The Infamous 5 Words That Changed the Course of The Beatles—and John Lennon’s Apology To Save the Band’s Life

It was 1966, The Beatles were at the height of their career touring worldwide, brushing elbows with music greats, and making more media appearances than they could count. They were by far the most popular act at the time. No one even came close to reaching their fandom. Due to the cult-like fan culture and the excessive media appearances, The Beatles were seemingly at the top of the world. Especially, John Lennon.

In an interview published by The London Evening Standard in March, Lennon would arguably make one of his most polarizing claims—The Beatles “Were more popular than Jesus.” Despite not gaining a lot of traction with the quotes’ original release, according to Rolling Stone, once Datebook ran the story later that year the quote incited a cataclysmic rage in pop culture.

Lennon’s Exact Words

Over the years the quote has been cut, cropped, and watered down. Lennon’s initial statement was compelling and did bring up some fascinating points. However, these fascinating points about the relationship between Christianity and rock ‘n’ roll are what put the artists in quite the bind.

“[Christianity] will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I know I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first – rock & roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me,” per The London Evening Standard.

Evidently, this is a scorching take that contains multitudes. Consequently, it was those very multitudes that would change The Beatles’ career for the rest of their days. The backlash from the comment obviously did not sink The Beatles, but it did change the game they were playing.

The Backlash

in The Beatles Anthology, Ringo Starr stated, “John had to apologize…Not because of what he’d said, but to save our lives.” This is indeed seemingly true, as following the quote the band received a plethora of death threats and triggered protests from Christian groups, governments, and people around the world. A reaction of large proportions, that required a response of large proportions.

The response from The Beatles—stop touring. There are reportedly numerous factors that led to this decision, but following Lennon’s comments crowds became more hostile to the band. Per Rolling Stone, the breaking point was when they went to Memphis following Lennon’s remarks. Lennon stated, “having to stand with the Klan outside and firecrackers going on inside. I couldn’t take any more.” And that was that, The Beatles were done touring and John Lennon did what he does best—Make a mark on history with his words.

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