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It was 44 years ago today
It was 44 years ago today (give or take) that the shit well and truly hit the fan over John's "bigger than Jesus" comments.
The original Maureen Cleave Evening Standard interview appeared in Britain (or in London, at least) in March 1966 where it passed virtually unnoticed.
When the story was reprinted in a US magazine in August however, the southern states got their collective knickers in a twist and the book and record burnings followed.
I often wonder how Americans in general view that shameful episode now. With a mixture of bemusement and embarrassment, hopefully.
Still it could have been much worse, imagine if John had said they were bigger than Mohammed "and here's one of my cartoons to graphically illustrate the point!" ;-)
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Called upon to be the voice of a nation
we, every single one of us, all Americans, hang our collective heads at the memory of that 'shameful episode'. Granted, one or two holdouts still exist in the Deep South who think it really wasn't a very good thing what that Engerlish said about our lord and saviour Jeebus but you may discount them and assume we, all of us, feel really really bad about that.
Well said
Now that you have done that on behalf of the USA, I think a line can be drawn under the entire affair.
Incidentally, I am sure that Noel Gallagher attempted a similar thing when he wondered aloud whether Jesus had "played Knebworth recently". Yet nothing happened. It's as if no-one in the world cares what Noel Gallagher says.
I care about what he says...
I just don't give a stuff about what he plays.
Noel repeated
Lennon's apology word for word at a later date, so keen he was to keep the Beatles similarities going.
Everytime I see that Beatles trash burning footage I just think 'Man, some of that vinyl would fetch a pretty penny on Ebay these days'
All together now
"I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this."
Is MyAmericanMate ever anything other than
mind-numbingly, aggressively sarcastic?
Sure...
...but there have been a number of astonishingly crass generalisations about the USA in these forums (though I don't think this post is one of them, particularly), so why shouldn't he be? Provided it doesn't get personal, it's a valid response, no?
We should ask Basil Marceaux
But in general, as MAM has alluded, I suspect the reactions run the gamut of "John Who? to "He was probably right" with a small detour in the South where someone over 60 is probably still quite peeved about the whole thing. Most people, as in the UK, would give less than a shit about it. It's all Tea Parties, NAACP, concealed handguns (which failed, once again, to prevent the massacre in Hartford). Oh, and BP. And how Obama should have plugged the oil leak himself, or at least used the corpses of executives.
Incredible that it was 44 years ago. Was this the biggest media storm to hit pop at the time? Did this top PJ Proby splitting his trousers and Elvis joining the Army.
Speaking of
media shit storms, compare the Lennon "bigger than Jesus" furore with the 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis scandal.
Seemingly no one in America much cared when Jerry Lee married his 13 year old cousin. When he brought her on tour to Britain however, there was a public outcry. The tour was cancelled and it virtually finished Jerry Lee's career, for a few years, at least.
That speaks volumes about our respective countries, I feel.
I think...
It might be more accurate to say that the incident speaks volumes about the environment Lewis grew up in - over fifty years ago - than it does about our nations in general. The story, while exposed in the UK, was very much a big deal in the US, where radio stations stopped playing his records and promoters stopped booking him.
Feeling ran so high that people were buying
Beatle records just to burn them.
(I think)
Feelings ran so high
People were buying Jerry Lee Lewis records to give to the Beatles to give to their aggrieved fans who were a bit short on music because they had burnt their Beatles records - THAT'S how bad it was
Shurely shome mishtake ?
I thought that was The Rutles ?
;-)
But
Rod Stewart wouldn't be big for another three years
A book I often return to is Nick Tosches Hellfire.
And where it really excels when it describes life around Ferriday, Louisiana. To a polite chap from a Scottish small town this was like a report from another planet.