But what doesn\u2019t get mentioned too often is the Beatles could be absolutely savage. And when they hated something\u2014or someone\u2014they didn\u2019t just privately grimace and move on. They went public. They gave interviews. They named names. They threw shade with the precision of seasoned snipers. 💣<\/p>
The funny part? Each Beatle had completely different taste in who deserved their scorn. John Lennon<\/strong>, the sharp-tongued revolutionary, took aim at folk singers and former heroes. Paul McCartney<\/strong>, Mr. Diplomatic himself, nursed grudges against pop stars who crossed him. George Harrison<\/strong>, the \u201cQuiet Beatle,\u201d turned out to have the sharpest tongue of all when discussing his musical contemporaries. And Ringo<\/strong>? Well, Ringo mostly just wanted everyone to get along, though even he had his limits. 🥁<\/p> This isn\u2019t about petty feuds or manufactured beef for publicity. This is about genuine artistic contempt\u2014musicians who rubbed the Beatles the wrong way, whose work they found offensive, whose success they resented, or whose artistic choices they fundamentally rejected. These weren\u2019t casual dislikes. These were passionate, articulate hatreds that the Beatles were surprisingly willing to discuss in public. 😤Sometimes the most interesting thing about icons isn\u2019t who they loved\u2014it\u2019s who they absolutely couldn\u2019t stand. ⚡<\/p> John Lennon never had a problem telling you exactly what he thought. He was brutally honest about his own work, dismissing some of his Beatles songs as \u201cabysmal\u201d and \u201cbullshit.\u201d So when it came to other artists, he was equally frank. 🎤<\/p> This one stings because of how much John once worshiped Dylan. Bob Dylan<\/strong> wasn\u2019t just an influence on Lennon\u2014he was transformative. Dylan introduced John to marijuana, which altered his songwriting. The Beatles\u2019 entire artistic evolution from \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand\u201d to \u201cNorwegian Wood\u201d happened largely because Dylan showed them there was more to pop music than jelly-bean love songs. 🌿<\/p> But by 1979, Lennon had soured completely. When Dylan released his born-again Christian album \u201cSlow Train Coming,\u201d John recorded a long rambling monologue<\/a> tearing into it. His assessment was devastating: \u201cHe wants to be a waiter for Christ. The backing is mediocre, the singing\u2019s really pathetic, and the words were just embarrassing.\u201d<\/p> This from a man who once considered Dylan his creative equal. The irony is thick\u2014Lennon, who spent years exploring Eastern mysticism and radical politics, couldn\u2019t stomach Dylan\u2019s religious conversion. It felt like betrayal, like watching your revolutionary friend join the establishment. John, the strident atheist, had no patience for what he saw as Dylan selling out to Christianity. ✝️<\/p> Likewise, Lennon had no patience for the folk revival of the 1960s. When Rolling Stone\u2019s Jann Wenner made the mistake of comparing Lennon\u2019s \u201cWorking Class Hero\u201d to Bob Dylan\u2019s work, John went off on the entire folk scene. \u201cI never liked the fruity Judy Collins and [Joan] Baez and all of that stuff,\u201d he declared bluntly<\/a>.<\/p> \u201cFruity\u201d was John\u2019s way of saying precious, overwrought, performatively sincere. He saw that era of folk music as pretentious middle-class people cosplaying as the working class\u2014something that particularly irked him as someone who grew up in Liverpool (even though he was raised middle-class). Joan Baez and Judy Collins represented everything John hated: bourgeois guilt dressed up as authenticity, beautiful voices singing about struggles they\u2019d never experienced. 🎻<\/p> The savage part? These were massively successful, critically acclaimed artists. Baez was a civil rights icon. Collins had hits. But to John, they were phonies playing dress-up with other people\u2019s pain. His contempt was absolute. 👎<\/p> Here\u2019s one that surprised people: John Lennon hated Blood, Sweat & Tears<\/strong>. This might have been because their self-titled album won the Grammy<\/a> that \u201cAbbey Road\u201d was up for\u2014an understandable gripe. But John\u2019s dismissal went deeper than Grammy resentment.<\/p> He saw Blood, Sweat & Tears as the antithesis of everything rock and roll should be. They were slick, professional, technically proficient\u2014and utterly soulless in his view. They represented the commercialization and sanitization of rock music, turning rebellion into easy listening for suburban parents. For John, who saw the Beatles as avant-garde revolutionaries, Blood, Sweat & Tears were the enemy: corporate rock dressed up with horns. 🎺<\/p> John despised phoniness, blatant commercialism, and anyone he felt had betrayed the revolutionary spirit of rock and roll. His targets weren\u2019t random\u2014they were calculated attacks on what he saw as artistic compromise and spiritual sellout. 🎯<\/p> Paul McCartney is a people-pleaser, the diplomatic Beatle. The charming one. The guy who still tours at 82 and says nice things about everyone. So when Paul actually admits he doesn\u2019t like someone, you know it\u2019s serious. Because Paul doesn\u2019t do public feuds\u2014except when he does. 😬<\/p> This is the big one. Paul and Michael Jackson<\/strong> were friends. Real friends. They collaborated on hits<\/a> like \u201cSay Say Say\u201d and \u201cThe Girl Is Mine.\u201d Paul trusted Michael. He even gave him advice about investing in music publishing, explaining how valuable song catalogs could be. 🎹<\/p> Then in 1985, Michael Jackson bought the ATV catalog\u2014which included the publishing rights to most Beatles songs. Paul, who had been trying to buy back his own compositions for years, felt blindsided. His friend had bought the songs Paul wrote, outbidding him for his own work. 💰<\/p> Paul\u2019s public response<\/a> was measured but cutting: <\/p> \u201cI think it\u2019s dodgy <\/strong>to do something like that. To be someone\u2019s friend, and then buy the rug they\u2019re standing on. The trouble is I wrote those songs for nothing and buying them back at these phenomenal sums, I just can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote> \u201cDodgy\u201d is British understatement for \u201cbackstabbing traitor.\u201d Paul never forgave Jackson, the friendship ended. When Jackson died in 2009, Paul\u2019s statement was brief and notably lacking in warmth. This wasn\u2019t just business\u2014it was personal betrayal at the highest level. 💔<\/p> Paul\u2019s take on Madonna<\/strong> is fascinating because it reveals his own insecurities about pop stardom. In the 2015 book \u201cConversations with McCartney,\u201d he made his feelings known<\/a>: he was resentful of her success and the way she\u2019s treated like a \u201cgoddess\u201d while everyone else is just the sorry people.<\/p> Perhaps this is pure jealousy dressed up as artistic critique. Madonna dominated the 1980s and 1990s the way the Beatles dominated the 1960s, and Paul\u2014who was struggling with Wings and his solo career during Madonna\u2019s peak\u2014clearly resented her cultural dominance. She was getting the kind of worship he once received, and it stung. 👑<\/p> The irony: Paul McCartney, one of the most successful musicians in history, complaining about someone else getting too much adulation. But that\u2019s the thing about being a Beatle\u2014once you\u2019ve experienced that level of fame, watching someone else get it feels like theft. 📸<\/p> This one is just cruel. Phil Collins told the story<\/a> to The Sunday Times, and it still stings years later. At a 2002 Buckingham Palace event, Collins\u2014himself a massive star\u2014approached Paul with a first edition of Hunter Davies\u2019 Beatles biography and asked him to sign it. 🏰<\/p> Paul\u2019s response: \u201cOh, Heather, our little Phil\u2019s a bit of a Beatles fan.\u201d<\/p> \u201cLittle Phil.\u201d To one of the most successful drummers in rock history. In front of his then-wife Heather Mills. The condescension drips from every word. Collins was devastated: \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018You fuck, you fuck\u2019. Never forgot it.\u201d<\/p> Collins went on: <\/p> \u201cHe has this thing when he\u2019s talking to you, where he makes you feel [like], \u2018I know this must be hard for you because I\u2019m a Beatle. I\u2019m Paul McCartney and it must be very hard for you to actually be holding a conversation with me.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote> Paul has spent decades being diplomatic, but underneath the nice guy exterior lurks someone who knows exactly how important he is and isn\u2019t afraid to remind you. 🎩<\/p> The Gallagher brothers <\/strong>worshiped the Beatles. They named-dropped them constantly. Noel Gallagher\u2019s entire songwriting aesthetic was Beatles pastiche. So Paul\u2019s dismissal had to hurt<\/a>: \u201cThey\u2019re derivative,\u201d Paul said, though he acknowledged some of their songs had merit.<\/p> \u201cDerivative\u201d is the kiss of death for any artist. It means you\u2019re copying, not creating. Coming from Paul McCartney, whose band invented half the rules Oasis was following, it was brutal. The Gallaghers\u2019 cocky comparisons to the Beatles rubbed Paul the wrong way\u2014not because they were ambitious, but because they were right. The prevailing opinion is, Oasis was<\/em> derivative. They were Beatles knockoffs, and Paul wasn\u2019t about to pretend otherwise. 🎸<\/p> George Harrison<\/strong>, famous for being quiet and spiritual, had the most savage dismissals of any Beatle. When George hated your work, he didn\u2019t hold back. He didn\u2019t soften the blow. He just told you your music was garbage and moved on with his day. 🙏<\/p> This is the most shocking one because Neil Young is beloved by basically everyone in rock music. His influence is undeniable. His guitar playing is iconic. Bob Dylan praised him. Pearl Jam idolizes him. Kurt Cobain quoted him in his suicide note. Everyone loves Neil Young. 🎵<\/p> Everyone except George Harrison. 😮<\/p> In footage from a 1992 recording session<\/a>, Bob Geldof innocently asked George if he\u2019d heard Neil Young\u2019s \u201cAround the World.\u201d George\u2019s response was immediate and brutal: \u201cI\u2019m not a Neil Young fan. I hate it, yeah I can\u2019t stand it. It\u2019s good for a laugh.\u201d He then mimicked Young\u2019s playing style mockingly, adding that he looked at Eric Clapton during one of Young\u2019s shows, and they both silently agreed it was terrible. 🎭<\/p> Total contempt. No qualifications, no \u201cit\u2019s just not my thing.\u201d Just pure hatred. George thought Neil Young\u2019s singing was worse than his own (self-deprecating but still insulting), his guitar playing was laughable, and his entire artistic approach was nonsense. 🎹 Why such vitriol? Maybe George saw Young as getting credit for guitar innovation George felt he deserved. Maybe Young\u2019s deliberately sloppy, emotional approach offended George\u2019s more disciplined sensibility. Whatever the reason, George hated Neil Young\u2019s work with a passion that surprises even hardcore Beatles fans. 😤<\/p> Elton John<\/strong>\u2014massive star, decades of hits, beloved worldwide. Again, George\u2019s take was dismissive<\/a>: <\/p> \u201cWell, Elton John\u2019s music is something I\u2019ve never thought much of. It all sounds the same, though I think he\u2019s written a good song once \u2026 His music is made to a formula: throw in lyrics, throw in four chords, shake well, and there it is, the new Elton John super-hit!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote> \u201cA formula\u201d is devastating when you\u2019re talking about an artist\u2019s entire catalog. George was saying Elton John was a hack\u2014competent, professional, successful, but ultimately empty. One good song in his entire career? That\u2019s not criticism\u2014that\u2019s annihilation. 💥<\/p> The irony is that George\u2019s own Beatles songs\u2014\u201dSomething,\u201d \u201cHere Comes the Sun,\u201d \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\u201d\u2014are a little formulaic themselves. But George saw himself as a spiritual seeker who happened to make music, while Elton John was a showman who made music for money. That distinction mattered to George. 🌟<\/p> John\u2019s friendship with Elton didn\u2019t matter much to George.<\/p> When George Harrison weighed in on Oasis<\/a> in 1996, he didn\u2019t pull punches: \u201cThe music lacks depth, and the singer Liam is a pain, the rest of the band don\u2019t need him.\u201d<\/p> Liam Gallagher\u2019s response was pure Liam: \u201cIf any of them old farts have got a problem with me, then they should leave their Zimmer frames at home, and I\u2019ll hold them up with a good right hook.\u201d<\/p> Threatening to punch George Harrison? That\u2019s how you know the insult landed. But George was right\u2014Liam was the weak link in Oasis, a decent singer but a legendary ego and limited range. George saw through the swagger to the emptiness beneath. 👊<\/p> George\u2019s dismissal of punk<\/a> was generational warfare. After punk had imploded, he told Rolling Stone in 1979: \u201cAs far as musicianship goes, the punk bands were just rubbish \u2013 no finesse in the drumming, just a lot of noise and nothing.\u201d<\/p> This was George, the craftsman, rejecting chaos. He\u2019d spent years perfecting his guitar technique and studying Indian classical music, and had no patience for deliberate sloppiness disguised as rebellion. 🎸 Punk was noise, not art. George believed in mastery. Punk believed in destruction. Never the twain shall meet. 🔊<\/p> This one started a genuine feud. George wrote \u201cIf I Needed Someone\u201d for the Beatles\u2019 \u201cRubber Soul.\u201d The Hollies<\/strong> covered it as a single. George hated their version<\/a>, telling NME: <\/p> \u201cTell people that I didn\u2019t write it for The Hollies \u2026 Their version is not my kind of music. I think it\u2019s rubbish the way they\u2019ve done it. They\u2019ve spoilt it.\u201d \u2026 They sound like session men who\u2019ve just got together in a studio without ever seeing each other before. Technically good, yes. But that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote> Ringo is the fascinating exception to this whole exercise. Unlike his bandmates, Ringo doesn\u2019t seem to have publicly hated any outside artists\u2014not that he expressed publicly, anyway. In fact, Ringo most often complained about Beatles songs\u2014particularly \u201cMaxwell\u2019s Silver Hammer,\u201d<\/a> which he called \u201cthe worst session ever\u201d because Paul made them record it for weeks. But other musicians? Ringo was cool with everyone. 🥁<\/p>John Lennon: The Revolutionary Who Turned on His Heroes<\/h2>
Bob Dylan: From Hero to Zero<\/h3>
Folk Music\u2019s \u201cFruity\u201d Stars<\/h3>
Blood, Sweat & Tears: The Anti-Avant-Garde<\/h3>
Paul McCartney: Mr. Nice Guy\u2019s Surprisingly Long Grudge List<\/h2>
Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Betrayal<\/h3>
Madonna: Goddess Complex<\/h3>
Phil Collins: The Buckingham Palace Incident<\/h3>
Oasis: Derivative Bravado<\/h3>
This essay continues below. Click on the title of this product to view on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.<\/em><\/h6>
Anthology Collection (2025 Edition)<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>
![\"Buy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/fa94d99e-e2be-412e-b408-909c523ae860_500x354.jpeg?w=640&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>George Harrison: The \u201cQuiet Beatle\u201d With the Sharpest Tongue<\/h2>
Neil Young: \u201cI Hate It\u201d<\/h3>
Elton John: Formula Music<\/h3>
Oasis: \u201cThe Singer Is a Pain\u201d<\/h3>
Sex Pistols and Punk: \u201cJust Rubbish\u201d<\/h3>
The Hollies: \u201cRubbish the Way They\u2019ve Done It\u201d<\/h3>
Ringo Starr: The Beatle Who Just Wanted Peace<\/h2>