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The One Moment The Beatles Became a Part of “the Establishment” According to Jimi Hendrix
Far Out Magazine ^ | Sun 1 December 2024 | Jack Whatley

Posted on 12/01/2024 3:12:04 PM PST by nickcarraway

The Beatles are rightly considered one of the most progressive rock bands of all time. So it is easy to look back at their salad days and point out John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as the early 1960s version of a boy band. After all, the group were well-marketed and hit the top of the charts with startling consistency. But, within a few years, they were already changing the game.

After their album Rubber Sul, the group confirmed themselves as the rock icons they are now revered as. Not only did they begin expanding their counterculture vocabulary, with many fans calling the album their “pot album”, but the band’s change of songwriting also set them apart. Previously, the Fab Four had stuck to creating pop songs that involved rock ‘n’ roll tropes such as chasing women, driving fast cars and partying the night away. On Rubber Soul, they made pop music personal and put their own lives into their music.

One man who took heed from the band was Jimi Hendrix. The guitarist blew away the competition when he arrived in the swinging ’60s and proved to everyone in London that there was a new sheriff in town. He made that point even clearer when, just a few short days after the album’s release, Hendrix provided a searing cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for the Beatles in the audience at the Bag O’ Nails club. It’s clear that Hendrix was a fan. But, the following LP would leave Hendrix feeling cold.

Lennon noted the album as The Beatles’ “returning to rock,” and Hendrix agreed. But whereas Lennon deemed the album to be a reaction to the “philosorock” sound of the previous albums, Hendrix felt the LP was a regurgitation, “like an inventory of the past ten years, rock music, you know. There’s a lot of people waiting for something else to happen now, anyway.” It was clear that Hendrix felt there was more innovation needed in music, citing ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ as his least favourite song on the record.

It’s a thought that would have pleased bandmate Paul McCartney. The songwriter was so devoted to creating deliberately innovative music that he threw away the shackles of being in a rock band and created something entirely unique with Sgt. Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band, a record that Hendrix himself would cover.

It was also a political song that, for Jimi Hendrix, showed The Beatles were now far removed from their audience. It was a devastating blow to a band who had their own issues. The group were now nearly always teetering on the edge of break up and the very notion that they were now playing only to the masses would have likely promoted another walk out.

“The Beatles are part of the establishment,” he said in The Times. “They’re starting to melt that way too.” He continued to make allusions to the band, comparing how people go through different walks of life to the group becoming somewhat middle class in their thinking: “That’s not saying anything bad about a person at all, it’s just the scenes some people go through.”

For Hendrix, with The White Album, The Beatles confirmed they were now becoming a part of the industry and establishment they had once rallied against, galvanising a generation in the process. “It’s like a person who starts out with something really on fire. Now they’re still good […], but they seemed a little closer to the public beforehand.”

Whether or not you like The Beatles albums that followed Sgt. Pepper, it’s hard to argue that the band hadn’t smoothed out their sound. For Hendrix, this and writing political songs confirmed that the Fab Four had lost their touch and were now just a part of the establishment.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Business/Economy; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: beatles; establishment; hendrixwasaracist; jimihendrix; rubbersoul; rubbersul; sgtpepper; thewhitealbum
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I'm not a Beatles fan, but they did have songs bashing taxes and Chairman Mao, and not even by the same writer.
1 posted on 12/01/2024 3:12:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

They changed when they went to India.


2 posted on 12/01/2024 3:18:39 PM PST by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
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To: bankwalker

Harrison became religious.


3 posted on 12/01/2024 3:22:19 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Any band has about 5-7 years of relevance, max. That’s why I always say The Beatles broke up at the right time.


4 posted on 12/01/2024 3:23:20 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: bankwalker
They changed when they went to India.

Thanks goodness! Their clothes were starting to reek.

5 posted on 12/01/2024 3:23:59 PM PST by Sirius Lee (Hi! Follow me on FReep Tok #Neanderthal #oMtBikes #Bach)
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To: nickcarraway

Post Beatles George Harrison showed his brilliance. His work with the Wandering Wilberrys was the best. His conjunction with other great stars was great. They were all rich and were just having fun making great music. Lennon was a genius in writing songs and music but sadly murdered by a nut. Paul McCartney was just very average and his voice is gone today. Ringo Star was the luckiest man on earth to be with the Beatles. He was a good drummer but not the best.

My vote is for George Harrison as the best of the Beatles.


6 posted on 12/01/2024 3:26:19 PM PST by cpdiii (cane cutter, deckhand, oilfield roughneck, drilling fluid tech, geologist, pilot, pharmacist ,MAGA)
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To: dfwgator

At least they broke up before they hated each other. Oh, wait.


7 posted on 12/01/2024 3:27:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: cpdiii

He was the only religious one.


8 posted on 12/01/2024 3:27:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: cpdiii

It was the Traveling Wilburys. Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison were all good on that album as well.


9 posted on 12/01/2024 3:32:05 PM PST by OttawaFreeper ("The Gardens was founded by men-sportsmen-who fought for their country" Conn Smythe, 1966 )
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To: nickcarraway
My favorite Beatles song

The Girl I Love (Quest Records #101, 1965)

10 posted on 12/01/2024 3:38:59 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: OttawaFreeper; cpdiii

That’s the Traveling Wilburys. The Wandering Wilburys are only available on bootleg. The Genuine Wandering Wilburys Basement Tapes. And don’t even get me started on the Roving Wilburys.


11 posted on 12/01/2024 3:42:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: cpdiii

George. Yep

All things must pass is great. It’s essentially Derek’s dominoes.

Someone on Conan or some podcast said whenever one would go to George’s hose for a dinner everyone got handed a ukelele and they’d all play


12 posted on 12/01/2024 3:43:59 PM PST by stanne
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To: nickcarraway

Well, if I could only pick one desert island album, it would be the White Album. Reasonable minds can differ.


13 posted on 12/01/2024 3:46:58 PM PST by KevinB (Word for the day: "kakistocracy" - a society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens)
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To: Fiji Hill

That was really from 1965? By then, that doo wop sound was long gone.


14 posted on 12/01/2024 3:48:09 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Fiji Hill
My favorite Beatles song The Girl I Love (Quest Records #101, 1965)

Except that's not the Beatles.

15 posted on 12/01/2024 3:48:46 PM PST by KevinB (Word for the day: "kakistocracy" - a society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens)
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To: nickcarraway

A Single Album,18 song White Album would have Increadable.


16 posted on 12/01/2024 5:15:09 PM PST by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA, AND HE WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: nickcarraway

Huge Beatles fan here. I always liked their first 3-4 albums the best, especially when they did Motown covers, but have a special place in my heart for “Sgt. Pepper” and “Abbey Road.” Hard to get any better than those two albums.

In between, I was ok with “Rubber Soul, Hard Day’s Night, and Magical Mystery Tour,” but did not like the White Album at all. It was as if each was allowed to just play their most ridiculous crap without any real sense of a band.

For me, the Beatles were always far more about HOW they sang and performed than WHAT they performed. Just as the Beach Boys had harmonies that no one could copy, so did the Beatles with their unique blend of vocals.


17 posted on 12/01/2024 5:49:30 PM PST by LS ("Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually." Jimi Hendrix)
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To: KevinB; nickcarraway

It says “The Beatles” on the label. The lyricist for “The Girl I Love” was one J. Lemmon. Despite what everyone has been told, the Beatles are from Philadelphia, and they also recorded doo-wop under the name the Lytations.


18 posted on 12/01/2024 5:50:54 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: LS
For me, the Beatles were always far more about HOW they sang and performed than WHAT they performed. Just as the Beach Boys had harmonies that no one could copy, so did the Beatles with their unique blend of vocals.

Some acts tried to copy their blend of vocals. The Chartbusters came close, and although they got some radio airplay, they came nowhere near to busting any charts.

She's the One--The Chartbusters (1964)

19 posted on 12/01/2024 8:03:35 PM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: nickcarraway

Loved Rubber Sul

Not as good as Hep or Abey Rod, but still pretty good.


20 posted on 12/01/2024 8:09:37 PM PST by John Milner (Marching for Peace is like breathing for food.)
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