Did John Lennon and Paul McCartney really believe The Beatles were “crap”?
There’s always a danger that when you’re attempting to be humble about your greatest achievements, you can inadvertently come across as being arrogant due to your dismissiveness regarding your own talents. When you’ve managed to achieve virtually everything within the space of less than a decade, as The Beatles managed to, it might be hard to be genuinely critical of your work without coming across as a complete tool.
In general speaking terms, only a contrarian would deem the Beatles to have been crap or state that they had no redeeming qualities about them. They were arguably the most important thing that happened to popular music at the time, and they remain so to this day. That’s not even to mention that their songcraft provides so much to dive into and garner an appreciation for and that without their contribution to music, the entire history of pop and rock could’ve sounded remarkably different.
However, if there’s one perfect example of a contrarian who would make a point of dismissing the efforts of the band, then look no further than the Beatle-in-chief himself, John Lennon. After they disbanded in 1970, the singer would often choose to make disparaging comments about the worth of his old project, regularly slamming his old bandmates for their work and making statements such as “none of it is important” and “I never actually felt a loss” about their demise.
Fellow Beatle Paul McCartney was often at odds with Lennon’s points of view, being far more generous in his praise for the band’s work and maintaining a reasonable relationship with both George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Lennon wouldn’t have wanted to speak to McCartney himself, and therefore, there was little love lost between the former songwriting partners when they called it quits.
Despite this, McCartney eventually went on record to concede that he occasionally felt the same way Lennon did about his exploits with the band. Citing the tensions that were felt between the group members towards the end of their time together, the former bassist claimed that he would often find himself slipping into the same mindset as Lennon—fed up with having to constantly defend the band’s legacy and finding ways to celebrate what had ultimately become a strenuous exercise by the end.
“Through all that kind of bitterness,” McCartney explained to Rolling Stone, “I tended to think like John a bit.” Elaborating on what he meant by this, he began to mimic the kinds of dismissive statements that Lennon used to make about their work together, saying “oh, the Beatles… naww… crap,” before finally coming to the conclusion that he would have to snap himself out of this way of thinking and face the truth.
“But it really wasn’t,” McCartney conceded. “I think it was great.”
Being honest with yourself about how you perceive your past travails is perhaps the healthier way to look back on things, and when compared to Lennon’s scathing remarks about everything, it’s also the point of view that makes him look like the more measured of the two. I’m very proud of that kind of stuff, and consequently, I wouldn’t like to see my past slagged off,” McCartney told the magazine. All in all, no matter his personal opinion, he’s probably on the right track.
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