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Beatles were more fun than Fleetwood Mac

#62
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#63
RichardW said:
I have read probably half a dozen histories of The Beatles and have NEVER heard this mentioned. Please provide a source for this claim.
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Not claiming it's true, but here it is.

George Harrison

As The Beatles neared their break-up, the Starkeys' relationship also hit rocky times. Ringo suddenly confessed his deep love for Maureen one a night at the Starkeys' home. The revelation of George's affair with Maureen put pressure on both their marriages, although Maureen said she didn't want a divorce from George Harrison.
 
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#66
IamGroot said:
Google is your friend - multiple references. It could be just a salacious lie, but the author of the quote is supposedly Eric.
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I did read Patti's autobiography several years ago and she did go on about how Eric was an abusive mean drunk and her overall remembrance of him was he was mean, drunk, cheap, unenlightened and that her friends and family didn't like him either. Mind you it's been several years since I read it.
She recalled George very fondly overall but had plenty of stories which would show why they divorced as I remember.
 
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#67
Bodeanly said:
I'm not a Fleetwood Mac fan. I throw up a bit whenever I see one of their songs approaching in the set list. In this sense, yes, The Beatles are more fun.

An ex ruined FM for me.
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You should focus on the Peter Green era. Amazing stuff. I have no use for the goat years. "Kiln House" and "Future Games", as they slid into pop, have some great moments as well. Then they got boring.
 
#69
RichardW said:
I have read probably half a dozen histories of The Beatles and have NEVER heard this mentioned. Please provide a source for this claim.
Click to expand...

I've read this in a number of places, including "George Harrison: Behind That Locked Door" by Graeme Thomson.
In Thomson's account, Harrison and Maureen never explicitly admitted to a sexual relationship, although Pattie found photos of Maureen at Friar Park when she, Pattie, was away. Pattie believed the affair was physical, and maintains it was the coffin nail for both marriages. And Maureen definitely cracked up around this time.

Incidentally, no shame in having missed this Beatles factoid in the course of your reading -- it is fairly "new" so far as Beatles lore goes, and not widely circulated by the Fabs themselves for obvious reason.

"Behind That Locked Door" also has some unflattering stuff about Harrison in Japan in the 90s. Clapton had made it all happen, lending George his band and pushing his Fab friend on to the stage so that he could make some much-needed cash (Harrison had just discovered he'd been bilked for much of his wealth). Right before the Japan residency, the mother of Clapton's just-deceased child arrived an emotional wreck. Eric couldn't deal with her, but George was allegedly happy to, having a flagrant affair with her in front of Eric's band right up to the moment wife Olivia and son Dhani arrived for the gigs.

In an similar vein, that great humanitarian Joe Strummer humiliated the Clash's drummer, Topper, by seducing HIS wife.
 
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#71
ClusterFlux said:
Okay... Well, none of that sounds like "fun."

You also only gave the Beatles side of the story. The Fleetwood Mac side includes:
  • Peter Green did too much LSD, left the band, and spent years struggling with mental illness
  • Jeremy Spencer, while on tour, said "I'm going to get a magazine" and never came back; it turns out he joined a religious cult
  • Danny Kirwan developed issues with alcohol, smashed a custom Gibson before a show, then refused to go on stage, and was subsequently fired
  • John McVie developed alcohol issues, which strained his marriage to Christine (keyboard player/singer) and contributed to their divorce
  • Christine had an affair with the band's sound engineer, Martin Birch... who was married at the time (and later went back to his wife)
  • After the divorce, she hooked up with the band's lighting engineer Curry Grant, wrote "You Make Loving Fun" about him, which of course John had to play for years (note: she told him it was about her dog in a vain attempt to reduce some of the fighting)
  • John's post-divorce tactic was to bang groupies at the band house, which Mick described as "a bordello with blacked out rooms, thick shag carpets, deprivation tanks, and a very liberal sprinkling of assorted drugs"
  • Guitarist Bob Weston had an affair with Jenny Boyd Fleetwood (Mick's wife and Patti Harrison's sister), which resulted in Bob getting fired (natch) and contributed to their divorce 2 years later
  • By the way, Jenny was 15 when she first met Fleetwood... Yuk
  • The band's manager, Clifford Davis, then put together a completely different band and toured as "Fleetwood Mac," causing lawsuits (turns out that Fleetwood and McVie signed away the use of their names... oops)
  • After the band reformed with Buckingham and Nicks, the McVies spit up; B&N were also constantly fighting; most of the band was drinking heavily and doing lots of cocaine....
  • By the way, Buckingham allegedly abused Nicks during their relationship; the last time that happened, he choked her to the point where she thought he was going to kill her; she was saved by the band intervening
And that is, like... half the history of the band. I'm sure I missed a bunch of pre-1977 stuff too.

There is little doubt that, to the degree any such comparisons make sense, the history of Fleetwood Mac is much more dramatic and traumatic than that of the Beatles.
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Thank you for carrying the torch. I am sure there are some Lindsey / Stevie stories too.

Ray Brown and Ella Fitzgerald married, had a kid, then divorced amicably and remained friends. They had class.
 
#72
Son of Wobble said:
I've read this in a number of places, including "George Harrison: Behind That Locked Door" by Graeme Thomson.
In Thomson's account, Harrison and Maureen never explicitly admitted to a sexual relationship, although Pattie found photos of Maureen at Friar Park when she, Pattie, was away. Pattie believed the affair was physical, and maintains it was the coffin nail for both marriages. And Maureen definitely cracked up around this time.

Incidentally, no shame in having missed this Beatles factoid in the course of your reading -- it is fairly "new" so far as Beatles lore goes, and not widely circulated by the Fabs themselves for obvious reason.

"Behind That Locked Door" also has some unflattering stuff about Harrison in Japan in the 90s. Clapton had made it all happen, lending George his band and pushing his Fab friend on to the stage so that he could make some much-needed cash (Harrison had just discovered he'd been bilked for much of his wealth). Right before the Japan residency, the mother of Clapton's just-deceased child arrived an emotional wreck. Eric couldn't deal with her, but George was allegedly happy to, having a flagrant affair with her in front of Eric's band right up to the moment wife Olivia and son Dhani arrived for the gigs.

In an similar vein, that great humanitarian Joe Strummer humiliated the Clash's drummer, Topper, by seducing HIS wife.
Click to expand...
Thank you for remembering the Japan story. I kind of remembered it last night but didnt have enuff details to google it out.
 
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#73
IamGroot said:
Thank you for remembering the Japan story. I kind of remembered it last night but didnt have enuff details to google it out.
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The aforementioned Harrison book is highly recommended. Although there is lots of deep dish dirt, it actually left me
with greater admiration for Harrison for the fact of his huge ambitions. Triple albums, inventing the rock global fundraiser... He would have fared much better had he been better at delegation, and had better support in his gargantuan dreams than Allen Klein, who while he had some virtues, nonetheless almost always had one eye on his own self-interest to the detriment of the Fabs he managed.
 
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#75
BadSanta1281 said:
"If you didn't see it with your own eyes or hear it with your own ears then don't invent it with your small mind and share it with your big mouth" - my Grandma
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Cute.

I had the privilege of seeing actual eventsand then comparing with media reports. Fascinating stuff. Some news reporters should take your Grandma's advice.

The truth is out there. It may not be what you expected or what you want to believe.

Like whether Santa is real.
 
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#77
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#78
LordRyan said:
McCartney has told this story several times over the years:

Paul McCartney On Masturbating With John Lennon & The Beatles' "Sexual Encounters"

Apparently Yoko didn't break up Lennon's marriage to Cynthia. It was well-known British star Alma Cogan. Lennon had already met Yoko but was deeply involved with Cogan. When Cogan died Lennon was devastated and Yoko was there for him.

Scandal: John Lennon and Alma Cogan
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You stumped me with Alma Cogan! Never heard a breath about her, or the affair, until now.

cogan2.png
cogan1.png
 

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