Last Friday marked the 56th anniversary of when The London Evening Standard newspaper published a feature article about John Lennon, written by Maureen Cleave. It contained the infamous quote of Lennon saying to her, “We’re more popular than Jesus…”

Nothing much happened after it was published in London, but months later, a teen magazine reprinted it and all hell broke loose for The Beatles in America! Below are six links to articles and a video of the awkward press conference where John Lennon apologized. There’s also a link to a cartoon video featuring the infamous statement by John Lennon.

And below that is the MBIP Coming Attractions for what’s coming up here on the blog next week!

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Sunday Links

John Lennon: “We’re more popular than Jesus” - This is the feature article that had the quote in it and it went unnoticed when it was first published and it’s easy to gloss over it while reading the article which focused on how John Lennon was living his life in 1966.

When John Lennon's 'More Popular Than Jesus' Controversy Turned Ugly - This is probably the quintessential article in Rolling Stone about how the whole thing exploded months after it was printed in a London paper. The videos within the piece are interesting too.

Danny Says: How Danny Fields Changed Music Forever - This is an interesting interview with Danny Fields, who was the one who started the whole ball rolling by highlighting the quote in the teen magazine, Datebook. He addresses it in the second and third questions in the interview. This interview is about a documentary on Danny Fields called, “Danny Says” and in the documentary it’s noted that Danny Fields ended up being good friends with Linda McCartney and he tells the story of how he told Paul McCartney he was the one that started all of the controversy about this quote! It’s worth watching the documentary just to hear him tell this story!

Vatican 'forgives' Lennon for 'more popular than Jesus' remark - This piece tells how the Vatican forgave John Lennon and quotes Lennon thanking Jesus at the end in what I think was a comical quote.

The Beatles Were More Popular Than Jesus For One Week In 1966 - This article notes that The Beatles both outsold the Bible and that they were probably taller than Jesus, hence they were “bigger” than Jesus! Ha ha ha!

John Lennon / Beatles 1966 / Jesus statement - This video has The Beatles record producer, George Martin and Paul McCartney talking about the Jesus quote and the awkward press conference where John Lennon apologized and you can tell he ‘s not all that comfortable doing it!

The Beatoons - Episode 1 - “More popular than…” - This cartoon video turns the infamous statement into a game show hosted by Ed Sullivan!

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