Paul McCartney Claimed That Suing His Former Bandmates Was the Only Way to ‘Save The Beatles’
Paul McCartney was just one fourth of the iconic rock band The Beatles, all of whom rose to fame in the early 1960s and spent about a decade in the spotlight before breaking up. Though the young quartet’s uprising was exciting in the moment, some say it eventually went to their heads, with disagreements ensuing and friendships nearly ending before the band finally decided to call it quits.
Paul McCartney has had plenty of years to reflect on his actions surrounding Beatles fame — one of which included suing the other band members, which he says was the only way he could “save The Beatles.”
Paul McCartney sued his former bandmates in 1970
The Beatles’ rise to fame was something nobody could have seen coming. The band achieved worldwide recognition so quickly, and with a fan base so obsessive, that the whole movement was dubbed “Beatlemania.” And when the fame didn’t slow down through the 1960s, the bandmates eventually ran into disagreements, with McCartney and Lennon, the band’s two primary songwriters, having a major falling out by 1970.
In 1970, McCartney sued the rest of The Beatles in order to avoid former manager Allen Klein having control over their finances and music. McCartney didn’t want Klein involved with the band any longer, and he sued the bandmates in order to break the contract they’d made with each other and their manager. Fifty years later, McCartney said that if he hadn’t done that, the band would have lost everything and been unable to remaster any of their songs in later years.
“The only way for me to save The Beatles and Apple — and to release Get Back by Peter Jackson which allowed us to release Anthology and all these great remasters of all the great Beatles records — was to sue the band,” McCartney said in a 2020 British GQ interview. “If I hadn’t done that, it would have all belonged to Allen Klein. The only way I was given to get us out of that was to do what I did.”
Ultimately, the lawsuit was won, which severed McCartney’s ties with Klein, and even half a century later, McCartney knows he made the right decision.
George Harrison eventually said it was good Paul McCartney sued The Beatles
While the band members’ relationships were in turmoil at the time, the result wound up benefitting them — and George Harrison even admitted it just a few years later.
“To tell the truth, there’s a whole lot of money that’s been held in receivership since Paul McCartney sued us,” Harrison said in a 1974 press conference. “Actually, it’s fortunate that he did sue us, because while the money is in receivership nobody can spend it.”
Along with the lawsuit came rumors that McCartney was responsible for the band’s split, which he said were difficult to overcome.
“I was thought to be the guy who broke The Beatles up and the b*tch who sued his mates. And, believe me, I bought into that,” McCartney told British GQ. “It was so prevalent that for years I almost blamed myself.”
