The Only Two Albums John Lennon Truly Enjoyed: “Singles Were Always the Best”

Given the strength of the Beatles’ albums, it may come as a surprise to learn that John Lennon didn’t enjoy making them. Making albums is a strenuous process. It’s more than compiling a collection of songs. They need to work together in a way that makes it better than the sum of its parts. In Lennon’s point of view, albums weren’t always the strongest medium. Singles interested him more. However, there were a couple of artists who were exceptions to that rule. Find out who below.

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The Only Albums John Lennon Enjoyed All the Way Through

The Beatles were more than ahead of their time when it came to making albums. They wrote the rulebook on experimental recording in their heyday. They altered the album-making process. Despite changing the game, Lennon once spoke about feeling like he had to make albums for others. It did little for him personally.

According to Lennon, it was an artist’s singles that really made them. He was more focused on writing a killer song that could stand alone. He felt that other artists also flexed their skills in that way. There were really only two artists that Lennon thought were worth buying a whole album for, and they weren’t a part of his generation. Lennon felt like no one post-Beatles was album-worthy.

“Even Then Singles Were Always the Best”

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Lennon was never shy about praising his influences. He, like many of his peers, was inspired by the early generation of rockers, notably Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. He once spoke about how album-making was more of a necessity for him than a real passion project. In the same conversation, Lennon praised Presley and Perkins for their strength in the studio.

“The only reason I make albums is because you’re supposed to,” Lennon once said. “I haven’t really got into somebody’s album since I was into Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, and even then, singles were always the best.”

Despite Lennon’s aversion to album-making, he and his Beatles bandmates earned more than their fair share of timeless work. Like Presley and Perkins did for him, Lennon went on to inspire many musicians who looked to the Beatles for album inspiration.

(Photo by Steve Morley/Redferns)