Beatles News
Escaping the behemoth shadow of the Beatles seemed nearly impossible for its former members following their 1970 breakup, but John Lennon credits one facet of his life, in particular, for helping him break out of the music industry’s toxic cycle of endless creation, production, and promotion.
One decade after the band’s official split, John Lennon and his second wife, Yoko Ono, sat down for a 1980 interview with Playboy that was as unfiltered and uncensored as one might expect for a magazine of that ilk. Lennon didn’t mince his words, regularly pushing back against the journalist’s questions of potential Beatles reunions and retrospectives.
But amidst the at-times confrontational interview, Lennon offered a glimpse into how he managed to break free from a musical regimen he had been locked into since his early 20s.
By the time John Lennon and Yoko Ono sat down with Playboy writer David Sheff, the pair had already diverged musically from Lennon’s former band. Lennon had released several albums, both as a solo artist and with Ono under the Plastic Ono Band. Eventually, Lennon stepped away from the music industry to focus on raising his and Ono’s son, Sean. He told Sheff his decision to become a “house husband” was a no-brainer.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
Ringo Starr is on the phone from Las Vegas and he’s got lots of fab things to talk about, including some that have been largely kept under wraps.
“I’m giving away all the secrets here!” said Starr, who has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and as a member of The Beatles.
Simultaneously thoughtful and animated, the illustrious drummer, vocalist and bandleader happily discussed a number of topics. They included his upcoming country album with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” music mastermind T Bone Burnett; a possible new Beatles’ project with Oscar-winning film director Peter Jackson; and the yet-to-be-determined future of “The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil,” which on July 6 will conclude its 18-year run at The Mirage in Las Vegas.
And there’s more.
Source: Gazette Extra
Paul McCartney recalls finding ‘better deal’ for The Beatles
Paul McCartney has taken a trip down the memory lane when he was a member of The Beatles.
In All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words by Steven Gaines and Peter Brown, Paul recalled looking for big deals for his band, unlike Allen Klein Epstein, who was managing The Beatles at that time.
He explained, “That was one of the times that my ambitions sort of got the better of me. I was only trying to get us a better deal. But it ruined it a little bit there, I mean I’m sure not greatly, but he didn’t like me too much after that for a week or two, you know, (expletive).”
Paul added, “After all I’ve done for him, asking for twopence more, and implying I’m not as good as Klein, so you know, it was like you can have them.’”
Later on, Paul reflected on his relationship with Allen during a conversation with The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein.
He noted, “With Brian, I remember talking about [Allen] Klein — being in a lift in Hilly House, and saying, ‘We just heard that The Rolling Stones were getting sixpence royalty per record’ or something like that, and we knew that we got four.”
Source: jang.com.pk
The story of the feminine forces who inspired some of the greatest music of all time and more.
The Beatles are a pop culture phenomenon that will unlikely ever be touched by any musical opponent. They created countless songs that inspired other great artists and still live and breathe as freshly today as they did in the ’60s. From unbridled experimentalism and pushing artistic boundaries to crafting some of the best love songs of all time, they truly accomplished it all. But what about the women behind The Beatles?
The group might be portrayed as a tight-knit boy’s club, but it was far from the truth. Feminine energy played an undeniable role at every stage of The Beatles’ career from inspiring love songs to introducing them to new concepts and even shaping their image as a band. Here are all the women behind The Beatles.
English model and actress Pattie Boyd first met her soon-to-be husband, George Harrison, on the set of the 1964 promotional film, A Hard Day’s Night.
“On first impressions, John seemed more cynical and brash than the others, Ringo the most endearing, Paul was cute, and George, with velvet-brown eyes and dark chestnut hair, was the best-looking man I had ever seen. At a break for lunch, I found myself sitting next to him. Being close to him was electrifying,” Pattie would later recall of the fateful meeting.
Whilst Pattie eventually became George’s wife, inspiring songs like Something and I Need You (as well as an infamous rock love triangle with Eric Clapton), one of her biggest contributions to The Beatles is often overlooked.
It’s no secret that LSD played an integral role in The Beatles’ discography, but it was Pattie Boyd’s dentist, John Riley, who first introduced the band to it. The unassuming dentist laced John, Cynthia, Pattie and George’s coffees with the psychedelic during a dinner party in 1965.
Source: Georgia Weir/womensweekly.com.au
The late Michael Parkinson is rightly regarded as one of the premier television interviewers in the UK and the list of stars that appeared on his BBC chat show encompassed nearly every big name from the '70s to the early 2000s. It's a surprised then to discover that the BBC wiped most of its first series – including a bizarre but revealing 1971 appearance by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
This wasn't unusual at the time; for reasons cited including the broadcaster having no concrete policy on archiving until 1978 and simply needing to wipe tapes so they could be reused, or destroyed as they weren't deemed of value. This meant early episodes of iconic shows including Dr Who, Not Only Peter Cook By Dudley Moore, Hancocks Half Hour, Steptoe And Son and The Avengers were lost forever. Mostly…
In 2009's An Audience With Michael Parkinson, he revealed that a recording of his 1971 interview with Lennon and Ono existed, despite the whole first series of his chat show that it was a part of being wiped from the BBC archive.
Source: Rob Laing/uk.news.yahoo.com
Paul McCartney Will Hate Their New Beatles Book (Almost as Much as He Hated Their Last One)
'All You Need Is Love' authors Steven Gaines and Peter Brown come together for a dishy conversation about their 40-years-in-the-making best-selling sequel to their 1983 landmark Beatles history 'The Love You Make.'
Forty-one years ago, they published the biggest Beatles biography of all time — The Love You Make, which spent three months in 1983 atop the New York Times best-seller list. The book would make its co-authors — former Circus magazine editor and author of 13 best-sellers Steven Gaines and onetime Brian Epstein protégé and Fab Four confidant Peter Brown — into the most famous Beatle-ologists on the planet.
Also, two of the most reviled, at least by some guy named Paul McCartney, who was said to have been so outraged by the tome’s gossipy reportage that he set his copy on fire.
As it happens, Gaines and Brown aren’t quite finished with The Beatles yet. Last month, after decades of steering clear of the subject, they released All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words, an oral history of the Mop Tops based on hundreds of hours of old taped interviews Gaines and Brown conducted while researching their original history, including conversations with McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon and scores of others.
The Hollywood Reporter sat down with the two old friends and colleagues for a long and winding discussion about their new book (which hovered on top of Amazon’s best-seller list for a month even before it was published), about how they dealt with the criticism of their old one and about their theory explaining why McCartney hated it so much (something involving venereal disease and sheep).
Source: Maer Roshan/hollywoodreporter.com
The much-missed George Michael was a stunning vocalist, and a one-of-a-kind performer. An artist who broke countless records, he was also a devoted student of music – even if he was confident enough to poke fun at some of his heroes.
Take 1990 solo album ‘Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1’. His second full length solo statement, it marked a period of evolution, moving beyond his pop roots to fully embrace different forms of songwriting. In the process, George Michael would cite – but also subvert – some of the biggest names in music history.
Dropping in a few bars of The Rolling Stones’ ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ into ‘I’m Waiting For The Day’, George Michael also absorbed the influence of The Beatles on his song ‘Heal The Pain’.
A mature offering from the star, the chords have a real Beatles-esque quality, in particular recalling the vivid way with melody that Sir Paul McCartney has made his own. Reviewers at the time noted the link, and it was said to be a personal favourite of George Michael, regularly appearing in his titanic live shows.
Source: ClashMusic/clashmusic.com
On June 1, 1967, the Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” for years considered by many to be the greatest rock ‘n’ roll album of all time.
The release date of ”Sgt. Pepper”–June 1, 1967–was a red letter day for the millions of Beatles fans around the globe. They had never waited so long for a new product from their heroes. It had been 10 months since their last release, ”Revolver.” (The group`s first seven British albums had been issued approximately six months apart and American record labels had been able to reproduce and distribute all of the early material within 2 1/2 years.)
So high were the fans` expectations and so euphoric was their mood on that day 20 years ago that, as Philip Norman wrote in his book ”Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation,” ”There are to this day thousands of Britons and Americans who can describe exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing at the moment they first listened to `Sgt. Pepper`s Lonely Hearts Club Band.` That music, as powerfully as Kennedy`s assassination or the first moon landing, summons up an exact time and place, an emotion undimmed by time or aging. The memory is the same to all–how they first drew the shining disc from its gaudy sleeve; how they could not believe it at first and had to play it all through again, over and over.”
Two decades later, Capitol Records is hoping to rekindle the world`s passion for ”Sgt. Pepper” with the compact disc release Monday. As the most technologically advanced format for recorded music, the compact disc offers superb clarity to the listener–a property that is perfectly showcased by
Source: chicagotribune.com
Sean sparked fury among Harry's fans when he posted a joke about his book.
John Lennon's son Sean Ono Lennon has gone on an online rant against Prince Harry, calling him an 'idiot' who deserves to be mocked.
Sean, 48, sparked fury among the royal's fans when he posted a joke about his book Spare, writing: 'My long awaited review of Prince Harry’s autobiography is two words. "Spare Me."'
While the musician insisted he was just making a pun out of the book's title, he doubled down on his criticism of Harry as he was slammed on X, formerly known as Twitter. As people pointed out that Sean and Harry have a lot in common, including the fact that both tragically lost famous parents at a young age, Sean recalled meeting princess Diana's younger son.
Sean replied: 'Actually I am aware [that we have things in common]. We met once. That was before I realized he was an idiot.'
Sean seemed to particularly be offended by Harry sharing in his book that he treated his frostbitten penis - which he called his 'todger' - with his late mother's favorite lip cream
Source:Germania Rodriguez Poleo/dailymail.co.uk
It wasn't exactly instant karma when Beatle John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, heard about a Polish beverage company's new drink called "John Lemon".
She threatened legal action alleging that it infringed on the trademark of her late husband.
The company has now agreed to change its drink's name to "On Lemon", after lawyers acting for Ono wrote to distributors warning they faced costs of up to 5,000 euros ($5,998) a day and 500 euros for every bottle sold if they infringed the trademark.
Lawyers acting for the beverage firm denied it had infringed the late star's rights, but Ono's lawyers pointed to a Facebook post from John Lemon Ireland, which featured an image of the iconic singer.
Other marketing materials included the brand's logo next to the words "let it be" and a pair of round glasses, both closely associated with Lennon
John Lemon's lawyers also said that pointed out that their EU trademark had been registered in 2014, two years earlier than the John Lennon trademark was registered in 2016.
Karol Chamera, the founder of Mr Lemonade Alternative Drinks which distributed the John Lemon beverage in the UK told the East London Advertiser newspaper: "all of us involved with this product are startups and we couldn’t take on someone who is worth many, many millions."
Source: uk.style.yahoo.com
