo of Norwegian Wood that has been recently hitting the tubes. Looking forward to a deep dive of the links and the ones sure to come.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 5:38 AM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 5:38 AM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
I love the Beatles more than anything but I totally understand why they broke up and am glad that they did. I mean look at their rival, The Rolling Stones. That band peaked a few years later with Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street but since those two albums they've barely produced enough good songs to fill a compilation album.
posted by octothorpe at 6:06 AM on December 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 6:06 AM on December 5, 2020 [6 favorites]
The Freda link goes to a heavy machinery video.
posted by basalganglia at 6:25 AM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by basalganglia at 6:25 AM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
That band peaked a few years later with Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street but since those two albums they've barely produced enough good songs to fill a compilation album.
No love for Some Girls or Tattoo You?
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:01 AM on December 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
No love for Some Girls or Tattoo You?
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:01 AM on December 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
Nice post! I'm a bit surprised that the top story says no one has seen Let It Be since 1970, I've seen it more than once, probably several times between 1979 and 1982 and I loved it.
Well, it's not as if all copies were destroyed--the author of the article actually recounts seeing it in a theater in the eighties. But the film hasn't been available on home media for decades, unlike all the band's other films--even Yellow Submarine is available on Blu-ray, after a careful restoration. Not to mention, of course, all the re-releases of their music catalog.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:50 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Well, it's not as if all copies were destroyed--the author of the article actually recounts seeing it in a theater in the eighties. But the film hasn't been available on home media for decades, unlike all the band's other films--even Yellow Submarine is available on Blu-ray, after a careful restoration. Not to mention, of course, all the re-releases of their music catalog.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:50 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Over the past couple of years I've become obsessed with 70s era Paul and Linda McCartney, and in my journeys came across this sort of reunion with Paul, George and Ringo jamming in 1994 at George's place I think? The vibe between George and Paul has that feeling of exes who can barely tolerate each other putting on a good front for the children.
For people of a certain age the breakup of The Beatles was like the breakup of their parents and they (we) can't stop thinking about what if... but it did happen, and that's how the world went.
And here's a link to a trailer for the Freda movie, which I highly recommend watching if you can find the full movie.
posted by maggiemaggie at 9:07 AM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
For people of a certain age the breakup of The Beatles was like the breakup of their parents and they (we) can't stop thinking about what if... but it did happen, and that's how the world went.
And here's a link to a trailer for the Freda movie, which I highly recommend watching if you can find the full movie.
posted by maggiemaggie at 9:07 AM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
"But maybe we avoided an alternative universe where for forty years people shook their heads saying the latest Beatles album was no White Album."
Yes, this is my thought exactly. Part of the reason the Beatles are so enduring is that they are finite. They defined an era and style of music and when it was over, it was over. They never crossed what I call the Dad Rock Line, where subsequent albums are just increasingly safe restatements of the musical tropes they'd already established years before, in order in placate an unadventurous fandom. The individual members in their subsequent work? Sure; you could argue Paul established the entire "Dad Rock" genre with Wings. But not the Beatles as an entity, and that's important to their place in musical and cultural history.
posted by jscalzi at 9:40 AM on December 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
Yes, this is my thought exactly. Part of the reason the Beatles are so enduring is that they are finite. They defined an era and style of music and when it was over, it was over. They never crossed what I call the Dad Rock Line, where subsequent albums are just increasingly safe restatements of the musical tropes they'd already established years before, in order in placate an unadventurous fandom. The individual members in their subsequent work? Sure; you could argue Paul established the entire "Dad Rock" genre with Wings. But not the Beatles as an entity, and that's important to their place in musical and cultural history.
posted by jscalzi at 9:40 AM on December 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
NO ITS A TRAVESTY THAT WE WERE DENIED THE BEATLES DISCO ALBUMS
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:58 AM on December 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:58 AM on December 5, 2020 [11 favorites]
I mean, there was that 1978 movie with the Bee Gees...
posted by jscalzi at 10:07 AM on December 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by jscalzi at 10:07 AM on December 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
The film does appear to be available on DVD here, somehow.
posted by hippybear at 11:51 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 11:51 AM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
My favorite quote about Alan Klein comes from Keith Richards. When asked how he felt about Klein stealing the rights to his band's 1965-1970 catalog, he said, "It was the price of an education."
posted by panama joe at 11:57 AM on December 5, 2020
posted by panama joe at 11:57 AM on December 5, 2020
Over the past couple of years I've become obsessed with 70s era Paul and Linda McCartney, and in my journeys came across this sort of reunion with Paul, George and Ringo jamming in 1994 at George's place I think? The vibe between George and Paul has that feeling of exes who can barely tolerate each other putting on a good front for the children.
I'm not sure that is the vibe I get. They are three middle-aged men who've lost their best friend before they managed to meet up and deal with that thing in their past. They are sad, and not very good at being there, each in their own way. To me, Paul is annoying, but I have to say that my music teacher in middle school was a John fanatic, and probably indoctrinated us.
One of the things that music teacher drew our attention to was that while The Rolling Stones were middle class art school graduates, The Beatles were real working class Northerners. This appealed strongly to me who had been dragged against my will by my parents from Yorkshire to Copenhagen, and while Copenhagen was not nearly as smart as it is today, I definitely held onto my Northern roots against the slick urban people (at 12 years old, haha). Now I have actually learnt to appreciate the Stones.
Also, thanks for reposting the Ringo post. I wasn't ready to watch a video in September, since everything was in covid chaos then. But now I know a lot more about why I always loved The Beatles.
posted by mumimor at 12:07 PM on December 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
I'm not sure that is the vibe I get. They are three middle-aged men who've lost their best friend before they managed to meet up and deal with that thing in their past. They are sad, and not very good at being there, each in their own way. To me, Paul is annoying, but I have to say that my music teacher in middle school was a John fanatic, and probably indoctrinated us.
One of the things that music teacher drew our attention to was that while The Rolling Stones were middle class art school graduates, The Beatles were real working class Northerners. This appealed strongly to me who had been dragged against my will by my parents from Yorkshire to Copenhagen, and while Copenhagen was not nearly as smart as it is today, I definitely held onto my Northern roots against the slick urban people (at 12 years old, haha). Now I have actually learnt to appreciate the Stones.
Also, thanks for reposting the Ringo post. I wasn't ready to watch a video in September, since everything was in covid chaos then. But now I know a lot more about why I always loved The Beatles.
posted by mumimor at 12:07 PM on December 5, 2020 [7 favorites]
The lovely Strong Songs podcast had an episode about 'a Day in the Life', which led me You're Wrong About podcast 'Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles' , which was not something I had thought about much in particular, but was an informative and fun listen anyway.
posted by charles kaapjes at 12:42 PM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by charles kaapjes at 12:42 PM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
John Wesley Harding - When The Beatles Hit America pops in my head every time I imagine a what-if-they-reunited scenario.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:14 PM on December 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:14 PM on December 5, 2020 [4 favorites]
TrialByMedia: "That band peaked a few years later with Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street but since those two albums they've barely produced enough good songs to fill a compilation album.
No love for Some Girls or Tattoo You?"
They're stronger than anything that followed them but there's still only a handful of decent songs between the two albums.
posted by octothorpe at 3:42 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
No love for Some Girls or Tattoo You?"
They're stronger than anything that followed them but there's still only a handful of decent songs between the two albums.
posted by octothorpe at 3:42 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
Read by Simon Vance!!!
I love that voice. I think he's my favorite reader since Frank Muller left this mortal coil.
posted by MtDewd at 4:44 PM on December 5, 2020
I love that voice. I think he's my favorite reader since Frank Muller left this mortal coil.
posted by MtDewd at 4:44 PM on December 5, 2020
that several-year period of white-hot creativity
In about a decade they banged out what, 20 albums? They were incredible.
posted by mikelieman at 4:53 PM on December 5, 2020
In about a decade they banged out what, 20 albums? They were incredible.
posted by mikelieman at 4:53 PM on December 5, 2020
In every picture or video I’ve seen from that period, poor Ringo looks so shell-shocked.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:50 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:50 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is an amazing paragraph from the article. I have thought about that breakup lately after running onto a Dick Cavett segment, in which John and Yoko visit with him, and they are so cute together. I remember disliking Yoko, in my girl head it was all her fault, right? In one part of the Cavett interview John said,"I just couldn't imagine my self, fifty years from now, singing "Yesterday."" Anyway this is the paragraph, such an amazing snippet.
"John and Yoko finally saw it in an empty movie theater in San Francisco in June 1970, along with Rolling Stone founder Jann S. Wenner and his wife, Jane. The four of them bought their tickets at the door and sat unnoticed in the afternoon matinee. “Just bought tickets and went in,” Wenner recalled years later. “I don’t think anybody even really knew we were there. It was empty, afternoon, and during a weekday. So the four of us are sitting together in the middle of the theater, watching this thing about the breakup of the Beatles.” John couldn’t hide his tears. “I just remember walking out of the theater and all of us in a foursome huddle, hugging, and the sadness of the occasion.”
posted by Oyéah at 6:36 PM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
"John and Yoko finally saw it in an empty movie theater in San Francisco in June 1970, along with Rolling Stone founder Jann S. Wenner and his wife, Jane. The four of them bought their tickets at the door and sat unnoticed in the afternoon matinee. “Just bought tickets and went in,” Wenner recalled years later. “I don’t think anybody even really knew we were there. It was empty, afternoon, and during a weekday. So the four of us are sitting together in the middle of the theater, watching this thing about the breakup of the Beatles.” John couldn’t hide his tears. “I just remember walking out of the theater and all of us in a foursome huddle, hugging, and the sadness of the occasion.”
posted by Oyéah at 6:36 PM on December 5, 2020 [5 favorites]
I'm also looking forward to the new movie. I saw Let It Be in the '80s and it was miserable.
Their original plan was to release a Get Back album whose cover recreated the cover design of Please Please Me. They went to the same balcony at EMI's headquarters and repeated the same pose.
In 2003 Apple Record released an album of stripped-down versions of most of the Let It Be songs that was closer to the original artistic vision. Instead of sticking with the original cool cover design, they used a crappy design and an even crappier title: Let It Be...Naked.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:42 PM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
Their original plan was to release a Get Back album whose cover recreated the cover design of Please Please Me. They went to the same balcony at EMI's headquarters and repeated the same pose.
In 2003 Apple Record released an album of stripped-down versions of most of the Let It Be songs that was closer to the original artistic vision. Instead of sticking with the original cool cover design, they used a crappy design and an even crappier title: Let It Be...Naked.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:42 PM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was quite surprised at how much Let It Be...Naked sounded like a rock album - raw and vibrant. Inasmuch as I can have a favourite Beatles album because they're all so good, it's definitely far from my least favourite.
posted by ashbury at 6:50 PM on December 5, 2020
posted by ashbury at 6:50 PM on December 5, 2020
Yeah, I have Let It Be... Naked and it's quite good really.
posted by hippybear at 6:59 PM on December 5, 2020
posted by hippybear at 6:59 PM on December 5, 2020
The Freda link goes to a heavy machinery video.
Which one?
“Yellow Submarine”, “Dig It”, “Drive My Car”, or “Carry That Weight”?
posted by New Frontier at 9:47 PM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
Which one?
“Yellow Submarine”, “Dig It”, “Drive My Car”, or “Carry That Weight”?
posted by New Frontier at 9:47 PM on December 5, 2020 [2 favorites]
The “Let It Be... Naked” version of “The Long and Winding Road” is a serious contender for my favorite Beatles song. With all the Spector excesses scraped off, it’s almost hauntingly beautiful.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:42 PM on December 5, 2020
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:42 PM on December 5, 2020
Instead of sticking with the original cool cover design
... maybe because it had already been used, by then
posted by Rash at 9:34 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
... maybe because it had already been used, by then
posted by Rash at 9:34 AM on December 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
...and speaking of those Beatles, the film Yesterday was a real kick, not perfect but with some nice fresh cover versions by Himesh Patel that made some of the beatles-cynics that we know express some grudging admiration...
posted by ovvl at 4:55 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by ovvl at 4:55 PM on December 6, 2020
OMG Freda is so cute. THOSE 'doos!
posted by alex_skazat at 9:08 PM on December 6, 2020
posted by alex_skazat at 9:08 PM on December 6, 2020
Four minutes from the Peter Jackson movie: as Jackson himself says, not a trailer but more of a montage.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:48 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:48 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Well, that was fucking beautiful.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:16 PM on December 21, 2020
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:16 PM on December 21, 2020
can I be cup-half-empty here and suggest that given fifty plus hours of raw footage, it shouldn't be surprising that Jackson + co could find four minutes or so of smiles and good times?
maybe I just don't want to lose Let It Be as my go-to dismal post hippie fave. Everybody's hair is too long and hasn't been washed in days. It's cold and damp. The sun is pretty much never seen. Yoko is just weirdly there. And yet, they still manage to conjure this amazing music ...
posted by philip-random at 12:25 PM on December 21, 2020
maybe I just don't want to lose Let It Be as my go-to dismal post hippie fave. Everybody's hair is too long and hasn't been washed in days. It's cold and damp. The sun is pretty much never seen. Yoko is just weirdly there. And yet, they still manage to conjure this amazing music ...
posted by philip-random at 12:25 PM on December 21, 2020
Man, I can't wait. That was glorious.
As stated above, I love Let It Be, but this is something else I'll love too.
Also: youth is wasted on the young
posted by mumimor at 1:31 PM on December 21, 2020
As stated above, I love Let It Be, but this is something else I'll love too.
Also: youth is wasted on the young
posted by mumimor at 1:31 PM on December 21, 2020
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I do sort of wish they'd just taken some time off, done some solo stuff, and then come back together after 2-3 years to see what might have happened. But they released their entire catalog in something like 8 years, so taking 2-3 years off probably felt exactly like breaking up for a release cycle that is that intense.
The sense that I have gotten across the decades in various ways from a lot of interviews and stuff I've encountered is that the breakup is perhaps the saddest thing that happened to any of them ever during their lives, and they sort of regretted it early on but were too proud otherwise.
posted by hippybear at 8:14 PM on December 4, 2020 [15 favorites]