(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / Andreas Lawen)
Mon 15 December 2025 16:00, UK
One of the things that makes The Beatles such a great topic of cultural conversation is the fact that each album represents something different. Fans and critics can use each album to help align their Beatles fandom and, subsequently, their musical taste.
Take Please Please Me, for example. A mighty fine and important album for the Fab Four, but wholly representative of their exciting breakout onto the global scene that built upon a rather innocent brand of blues rock. A far cry from their more experimental work that crept into consciousness come the mid-1960s, which, if adopted by a supposed fan, represents a broader sense of open-mindedness.
Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band were the two classics in this right, but then there was Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour, which cut deeper into the colourful world they were creating and offered proud albums for these psychedelic Beatles fans to adopt.
But in between all of those records was the 1968 record The White Album. An ambitious double record that saw the band do away with overarching narrative structures and focus more freely on creating bona fide rock and roll hits.
John Lennon spoke of the record, explaining, “What we’re trying to do is rock ‘n roll, ‘with less of your philosorock,’ is what we’re saying to ourselves. And get on with rocking because rockers is what we really are. You can give me a guitar, stand me up in front of a few people. Even in the studio, if I’m getting into it, I’m just doing my old bit… not quite doing Elvis Legs but doing my equivalent. It’s just natural. Everybody says we must do this and that, but our thing is just rocking. You know, the usual gig. That’s what this new record is about. Definitely rocking.”
While its all out rock profile made it one of the reasons Lennon adored it, there was a more pointed reason as to why he aligned himself with this album. For Lennon, it’s a more spontaneous arrangement meant it was kept from McCartney’s creative clutches, explaining, “[Paul] wanted it to be more a group thing, which really means more Paul. So he never liked that album.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s just one sprawling record of one-sided ideas to spite McCartney. No history proves that, despite the dramatic backdrop, it is a great album in its own right and, as such, has garnered the love of Beatles fans like Dave Grohl. While he’s been known to express his love for all of their albums, it was the simple collection of classic rock songs that pushed him to call The White Album his favourite.
He said, “I think I was a glimpse of hope in my parents’ eyes, but this has some of my favourite Beatles songs on it: ‘Blackbird’, ‘Revolution #9’, ‘Revolution’, ‘Helter Skelter’. It’s funny to imagine those four cute little Beatles years later on LSD. Where did they go wrong, writing something like ‘Helter Skelter’ and influencing Charles Manson? I’d call this timeless.”
Thinking of the songs Grohl is listing, namely ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Helter Skelter’, it’s hard to label it an anti-McCartney record, given how iconic those two songs are and how important a role he played in them.
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