{"id":283185,"date":"2025-11-25T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/283185\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T21:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:29:10","slug":"the-one-band-john-lennon-said-was-trying-too-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/283185\/","title":{"rendered":"The one band John Lennon said was trying too hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Tue 25 November 2025 19:30, UK <\/p>\n

The main focus that John Lennon<\/a> had throughout the Beatles\u2019 career always came back to songwriting. <\/p>\n

As much as Paul McCartney could get away with writing the catchiest melodies known to mankind, Lennon was far more focused on how well any of his tunes held together as a coherent piece of poetry rather than what strange new chord was thrown into the mix. And considering the number of people that the band had inspired, it was easy for the former Beatle to tell when the biggest names in music were trying too hard.<\/p>\n

When Lennon first started, though, it wasn\u2019t like he was going to become one of the greatest writers of all time overnight. He had his poetic side throughout the band\u2019s career, but it was hard for him to balance the creative aspect of his life when he was forced to make the same kind of toothless pop music that he heard on the radio. It was still really good pop music, but it wasn\u2019t until making records like \u2018In My Life\u2019 that he started to understand what his music could do.<\/p>\n

He wanted to make songs that could document pieces of his life, and even if they were strange like \u2018Strawberry Fields Forever\u2019, Lennon always revelled in doing something new. He felt that there were too many \u2018I love you\u2019 songs out there, and it was more fun writing the avant-garde nonsense of \u2018I Am The Walrus\u2019 or the stream of consciousness \u2018Come Together\u2019 than trying to write an answer to \u2018She Loves You\u2019.<\/p>\n

But the minute that Sgt Pepper<\/a> came out, Lennon saw it as an extremely mixed blessing. There were millions of people who had been turned on to the Summer of Love thanks to them, but when the psychedelic movement began, Lennon started to see a lot of people getting into the framework of peace and love for the wrong reasons. It\u2019s one thing to quote one\u2019s heart, but Lennon could sense when someone was desperate a mile away.<\/p>\n

He never suffered fools gladly, but when looking at the biggest bands coming out of Los Angeles, he did see more than a few flaws in how The Doors were going about their business. Jim Morrison did have captivating imagery in every one of their songs, but Lennon couldn\u2019t help but listen to their music and hear more than a few times where things sounded a little bit too goofy.<\/p>\n

They certainly had their place as the dark opposite of the Love Generation, but Lennon felt that the band were trying to sell their quirky angle in some spots, saying,<\/a> \u201cThey\u2019re only trying to say something universal only they\u2019re just heavy writers you know. It\u2019s just like some journalists can write it like the people can read it and some journalists can\u2019t. And I go for journalists that can say it like the Daily Mirror\u2026 cause that\u2019s the language we\u2019re talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there is a lot of heaviness that goes into Morrison\u2019s performance in a track like \u2018The End\u2019, that actually helps out the song a great deal. On its own, \u2018The End\u2019 would have been a simple breakup song about Morrison leaving his girl, but hearing him sing about the greater problems with the world, it\u2019s easy for people to see him more as a poet rather than the typical blues belter like Robert Plant or Mick Jagger.<\/p>\n

The Doors weren\u2019t that kind of group, and even if their music was a bit too strange for everyone to get into at the time, it\u2019s not like Morrison was too verbose all the time. It\u2019s easy to appreciate a tune like \u2018Touch Me\u2019 as much as \u2018Riders on the Storm\u2019, but you have to understand that both of them are going for completely different moods. One is more immediate, but if you\u2019re in the market for tunes with more depth, it\u2019s easy to get swept up in the journey Morrison takes his audience on.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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