George Martin Said It Would’ve Been a ‘Terrible Mistake’ for The Beatles to Reunite
Producer George Martin worked with The Beatles for years, seeing them at their highest and lowest points. Martin was well aware of fans wishing the band would reunite, and he would have benefited from a new Beatles album. Still, he didn’t think it was a good idea. He didn’t even think the reunited group could be considered The Beatles. Martin spoke about why he didn’t think the band should make more music.
George Martin didn’t think The Beatles should have reunited
Shortly after The Beatles broke up, fans began clamoring for a reunion. The band had left the door open for the possibility, noting in interviews that they thought they might get back together. Of course, while the individual members collaborated over the years, all four Beatles never played together again. Martin believed that this was for the best.
“I think it would be a terrible mistake for them ever to go into the studio together,” he told Rolling Stone in 1976. “I’d hate to see that happen. What happened was great at its time, but whenever you try to recapture something that existed before, you’re walking on dangerous ground, like when you go back to a place that you loved as a child and you find it’s been rebuilt. It destroys your illusions.”
Martin believed that The Beatles were a band of the past. A reunion wouldn’t bring them back; it would be a different band altogether.
“The Beatles existed years ago; they don’t exist today,” he said. “And if the four men came back together, it wouldn’t be the Beatles.”
George Martin was right about The Beatles’ reunion
Martin was right. While fans would have happily welcomed a Beatles reunion, it would have threatened the fragile relationships they’d built by the mid-1970s. Paul McCartney once said he could only get along with John Lennon if they didn’t speak about business. Working on an album or discussing logistics for a concert may have devolved into a bitter fight.
In addition, each former Beatle was working to establish solo careers. By not returning to the band, they grew as solo artists. When The Beatles broke up, the band members had grown frustrated with working together. Returning to that environment less than a decade after their split would not have felt fulfilling.
George Harrison and John Lennon agreed
Both Lennon and George Harrison said they expected the Beatles to reunite shortly after the split. After a time, though, they rejected the idea. Harrison said the only way he would consider reuniting with his former bandmates was if he ran out of money.
“Everyone’s enjoying being individuals,” he said, per Ultimate Classic Rock. “We were boxed up for 10 years. So, it’s all fantasy about the Beatles coming together again. If we do it again, it will probably be because we’ll be broke and need the money.”
Lennon agreed. He didn’t want to have to relive the 1960s for the sake of Beatles fans.
“Do we have to get crucified again? Do we have to do the walking on water again because a whole pile of dummies didn’t see it the first time, or didn’t believe i when they saw it?” he told Playboy. “You know, that’s what they’re asking: ‘Get off the cross. I didn’t understand the first bit yet. Can you do that again?’ No way. You can never go home. It doesn’t exist.”
