“I know that is sacrilege to say”: why John Waters hates The Beatles and Prince with a passion
Many provocative filmmakers have caused outcry over the years, but none have been as openly enthusiastic about the idea of embracing bad taste than John Waters. He knows that his films relish in all things unusual and grotesque, but that’s what makes them brilliant.
Words and phrases like “badly acted”, “stomach-turning”, and “camp” have all been used to describe Waters’ work at some point or other; yet, if anyone is going to be the poster child for ‘bad cinema as high art’, it’s him. The passion, creativity, and gravity of the themes and intentions found within Waters’ work, particularly his earlier low-budget projects, make a case for the filmmaker as one of the most dedicated and innovative filmmakers of his generation.
You can hardly call him a bad filmmaker, even if many of his movies consist of shocking scenes of characters engaging in everything from zoophilia, coprophagy, incest, and basically anything else bizarre and uncomfortable you can think of. Waters’ movies might not be for everyone, and many people might think that the features that define much of his work, such as over-the-top acting, unpolished DIY-esque filming, and outrageous scenes designed to make people feel sick or disturbed, are ‘bad’ qualities.
Yet, there is a clear sense of urgency in his work, and Waters’ aims to depict a side of America that hadn’t been shown on the silver screen before has been revolutionary. So, while Waters might use ‘bad taste’ within his films, they’re highly regarded as influential and incredible pieces of cinema. What is considered good and bad taste is something that Waters is an expert in, and music is an area of expertise over which he has been able to exert his opinions.
Declaring his love of everything from The Shangri-Las and Lana Del Rey to 1950s novelty car crash love songs and Alvin and the Chipmunks, Waters equally loves some of the most critically acclaimed and universally derided musicians out there. At the end of the day, taste is subjective, and Waters believes that you should always “have faith in your own bad taste.”
Thus, there are some incredibly popular and influential musicians out there that Waters has openly shrugged off, believing them to be overrated and just not to his taste. In his book Crackpot, a chapter is filled with 101 things that he hates, including Prince and The Beatles. He calls the former an “ugly midget” who makes “awful music”, while of the latter, he refers to an “oldie but baddie by those honkie Beatles who ruined rock ‘n’ roll”.
Talking to The New York Times, Waters revealed that decades later, he’s still not a fan. “I maybe regret that. I’m not a fan of either still. The Beatles were too cheery, and Prince seemed pretentious. Yes, I know that is sacrilege to say.”
He continued, “Although the book is called Crackpot, so it was supposed to be a crazy person ranting. With the Beatles, who cares that I don’t like them? I never say bad things about people — except the Beatles or Prince. Like they could care. I’m not going to hurt their reputation.”
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