The Night LSD Opened Paul McCartney's Eyes–and Cemented His Friendship With John Lennon
Paul McCartney isn’t known as the most well-versed of his peers when it comes to drugs. He and his Beatles bandmates did their fair share, but they didn’t end up with the same kind of reputation as their edgier counterparts. Drugs, for the Beatles, were seen as more of an artistic pursuit than an addiction. It completely changed their career trajectory. McCartney was the longest holdout on LSD. Eventually, though, he did join his bandmates in partaking in the hallucinogen. Below, learn more about the first time McCartney took the drug, in particular, how it affected his relationship with John Lennon. Paul McCartney: “It’s More Than Peer Pressure, It’s Fear Pressure”
Though fans aren’t sure of the exact date when McCartney took LSD for the first time, conversations from the Beatle himself pinpoint it to December of 1965. McCartney was more so into weed. McCartney had been trying to hold out on LSD, but eventually the “peer pressure” from Lennon and his other bandmates got to him.
“I was more ready for the drink or a little bit of pot or something,” McCartney once recalled. “I’d not wanted to do it, I’d held off like a lot of people were trying to, but there was massive peer pressure. And within a band, it’s more than peer pressure, it’s fear pressure.”
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
