The Beatles were an English rock band, active from 1960 to 1970. From 1962 onwards, the band's members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Their disbandment is attributed to numerous factors, including the strain of the Beatlemania phenomenon, the 1967 death of their manager Brian Epstein, bandmates' discontent with McCartney's leadership of the band, Lennon's heroin use and his relationship with Yoko Ono, Harrison's increasingly prolific songwriting, the floundering of Apple Corps, the Get Back project (renamed Let It Be in 1970), and managerial disputes.
During the latter half of the 1960s, each of the band's members began to assert individual artistic agendas. Their disunity became most evident on 1968's The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"), and quarrels and disharmony over musical matters soon permeated their business discussions. Starr left the group for two weeks during the White Album sessions, and Harrison quit for five days during the Get Back rehearsals. Starting in the autumn of 1968, the group quarrelled regarding who should handle their business affairs. McCartney lobbied for the entertainment lawyers Lee and John Eastman but was outvoted by his bandmates in favour of the businessman Allen Klein.
The final time that the four members recorded together was the session for Abbey Roads "The End" on 20 August 1969, a date which also saw further mixing and editing for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"; their final meeting with all four present was two days later at a photo session held at Lennon's Tittenhurst estate. On 20 September, Lennon privately informed his bandmates at a meeting at Apple, without Harrison present, that he was leaving the Beatles, although it was unclear to the other members whether his departure was permanent. On 10 April 1970, McCartney said in a press release that he was no longer working with the group, which sparked a widespread media reaction and worsened the tensions between him and his bandmates. Legal disputes continued long after his announcement, and the dissolution was not formalised until 1974.
Rumours of a reunion persisted throughout the 1970s, as the members occasionally reunited for collaboration, but never with all four simultaneously. Starr's "I'm the Greatest" (1973) and Harrison's "All Those Years Ago" (1981) are the only tracks that feature three ex-Beatles. After Lennon's murder in 1980, the surviving members reunited for the Anthology project in 1994, using the unfinished Lennon demos "Free as a Bird", "Real Love" and "Now and Then" as the basis for new songs recorded and released as Beatles material, though the latter remained unreleased until 2023.
Background In an interview with Dan Rather which aired on AXS TV on 10 May 2024, Ringo Starr stated that "we didn't get along, we were four guys, we had rows," noting that their relationship was getting more tense even by the time he had children. Nevertheless, according to Starr, the band could still last as long as it did due to their music ambitions.
Epstein's management style was to let the group pursue their musical notions and projects, while often mediating when there was a conflict. This role began to diminish after the band stopped touring in 1966, although Epstein still exercised a strong influence over the band's interpersonal relations and finances. In mid-1967, a tax shelter endeavour was initiated under Epstein's oversight, comprising a revised legal partnership (of the four Beatles) and an associated corporation named Apple Corps (to which most Beatles revenue would be paid). However, on 27 August, Epstein died of a drug overdose; the consequences of his absence, combined with the Beatles' inexperience as businessmen, led to an unexpectedly chaotic venture that added stress for the band during the coming months.
Epstein's death left the Beatles disoriented and fearful about the future. McCartney sought to initiate projects for the group, although his bandmates grew perturbed by his growing domination in musical as well as other group ventures.Barry Miles: Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Owl Books, 1998 Lennon later reflected that McCartney's efforts were important for the survival of the band, but he still believed that McCartney's desire to help came from his own misgivings about pursuing a solo career.Jann Wenner: Lennon Remembers: The Rolling Stone Interviews, Popular Library, 1971 McCartney felt that the four members' evolution from musicians to businessmen was central to the band's disintegration. Epstein's role as band manager was never replaced, and ultimately the lack of strong managerial leadership contributed significantly to the break-up.Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld: Apple to the Core: The Unmaking of The Beatles, Martin Brian and O'Keeffe Ltd, 1972
When the group convened to record The Beatles in May 1968, there was still a camaraderie and desire to collaborate as musicians; however, their individual differences were becoming more apparent. To a greater extent than the others, McCartney maintained a deep interest in the pop musical trends and styles emerging both in the United Kingdom and the United States, whereas Harrison developed an interest in Indian music and religion, and John Lennon's compositions became more introspective and experimental.Ray Coleman: Lennon: The Definitive Biography 3rd edition, Pan Publications, 2000 In Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn's opinion, Sgt. Pepper represented the group's last unified effort, displaying a cohesion that deteriorated immediately after the album's April 1967 completion and entirely disappeared by 1968.
Another factor in the split was Harrison's growth as a composer during the second half of their career.The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, p. 419. Many of his song ideas were rejected by Lennon and McCartney, especially from 1968 onwards.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 38. Although this was partly indicative of the increased competition for space on album sides, with three songwriters in the band, Harrison's frustration fostered in him a sense of alienation from the Beatles."George Harrison Interview", Crawdaddy magazine, February 1977 He later reflected that at first he was content to make occasional contributions as a composer, and he only came to resent Lennon and McCartney's domination when he offered songs "that were better than some of theirs and we'd have to record maybe eight of theirs before they'd to mine." Harrison became the first member of the group to release a solo album, with Wonderwall Music, much of which was recorded in Bombay in January 1968.
White Album and Get Back rehearsals In May 1968, the band met at Harrison's home in Esher to record demos of songs later recorded for their November 1968 release The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). Contemporaneous reviews and retrospective commentary by the Beatles acknowledged that the double album reflected the development of autonomous composers, musicians and artists. Rolling Stone later described it as "four solo albums under one roof." McCartney described the sessions as a turning point for the group because "there was a lot of friction during that album. We were just about to break up, and that was tense in itself," while Lennon said that "the break-up of the Beatles can be heard on that album."
The sessions marked the first appearance in the studio of Lennon's new domestic and artistic partner, Yoko Ono, who accompanied him to EMI Studios to work on "Revolution 1" and who would thereafter be a more or less constant presence at all Beatles sessions. Ono's presence was highly unorthodox, as prior to that point, the Beatles had generally worked in isolation, rarely inviting wives and girlfriends to recording sessions. Lennon's devotion to Ono over the other Beatles made working conditions difficult by impeding the intuitive aspect that had previously been essential to the band's music. Ono's presence was regarded as intrusive and became a particular source of rancour with Harrison because, since 1965, he and Lennon had bonded over their experimentation with LSD and Indian spirituality – two experiences that McCartney had approached with a level of caution. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
Lennon's and McCartney's artistic avenues became more disparate,The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, p. 61. with McCartney disapproving of Lennon and Ono's experimental sound collage "Revolution 9",Emerick and Massey, pp. 243–44. and Lennon contemptuous of light-hearted McCartney songs such as "Martha My Dear" and "Honey Pie".Hertsgaard, p. 251. Harrison continued to develop as a songwriter, yet he received little support from within the band during the sessions.MacDonald, p. 267. Feeling resentment from Lennon and McCartney for his role in leading the Beatles to the Maharishi, Harrison's composition "Not Guilty" reflected his state of mind after their return from India.
Ringo Starr became increasingly dissatisfied with the standard of his drumming. According to author Mark Hertsgaard, this was "a feeling that [McCartney] in particular had done much to encourage."Hertsgaard, pp. 250–51. Distressed also by the sour and tense atmosphere that was characteristic of the recording sessions,Bob Spitz: The Beatles : The Biography, Little, Brown and Company, 2005 Starr felt so isolated that he left the band for several weeks and holidayed with his family in Sardinia.Ringo Starr, in The Beatles, p. 311. He returned in early September to find his drum kit decorated with flowers, which were a gift from Harrison.Ringo Starr, in The Beatles, p. 312.
With the release of The Beatles in November, the band no longer gave collective interviews or recorded appearances, and public relations were carried out individually. Other evidence of the group's collective alienation came with the release of their 1968 Christmas fan club recording; the contributions were entirely individual and Lennon made disparaging remarks about his bandmates' apparent disdain for Ono.Hertsgaard, pp. 265–66.
By the end of 1968, the Beatles' status as a group entity was in limbo. McCartney suggested a group project involving rehearsing, recording and then performing a set of songs for a live concert. The project soon adopted a working title of Get Back. Although the sessions for their double album had involved a degree of ensemble playing, the band were ill-prepared to settle comfortably back into this mode; in particular, Lennon had descended into heroin addiction, leaving him variously incommunicative or highly critical of the venture. On 10 January 1969, eight days after filmed rehearsals commenced at Twickenham Film Studios, Harrison's frustration and resentment peaked and he informed his bandmates that he was leaving. Having enjoyed rewarding collaborations outside the Beatles during much of 1968, particularly with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and the Band, Harrison began to feel stifled by the combined patronising by McCartney and estrangement from Lennon. The band were at an impasse and on the verge of collapse.
Ultimately, complicated negotiations brought Harrison back into the group's activities. At his insistence, McCartney's plans for a full concert were abandoned and the project was relocated to the band's Apple Studio in Savile Row,Snow, p. 8. with the focus now on merely completing a new album of some of the songs rehearsed at Twickenham. The Beatles gave their last public performance on the rooftop of Apple's headquarters on 30 January 1969, as a substitute for an audience-based concert.John C. Winn: That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy (volume two) 1966–1970 Multiplus Books, 2003Doug Sulpy & Ray Schweighardt: Get Back: The Unauthorised Chronicle of The Beatles' "Let It Be" Disaster, St. Martin's Griffin Pub., 1999Peter Doggett: Abbey Road/Let It Be: The Beatles (Classic Rock Albums Series), Schirmer Books, 1998
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