THE BEATLES' INFLUENCE

GIRLS

This infuriated fan couldn't see the Beatles...! :-O

Frenzied fans at a concert.

The police could hardly "keep the madness at bay" but some still keep their humour ! (see the policeman on the left smiling :-)) (looking closer, I think he's rather grimacing :-p)

POLITICIANS

British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas Home called the Beatles his "secret weapon", sent to the United states before his own arrival for an official visit.
Harold Wilson took pictures with the Beatles during his political campaign.

During Harold Wilson's campaign for the Labour (he won).

RELIGION

March 1966
When John Lennon let slip in his conversation with reporter Maureen Cleeve (for the Evening Standard) that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus and that words were published. Some particularly untolerant people gathered and made autodafés of their discs, books, pictures...etc... ; hate for the Beatles showed on signs written "the Beatles are dull and ordinary" or "Jesus loves you , do the Beatles ?"; in the South songs were banned on some radios and the Ku Klux Klan threatened stubborn fans of the Beatles.
The Beatles received threats of death and finally gave up touring.
However the Beatles gained support from some faithful fans that showed "We still love the Beatles" or "Lennon saves" at their last concert in San Francisco. The Archbishop of Boston Cushing even said that John was probably right (about the Beatles being more famous than Jesus). The little remark of John taken out of context triggered exaggerated reactions.
As an American politician said "John's an entertainer, not a theologist"...
Unfortunately John's words could not be forgotten. Charles Manson assassinated actress Sharon Tate and 5 other persons near Los Angeles in 1969 and then claimed that he had detected religious hidden messages in the White Album .

SCIENTISTS

Donald Johanson et Yves Coppens named the Australopithecus afarensis Lucy, that they found in 1974 in Ethiopia, because Lucy in the sky with diamonds was on the radio.

BRITISH ECONOMY

The Beatles were selling more than any other society outside and inside Britain. The British economy took advantage of the Beatles succes to repatriate capital from the foreign countries . Paradoxically, most of the money didn't reach the Beatles, whose rights were hardly defended (whether in Britain or in other countries). Moreover, their income was even more reduced because of various taxes for the government. (An unhappy George sums it up in Taxman, Revolver).

CONTEMPORARY MUSICIANS

Elvis Presley received the Beatles at his house in Los Angeles as he was shooting a new movie (with girls and guitars and a swimming-pool for a change). The meeting happened to be quite friendly... but the King expressed some years later to Nixon that the Beatles were dangerous and could have a bad influence on the youth (they were taking drugs).. some say he was feeling threatened by their phenomenal success.

The Beach Boys made their best to surpass Rubber Soul and released Pet Sounds. It was a kind of challenge that Brian Wilson had to take up.