Beatles

Today, 52 years ago, The South African Broadcasting Corporation banned all Beatles records in response to John Lennon’s remark about the band being bigger than Jesus. Lennon stated: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; 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 ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” The comment was ignored in Britain as it was seen to be typically provocative. Five months later, however, the statement was reprinted in an American teen magazine, Datebook, and erupted great controversy. In the conservative southern and Midwest states, Beatles records and memorabilia were burned, radio stations refused to play their music and concerts were cancelled. Also on this 8th day of August 1966, The Beatles LP, Revolver, was released in the US. This was the band’s seventh album and featured songs like ‘Taxman’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘I’m Only Sleeping’, ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, ‘She Said She Said’, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. The album spent 77 weeks on the Billboard chart on the #1 position.