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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney said some of The Beatles’ haters in the Southern United States burned their records.
  • Paul said these haters did not represent the whole of the United States.
  • John Lennon said he didn’t mean to upset so many people.
Paul McCartney with a phone
Paul McCartney | Evening Standard / Stringer

John Lennon‘s “more popular than Jesus” comment inspired outrage in the United States. Paul McCartney discussed how some listeners reacted to this controversy by burning records. Despite this, Paul said the Fab Four “took a balanced view of” the backlash.

Paul McCartney compared haters burning Beatles albums to book burnings

According to the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, some Beatles haters went so far as to burn the Fab Four’s records. “So there were record burnings, which of course echoed Hitler’s book burnings,” he recalled. “We always used to point out that to burn them, you’ve got to buy them, so it’s no sweat off us, mate, burn ’em if you like. It’s not compulsory to play ’em.”

Paul discussed how The Beatles reacted to this episode of their career. “So we took a balanced view of it, but I will never forget in one of the places down South, we pulled in there in the coach and there was this little blond-haired kid, he could have been no older than 11 or 12, who barely came up to the window, screaming at me through the plate glass, banging the window with such vehemence,” Paul recalled.

The Beatles were shocked by the child’s zealotry considering he couldn’t have understood much about religion. According to Paul’s recollection, they realized the child was told The Beatles were anti-Christian.

Paul McCartney said some of his band’s haters exhibited ‘low-grade American thinking’

John’s “more popular than Jesus” comment was especially controversial in the Southern United States. Some haters even sent The Beatles death threats. “It’s hysterical low-grade American thinking,” Paul opined.

“There is high-grade American thinking, which we know and appreciate: we like Lenny Bruce, we like Jack Kerouac, we like the painters, etc., we see the high free thinking,” Paul added. “But we know there’s this Elmer Gantry undercurrent.” For context, Elmer Gantry is a novel by Sinclair Lewis satirizing American Christian fundamentalism. It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Burt Lancaster in 1960.

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John Lennon didn’t to hurt anyone when he said The Beatles were bigger than Jesus

The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon includes an interview from 1966, the same year the controversy happened. In it, John said he was shocked his words gained so much traction. John wasn’t trying to say The Beatles were better than Jesus or God or Christianity. He felt he would have sparked less outrage if he said “Television is more popular than Jesus” instead.

Despite the adversity, John said The Beatles were at the top of their game at their time. He felt their music was better than it ever had been.

John’s comment inspired outrage but horrid record burnings didn’t keep The Beatles down.

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