George Harrison never held back when it came to his opinions. He felt it was better to say what you meant and not hold back. Life was short, so say what you mean. One of the things George often shared his thoughts on was other rock stars. Here are seven times George called out his fellow musicians.
7. Neil Young
According to Far Out, George once said, “I’m not a Neil Young fan. I hate it, yeah I can’t stand it.” He continued to say that it was a “good laugh.” He’s done a show with Young. George watched the singer-songwriter from the side of the stage. He looked at Eric Clapton and asked what was going on. Young did the solo in the middle. Clapton looked at George and shrugged his shoulders.
6. Rod Stewart
During a 1976 interview with India Today, George spoke about the contemporary artists he liked at the time. He said pop music fell flat. He didn’t have many nice things to say about a lot of popular artists, including Rod Stewart. “Rod Stewart’s music has improved since Tom Dowd’s producing him, but the guy himself, he’s got a brain that’s as small as a marble,” George said.
5. Elton John
In the same interview with India Today, George didn’t hold back on his thoughts on Elton John. “Well, Elton John’s music is something I’ve never thought much of,” George said. “It all sounds the same, though I think he’s 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!”
George went on to work with Elton a couple of times in the 1980s. They performed together at the Prince’s Trust Concert in 1987, and Elton John appeared on George’s 1987 album Cloud Nine.
4. David Bowie
George also told India Today that he had no time for David Bowie, either. “And David Bowie ought to make up his mind what sex he is, and then decide what kind of music he wants to play,” George said. The former Beatle’s friend, Eric Idle, tried to introduce the pair, but George wanted no part in it, according to the comedian.
3. Pete Townshend
Also, in the 1976 interview with India Today, George called out his fellow rock star, Pete Townshend. The “Here Comes the Sun” singer claimed The Who’s guitarist was fake regarding his spirituality, which George took extremely seriously. He said, “Townsend! Yeah! Every time I’ve seen that guy he’s been so stoned and talking such a lot of nonsense that I don’t think he means any of the religious stuff he spouts.”
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2. Bob Dylan
The Traveling Wilburys had only nine days to record The Traveling Wilburys: Vol 1. So, George wanted to ensure that all five of them checked their egos at the front door so they didn’t get in the way of recording. According to Tom Petty, George went up to Dylan and told him he wouldn’t get any special treatment just because he was Bob Dylan.
“When the Wilburys started, George was so reverent of Bob,” Petty said in the special edition of Rolling Stone. “At the end of the first day, he said, ‘We know that you’re Bob Dylan and everything, but we’re going to just treat you and talk to you like we would anybody else.’
“And Bob went, ‘Well great. Believe it or not, I’m in awe of you guys, and it’s the same for me.’ I said to George, ‘That is really amazing, how you said that to Bob.’ George goes, ‘I can say those sort of things. But you can’t.’”
1. Paul McCartney
George called out his former bandmate and fellow Beatle many times. However, the most interesting and savage of comments came during an interview with Ray Martin (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters).
George called Paul a hypocrite for using an old business issue that was getting sold anyway as an excuse not to attend The Beatles’ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1988.
“It’s sad really that he’s like that,” George said. “But it’s really sad because we spent a long time this last year and the early part of—well, just the end of the year right before I came away from London, we had lots of dinners and meetings and we were all really on a great course, which we still are in a business sense of solving every problem we ever had, finally, after all these years. And it was just a shame that Paul should use, like, a sort of political sort of situation.”
George didn’t have any regrets in life. He said and did what he wanted. So be it if that meant angering whoever with his unrestrained comments and opinions. George called out whoever he liked, whether it was his fellow rock stars or not.
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