Being the icons that they were and are, it’s hard to imagine anyone having a problem with The Beatles. Their legendary status in rock history is, in our book, well-deserved, but the three musicians below might’ve had something to say about that…
Videos by American Songwriter
[RELATED: Ranking the 5 Beatles Albums Tied to Their Movies]
1. Elvis Presley
Everyone knows the famous rendezvous between Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon. Being the patriot that he was, Presley wrote to the President in an effort to save the soul of America from the hippie movement. Among the topics discussed at their meeting was the Fab Four–whom Presley chalked up to be the very crux of what was “wrong” with America at the time.
“Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit,” The National Archives reported. “He said that the Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme.”
2. Ginger Baker
Paul McCartney has often touted his belief that a musician doesn’t have to be classically trained to be great. While that is a solace to many self-made songwriters, to Cream’s Ginger Baker, it’s an expression of McCartney’s lack of real talent.
“They can’t read music,” Baker once said of the group. “Even Paul McCartney needs someone to write it down for him. And he thinks that’s good We used to say about the Beatles in 1963: ‘They don’t know a hatchet from a crotchet.’ A crotchet is what we call a quarter note.”
3. Lou Reed
It’s not hard to figure out why Lou Reed might’ve had a problem with the Beatles. The Velvet Underground and the Fab Four live on opposite sides of the rock spectrum. Reed once went on record saying he found the Beatles to be “Painfully stupid and pretentious.”
“I never liked the Beatles,” he once said. “I thought they were garbage. If you said, ‘Who did you like?’ I liked nobody.”
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
About reading music: it’s about the MUSIC, not about the notation.