George Harrison Said the Younger Generations Needed to Be Brainwashed With the Truth With Good Music and Art
George Harrison claimed music and art could help brainwash the younger generations with the truth. The former Beatle thought it was essential.
George Harrison on brainwashing the younger generations
During a 1967 interview with Melody Maker (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George said the younger generations needed to be brainwashed with good music and art to see the truth again.
“But the music is very important because of the ‘mass media’ point of view,” he said. “I think music is the main interest of the younger people. It doesn’t really matter about the older people now because they’re finished anyway. There’s still going to be years and years of having all these old fools who are governing us and who are bombing us and doin’ all that because, you know, it’s always them.
“But it’s no good getting hung up about them because the main thing is to get the kids. You know, this is the Catholic trick—they nail you when you’re young and brainwash you, and then they’ve got you for the rest of your life. In actual fact, do this sort of thing—but brainwash people with the truth—turn them all onto music and books at that age, then they’ll live a better life.
“Then it’s the next generation that does it more, and after that … so it doesn’t matter if we see the perfection of the Golden Age or not. I don’t expect to see the world in a perfect state of bliss—you know, like 100 per cent—but it doesn’t matter, it’s on the way now.”
George released ‘My Sweet Lord’ because he wanted to show the younger generations that God-consciousness was possible
Despite fearing what would happen to him and his career, George released “My Sweet Lord” to show the younger generations that it was OK to be religious or spiritual. He showed them the truth with music. No one was putting religion into popular music.
“At that time,” George later explained, “nobody was committed to that type of music in the pop world. There was, I felt, a real need for that. So rather than sitting and waiting for somebody else, I decided to do it myself.
“A lot of times, we think, ‘Well, I agree with you, but I’m not going to actually stand up and be counted—too
risky.’ Everybody is always trying to keep themselves covered, stay commercial. So I thought, ‘Just do it.’ Nobody else is, and I’m sick of all these young people just boogying around, wasting their lives, you know.”
George believed most people weren’t religious because of ignorance. It came down to the fear of the unknown. However, George didn’t want to hold back from talking about religion anymore. He wanted to show the world his love for God.
“The point was, I was sticking my neck out on the chopping block because now I would have to live up to something, but at the same time I thought, ‘Nobody’s saying it; I wish somebody else was doing it,'” he said.
“You know, everybody is going ‘Be-bob baby’–OK it may be good to dance to, but I was naive and thought we should express our feelings to each other–not suppress them and keep holding them back. Well, it was what I felt, and why should I be untrue to myself? I came to believe in the importance that if you feel something strong enough then you should say it.”
He said younger fans bought The Beatles’ reissue of ‘Yellow Submarine’ because they were sick of music with drum machines
George was right about the younger generations. They needed good music to make them realize the truth. George said the youth loved The Beatles’ 1999 reissue of Yellow Submarine because they were sick of their generation’s music.
He told Billboard, “I think because it’s the same when people were 9 or 16 back in the ’60s. They liked it then, and they like it now for the same basic reasons: The songs are catchy, they’re fun, and they still have whatever it was then.
“It’s in those grooves, and it’s boom. Also they’re a bit of light relief after all this drum machine stuff that we’ve been having for the last 15 or 20 years. So I thought I’d cash in on the craze [laughs] and put out all my old tracks!”
George only wanted music to be a healing teaching force. His music, at least, accomplished that.
