According to Paul McCartney, The Beatles were like a family. And families have fights sometimes. Fans of the iconic group know they finally disbanded in 1970 and it ended with a lawsuit against the legendary four-piece.
During a new interview with British GQ, The Beatles bass player explained how there was a misconception regarding the group’s breakup. He says everyone thought they hated each other, which wasn’t really the case.
McCartney says he has realized over the years that it was because they were a family, and like families, they argued. McCartney went on to explain how each member wanted to go their own way after many years together, and that’s simply the way it went.
Regarding what led to their breakup, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr wanted Allan Klein to be their manager, but Paul disapproved. He had described him as a “f*cking idiot.” As for the notorious post-breakup lawsuit, according to McCartney, there was a specific reason that he sued the band all those years ago.
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There was simply no other way to get The Beatles, Apple, and Get Back without suing the group. Later in the band’s career, they were able to re-release all of the remasters, and in order to get their hands on them, he had to take the band to court.
McCartney says Klein would’ve owned all of the albums had he not did what he did. He was told he couldn’t actually sue Klein directly, he had to sue the group as a company.
There’s no question McCartney and the rest of the band worked very hard during their long and illustrious career. According to the musician, it’s part of the reason why Paul was so unwilling to go up in a “puff of smoke” through someone else owning the rights to their music.
Following the group’s dissolution, Paul became depressed and started drinking a lot of alcohol. It was his first wife, Linda, who managed to get him out of bed to start working on himself again. McCartney says he got out of the deep depression by realizing there was no sense in dwelling in it. It wasn’t the way to get through it.