Description
The controversy over John Lennon’s remark that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus Christ” spread throughout the United States. Several radio stations began boycotting the group’s music, followed by protests and record burnings.
Related events
- The Beatles arrived at O'Hare Airport in Chicago to begin their final tour of the United States.
- At a press conference in Chicago, John Lennon explained his controversial remark that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” and clarified that he had intended to describe the group’s influence on young people in England at the time.
- The Beatles began the American leg of their final concert tour with a performance at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.
- The Beatles released their seventh studio album, “Revolver,” in the UK on Parlophone. The album reached No. 1 on the UK Record Retailer chart and later topped the U.S. Billboard Top LPs, where it spent six weeks at No. 1. It topped the UK chart for seven weeks. The U.S. release followed three days later.
- The Beatles released the album “Revolver”, which marked a major development in their studio work. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent a total of 77 weeks on the chart. It included, among others, the psychedelic track “Tomorrow Never Knows” and the song “Taxman”.
- The Beatles released the double A-side “Eleanor Rigby” / “Yellow Submarine”.
- In response to John Lennon's remark that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ, the South African Broadcasting Corporation banned all Beatles recordings from radio broadcasts. Sales of their records in stores remained permitted, and the ban lasted nearly five years.
- KLUE-AM radio station in Longview, Texas, held a “Beatles Bonfire” event at which Beatles records and other items were destroyed in response to John Lennon's controversial statement that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus Christ”. The following morning, lightning struck the station's transmission tower, interrupting the broadcast and knocking the news director unconscious.
- The London Catholic newspaper The Catholic Herald published an editorial calling John Lennon's recent statement that the group was “bigger than Jesus” generally accurate but “arrogant”. Meanwhile, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano accepted Lennon's public apology.
- They performed at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the first concert held at the stadium. The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and Aerosmith also performed there later.
- During their US tour, they performed at D.C. Stadium in Washington before more than 32,000 fans. Five members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, protested against the concert.