The Beatles - Get Back on Disney+
And over on the Disney+ channel, I became mesmerized for a few hours watching The Beatles three-part series Get Back. Just the four of them (plus Yoko) sitting around making songs in an empty rehearsal space was so inspiring to watch. You rarely get this kind of access to any band, let alone waiting over 50 years for it to be released for the public’s consumption. I had seen bits and pieces of them playing on the rooftop of the Apple building before, but this covered what all transpired over the weeks prior to their final performance.
The cameras were rolling every day. You saw their whole process in action— from figuring out chords and lyrics to improvising and jamming until it all jelled together into a song.
In this particular case, it was 1969 and The Beatles were one of the biggest bands in the world and on the brink of destruction. We were watching them as they were driving down a highway with two exits up ahead, one, let’s continue this thing, and the other, it’s time to part ways.
I was so sad for George Harrison who always seemed to play second fiddle to John and Paul when it came to him proposing his musical ideas to the band or voicing his opinions. I probably would’ve left too as he did during the end of the first part (spoiler). I’m so glad he decided to return because it wouldn’t have been the same watching Eric Clapton fill his space.
The bickering reminded me of the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster when James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich got on each other’s nerves. That in itself was an intense documentary. Even though these two bands were a million miles away in styles, genre, and time, both carried a very familiar thread in their music making dynamic and writing process.
Anyone remember the movie Almost Famous? Philip Seymour Hoffman played the character Lester Bangs and had a brilliant line for young William Miller to relay to his editors at Rolling Stone Magazine. He said, “Tell him it's a think piece about a mid-level band struggling with their own limitations in the harsh face of stardom.” Neither one of the bands that I described above are mid-level in any way, shape, or form. But what I am saying is that struggling with their own limitations and desires when it comes to stardom and their place in all of this can happen to any band……even The Beatles. It’s magical to see what they were able to achieve as a band within a ten-year stretch. I’m curious as to what could have happened if they stayed together like some of these other bands for thirty or forty years.