{"id":425296,"date":"2026-02-14T11:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/425296\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T11:36:18","slug":"george-harrisons-scathing-reviews-of-10-classic-rock-icons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/425296\/","title":{"rendered":"George Harrison\u2019s scathing reviews of 10 classic rock icons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Oasis<\/p>\n

A rockstar George Harrison may well have been, but a swaggering fellow he most certainly was not. If anything, the legacy that the Beatles wove into place was one that dismantled the \u2018ego\u2019 of the musician. He was an iconoclast in the truest sense, so when he witnessed Oasis construct their own alter in the 1990s, he was more than a little miffed. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is like a bit out of date,\u201c he explained regarding Liam Gallagher<\/a> to Independent Radio News when the Manchester band were first breaking onto the scene, \u201che\u2019s just silly\u201c. His criticism didn\u2019t stop with the frontman either. He also thought that \u201cthey don\u2019t have that much depth\u201c and simply are \u201cnot very interesting\u201c. <\/p>\n

In response, Liam Gallagher called him \u201ca fucking nipple\u201c. That sure showed George. <\/p>\n

\"Bono<\/p>\n

If George Harrison\u2019s outlook was to dissolve the ego, then it is not without irony that Bono claims that \u2018I Saw Her Standing There\u2019 was the song that first gave him a \u201cmessianic complex\u201c. He never stopped loving The Beatles thereafter, even when word of Harrison\u2019s criticism reached him, he commented, \u201cWell, he didn\u2019t like U2<\/a> very much. But we loved him. We really did love him.\u201c<\/p>\n

So, at risk of stating the obvious, why wasn\u2019t the feeling mutual? \u201cLook at a group like U2<\/a>. Bono and his band are so egocentric. The more you jump around, the bigger your hat is, the more people listen to your music,\u201d Harrison explained in 1997. These comments to the Independent were further galvanised when he asked Le Figero, \u201cWill anyone remember U2 in 30 years? I doubt it.\u201c<\/p>\n

If Harrison\u2019s artistic pursuit could be seen as a search for meaning, then U2 still haven\u2019t found what he was looking for.<\/p>\n

\"Sex<\/p>\n

As it happens, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were actually firmly on board with punk, but Harrison was a little less favourable when it came to his thoughts on the movement\u2019s main engine. He told Rolling Stone in 1979: \u201cAs far as musicianship goes, the punk bands were just rubbish \u2013 no finesse in the drumming, just a lot of noise and nothing\u201d. That was pretty much the point of punk, in fairness to the Pistols.<\/p>\n

He continued to showcase how he may well have missed the mark on this one when he added, \u201cI felt very sorry when the Sex Pistols<\/a> were on television, and one of them was saying, \u2018We\u2019re educated to go into the factories and work on assembly lines\u2019, and that\u2019s their future. It is awful, and it\u2019s especially awful that it should come out of England because England is continually going through depression; it\u2019s a very negative country. Everybody wants everything, and nobody wants to do anything for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The multi-millionaire added, \u201dIt\u2019s a very simple thing; how do you give people money if there is none? The only way you make more money is to work harder.\u201d Before concluding, \u201dYou don\u2019t fight negativity with negativity. You have to overpower hatred with love, not more hatred\u201d. The punks would argue that the 1960s tried that, and what good did it do in the \u201970s?<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/p>\n

George Harrison helped to kickstart a rather unhealthy Indomania. The boon of his sitar obsession was that the world suddenly became open to other cultures in a non-colonial way, but the dark side of Orientalism and other factors came along with that benefit. As Neil Young explained to The Observer Music Monthly regarding his encounters with Charles Manson and how he seemed to exploit this expansion, \u201dIt was the ugly side of the Maharishi. You know, there\u2019s one side of the light, nice flowers and white robes and everything, and then there\u2019s something that looks a lot like it but just isn\u2019t it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

While, of course, that\u2019s an extreme example, Harrison also vented his spleen when it came to people who purported to embody the right side of the movement but failed to live up to it in reality. This led him to scold The Who\u2019s guitarist, Pete Townshend<\/a>, as \u201dfake\u201d. <\/p>\n

Ironically speaking to India Today of all publications, he said, \u201cTownsend! Yeah! Every time I\u2019ve seen that guy he\u2019s been so stoned and talking such a lot of nonsense that I don\u2019t think he means any of the religious stuff he spouts.\u201d Casting doubt on the sincerity of spiritual allegories like Tommy.<\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

While Elton John<\/a> might have been good buddies with John Lennon, helping to write the bespectacled Beatle\u2019s first-ever number one, the so-called Quiet One was far less kind when it came to his music. Once again, speaking to India Today, he commented, \u201cWell, Elton John\u2019s music is something I\u2019ve never thought much of.\u201d <\/p>\n

He cuttingly continued, \u201cIt all sounds the same, though I think he\u2019s written a good song once; many years ago, of course. His music is made to a formula: throw in lyrics, throw in four chords, shake well, and there it is, the new Elton John super-hit!\u201d At the time, in 1976, Harrison was moving further away from conventions, distancing himself from the towering shadow of The Beatles\u2019 commercial success. <\/p>\n

All the same, at least he wasn\u2019t as scathing as Keith Richards, who called poor Elton \u201can old bitch\u201c and said that his \u201cwriting is limited to songs about dead blondes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Neil<\/p>\n

During a session in 1992, Bob Geldof casually asked George Harrison what he thought of Neil Young\u2019s work. The answer was more cutting than he had bargained for. \u201cI\u2019m not a Neil Young<\/a> fan,\u201d he replied. Geldof then tried to bring about some parity by crediting his guitar work. Once again, Harrison cut him down. \u201cI hate it,\u201c he interrupted, \u201cI can\u2019t stand it\u201d.<\/p>\n

In fact, it was his angular guitar playing that drew the most poison from the former Beatle, and Harrison had experienced it first-hand, too. \u201cIt\u2019s good for a laugh. We did this show with him, I saw it from the other side of the stage and looked around. I looked at Eric and said, \u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019 He did the solo in the middle then he kind of looked at me like \u2013 \u2018don\u2019t look at me, it\u2019s not me\u2019,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

In Young\u2019s defence, it was the very same playing that brought grunge to fruition, so perhaps he was playing for different ears than those raised listening to the blues. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

In the 1960s, there was a sense that George Harrison was trying to escape the box that the press had built for him, and The Hollies certainly offered him an opportunity to take a sledgehammer to the notion of him being meek and mild. The Hollies covered Harrison\u2019s Beatles composition \u2018If I Needed Someone\u2019 in 1965. Needless to say, he didn\u2019t like it. <\/p>\n

Speaking to the NME amid a hectic December, Alan Smith recalled his abrasive encounter, writing: \u201cGeorge was getting ready for the first house performance, and I asked him about songwriting. \u2018I see you\u2019ve written one for The Hollies.\u2019 George turned sharply away from the mirror. \u2018Tell people that I didn\u2019t write it for The Hollies,\u2019 he said bluntly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018If I Needed Someone\u2019, and they\u2019ve done it as their new single, but their version is not my kind of music. I think it\u2019s rubbish the way they\u2019ve done it! They\u2019ve spoilt it. The Hollies are all right musically, but the way they do their records, they sound like session men who\u2019ve just got together in a studio without ever seeing each other before. Technically good, yes. But that\u2019s all.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

They certainly had their battles in The Beatles, but they were all part of the brotherly magic that made them so good. That might have carried over into the solo years when George Harrison asked his fans to attack Paul McCartney<\/a>\u2018s car, but that was a noted regret. Yet, there were no qualms or retractions when it came to the questions he had over some of Macca\u2019s solo work. <\/p>\n

Speaking to Rolling Stones in 1979 about McCartney\u2019s recent output, he commented, \u201cI think it\u2019s inoffensive. I\u2019ve always preferred Paul\u2019s good melodies to his screaming rock \u2018n\u2019 roll tunes. The tune I thought was sensational on the London Town album was \u2018I\u2019m Carrying\u2019. But all the noisy, beaty things I\u2019m not into at all. But then that\u2019s not only with Paul\u2019s music, that goes right across the board. I\u2019m not a fan of that sort of punky, heavy, tinny stuff. I like a nice melody.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few years later, when he was asked about his old pal adding tracks like \u2018Beautiful Boy\u2019 to his setlist, Harrison jabbed, \u201dMaybe [it\u2019s] because he ran out of good ones of his own\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Lee<\/p>\n

On a fateful day in Beatles history, the Fab Four were trying to lay low and cool off in California when some LSD came their way via David Crosby. Paul McCartney abstained, but the others dropped a tab of acid and floated around in a swimming pool. They decided to take the edge off by watching a movie. It turned out to be a mistake. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe movie was put on, and \u2014 of all things \u2014 it was a drive-in print of Cat Ballou,\u201d Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology. \u201cThe drive-in print has the audience response already dubbed onto it, because you\u2019re all sitting in your cars and don\u2019t hear everybody laugh. Instead, they tell you when to laugh and when not to. It was bizarre, watching this on acid. I\u2019ve always hated Lee Marvin, and listening on acid to that other little dwarf bloke with a bowler hat on, I thought it was the biggest load of baloney shite I\u2019d ever seen in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison already had problems with Lee Marvin when it came to his acting, but he would haunt the legacy of The Beatles in a much more ominous way later down the line. By rights, the group\u2019s final single, \u2018Let It Be\u2019, should\u2019ve been a smash-hit send-off, but sadly, it only peaked at number two in the UK charts. It was kept off the top spot by none other than Marvin and his dastardly single, \u2018Wanderin\u2019 Star\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The old adage \u2018never meet your heroes\u2019 is a cliche for a reason. While the Fab Four might have grown up listening to Elvis Presley<\/a>, their destiny was to transcend him. Meanwhile, the King grew so embittered with act that dethroned him that he actively contacted President Nixon and offered his services as a spy in a bid to deport them<\/a>. <\/p>\n

So, while Elvis might have changed Harrison\u2019s life, it all ended in disappointment for both parties. \u201cI met him in Madison Square Garden a couple of years before the end. It was a bit sad really because he had all those squawking singers and trumpet players and that stuff,\u201c Harrison recalled during a roundtable with Paul and Ringo. \u201dI just wanted to say to him \u2018just get your jeans on and get your guitar and do [sings] \u2018that\u2019s alright with me mama\u2019 and bugger all that other crap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison did offer the caveat that it was likely fan pressure that pushed Elvis towards a stilted routine, but ultimately questioned the depth behind the King, questioning the substance of his back catalogue, and commenting, \u201cHave you ever heard such a dumb line? \u2014 \u2018Love is a thing that we never can share.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rockstar George Harrison may well have been, but a swaggering fellow he most certainly was not. If…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7465,18254,96,26940,596,128,23564,33162,15743,10447,932,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-425296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-elton-john","9":"tag-elvis-presley","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-george-harrison","12":"tag-homepage","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-neil-young","15":"tag-pete-townshend","16":"tag-sex-pistols","17":"tag-the-beatles","18":"tag-u2","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}