John Lennon and Paul McCartney were arguably one of the greatest songwriting duos of all
time.
Accompanied by Ringo Starr and George Harrison, Lennon and McCartney helped usher in the so-called
British Invasion by forming one of the most iconic rock bands in musical history.
Back in the 1960s, The Beatles, was one of the biggest musical acts in the world.
The band's popularity grew in the UK throughout 1963, fueled by singles like Please Please
Me, She Loves You, and From Me To You.
By October of that year, the press coined the term 'Beatlemania' to describe the cult-like
fanaticism that the band enjoyed at their live performances.
Whenever you went to a Beatles concert, your eardrums would be split by the high-pitched
screams of adoring female fans.
Outside of shows, the fab four mop-topped musicians couldn't go anywhere without being
met with intense adulation.
Commentators at the time likened this to religious fervor.
In fact, some fans even began to worship John, Paul, Ringo, and George as if they were deities.
There were even accounts of a few fans approaching them under the belief that they possessed
supernatural healing powers.
The Beatles popularity exploded at an exponential rate after embarking on their world tours
– the first of which they took in 1964.
In February of that year, they arrived in the US and performed on live TV on The Ed
Sullivan Show.
That performance was viewed by approximately 73 million people.
The Beatles went on to put out some of the most beloved and iconic pop and rock albums
of all time.
From 1964's A Hard Days Night to 1965s Rubber Soul and 1967s Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the group was instrumental in creating some of the most
memorable and groundbreaking tunes of all time.
In addition to helping put British culture back on the map, they also helped usher in
the era of psychedelia that would come to define the latter half of the decade.
So, why did the Beatles break up?
Other bands who were considerably less successful have stayed together for decades, but the
boys from Liverpool only made it about 10 years before going their separate ways.
What makes their breakup that much more so puzzling is the fact that even when they were
falling apart, the Beatles were still creating some fantastic music – all of which is now
considered to be classic.
People like to oversimplify the breakup of the Beatles by blaming it on Yoko Ono or the
band's manager Allen Klein, but in reality, the reasons why the Beatles crumbled are much
more complicated.
Keep watching to find out how and why the Beatles really broke up.
The Band Experienced A Prolonged Period Of Being Apart
In 1966, after touring around the globe nonstop for years, John, Ringo, and George managed
to convince Paul that they needed to take a break from live performances.
So, for the next three months, the band went on a hiatus.
When they finally came back together, the Beatles produced their critically-acclaimed
masterpiece Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Heart's Club Band.
The album was primarily McCartney's brainchild but one of its best tracks, A Day in the Life,
was written mainly by Lennon.
The track is a reflection on the depression and despair that John was experiencing at
the time.
This was right around the time that he was regularly consuming LSD and other hallucinogenic
drugs.
At the same time, Lennon's domestic life was in shambles.
The Death Of Brian Epstein
In 1967, the Beatles band manager, Brian Epstein, was tragically found dead in his flat of an
apparent drug overdose.
Many believed, Lennon included, that Epstein was instrumental in keeping the band grounded.
Just five days after Brian's death, however, McCartney convinced his bandmates to create
the Magical Mystery Tour.
While the album was primarily McCartney's creation, the film was a collaborative effort
between the four members of the band.
Searching For Deeper Meaning
After critics tour Magical Mystery Tour to pieces, the band set out to the Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi's ashram in India to learn the basics of Transcendental Meditation.
While you would think that would have been a pretty chill endeavor, tensions flared as
Harrison became irate with Lennon and McCartney, whom he suspected of using their time at the
ashram to write music.
Ringo Starr left just two weeks after arriving and not long after, McCartney followed suit.
After Lennon discovered that the Maharishi had made unwelcome sexual advances on a young
woman at the ashram, he insisted that Harrison leave with him.
After returning to London, it seemed like Lennon was constantly in a bad mood.
Enter Yoko One
Lennon met Yoko Ono in November of 1966.
After he returned to London with Harrison, John ended his relationship with his wife
Cynthia and began a romantic and artistic relationship with Ono.
He proceeded to give her unprecedented and unfettered access to their recording for an
LP they had begun working on in 1968.
John wanted Yoko to be involved with the Beatles, although that's not what she wanted.
Lennon and Ono went on to work on their own musical project together.
The end result was the experimental avant-garde album Two Virgins.
Around this time, both Lennon and Ono were addicted to heroin.
Two Studios, One Album
Despite the fact that clearly, the band members were all beginning to move in a different
direction, the Beatles began work on their only double album, The White Album.
They recorded the album in three different studios.
During its production, there was some seriously intense and at times explosive tension between
the band members.
Everyone seemed to be treating their bandmates as essentially backup members.
It was during this chapter in the band's history that they launched their own record label,
Apple.
After the label released the Beatles song, Hey Jude, which Paul had written for Lennon's
son Julian, the band played the song on David Frost's television program.
It was after performing live on TV again and experiencing that chemistry again that they
realized that they wanted to play live together once again.
In 1968, the Beatles decided to play at London's Roadhouse Theatre.
Prior to playing that show, they made the decision to film the rehearsal sessions and
release those rehearsals.
This collection of rehearsals was eventually put together in one nice little package now
known as Let It Be.
The band had to rehearse for countless hours before they could come up with a single take
that was worthy of being included in the album.
During these sessions, McCartney was reportedly very bossy.
While that might have been necessary for creating radio-worthy material, the other members of
the band resented him for it.
In January 1969, the band recorded 52 songs – many of which eventually made it onto
Abbey Road while the rest would be released in the band member's solo albums.
Harrison was beginning to feel uneasy about performing live again and the tensions were
beginning to increase over Yoko Ono's influence on the group.
McCartney figured it was best to simply accept Ono's presence as it was crucial for the band
to retain Lennon.
Even so, tensions continued to grow until they reached a breaking point.
At one point Harrison and Lennon got into a confrontation that resulted in George walking
out.
A few days later, he returned but under the stipulation that there would be nor more major
live shows.
Allen Klein's Divisive Influence
Friction between the band members only increased after they signed a contract with their last
manager Allen Klein.
The Beatles and Klein's relationship began in January of 1969 after it became abundantly
clear that the band needed a manager to work with their label Apple.
McCartney initially suggested that his girlfriend, Linda Eastman's father should be their new
manager, but Allen Klein was able to weasel his way into setting up a meeting with Lennon.
Klein, being well spoken, was able to win Lennon over – Ringo and George quickly followed
suit.
While three of the four members were represented by Klein, McCartney refused to let Klein represent
him.
Over time, everyone else in the band became increasingly disenchanted by Klein and by
1973, they dissolved their business relationship completely.
The End Of An Era
The Beatles released their final official album together, Abbey Road, on September 26,
1969.
Right before the record hit store shelves, Lennon announced that he was going to be breaking
the band up.
McCartney subsequently fell into a deep, dark depression.
He started drinking heavily, stopped writing new material, and isolated himself.
Eventually, he took his wife's advice and began working on new music during Christmas
1969.
In March of 1970, he contacted John to let him know that he was leaving the band as well.
Allen Klein really wanted the Beatles to release an album to coincide with the release of the
Let It Be film.
He wanted something commercially appealing, so he brought in legendary producer Phil Spector
in to work with the band.
McCartney was never informed about the changes Spector was making to some of his songs.
Around this time, McCartney was trying to release his solo album.
He wanted to put the record out before the release of Let It B,
Ringo was sent to McCartney's home to inform him that he would need to push his solo album's
release date back, but Paul pushed back and the band ended up relenting, pushing back
the release of Let It Be instead.
In December 1970, McCartney sued for the dissolution of the band, and the judge ended up ruling
in favor of that decision.
The Beatles let their contract with Klein expire and later on he would end up getting
sentenced to two months in a United States prison on an unrelated fraud charge.
Lennon, Harrion, and Ringo would all eventually sue Klein as well.
After the Beatles formally dissolved.
John Lennon would continue his solo projects as well as his work with Yoko Ono.
He would go on to release several more albums before being assassinated in 1980.
George completed a solo album with a studio band that included Eric Clapton and Ringo
Starr.
George spent much of his time and energy in the years to come involved in charity work.
His production company, Handmade Films, would eventually produce the film Monty Python's
Life Of Brian.
George died of lung cancer at Paul McCartney's house in LA in 2001.
Ringo Starr was the only band member who continued to perform with the other three.
He also had a successful run as a solo musician.
On top of appearing in several films, Starr also narrated Thomas and Friends for a number
of years.
Paul McCartney recorded two sol albums before forming Wings with his wife Linda.
That band ended up recording 27 top 40 hits.
In recent years, he's continued to tour regularly while consistently working on new material.
He's also done some painting and has released a volume of poetry.
In total, McCartney has more than 60 gold records and is one of the wealthiest musicians
in the world.
With that, we'll go ahead and wrap this video up.
But before we sign out, we'd love to hear from you!
Did you know that their was so much tension behind the scenes with the Beatles and that
Paul McCartney and John Lennon struggled to remain civil when working with each other?
Let us know in the comments.