The Iconic Beatles Album That Once Gave Paul McCartney “Horrors” Until His Bandmates Talked Him Down

It can be difficult to see the forest for the trees when working in the studio. Ears tire. Brains get foggy. Past a certain point, musicians and engineers will be fighting against diminishing returns as they try to push through their exhaustion. That’s why stepping away from a recording session and listening to the work done thus far with fresh ears is a critical step in the album-making process. But as Paul McCartney learned in 1966, this practice also had the potential to reveal every musician’s worst nightmare: their album kind of sucks.

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During a 2018 interview with 60 Minutes, the former Beatle mused on his lifelong habit of worrying about what other people might think of him and his music. His desire to impress “everyone,” as he told CBS, undoubtedly helped him become one of the greatest mainstream musicians of all time. However, McCartney had to fight serious anxiety about The Beatles’ seventh studio album, Revolver.

Critics often cite Revolver as The Beatles’ first shift toward the psychedelic, featuring more experimental cuts like “I’m Only Sleeping” and “She Said She Said”. The jangly, almost hallucinatory sound of Revolver is part of the album’s mass appeal. But McCartney worried that it was all wrong, right down to the rhythm guitar tracks.

Paul McCartney Had to Be Talked Down off a Ledge About ‘Revolver’

Paul McCartney told 60 Minutes that one day, he was listening back to the mixes from Revolver when he was suddenly overcome with anxiety. “I got the horrors one day,” he recalled. “I thought it was out of tune; I thought the whole album was out of tune.” McCartney shared his worries with his bandmates, saying, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” The Beatles listened to Revolver together, looking to see whether McCartney was right. “They said, ‘No, it isn’t.’ I go, ‘Oh, okay.’”

McCartney added elsewhere, “I think people worry about things. And it doesn’t matter how elevated you get, or your reputation gets. You still worry about things. I’ve heard people say that about me. ‘Oh, you know, he wants to be liked.’ But I’m going, ‘Doesn’t everyone?’”

Ultimately, McCartney had nothing to worry about, just like his bandmates suggested. Revolver topped the charts around the world, including their native U.K. and across the pond in the U.S. The album remained in the Top 40 for months on end. Today, it’s regarded as one of the best albums the band ever made. (Even surpassing giants like Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.)