George Harrison Didn’t Think The Beatles Played Rock ‘N’ Roll
George Harrison claimed The Beatles didn’t play rock ‘n’ roll music. The guitarist claimed his band didn’t sound like the rock ‘n’ roll stars he’d grown up listening to as a kid.
The first three rock ‘n’ roll songs George heard
Rock ‘n’ roll came on the radio when George was 13. The first three rock ‘n’ roll songs he heard were Fat Domino’s “I’m in Love Again,” Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” and Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.”
In Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual And Musical Journey Of George Harrison, Joshua M. Greene wrote, “The music sent shivers down his spine and fueled a desire to join a band. In those days anybody could put a band together. One kid drummed on a washboard, another plunked a broom-handle bass, a third faked chords on guitar, another blew into a gob iron (which was what they called a harmonica), and they dubbed themselves a band.”
The three rock songs changed something in George. He never forgot the first time he heard them.
In 1992, George told Timothy White (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), “The main thing that really buzzed me, I remember, even before I heard Elvis, was Fats Domino’s ‘I’m in Love Again.’ I can even see exactly where I was when I heard that.
“… It must have been on a radio or record player somewhere… When I heard Elvis’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ I was on my bike passing somebody’s house, and they must have had a gramophone playing. I couldn’t believe the sound of that record.”
Geoge claimed The Beatles didn’t make rock ‘n’ roll
In 1992, during an interview with Bob Coburn on Rockline (per George Harrison on George Harrison), George talked about hearing rock ‘n’ roll for the first time and how great it was. Reminiscing made George miss the old rock tunes. He claimed no one was making that kind of music in the 1990s. He also questioned whether The Beatles ever made rock ‘n’ roll.
“You know, nobody is doing rock ‘n’ roll anymore, to my concept of rock ‘n’ roll,” he said. “There is none, there’s none left, except all that old stuff. I don’t even think the Beatles did rock ‘n’ roll, really. We took music, popular music, into other areas, but … we could rock when we did live shows and stuff, but I don’t think our music was rock, not like Little Richard. That was the greatest stuff. Larry Williams? Can’t beat it.”
George also questioned whether The Beatles would’ve gotten as many hits if they’d been another band.
In 1969, he told the BBC’s David Wigg, “The Beatles has always been, soft of, a lot of different music. It’s never been one sort of ‘bag.’ [Laughs.] But the thing is that you can set a high standard and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a hit. You know, this is one thing. The market for hits is … you know, I just can’t figure it out.
“I know when the Beatles put out a single it’s a ‘hit.’ But I don’t know if … sometimes I feel that if somebody else had put out the same thing but done in their way it mightn’t be a hit. I don’t know. It’s very difficult.”
George said rock ‘n’ roll has ‘lasting power’
Despite his opinions about The Beatles and rock ‘n’ roll, George thought the genre had lasting power. However, no one was playing it.
During a 1988 interview, CNN asked George if rock ‘n’ roll was ageless. George replied, “It looks like because I mean, it’s been going on now how many years, I don’t know, they said it was not going to last, and it’s lasted. It’s turned into the most popular music of all time. I think there’s always space for other kinds of music, but this stuff obviously has lasting power.”
In the TV special Rolling Stone: 20 Years Of Rock ‘n’ Roll, George said, “The basic essence that rock ‘n’ roll needs to have is to make you feel good.” Well, The Beatles’ music made many people feel good. So, that makes them a rock ‘n’ roll band, surely.
