It’s hard to imagine anyone having hardcore beef with The Beatles, especially beef that started after the famed band had already broken up. Still, the music industry is full of big opinions and even bigger egos, and these three artists weren’t exactly partial to the Fab Four. And a couple of them changed their mind about the band in later years. Let’s take a look at three musicians who had major beef with The Beatles.
1. Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor claimed that he had a “complicated” relationship with The Beatles growing up. In many ways, the band represented a lot of things that he personally hated, including their often rabid fanbase.
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Back in the early 1990s, Reznor said in an interview with Plazm Magazine: “I hate to think in a retro mindset. You know, ‘The Beatles were the best thing…’. F*ck The Beatles, I hated people who were always going on about the f*ckin’ Beatles. They’re dead. They’re ugly now. Get them out of my sight.”
Harsh words. But later, Reznor realized how unfair his criticism of the band was. In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, he said that he considered them to be geniuses and that “they were so far ahead of the game, it’s just not fair.”
2. Michael Stipe
We wouldn’t consider this situation beef with The Beatles per say, but Stipe did have some kinda rude words to say about the band.
Stipe has said in the past that he wasn’t a Beatles fan, though he recognized their genius. However, in a 1992 interview with Rolling Stone, he equated their discography to “elevator music”.
“The Beatles were elevator music in my lifetime,” said Stipe in the interview. “‘Yummy Yummy Yummy (I’ve Got Love in My Tummy)’ [by Ohio Express] had more impact on me.”
3. Quincy Jones
This famed record producer was not a part of Beatlemania. In fact, he was brutal towards them in a 2018 interview with New York Magazine.
“They were the worst musicians in the world,” Jones said. “They were no-playing motherf*ckers. Paul was the worst bass player I ever heard.”
After the harsh words were published, Jones wanted to make things right and contacted Paul McCartney to apologize. Today, there’s no bad blood.
“The joke is, I love Quincy, even after this,” McCartney said of the incident. “He’s a crazy motherf*cker. But I respect him, he’s done a lot of very good things.”
Photo by William Vanderson
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