How many times were The Beatles arrested?
When John Lennon first flew over to America, he was worried that he might be chastised by the people in the United States because of his previous comments on communism. It turns out that isn’t what happened, and the country welcomed him and the rest of the band with open arms.
There were a few controversies that followed The Beatles around. For instance, some people thought that their suits were too tight and their hair was too long, which didn’t sit right with a lot of conservative parents around the country. They also had a sharp wit that many people found charming, yet others found annoying. Other than that, it seemed as though the boys from Liverpool couldn’t do much wrong.
Of course, The Beatles might have been able to sell themselves as good boys from across the pond, but there was some sense of rebellion in there. John Lennon once admitted that when it came to showing who they were to the public, they had to be somewhat reserved.
“We weren’t as open and as truthful when we didn’t have the power to be,” said John Lennon when discussing these hidden aspects of the band. “We had to take it easy. We had to shorten our hair to leave Liverpool. We had to wear suits to get on TV. We had to compromise.”
For instance, while The Beatles went to America in 1964 as a band made up of honourable citizens, very few of their fans at the time were away that only four years earlier, Paul McCartney and The Beatles’ then-drummer Pete Best had been deported from Germany for nearly setting fire to a building. They were arrested for suspicion of arson when something they made into a makeshift candle almost lost control.
This wasn’t the first time The Beatles had trouble with the law, either. Granted, they weren’t a band that often found themselves locked up in cells for long periods, but as is the case with most rock bands, they had odd run-ins with the police.
So, how many times were The Beatles arrested?
There were nine different instances where The Beatles had some issues with the law.
The first instance was the fateful night in Germany that saw them get deported; however, after that, they didn’t have any problems until eight years later. In 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were staying at Ringo Starr’s apartment, which was raided for illegal drugs. Luckily, Lennon and Ono knew the police were on the hunt for drugs and had wiped the place clean prior.
This forms the foundation of all of the band’s problems that they had with the police. While Lennon’s comments about the band being bigger than Jesus might have landed them in hot water, the majority of their problems with legal officials involved being found having drugs or being investigated for possession.
They were never found doing anything worse and didn’t spend elongated periods locked up.
But which Beatle has been arrested the most times?
Despite always coming across as a relatively well-behaved man, Paul McCartney was the member of the Beatles who was arrested the most. Apart from when he was in trouble for arson, all of these pertained to being found in possession of marijuana.
One of the strangest incidents was in 1973. Following the split of The Beatles, McCartney had gotten more into gardening, and his fans were more than happy to help. They would send seeds to him to plant, and when he was found growing weed, he said it was because fans had sent seeds, and he didn’t know what they were.
Whether that was the case or not, who knows? Either way, it cost him $175.
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