There are very few bands in the world that can make an impact as the Beatles did. Only around a decade of their presence in the music world shook the entire industry of music. Sadly, they shocked millions of fans in 1970 when they announced their break up. However, why did they break up in the first place? well, we have always heard an ego is man’s enemy, and looking back, it seems that it was their ego that led the band to break up.
After their immense success, they started going on tours however, that was the most frustrating part for them as there was no time for themselves, reports have it that they could not even get plenty of rest. Later, they decided to take a break for some time. During that time John Lennon decided to shoot a film [How I Won the War] and went to Spain where he started thinking of leaving the band. He revealed that he did not have the guts to tell his pals however, he eventually left the band after their 1969 album Abbey Road.
Their breakup was inevitable because there were several disagreements between the band. Moreover, George Harrison also played a crucial role in the band’s break up. They had to compromise the quality of their work due to a very busy schedule. And at the time Harrison had several songs, however, his quality works were ignored by the band and they were in disagreement once again, however, Harrison had enough and nearly left the band but his bandmates stopped him from leaving.
George Harrison’s wish for the Beatles
Sometime after the band broke up, George Harrison shared his thought on it and said that he wanted them to compromise and worked on more albums together.
He said in an interview in 1970, “Well, I don’t… I couldn’t tell, you know, if they do or not, I’ll certainly try my best to do something with them again, you know. I mean, it’s only a matter of accepting that the situation is a compromise. In a way, it’s a compromise, and it’s a sacrifice, you know because we all have to sacrifice a little in order to gain something really big.”
He further said, “And there is a big gain by recording together – I think musically, and financially, and also spiritually. And for the rest of the world, you know, I think that Beatle music is such a big sort of scene — that I think it’s the least we could do is to sacrifice three months of the year at least, you know, just to do an album or two. I think it’s very selfish if the Beatles don’t record together”
Years after Lennon’s death, in 1994 the Beatles got back together once again for Anthology where they also used Lennon’s unfinished demos Real Love and Free as a Bird.
Furthermore, later in 2012, Paul McCartney told Rolling Stone during an interview that they did consider reforming the band together however, they could not make it happen, he said, “the reformation suggestions were never convincing enough.”
And as mentioned, Harrison really wanted them to get together again even if it was for an album or two however, his wish did not come true and later on, he moved on and accepted the fact that they’ll never get back together again. He told Rolling Stone in 1979. Moreover, Harrison was also the one who released a solo album [All Things Must Pass] after the band’s breakup on November 27, 1970.
Well, it would have been great to see them together again, however, that does not matter anymore because the Beatles were and will always be one of our favorite bands. We listen to them every day and the fact that we are talking about them even after more than five decades of their break up shows how much they mean to us.
