Were the Beatles more popular than Jesus in 1966?

[mrbill]

John might have had a point here.

Discuss.

[Earth_First]

1. Helter Skelter

[mrbill]

2. that was in 1969

n/t

[autorank]

3. Yes, and it was a better world!

[Slippery_Hammer]

4. Very likely

But Jesus was not doing any live performances in '66. Had he been I'm sure he could have sold out quite a few venues.

[eSTIV]

5. Jesus had a 1966 Mustang

[saltpoint]

6. I think John was right. In 1966 many religious people --

-- went to church on Sunday and maintained a quiet vigil with their own private faiths.

Today, fundamentalists are howling like savage beasts, trying to seize control of school boards, town councils, the Congress, the courts, and the press.

Give me 1966 on the religious front, and on the music front, too.

[jobycom]

7. Diapers were more popular than either for me in 1966

Me being one that year.

[Borgnine]

8. Hell, I wish the Beatles were more popular than Jesus NOW.

Nothing against the J-man, but his message has been twisted horribly. Then again, I guess the Beatles have been misinterpreted too (Helter Skeleter).

[mr blur]

9. In some parts of the world other than Jesusland,

they still are.
Actually, wasn't John's comment more about the ridiculous fuss surrounding his band than a dig at Bush's best friend?

[annabanana]

11. Of course it was.

The UPROAR that this comment started was the first time I became aware of the loonies. If the press had been on their toes they would have called them on it then and there. I don't recall ANYONE making this observation in the press then.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

10. Jesus was coming off his lame Vacitan II Album

Critics thought it was deritive of the Protestant Reformation.

...and Paul was a hottie

[tjdee]

12. Of course he was right--were there screaming chicks trying to get into

church?

Absolutely John was right.

Just, absolutely.

[RetroLounge]

13. They still are, as far as I am concerned.

RL

[ryban]

14. They were until they hit the Philippines and dissed Marcos!

(added on edit)

It was all downhill from there. Here's a quote from George Harrison on it.
++++++++++++++

GEORGE HARRISON: "Yeah, well we went to Manila back in the sixties, The Beatles on a tour and we did the concert and next morning we were in bed and somebody knocked on our door of our hotel suite saying, “Come on you’re supposed to be at the palace.” And we said, “No we’re not!” We didn’t have any engagement anywhere but somebody, some smart guy had said, “Sure, I’ll get The Beatles up to the palace.” And they said turn on the TV. We turned the television on and there it was, this big palace with lines of people and the guy saying, “Well, they’re still not here yet.” And we watched ourselves not arrive at the palace. But we were never supposed to be there. And so what they did was they said “Beatles snub first family,” which I’m glad we did. See even in those days we had taste, and so consequently he set the mob on us and tried to beat us up, which they did. They beat up a lot of people with us and wouldn’t let the aeroplane leave Manila, until Epstein, our manager had to get off the plane and give back the money we earned at the concert. So that’s what I think of Marcos, (George gives a lovely British two-fingered salute to the screen). Old twat he was!"

http://www.thewilyfilipino.com/blog/archives/000369.html

[no_hypocrisy]

15. Probably. If not, then the fundies wouldn't have had their panties

in a knot over the statement. I remember the rallies, reminiscent of Goebbel's book-burnings, wherein Beatles' albums were smashed, and trod upon to prove that Jesus ruled, not the Fab Four.

[Maccagirl]

16. I remember that too

Not one of the Bible Belt's better days. I also remember the story about when they were on stage in Memphis and someone threw firecrackers at the stage and they looked at each other because they thought one of them had been shot. I can't believe the band ever forgave Americans for that.