May 2025 - Page 5 of 6 - Vintage Rock Times

George Harrison Said ‘Crap Music’ He ‘Hated’ Influenced The Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’

George Harrison revealed that the song “Yellow Submarine” took a good deal of inspiration from the songs he listened to growing up. Some of these were songs he liked, while others were tunes he admitted to hating. He said that this was part of why The Beatles were successful. They were willing to listen to […]

John Lennon Said The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ ‘Doesn’t Go Anywhere’

John Lennon felt The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band didn’t “go anywhere.” He felt only a few tunes on the album connected to each other. Today, Sgt. Pepper looks like a scattershot concept album, especially compared to the work of other artists like David Bowie. What Paul McCartney was trying to accomplish with […]

‘I’m Only Sleeping’: John Lennon and The Beatles’ most fierce protest song

One of the many beauties of The Beatles is that they became the biggest band in the history of man simply by studying the humble folks around them. From ‘Penny Lane’ to ‘Eleanor Rigby’, their hits were derived from looking out of a window. Even at their most complex and musically avant-garde, their songs still […]

Which song did Robert Plant sing in his Led Zeppelin audition?

When Jimmy Page came to form Led Zeppelin, he was out of luck on one element. This was to be a bold new chapter in his career, finally bringing his ideas to the forefront after years of playing in other groups or doing session work. It was all his: his songs, his vision, his choice […]

How old were The Beatles when they scored their first number one?

At the time of writing, Sir Paul McCartney is gearing up to play his final sold-out show at the O2 Arena in London, a comparatively intimate stop on his Got Back world tour, at the grand old age of 82 years young. I’m sure there are folks of his generation, or the generation immediately after […]

George Harrison Came Across as a ‘Dour, Humorless’ Complainer, Said a Beatles Engineer

George Harrison was the youngest Beatle and, according to an audio engineer, the least fun to be around. Geoff Emerick, who worked with the band on several albums, had a hard time understanding Harrison. While he empathized with the struggle he faced in the band, Emerick wasn’t the guitarist’s biggest fan. He believed he was […]

The Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ Was Once a Sad John Lennon Song

The son of a famous producer found a demo of The Beatles‘ “Yellow Submarine” with John Lennon singing the lead vocal. The demo includes some morose lyrics. Ringo Starr revealed that other members of the band decided to “liven up” the song before they had him sing it. Producer George Martin’s son compared The Beatles’ […]

The Beatles’ most “perfect pop song”, according to science

The middle eight in Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’, the key change in The Beach Boys’ ‘God Only Knows’, the final chords in the coda of The Strokes’ ‘Under Control’, and the jazzy crescendo of Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’—these are all perfect moments in music. But that appraisal is purely subjective. When science gets involved in identifying […]

The artists Paul McCartney said influenced The Beatles most

In music terms, we often view things in two chapters—not AD and BC but rather BTB and ATB, “Before The Beatles and After The Beatles.” For someone in my age bracket, with my music tastes, it’s frankly hard to imagine the former at times because the influence of the Fab Four is so indelibly linked […]

George Harrison once picked “the nicest melody” he ever wrote

As the youngest of three children, I can’t deny that my childhood experiences were wildly easier than those of my siblings. The boundaries had been tested, irritations experienced, and all that was left was dewy-eyed sentimentalism at my mere performance of mundane tasks. You could say I was the Paul McCartney of my family, blissfully […]