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Like many artists in his generation, Bruce Springsteen said that the first time he heard The Beatles’ music, he felt as though he’d been struck by lightning. The band’s music changed the trajectory of his life. He sought out their music at every opportunity and has praised them. On his list of his favorite vocalists, though, he only included one member of the band.

Bruce Springsteen included only one Beatle on his list of favorite singers

When Rolling Stone asked Springsteen to list his 25 favorite singers, he put Ray Charles in the first spot. The rest of the list included vocalists like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson, Darlene Love, and Van Morrison. He also included a Beatle on his list.

The Beatles | Fiona Adams/Redferns

Over the years, Springsteen has performed with Paul McCartney multiple times. He didn’t include McCartney on the list, though. Instead, Springsteen...

The Beatles landed in New York City in February 1964 — their first time setting foot on the American soil that they’d spent their lives dreaming about in Liverpool. Even as the plane was landing, they were wondering out loud why the U.S. would care about an English rock & roll band. But when they played The Ed Sullivan Show, for a TV audience of 73 million viewers, they did more than just invade America. They founded a new kind of daydream nation: the United States of Beatlemania.

The excellent new doc...

A clip in Beatles ’64 features Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan making a salient observation: “The chances of your understanding anything going on in your own time are very small, except through the means provided by artists. Artists are people who enjoy living in the present.” That perspective is both supported and disproven by the film’s candid access to John, Paul, George and Ringo — surnames not required — on the cusp of global superstardom during their first visit to America in 1964.

The band members are by no means oblivious to the seismic momentum of Beatlemania, becoming virtual prisoners at New York’s Plaza Hotel as it’s surrounded by a mob of screaming fans. And yet they remain at that time disarmingly innocent, almost incredulous — fundamentally still four goofy working-class lads from Liverpool with mop-top haircuts who appear to view the hysteria mostly as a lark. Only in interviews years...

Let’s say you’re an American Beatles fan in the Sixties, Seventies, or Eighties. You chat with a British fan about your favorite albums. But you have no idea what they’re talking about — what is Beatles for Sale? Or With The Beatles? Meanwhile, they’ve never heard of U.S. classics like Meet the Beatles or Something New or Yesterday and Today. You both agree how great Rubber Soul is — but you’re discussing two different Rubber Souls. How can this be?

That’s because the Beatles albums...

Strange but true: The Beatles’ American record company decided not to release their albums. Instead, Capitol chopped them up to generate more product. Nobody at the label had any idea that future generations would revere these records as sacred artistic units. No, Capitol just wanted to squeeze more funny paper out of the moptops before the bubble burst. So they doled out 12 songs per LP instead of 14, and rushed out seven albums in a year. American fans got different versions than the rest of the world. The U.S. albums have been forgotten by history,...

The Beatles‘ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” inspired way too many covers over the past 60 years. One of them came from a fellow British Invasion star who completely missed the song’s appeal. The cover in question almost feels like a joke.

Someone took the rock out of The Beatles’ ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’

Let’s rewind to the early 1960s. American pop music became a lot more middle-of-the-road and left rock ‘n’ roll in the dust. Nobody remembers much of the music that came out during this time. Then, The Beatles injected new life into the radio with rock ‘n’ roll hits like “She Loves You,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” This sets the stage for many more British acts to find success in the United States.

One of those acts was Petula Clark, most known for her hits “Downtown,...

Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band live in the shadow of The Beatles. In an interview, the “Back Off Boogaloo” singer explained the difference between the two groups. He only told half the story.

Ringo Starr said The Beatles and the All-Starr Band were centered on different things

During a 2021 interview with Vulture, the “You’re Sixteen” singer discussed the difference between the Fab Four and the All-Starr Band. “The Beatles were definitely a different part in my life,” he said. “I was in bands before The Beatles and then I was just there. Then it went mad, but we were making good music.

“That’s the four of us — and I can speak on behalf of the four of us on this. It was always about the music,” the “Photograph” singer added. “We were serious about the music and it still shows to this day. You can still listen to...

Sometimes, classic rock stars don’t understand their own work. Ringo Starr said some things about The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” that are just plain wrong. His comments don’t make sense in light of The Beatles’ career or Ringo’s career as a solo artist.

Ringo Starr said The Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’ is his defining song

During a 2023 interview with Vulture, Ringo was asked to name the defining song of his career. “Because it was the first song, my answer is ‘Love Me Do,'” he said. “We were on vinyl. We made a record.

“Even though when I got to the studio, George Martin had a session guy for the drums, Andy White, but I played on it anyway,” the “Photograph” singer added. “He played it, I played it — he’s on the album, I think, and I’m on the single, so go figure. We were...

The Beatles defined classic rock in the 1960s, and The Eagles helped define classic rock in the 1970s. One of The Eagles felt his band included America’s equivalent of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership. Here’s why he’s wrong on multiple levels.

1 of The Eagles said his band wrote songs just as well as The Beatles

During a 2013 interview with SongFacts, The Eagles’ Don Felder discussed the magic of The Eagles’ songwriting. “Everybody brought their particular talent to each recording,” he recalled. “And it was really an unusual circumstance to have five people in a band that every one of us wrote, sang, and played. And any one of us could have and had previously fronted their own band.”

Felder compared The Eagles to another famous group. “It was an unusual amount of talent that we had five singers, five songwriters, and five musicians,” he said. “And so what...

The Killers kicked off a two-night stand at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York, on Saturday night by honoring another band that played the same venue 60 years earlier.

“Some of you might know the history of the place,” Killers frontman Brandon Flowers told the crowd. “Obviously there were some amazing tennis matches that took place here. When we think about that historic Beatles performance at Shea Stadium, that was in 1965. But in 1964, 60 years ago, the Beatles did two nights here at Forest Hills. We thought that we would pay our respects.

Short n’ Sweet, the new studio album by former Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter, has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with all 12 of its songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

Carpenter’s sixth studio album had sales of 362,000 in the United States, according to the tracking service Luminate, the third-best opening week of the year behind Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Short n’ Sweet marks Carpenter’s first time topping the chart, edging out rapper Travis Scott’s re-released Days Before Rodeo, which marked sales of 361,000.

The opening week (Aug. 23-29) also saw three of the Carpenter album’s tracks landing in the singles chart’s top five, a feat achieved previously by only two women (Swift and Ariana Grande) and just seven previous artists overall. The other are The Beatles, 50 Cent, Justin Bieber, Drake and 21 Savage.

Also noteworthy: With three of the album’s songs — “Taste,” “Please...

Six decades ago, we were in the throes of Beatlemania. The Fab Four scored their first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on Feb. 1. And the U.S. got to meet The Beatles, four lads from Liverpool when they invaded the U.S. that month making three historic appearances on CBS’ “The Ed Sullivan Show.” They were met with the screams of young girls with burgeoning hormones. By April 4, they had the top five singles on the chart: “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Twist and Shout,” “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Please Please Me.”

Despite their extraordinary success, hopes weren’t high for their first film, “A Hard Day’s Night,” which opened in the U.S. on Aug. 11. Most films starring a group or singer du jour were horrible. So much so, the New York Times’ Bosley Crowther was in...

“You’ve gone too far this time / But I’m dancing on the Valentine / I tell you somebody’s fooling around / With my chances on the danger line.” Those were the opening lyrics to “The Reflex” by the English new wave band Duran Duran. And 40 years ago this summer they helped the group score their first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “The Reflex” may have been a “lonely child,” but the song propelled the group to unparalleled popularity at the time.

Originally formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978, Duran Duran actually had a bit of a rough start in their quest for mainstream success in the United States. None of the songs from their 1981 self-titled debut album made the Billboard chart, though “Planet Earth” and “Girls on Film” reached number-12 and number-five in the United Kingdom, respectively.

It wasn’t until the release of their 1982 sophomore album, “Rio,” that Duran Duran...

Anil Kapoor, one of Bollywood’s most acclaimed stars, is not only celebrated for his illustrious career but also cherished for his roles as a doting father and a loving husband. Recently, Anil and his wife Sunita Kapoor celebrated a significant milestone: 40 years of marital bliss.

Their daughter, Sonam Kapoor, took to social media to express her love and admiration for her parents on this special occasion. In a heartfelt note, Sonam wished her father and mother a happy anniversary, sharing glimpses of their intimate celebration with the world.

Sonam wrote, “Happy happy anniversary to my anchors, to the best parents god blessed me with. I love you both so much. @kapoor.sunita @anilskapoor.” She added a personal touch by revealing that the couple’s special song is the Beatles’ classic, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” emphasizing the enduring romance between her parents.

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Michael Jackson‘s “Billie Jean” is a song about a man who may or may not have fathered a child with a woman he doesn’t like. One of Jackson’s brothers explained the song’s connection to Motown founder Berry Gordy. Gordy is a musical legend, but his label’s music faced some criticism from one of The Beatles.

‘Billie Jean’ was 1 of several Michael Jackson songs inspired by Motown’s Berry Gordy

Jermaine Jackson was a member of The Jackson 5. In his 2011 book You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother’s Eyes, Jermaine discussed the Motown formula. “If Americans’ brains went to Harvard, America’s talent went to Motown — and artists graduated with a lifetime’s knowledge,” he said. “‘You’re entering the finest finishing school in the business,’ Mr. Gordy told us.

“Our education was fast-track: every song should be a three-minute story with a beginning,...

The year was 1985 when Super Mario Bros. took the Nintendo Entertainment System by storm; Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes debuted in newspapers, and two unlikely friends named Marty McFly and Emmett Lathrop Brown piloted cinema’s most iconic time machine to a year when Panama hats and kitten heels were all the rage, 1955.

Fiercely protected at a level akin to Ghostbusters and Star Wars by millennials worldwide, Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future sits enthroned at Nostalgia Mountain’s top. The original film has spawned two sequels, a cartoon series, video game adaptations, a Broadway musical, and more. But how does it hold up by today’s standards? Strap on your seatbelt, and prepare yourselves to see some serious shit because this is Back to the Future Revisited.

In 1977, Robert Zemeckis did the unthinkable. He bulldozed into Amblin Entertainment without an appointment, heading straight for Steven Spielberg’s office.

The Beatles and The Rolling Stones will be compared to each other until the planet Earth is destroyed and any extraterrestrial life will have no chance of knowing that rock ‘n’ roll ever existed. One of Mick Jagger’s girlfriends revealed what the frontman thought of The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” John Lennon also had plenty to say about The Rolling Stones.

Mick Jagger felt The Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ was ‘silly’

Marianne Faithfull was Jagger’s girlfriend and muse in the 1960s. She’s most known for her solo ballad “As Tears Go By,” which Jagger co-wrote with Keith Richards. In her 2008 book Memories, Dreams & Reflections, Faithfull recalled the way that Jagger reacted to some of The Beatles’ songs.

“Mick might, very occasionally, put The Beatles down for their provincialism, which, if you’re from London and they’re from Liverpool, is a very natural reaction,” he said. “But he’d never put their music down.

The Beatles’ record label could boast about their ability to sell albums from the biggest band in the world. Beginning in 1963, the band became an undeniable success in the United Kingdom, with records flying off the shelves and an increasingly rabid fan base. Capitol Records, which would eventually become the band’s American record label, initially wanted nothing to do with the group. They were certain they would sell well in the country.

The Beatles’ record label didn’t think the band would do well in America

In 1963, “From Me to You” brought The Beatles their first Number One hit in the United Kingdom. It was their third single and marked the start of their rapid rise to success.

“It was very difficult in 1963 to think The Beatles were going to last forever and that I would be talking about them thirty years on. But it was very gratifying that they had made Number One,...

The Beatles‘ movies contain some of the most unexpected sequences in the history of movie musicals. For example, one of them includes a musical number shot underwater. An actor from the movie explained how that moment came together behind the scenes. The moment in question could have become a lot more risque.

A Beatles movie took on all the band’s eras

Director Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe is a jukebox musical based on the tunes of the Fab Four. It features all of the band’s most famous songs, like “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Something,” and “Let It Be,” along with more obscure tracks like “I Am the Walrus,” “Girl,” and “Because.” The “Because” is one of the most famous scenes in the movie, as it features actors performing the song underwater.

During a 2018 interview with Vulture, Across the Universe star Evan Rachel Wood explained how...

Taylor Swift‘s “Love Story” era was her equivalent of The Beatles’ “She Loves You” era. Both periods were young musicians figuring themselves out and making bubblegum music. Swift once told Paul McCartney that he influenced her to always sing “Love Story.” Swift also revealed what it’s like to perform the same track over “300 million times.”

Taylor Swift has the same attitude toward ‘Love Story’ and ‘Shake It Off’

In a 2020 Rolling Stone article, Swift and Paul interviewed each other. Swift had lots of praise for the “Silly Love Songs” singer. “I think that learning that lesson from you taught me at a really important stage in my career that if people want to hear ‘Love Story” and “Shake It Off,’ and I’ve played them 300 million times, play them the 300-millionth-and-first time,” she said. “I think there are times to be selfish in your career, and times to be selfless,...

The Beatles‘ “Love Me Do” is one of those bubblegum pop songs like The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” or The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” that is perfect in its simplicity. Paul McCartney said he and John Lennon had no idea what they were doing when they wrote the song. John said the tune was markedly different from later Beatles tunes like “Penny Lane.”

Paul McCartney need help from ‘grown-ups’ during The Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’ era

During a 2012 interview with The Independent, Paul recalled what it was like writing songs with John during the “Love Me Do” era. “Writing songs we’d never done, except that when John and I first met, one of our conversations was: ‘What do you do?’ ‘Oh, you’ve written a couple of songs.’ ‘Oh, I’ve written a couple too,'” he recalled. “So we showed our songs to each other and agreed they weren’t...

The Beatles’ longtime producer George Martin worked with them on each album they put out in the 1960s. He was a key part of their success and got to know them well throughout their collaboration. Their antics, particularly in the early 1960s, grew familiar to him. Still, they sometimes pushed Martin too far. He shared what they did to let him down for the very first time.

The Beatles frustrated George Martin while recording songs in German

In the early 1960s, The Beatles traveled to Paris for a concert. While they were there, Martin booked them studio time to record German language versions of “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” A record company executive believed there was no chance the songs would sell in Germany if they were in English.

“I was disinclined to believe this, but that’s what he said and I told The Beatles,...

The Beatles‘ “Eight Days a Week” was one of the Fab Four’s most successful early hits. That doesn’t change the fact that it was ruined by its title. Paul McCartney explained the interaction that inspired him and John Lennon to write a song called “Eight Days a Week.” John wasn’t satisfied with “Eight Days a Week” when it was new or years afterward.

The Beatles’ ‘Eight Days a Week’ makes a relationship sound like miserable work

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed collaborating with John during The Beatles’ early years. “It was always nice to have an excuse to drive out into the country so that generally meant that I got out to John’s house,” he said. While heading to John’s house. Paul once asked a chauffeur if he was busy. “‘Busy?”‘ the chauffeur said. “‘ I’ve been working eight days a week.

The Beatles‘ “Eleanor Rigby” doesn’t need fixing. When Paul McCartney interviewed Taylor Swift, he said the track could have had a different lyric. He also explained how “Eleanor Rigby” drew from some of his childhood experiences. Interestingly, John Lennon shared some memories about the writing of the song that contradicted Paul’s.

Paul McCartney said a lyric from The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’ could’ve been about the Bible

During a 2020 Rolling Stone article where Paul and Swift interviewed each other, Paul revealed that “Eleanor Rigby” was inspired by elderly ladies he knew when he was a kid. He said those women had great stories about World War II. Paul wasn’t sure how he met those women, because they weren’t part of his family, but he became friends with some of them.

“Back to ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ so I would think of her and think of what she’s...

The Beatles‘ Rubber Soul is many things, but it’s not an album about Paul McCartney’s personal life. However, there are exceptions to every rule. One track from Rubber Soul is about Paul’s disillusionment with a 1960s movie star. Interestingly, Rubber Soul became a hit twice in the United Kingdom: once during the 1960s and once during the 1980s.

The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’ was inspired by an actor who put her career over her personal life

From 1963 to 1968, Paul dated actor Jane Asher. She was most known for her roles in movies like Alfie, The Masque of the Red Death, and Deep End. Similar to John Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono, Paul’s relationship with Asher left a big impact on The Beatles’ lyrics, including those for “I’m Looking Through You.” In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed butting heads with Asher.

Fans often point to The Beatles’ more experimental songs as their breakthroughs. Paul McCartney wrote The Beatles’ “All My Loving” in a manner that was completely new for him. John Lennon said it was “unfortunate” that Paul mostly composed the song by himself.

Paul McCartney conceived of The Beatles’ ‘All My Loving’ as a country song

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul said “All My Loving” was a bit of an anomaly. “It was the first song I’d ever written the words first,” he recalled. “I never wrote words first, it was always some kind of accompaniment. I’ve hardly ever done it since either.”

Paul explained how the lyrics of “All My Loving” came together. “We were on a tour bus going to a gig and so I started with the words,” he said. “I had in my mind a little country and Western song.

You can discover a lot about a musician by learning their favorite Beatles song. Keith Urban said one of The Beatles’ songs has “an exquisite arrangement.” It makes sense that a country singer would like the tune in question. Sadly, the world at large doesn’t have the opinion taste as Urban.

Keith Urban’s favorite Beatles song is from ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’

During a 2009 interview with Cleveland.com, Urban was asked to pick his favorite Beatles song. He chose “She’s Leaving Home.” “She’s Leaving Home” is a ballad from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and it’s one of the most ignored songs in the Fab Four’s discography.

“What an exquisite arrangement,” Urban said. “The originality of that band continues to dumbfound me. I don’t know where they were drawing from, but it was such a magnificently original place.

Tom Petty was an Elvis Presley fan even when he felt it wasn’t cool to be an Elvis Presley fan. However, Petty felt another classic rock act eclipsed the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in 1964. Petty also said that Elvis’ output changed during that year. Regardless, Petty still named some of the tunes by the “All Shook Up” singer that he loved.

Tom Petty felt Elvis Presley’s songs took a nosedive

In the 2012 book Conversations With Tom Petty, Petty revealed he was an Elvis fan up to a point. “I was until ’64, and then Elvis was getting so s***** by then,” he said. “It had never been the music of my generation. I was an odd kid for even being interested in Elvis.

“So when The Beatles came, I lost interest in Elvis, because [The Beatles] were the music of my generation, and I was a huge record buff,” he recalled.

The best music sometimes causes physical reactions in listeners. For example, Peter Frampton said one song from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul gives him “goosebumps.” Frampton also revealed how he learned one of The Beatles’ codenames.

Peter Frampton said John Lennon emoted on a song from The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’

During a 2009 interview with Cleveland.com, Frampton named his favorite Beatles song. He picked “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” from Rubber Soul. “There’s an emotion there in John’s voice,” he said. Frampton’s comment is interesting, as John’s performance on the song could just as easily be interpreted as detached or sarcastic.

“The chord structure of it — the way he put the song together — has always given me goosebumps,” Frampton added. “And don’t forget: Buy the mono versions. That’s all we had. I can’t wait not to hear voices on the left. I want...

The Beatles paved the way for many things, including the British ska scene, the mainstream acceptance of psychedelia, and the entire genre of heavy metal music. It’s also arguable a song from The Beatles’ The White Album inspired Nirvana and other grunge bands. Here’s a look at the track and what Kurt Cobain had to say about The Beatles.

The Beatles’ ‘The White Album’ has a dark song that feels like a Nirvana doing blues

The White Album runs the guts of emotions. It’s happy, nervous, angry, lovesick, and sad. One song from the album is both very angry and very sad at the same time: “Yer Blues.” The blues-rock number is one of the hardest-rocking tracks in the Fab Four’s discography. In it, John Lennon unleashes a lot of negative emotions, including a desire to die.

It’s easy to see “Yer Blues” as a predecessor to grunge.

The Beatles‘ love songs are untouchable. While talking with a 1990s rock star, Ringo Starr revealed the album where The Beatles started writing songs about love that were more cosmic. The album in question was a huge upgrade from the boy band that gave us “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me.”

Ringo Starr discussed The Beatles’ love songs with Dave Grohl from Nirvana

In a 2019 Rolling Stone article, Ringo and Dave Grohl interviewed each other. Grohl made an observation about The Beatles. “Love has always been a theme with The Beatles,” he said. “At the beginning.”

Ringo concurred, noting that The Beatles initially wrote love songs directed at girls, such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

Grohl asked Ringo when the love in The Beatles’ music became more spiritual and universal. “Probably ’round about ’67, going into the Revolver album,” Ringo replied. “I mean, you know, we were growing up,...

It’s hard to imagine now, but the success of The Beatles’ songs was never a given. Ringo Starr said the band’s prominence could have ended after one of their most famous songs came out. Notably, the track in question was a No. 1 single in the United States but not in the United Kingdom.

Ringo Starr felt The Beatles would stop having hit songs after 4 years

During a 2019 article from Rolling Stone, Ringo and Grohl interviewed one another. Ringo reflected on his hits with The Beatles. “‘Love Me Do’ could’ve been the first and last, but it went on,” he said. “And there’s interviews of us, like, ‘Well, you know, it’ll probably last about four years.'”

In actuality, The Beatles lasted for 10 years together. Afterward, each had a string of hit tunes in the 1970s. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison each managed to...

Cyndi Lauper’s music doesn’t sound much like The Beatles’ Meet the Beatles! Despite that, she said Meet the Beatles! changed her life. She explained how John Lennon, in particular, inspired her. Lauper later covered one of John’s most important solo songs.

Cyndi Lauper said The Beatles’ ‘Meet the Beatles!’ felt like it belonged to her

During a 2022 interview with Pitchfork, Lauper discussed her early musical influences. “My mother had a beautiful voice,” she said. “She played a lot of Italian music. She played Puccini.” Lauper said Puccini’s Madame Butterfly was one of the soundtracks of her childhood, alongside classic Broadway musicals like The King and I, South Pacific, and My Fair Lady.

The Beatles’ Meet the Beatles! changed everything. “My sister Ellen and I didn’t know there would be anything that would be called ‘our music’ until we saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan,” she recalled.

Some of The Beatles‘ best songs are ignored by fans and the public. Paul McCartney said one of the band’s B-sides was “very fine.” In his opinion, the song contradicted a stereotype about John Lennon’s songwriting. In contrast, John said the tune was a poor rewrite of one of the Fab Four’s earlier tracks.

Paul McCartney said a great Beatles B-side was born out of John Lennon’s ‘inspiration’

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul recalled the origin of The Beatles’ “Yes It Is.” “I was there writing it with John, but it was his inspiration that I helped him finish off,” Paul said. “Yes It Is” is most known for serving as the B-side to “Ticket to Ride.”

“‘Yes It Is’ is a very fine song of John’s, a ballad, unusual for John,” he said. “He wrote some beautiful ballads but...

The Beatles‘ John Lennon and Paul McCartney co-wrote The Rolling Stones’ “I Wanna Be Your Man.” Paul explained why he was willing to let The Rolling Stones cover the song. John had a completely different reason for giving the song away. Eventually, The Beatles released their own version of “I Wanna Be Your Man.”

What Paul McCartney thought of The Rolling Stones’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’

During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Paul was asked why The Beatles gave “I Wanna Be Your Man” to The Rolling Stones. “You looked at all of the other bands on the scene,” he added. “We knew who was no good. We knew who was competition. It paid to know what was going on.

“We’d hear about the Stones,” he added. “They played at the Station Hotel [in London]. We went down to see them one night, just stood in the audience. I remember...

John Lennon gave countless interviews in his lifetime and admitted that he sometimes lied to journalists. Some of his lies served to amuse himself, and others distracted from persistent lines of questioning. Journalists constantly asked him about the process of writing songs with Paul McCartney. Lennon grew sick of this, so he began to spread the mistruth that he had never really written with McCartney.

John Lennon revealed that he lied about his writing process

During The Beatles’ early years, Lennon and McCartney sat in a room together in close collaboration on songs. As their years in the band wore on, their partnership grew more fraught. Because of this, Lennon began lying and telling people they had never actually written together.

“I said that, but I was lying. [Laughs],” Lennon said in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview With John Lennon and Yoko Ono by David Sheff.

In an effort to defend trans rights in the United States, the U.K., and Canada, dozens of artists have recorded cover songs for a new compilation that will raise money for organizations in those countries. Joanna Sternberg recorded Caroline Rose’s “Everywhere I Go I Bring the Rain,” Rostam interpreted Lucinda Williams’ “Change the Locks,” Wednesday took on Elliott Smith’s “Christian Brothers,” and Model/Actriz perform the Ting Tings’ “That’s Not My Name” on the 44-track Fader + Friends Vol. 1 compilation available on Bandcamp for one month, starting today.

Fader has released Fader & Friends Vol. 1, a real star-studded covers compilation benefitting charities fighting for transgender rights.

There’s a whole lot in these 44 tracks, but here are just a few notable highlights: CoSign alums Wednesday recorded their rendition of Elliott Smith’s “Christian Brothers,” Rostam covered Lucinda Williams’ “Change the Locks,” Ratboys did The Beatles’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and NNAMDÏ did The Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”

While most of the performers on the compilation — including Caroline Rose and Joanna Stenberg, who covered each other — are relative newcomers, the crop of songs constitute a vast timeline. There are covers of Big Thief, Perfume Genius, and Ethel Cain mixed together with songs by Stevie Wonder, Abba, Tina Turner, and Selena. There’s even an old English folk song (courtesy of Helena Deland).

Fader & Friends Vol. 1 will be available exclusively on Bandcamp for the month of November only,...

The Beatles played a killer set of songs during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Some of those songs are still famous and some are not. George Harrison discussed the band’s mindset leading up to their set.

The Beatles played a show tune on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’

According to Kiro 7, The Beatles made their first Ed Sullivan Show appearance on February 9, 1964. The Fab Four started their set with their classic love song “All My Loving.” While The Beatles played the tune during this seminal moment in their careers, the tune is mostly forgotten in the United States and rarely receives play on rock radio.

Then, the band performed a show tune called “Till There Was You.” For context, musical theater had a much bigger influence on popular music during the early 1960s than it does now. The first half of the band’s set closed with “She Loves You,...

The Beatles‘ Ed Sullivan Show set changed rock ‘n’ roll, music in general, and the entire course of human history. No, that’s not going too far. Shockingly, George Harrison revealed he didn’t even rehearse for this seminal event. Here’s why — and why the performance mattered so much to him.

George Harrison got sick before The Beatles did ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’

The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1977. During that interview, George discussed the behind-the-scenes of The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. “The Sullivan show was funny because I didn’t attend the rehearsal, I was sick somehow on the flight over on the first trip to the States,” he recounted.

Sullivan’s crew wasn’t all that helpful. “The band did a long rehearsal for the sound people, they kept going into the control room and checking out the sound,...

Lou Reed died 10 years ago, in October 2013. But since then, he’s just become a more massive, more famous, more influential figure. His life is one of the strangest music stories ever. Will Hermes tells the whole epic tale in his new biography, Lou Reed: The King of New York. For most people, he’s the black-leather avant-garde rock & roll poet who symbolized NYC with his band the Velvet Underground, in the Warhol Factory scene of the 1960s. “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Sister Ray,” “Sweet Jane” — these are...

After the early 1960s, John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t collaborate as closely when writing Beatles songs. Still, they gave each other their opinions and helped finish pieces. McCartney asked Lennon for help completing “Eleanor Rigby.” Lennon explained that he was hurt when his bandmate asked him to work on it.

John Lennon said Paul McCartney can’t take all the credit for ‘Eleanor Rigby’

Lennon agreed that “Eleanor Rigby” was one of McCartney’s more complex songs, but he said this was partly thanks to him.

“Ah, the first verse was his and the rest are basically mine,” Lennon said in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview With John Lennon and Yoko Ono. “But the way he did it … Well, he knew he had a song. But by that time he didn’t want to ask for my help, and we were sitting around...

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke had a lot to say about John Lennon‘s voice — and so did John himself. Yorke had a nuanced view of John’s “brutal” singing. John said his vocals helped him dominate The Beatles during their early years.

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke said he was a fan of John Lennon’s ‘weirdly brutal’ singing voice

A 2023 article from Rolling Stone features a passage from Jason Thomas Gordon’s forthcoming book The Singers Talk. In it, Yorke was asked to name the singer he’d most like to talk to about their voice. “It would be John Lennon,” he said. “Lennon’s whole attitude to singing, I’m a little bit obsessed with, because, on the surface, he has this whole, raw, doesn’t give a f*** … just the way he sings is weirdly brutal.

“I’d want to talk to him about how he was always so incredibly accurate,...

After The Beatles broke up, John Lennon publicly derided Paul McCartney, but Alice Cooper said the musician behaved differently behind closed doors. While he could speak ill of his former bandmate, nobody else could. Cooper shared how Lennon would react and revealed that McCartney had a similar approach.

Alice Cooper said John Lennon defended Paul McCartney

After Cooper rose to fame himself, he got to know The Beatles. Their breakup was messy and painful for the former bandmates. Lennon and McCartney insulted each other’s music and behavior. Still, Cooper said they never allowed others to speak badly about the band. Lennon would go so far as to try to fight people who insulted McCartney.

“Here’s the thing about them,” he said, per iHeartRadio. “When they were after each other’s throats, when it came to the breakup and all that stuff, if anybody in the Vampires back in...

A famous producer wanted The Beatles‘ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to catch listeners off guard. He discussed what he thought of the final song. In addition, he revealed what he thought of three of The Beatles as people.

What The Beatles’ producer thought of ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ on a technical level

George Martin was The Beatles’ regular producer. During a 1995 interview with The Christian Science Monitor, Martin recalled The Beatles introducing him to the music of American rockers such as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Their music sounded different from the British music of the era because of the technology they used.

Martin was asked if he could recreate that American sound by importing foreign technology. “No, because it’s not just technology,” he opined. “It’s a combination of the type of song, the type of arrangement,...

George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney were the primary songwriters for The Beatles. Lennon and McCartney wrote most of the songs and, at least in the first half of the 1960s, wrote them together. While many of them became massive hits for the band, Harrison didn’t find them all that impressive.

George Harrison wasn’t thrilled by the songs John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote together

Harrison’s sister, Louise, described her brother as a people pleaser.

“George was always the one who tried to please,” she told the Saturday Evening Post in 1964 (via The Guardian). “When the fire needed more coal, he would always say, ‘Mummy, I’ll do it. Let me get the shovel.’ Or, when we’d be going to church, George would polish everyone’s boots.”

He didn’t extend the same treatment to his bandmates, though. Harrison offered a lukewarm assessment of Lennon and McCartney’s writing.

Tl;Dr:

Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ “From Me to You” “heralded a new batch” of songs. He discussed how it was written. John Lennon said The Isley Brothers inspired “From Me to You.”

Paul McCartney felt The Beatles’ “From Me to You” was a typical early Fab Four song in one way. On the other hand, he said it was a turning point for the band. John Lennon revealed why he was happy to sing lead vocals on the track.

Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ ‘From Me to You’ ‘went to a surprising place’

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the importance of “From Me to You.” “There was a little trick we developed early on and got bored with later, which was to put ‘I,’ ‘me,’ or ‘you’ in it, so it was very direct and personal: ‘Love Me Do,’ ‘Please Please Me,...

It didn’t take long for The Beatles to go multimedia. As Beatlemania took over the world, they added movies to their output with A Hard Day’s Night and Help! in 1964 and 1965, respectively. They were on top of the world; even the songs they abandoned turned into hits. The Beatles kept writing songs to soundtrack their movies, and these were the seven most successful.

The Beatles wrote soundtracks for five movies they starred in

The Fab Four made hay in the relatively short time they were together. Between 1963 and 1970, there wasn’t a year where they didn’t release at least one album. Add in hundreds of live shows, scores of interviews, television appearances, and recording hit non-album singles, and it’s a wonder they didn’t keel over from exhaustion.

With that kind of schedule, The Beatles might have preferred built-in time to blow off steam on their movies.

The Beatles’ recorded music impacted the landscape and changed things forever. Despite the screaming and short sets, their concerts were so good they made teenage fans pee their pants from excitement. Their producer didn’t wet himself, but George Martin screamed like a teenage girl at one of The Beatles’ most impactful concerts.

George Martin said ‘it was all too easy to scream’ at one groundbreaking Beatles concert

Beatlemania was a curious phenomenon. The name suggests it spread like an inferno, but that’s not entirely accurate.

The Beatles’ popularity in England was a steady climb. A top-20 single in late 1962 (“Love Me Do”) preceded a top-5 song in January 1963 (“Please Please Me”) that came before their first No. 1 hit (“From Me to You”) in April 1963. That set the stage for their debut album, Please Please Me, to hit No. 1 and spend 30 weeks on top. (Their next seven records also...

It seemed like Ringo Starr would do anything for The Beatles. He put up with Paul McCartney’s drumming instructions for years. He rushed to Yoko Ono’s side when John Lennon was killed. Out of principle and respect, the drummer even refused to record a song John gave him shortly after his bandmate died. Ringo nearly died just to get the perfect shot in the Beatles movie Help!

Ringo Starr risked drowning just to get the perfect shot in ‘Help!’

Years before Ringo proved his acting talent in serious movies, he acted in two Beatles movies. The Fab Four released A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and followed up with Help! in 1964.

The drummer was the star of the show in that latter movie. The bejeweled ring a fan gave him was really a key piece of a sacrificial ritual, and the rightful owners want it back. Ringo’s willingness...