Beatles News
A little more than one week after releasing their highly-anticipated collaboration “My Universe,” Coldplay and BTS debut the tune atop the Hot 100. The track is the second leader on Billboard’s all-encompassing ranking of the most popular songs in the U.S. for Coldplay and the sixth for BTS. With one more ruler to their credit, the South Korean boy band now ranks as one of the most successful groups of all time, and they’re in rarified company.
Half a dozen No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 means BTS are now tied for the fifth-most rulers in the chart’s history, when looking solely at groups, duos and bands. The K-pop favorites are now on the same level as Hall & Oates, according to Billboard.
Leading the way among all acts (not just groups) are The Beatles. During their time together, the Fab Four managed an incredible 20 No. 1s on the Hot 100, and they remain the only name in U.S. history to reach that make, though Mariah Carey is just one champion behind.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Sometimes, things just fall apart. Flawed marriages, beloved cars, once-indomitable empires. We are shaken by unthinkable demises. These are serious matters. Nobody, by contrast, cares very much when a pop group falls apart, because they were never built to last. Even the greatest pop group of them all was always sharply aware of its own ephemerality. “Obviously we can’t keep playing the same sort of music until we are about 40,” said Paul McCartney in a 1963 television documentary when asked about the longevity of The Beatles. “I’ve always fancied having a ladies’ hairdressing salon,” added Ringo Starr, the funny one, as he looked deep into his own future. “Trotting around in me stripes and tails.”
Source: ft.com
George Harrison had a wicked sense of humor. He was buddies with the guys from Monty Python, after all. George knew how to have a good time, even during periods of his life that were especially grueling. His life was dark sometimes, but he always knew how to laugh, especially if it was at someone else’s expense. So it’s not surprising to hear that George pulled an elaborate prank on his fellow rocker, Phil Collins.
Collins was a huge The Beatles fan. So he signed up to be a session musician for George Harrison when he was recording his first solo album outside The Beatles, All Things Must Pass, in 1970. At only 19, Collins got to work with one of his heroes.
“Our manager got a call from Ringo Starr’s chauffeur, who said they needed a percussionist, and he suggested me,” Collins told Louder Sound. “So I went down to Abbey Road, and Harrison was there and Ringo and Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann and Phil Spector, and we started routing the song.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr is one of the best drummers in the world. However, when The Beatles disbanded in 1970, Ringo found himself in a bit of a pickle. He’d been The Beatles backbeat for years and rarely wrote the band’s songs. After The Beatles ended, Ringo didn’t have Lennon-McCartney to help him. Suddenly he had to do it all by himself or else face the prospect of becoming the least successful Beatle.
To make matters worse, he started his solo career off on a bad note. Ringo had a falling out with Paul McCartney, and his first solo album was a commercial flop. But Ringo was persistent. He was going to get by with a little help from his friends.
During an interview with Rolling Stone radio (per the Daily Mail) in 2020, Ringo admitted that he thought he “didn’t have the talent” to finish the songs on his debut solo album Sentimental Journey. So, he often turned to fellow Beatle George Harrison to help him.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr, Max Weinberg, Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron, and over 100 other musicians have united for a massive cover of the Beatles’ “Come Together” as part of a new campaign to help end world hunger.
The “Drum Together” clip was organized by WhyHunger, and along with Starr, Weinberg, and Cameron, it features drummers like Jim Keltner, Steve Gadd, Cindy Blackman Santana, and 11-year-old prodigy Nandi Bushell. While a massive coalition of percussionists (including an orchestra timpanist) create the base for this epic rendition of “Come Together,” the meticulously stitched-together performance also features an array of other musicians from guitarists and pianists to trombonists and trumpeters.
Source: Jon Blistein/rollingstone.com
Doting father Paul McCartney made sure to support his designer daughter Stella at her eponymous label's Spring/Summer 2022 fashion show in Paris on Monday.
Sitting in the front row alongside French actress Isabelle Huppert, The Beatles frontman Paul, 79, cut a dapper figure in a tailored black blazer worn over a high-neck navy shirt.
Paul covered his nose and mouth with a black face mask and wore his greying hair neatly styled.
Once the show had come to an end, Stella, 50, made sure to walk the runway as the audience clapped and Paul was no doubt filled with pride.
Source: Aisha Nozari/dailymail.co.uk
Sociologists were stumped by the effect The Beatles had on their fans
The Beatles felt ‘a vibration’ from their audiences
Ringo Starr says the band couldn’t hear themselves play at live shows
The Beatles perform on stage at the Washington Coliseum, Washington DC, Feb. 11, 1964. The performance was their first US concert. Pictured are, from left, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon | Rowland Scherman/Getty Images
As soon as fans saw The Beatles, whether they were playing a show or simply walking down the street, they broke into seemingly uncontrollable, intense screams. This couldn’t help but have an effect on John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Here’s how the band felt about the reaction they elicited from their fans.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Dave Grohl will read a tale based on The Beatles’ ‘Octopus’s Garden’ to children this week for a new episode of CBeebies’ Bedtime Stories.
The Foo Fighters frontman will read the story, which is written by Ringo Starr and features pictures by Ben Cort, at 6.50pm BST this Friday (October 8) on the CBeebies channel.
Grohl is the latest high profile star to contribute to the series, which has seen Dolly Parton, Sir Elton John, Robbie Williams and Mark Ronson read stories aloud. Actors including Tom Hardy, Felicity Jones, Tom Hiddleston and Orlando Bloom have also narrated in the past.
Per press material, the story that Grohl will read “follows five children on a magical journey through the Octopus’s garden. The playful Octopus takes them on a wondrous underwater adventure, riding on the backs of turtles, playing pirates in a sunken city and sheltering from a storm in the octopus’s cave”.
Source: Charlotte Krol/nme.com
The Beatles almost sacked George Harrison and were reportedly thinking about replacing him with Eric Clapton, according to a newly unearthed interview with John Lennon.
The tape hears Lennon threaten to replace Harrison with Clapton after the guitarist temporarily quit the band in January 1969, during the recording sessions for the band’s final album, ‘Let It Be’, reports The Daily Mail.
The sudden departure of Harrison – who felt that his songs weren’t getting as much attention as those of Lennon and Paul McCartney – worried McCartney and Ringo Starr. Lennon, however, while sympathetic, was also practical about the situation.
Lennon said that Harrison’s attitude had been “a festering wound and we allowed it to go deeper and we didn’t even give him any bandages.”
The ‘Imagine’ hitmaker then suggested that his place in The Beatles be taken by fellow guitarist Clapton. “I think if George doesn’t come back by (next week) we ask Eric Clapton to play,” Lennon said.
Source: Will Lavin/nme.com
The Beatles thought the parents of their American fans were rude
They aggressively, thanklessly asked them for autographs
The band relaxed in the Florida sun (away from their fans’ rude parents)
In 1964, The Beatles got on a plane and flew to America for the first time as a band to make their debut. There, they made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and played venues all around the country (they were excited most of all for Carnegie Hall). To John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr‘s delight, the U.S. welcomed them with open arms. And the feeling was mutual. The Beatles loved their American fans. But they did not, however, love their parents.
In his 1964 column for the Daily Express (with the help of Daily Express writer Derek Taylor), Harrison wrote about interacting with The Beatles’ American fans’ parents.
Source: cheatsheet.com
