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Noteworthy Then

3/4/1966 John Lennon compares Beatles with Jesus

On this day in 1966 John Lennon was quoted as saying in an interview published in the London Evening Standard that the Beatles were "...more popular than Jesus now." While the remark didn't spark that much controversy at the time, it stirred up a considerable amount when it was reprinted by a US magazine several months later.
The full context of the statement was, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I know I'm right and will be proven right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock & roll of Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
The backlash in the US was strong enough that John addressed it in a press conference in the summer.

 

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 4 include...

 

1944 Bobby Womack is born.

1948 Chris Squire of Yes is born.

1963 Metallica’s Jason Newstead is born.

1967 Steve Winwood announces he will leave the Spencer Davis Group.
1970 Authorities fine Janis Joplin for foul language during a 1969 concert in Tampa, Florida.

1971 Rolling Stones announce plans to move to southern France for UK tax relief.

1973 Pink Floyd opens Dark Side Of The Moon tour in Madison, Wisconsin.

1977 Rolling Stones do first of two nights at Toronto’s El Macambo Club, recording Love You Live.

1978 The IRS confiscates $170,000 worth of autos from Jerry Lee Lewis in a raid over his back taxes.

1980 Coal Miner's Daughter with Levon Helm and Sissy Spacek premieres in Nashville.

1986 Richard Manuel of the Band hangs himself in his Winter Park, hotel room about an hour after after doing a concert in the Florida city's Cheek to Cheek Lounge.

1994 Kurt Cobain hospitalized after ODing on drugs and alcohol in his hotel after Nirvana's concert in Rome.

1997 U2 releases Pop.

2015 Daryl Hall and John Oates sue a food company for naming a granola bar "Haulin' Oates"

2018 Brian Johnson joins Mick Fleetwood on Route 66 at the Fleetwood Mac drummer's club in Hawaii...