The Beatles generally enjoyed a blemish-free run through the 60s in terms of their relationship with their fans and the press. Even when a minor kerfuffle arose now and then, it was quickly squelched by the excitement of another hit single.
Videos by American Songwriter
But an interview John Lennon did in 1966 ended up causing one of the biggest stirs of their career. One offhand quote was blown up in the American press. It put the group on the defensive in a country that had shown them nothing but love to that point.
The Life of Lennon
We often get the idea that The Beatles, with the help of their ever-vigilant manager Brian Epstein, tightly controlled their image. That’s true to an extent. They were certainly keen to keep teenagers in tow by maintaining a squeaky-clean group persona.
But a look back at some of the interviews that they did in those early years of their success shows that they were generally candid about their lives and beliefs. In March 1966, a reporter named Maureen Cleave, whom the group knew and liked, did a piece on John Lennon’s daily life for The London Evening Standard, a British newspaper.
The piece mostly focuses on Lennon’s penchant for using his wealth to amass all kinds of items that either don’t work properly or don’t quite satisfy him. But at one point, he went on a bit of a tangent about his religious beliefs. In that section, he suggests Christianity will die out and notes that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.”
A Slow-Building Controversy
The story came and went in Great Britain with little fanfare, as most fans concentrated on the killer 1966 Beatles’ single “Paperback Writer”. However, in late July, an American teen magazine known as Datebook rehashed some of Lennon’s quotes in an article, including the line about Jesus.
Once that story made the rounds in America, a controversy with which the band had never before dealt started brewing. Religious groups asked that fans boycott the group and even staged mass burnings of Beatles records.
Needless to say, this caught the band by surprise, as the comments were months old by that time. Damage control was needed, especially with the group on the precipice of an American tour. An impromptu press conference put John Lennon on the spot to respond to his critics and (hopefully) douse the anger brewing around the band.
John’s Rejoinder
In a hotel lobby in Chicago, John Lennon had to answer for his supposed crimes. He spoke intelligently about how he wasn’t intending to defame Christianity or Jesus. Instead, he was simply rehashing opinions that he thought were prevalent in Great Britain. Video of the event shows him barely keeping his frustration contained.
For the most part, the controversy died down after that. A week before they arrived in America, The Beatles released Revolver, an album where they hit dizzying new artistic heights. But the incident wasn’t exactly forgotten by the Fab Four.
On August 29, 1966, The Beatles played a show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Unbeknownst to many at the time, they had already decided it would be their last show ever. And the whole “more popular than Jesus” controversy certainly solidified that they were making the right choice.
Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.