beatles

LENNON or McCARTNEY : A Beatles Documentary

550 Artists. 10 Years. 1 Question.

550 Artists were interviewed over the last ten years. At some point during those interviews, they were asked a question and told to answer with one word only. Some stuck to one, some said more, some answered quickly, some thought it through, and some didn’t answer at all.

That question… Lennon or McCartney.

Featuring: Robert DeNiro, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, Kevin Spacey, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Smith, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Priyanka Chopra, Matthew Healy from The 1975, James Franco, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, The Goo Goo Dolls, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Gary, Oldman, Big Sean, Carrie Underwood, New Kids on the Block’s Jordan Knight & Danny Wood, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz & Andy Hurley, Pete Townshend from The Who, Stone Temple Pilots & Velvet Revolver’s Scott Weiland, Sam Smith, Bridgit Mendler, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart, The Band’s Robbie Robertson, Lights, David Byrne from The Talking Heads, Death Cab for Cutie, Josh Ritter, Mounties, Hey Rosetta!, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, Jason Collett, Emily Haines & James Shaw from Metric, Dan Mangan, Said The Whale, Arkells, Bo Diddley, Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz, Jimmy Eat World, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Tony Hale, Taylor Kitsch, Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Luke Doucet from Whitehorse, Blue Rodeo, Florida-Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Brandon Flowers from The Killers, Theory of A Deadman, Nickelback, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Chad Kroeger, Darius Rucker, Aaron Lewis, Hayden, Metallica, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rian Johnson, Mark Ruffalo, Cobie Smulders, Jack McBrayer, David Suzuki, Jakob Dylan, Keane, K-OS, Aaron Eckhart, Aubrey Plaza, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech, Elle Fanning, Dax Shepard, David Dobkin, Kate Mara, Rebecca Hall, Susan Downey, Gavin DeGraw, Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne & Geezer Butler, Zoe Saldana Kate Nash, Kathleen Edwards, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, Wu-Tang Clan, LL Cool J, Classified, Dragonette, Serena Ryder, Justin Long, Shawn Levy, Vera Farmiga, Vincent D’Onofrio, The New Pornographers, Jenny Lewis, Rilo Kiley, Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace, Cake’s John McRae, Slash, Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory, Zach Braff, Zach Knighton, Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams, John Cho, Alice Eve, Karl Urban, Cillian Murphy, Train’s Pat Monahan, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Gaslight Anthem, Rise Against, Our Lady Peace’s Raine Maida, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx & Vince Neil, Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, Chloe Bennett from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Danielle Panabaker & Candice Patton from The Flash, The Dark Knight’s Wally Pfister, Miss Piggy, Tokyo Police Club, Eva Green, Jack O’Connell, Dallas Green from City & Colour, Missi Pyle, The Sex Pistols, The Doors, Shad, Russell Peters, Supertramp, Sam Roberts, Aaron Paul, Lake Bell, Paul Bettany, Lena Heady, The Head & The Heart, Matthew Good, Marianas Trench, Josh Ramsay, Carly Rae Jepsen, Owl City, Gina Gershon, Phoenix, Hedley, Jacob Hoggard, Simple Plan, Skylar Grey, Lady Antebellum, Imagine Dragons, Brett Kissell, Ellie Goulding, Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, The Lumineers, Nikki Williams, Grace Potter, The Dixie Chicks, Bastille, Joel Plaskett, Sarah McLachlan, Franz Ferdinand, Great Big Sea, Alan Doyle, Mike Tompkins, Tom Odell, Jason Priestley, Of Monsters & Men, Paramore, Hayley Williams, Alison Brie, Zack Snyder, Todd Phillips, Passion Pit, Baz Luhrmann, Amanda Palmer, The Cult’s Ian Astbury, Billy Talent, Alanis Morissette, Mumford & Sons, Phillip Phillips, The Hives, Shirley Manson, Garbage, Joshua Jackson, PSY, Three Days Grace, All-American Rejects, Tyson Ritter, Hanson, Will.I.Am, Rita Ora, Sloan, Bret McKenzie, Flight of the Conchords, Adam Lambert, The Fray, Stephen Root, The Sheepdogs, Beau Willimon, House of Cards, Ziggy Marley, Daniel Johns from Silverchair, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes’ Alexander Ebert, Steven Page, Barenaked Ladies, Tracy Morgan, Tommy Chong, Garfunkel & Oates, The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie, Danny Boyle, Monica Potter, INXS, Rick Springfield, Levar Burton, Colin Hay from Men at Work, Fitz & The Tantrums, Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Jericho, Aerosmith, Anna Gunn fromBreaking Bad, The Band Perry, Casey Wilson, Charli XCX, Florence Welch, Finger Eleven, Frightened Rabbit, Fun., Florence + The Machine, Guillermo Del Toro, Jimmy Cliff, John Cale, The Velvet Undergound, Jonas Brothers, Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas. Justin Kirk, Ken Jeong, Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas, Norman Reedus, Rob Zombie and more.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Written by George Harrison. Performed by the Matt Blais Connection.

I Will. Written by Paul McCartney. Performed by Dan Mangan and Gord Grdina.

Directed, edited and produced by Matt Schichter.

This Day in Music History — December 17

1954 : Bill Haley and his Comets’ “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (originally recorded by Big Joe Turner) hits #4 on the UK charts. It is the first rock song to make that chart.

1963 : A Beatles song (“I Want To Hold Your Hand”) is played on American radio for the first time, in Washington, DC, at WWDC.

1967 : The Beatles’ John Lennon and George Harrison throw a party in London for the area secretaries of their official Fan Club. The film Magical Mystery Tour is screened here for the first time.

1977 : The Sex Pistols, booked on Saturday Night Live, are denied entry into the US based on various band members’ criminal records and “moral turpitude.” Elvis Costello takes their place and makes his last appearance on Saturday Night Live – he is banned because he performs “Radio Radio” after being told not to by the show’s producer.

1982 : The Who play the last show of their farewell tour at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, which is filmed for an HBO special called Who’s Last. They re-form to play Live Aid in 1985, then tour again in 1989.

1986 : The Doobie Brothers reunite for a benefit concert in Palo Alto, CA, which eventually leads to a reunion tour and album.

This Day in Music History — November 21

1934 : The Cole Porter musical Anything Goes opens on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre.

1960 : The Beatles’ George Harrison, then just seventeen, is deported from Hamburg, Germany, where the group had been performing at the Kaiserkeller club, back to his native England. Historians typically blame the club’s owner, Bruno Koschmider, who may have tipped the authorities to George’s age; The Beatles had broken his exclusive contract by playing in other venues, then returned to their rooms in one of his other venues and set it on fire in protest of being canned.

1987 : “Mony Mony” by Billy Idol replaces “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany at #1 in the US. Both songs were originally recorded in the ’60s by Tommy James & the Shondells.

1991 : An animated Aerosmith perform Walk This Way on the “Flaming Moe” episode of The Simpsons. The band is one of the first musical guests on the show.

2000 : Backstreet Boys’ Black & Blue debuts with one of the biggest initial retail shipments ever, with about 6 million units.

This Day in Music History — November 16

1978 : Replicating their infamous promo stunt for the single, Queen are joined onstage at Madison Square Garden by several dozen nude, semi-overweight women during their performance of Bicycle Race. (Overweight because the single mentions Fat Bottomed Girls, the title of the other half of the A-side.)

1985 : “We Built This City” by Starship hits #1 Billboard Hot 100. It would later be named Worst Song of All Time by Blender magazine.

2005 : Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Eurythmics are among the honorees inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The second annual show, which takes place in a ceremony at London’s Alexandra Palace, features some momentous reunions, including the gathering of the original Kinks and a performance by the classic line-up of Black Sabbath, featuring Ozzy Osbourne.

2010 : For the first time, The Beatles music is made available for digital download, as iTunes adds most of their catalog. Apple Computer spent decades battling the Beatles’ Apple Corps record label over the rights to sell music using the Apple name, but a 2007 agreement allowed the companies to work together, setting the stage for the deal.

This Day in Music History — October 29

1983 : Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon album breaks the record for most weeks on the Billboard album charts when it eclipses Johnny’s Greatest Hits by Johnny Mathis with 491 weeks. Dark Side would stay a total of 741 weeks.

1993 : Tim Burton’s animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas hits US theaters. The film features music composed by Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo; Elfman also sings the vocal parts of protagonist Jack Skellington.

2005 : The wax figures of the younger Beatles used in the cover of the band’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album are auctioned off for 81,500 pounds in London after being discovered languishing in the backroom of Madame Tussauds’ famous wax museum.

2009 : To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a series of concerts take place at Madison Square Garden, featuring inductees like Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Mick Jagger and Aretha Franklin.

#TBT Number 1s on This Day — October 23

1968– Beatles – Hey Jude

1973– Gladys Knight and The Pips – Midnight Train to Georgia

1982– John Cougar – Jack and Diane

1985– Whitney Houston – Saving All My Love for You

1991– Mariah Carey – Emotions

1994– Boyz II Men – I’ll Make Love to You

2000– Christina Aguilera – Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)

2005– Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx – Gold Digger

2009– Britney Spears – 3

2013– Lorde – Royals

First Listen: The Flaming Lips, ‘With A Little Help From My Fwends’

Befitting its title, concept and intentions — all proceeds from the album go to an organization that helps provide veterinary care to needy pet owners — With A Little Help From My Fwends calls on a motley assortment of boundary-pushing guest players. These include obvious natural allies (My Morning Jacket, Foxygen, Dr. Dog) and the less obvious likes of Tegan And Sara and avowed Lips enthusiast Miley Cyrus, who turns up in both “A Day In The Life” and an appropriately sprawling “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” (In fact, “Lucy” reunites the team behind a bizarre video in which Cyrus and The Flaming Lips ham it up alongside Moby.)

Click the image below to stream the album now.

The Flaming Lips' new album, With A Little Help From My Fwends, comes out Oct. 28.

 

This Day in Music History — August 27

1964 : Disney releases Mary Poppins, a Sherman Brothers musical featuring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.

1965 : Elvis Presley meets The Beatles for the first time when the Fab 4 are brought to The King’s Los Angeles mansion. They hang out, talk music and have a little jam session. John Lennon would later say, “if it hadn’t been for him, The Beatles would be nothing.”

1990 : Stevie Ray Vaughan dies in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin following a concert at the Alpine Valley Music Theater where earlier in the evening he appeared with Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and his older brother Jimmie Vaughan.

2008 : Election ’08 fever begins as the Democratic National Convention hits Denver and brings Kanye West, Rage Against The Machine, John Legend and many more to town.

This Day in Music History — August 23

1968 : Ringo Starr walks out on the White Album sessions and takes a vacation. Paul McCartney takes his place on drums for “Back In The U.S.S.R.” and “Dear Prudence,” but The Beatles welcome Ringo back with flowers on his drum kit when he returns.

1969 : Johnny Cash’s album Johnny Cash At San Quentin, which is the soundtrack to a documentary of the same name featuring Cash performing at the prison, hits #1 for the first of four weeks.

1970 : Lou Reed plays his last gig with The Velvet Underground at the club Max’s Kansas City in New York. His father brings him home to Long Island and puts him to work in his accounting firm, where he stays for two years before signing a solo deal.

2004 : Queen becomes the first band officially sanctioned by the Iranian government since the 1979 cultural revolution that outlawed rock groups. Lead singer Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar of Indian parents, had remained quite popular in the country.

2007 : Brian May of Queen gets a degree from London’s Imperial College. It’s not one of those honorary degrees either – he earned a PhD in astrophysics. He would have gotten it sooner, but he was busy being a rock star.

2008 : Erykah Badu joins My Morning Jacket during their performance in Dallas to perform her song Tyrone.

66 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Beatles

Via Buzzfeed 66 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Beatles.

REX USA / David Magnus / BuzzFeed

1. John Lennon’s pre-Beatles skiffle group, The Quarry Men, made a record in the summer of 1958 that features Paul McCartney and George Harrison and cost 17 and sixpence to make.

2. The 16-year-old Lennon sung lead on the four tracks they recorded, which included Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” and the McCartney-Harrison composition “In Spite of All the Danger”.

3. It was Stuart Sutcliffe, John’s art school friend who was drafted in as bass player, who came up with the name “The Beatals”.

4. The first proper recording the band made was “Cry for a Shadow”, a Lennon-Harrison instrumental number in the style of The Shadows. It was recorded in Hamburg on 22 June 1961 with Pete Best on drums, in the assembly hall of an infants’ school.

5. So keen were they to distinguish themselves from The Shadows that The Beatles didn’t use Fender guitars until 1965.

6. During their lengthy stints of playing to drunk sailors and prostitutes day and night in Hamburg between 1960 and 1962, The Beatles (unknowingly) once ate horse for their Christmas dinner.

7. When they first arrived in Hamburg in 1960, then still teenagers, The Beatles lived in a cinema. Lennon said: “We would go to bed late and be woken up the next day by the sound of the cinema show. We’d try to get into the ladies’ first, which was the cleanest of the cinema’s lavatories, but fat old German women would push past us.”

8. Harrison was deported from Germany for being underage.

9. During a 56-night residency in 1960 at Hamburg’s Kaiserkeller, the band played four sets every day – 7.30–9pm, 9.30–11pm, 11.30pm–1am, and 1.30–2am – seven days a week.

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