Billy Joel thinks this Beatles album is a 'collection of half-assed songs'
The Piano Man was clearly not a fan of the legendary rock band's 1968 self-titled double album - which featured classics Back In The USSR, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Dear Prudence, Helter Skelter and While My Guitar Gently Weeps - and suggested they were "too stoned" or "didn't care anymore" when they recorded the 30-track epic.
The songs were penned during a Transcendental Meditation retreat with the band's late guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Speaking on Bill Maher's Club Random podcast, Billy said: 'I hear it as a collection of half-assed songs they didn't finish writing because they were too stoned, or they didn't care anymore.
'I think they had fragments and they put them on the album.'
He suggested: 'I think John [Lennon] was disassociating at that point.
'I think Paul [McCartney] was carrying the weight.
'Sometimes they were more prolific and sometimes they weren't, and I hear that in some of those things."
It marked the first time the wives and partners of the band - which also included Sir Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison - were allowed in the studio, with late frontman Lennon famously quipping that 'the break-up of The Beatles can be heard on that album.'
Sir Paul McCartney has previously addressed critics of the album, telling Radio Luxembourg: 'I'm not a great one for that whole, 'Y'know maybe it was too many of that'. What do you mean? It was great, it sold. It's the bloody Beatles White Album, shut up!'
Drummer Ringo previously insisted he's always loved The White Album - despite quitting the group for two weeks around then.
Speaking as he celebrated his 81st birthday in 2021, he told TMZ: "I've loved the White Album all of my life because we were back to being a band."
Producer George Martin also disappeared during the process for an unexpected holiday, and engineer Geoff Emerick quit.
Tensions within the group escalated after the chart-topping album's release and they eventually announced their split in 1970.
Despite all the drama, The White Album is considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
The full interview with Billy Joel on Club Random is available now on YouTube, Apple, Spotify and other platforms.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
Zak Starkey reveals major Black Sabbath 'regret' after Ozzy Osbourne's death
Zak Starkey once turned down the chance to join Black Sabbath. The 59-year-old drummer - whose father is The Beatles legend Sir Ringo Starr - has revealed a message from late rock icon Ozzy Osbourne's wife and manager Sharon offering him a spot in the group for a festival run and some time in the studio. In the email shared on Instagram, Sharon wrote: "Zak, "Black Sabbath is headlining Download on June 10 and then Lollapalooza in August. "The guys need a drummer for their album, which will be recorded in September with Rick Rubin producing. We would probably need you for 2-3 weeks for the album. "Also, they need a drummer to play at Lollapalooza which is on August 3 in Chicago. "Also, Ozzy wants to have sex with you while he is singing Iron Man. "Big Kiss, Sharon." Zak has shared the note after Ozzy's tragic death on Tuesday (22.07.25) aged 76, and he described his decision to turn down the offer as a "regret". He captioned the post: "Regrets I've had a few -this is one - (not the sex part!) "Ozzy will always be one of the greatest, natural , brilliant singers of all time. I send much love and strength to his family at this sad sad time. "If u aren't familiar with the never say die record - get into it - it's so far out - X (sic)" At the time, Zak was with The Who as their drummer, although he was out of action from touring with the group due to a "tendon problem". He didn't confirm whether or not that was the reason for declining the offer. Instead, former Rob Zombie percussionist Tommy Clufetos - who previously worked on Ozzy's solo project - stepped in for the live performances. Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk joined Sabbath in the studio for their final album 13, which was released in June 2013.
Perth Now
10 hours ago
- Perth Now
Stevie Wonder's 'heart is broken' after death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Stevie Wonder's 'heart is broken' following the death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner. The 75-year-old singer admitted he is devastated after Warner, 54, died in a drowning incident in Costa Rica at the weekend. He told TMZ: 'My heart is broken because not only was he a talented man growing up and doing The Cosby Show, but even more important his commitment was telling the story, the truth. 'And for me, in a time where we have so many in high places telling low-down lies, we need the truth. So yeah, I miss him. 'I hope that the writers, the singers, rappers will begin to spread messages of positivity, of hope, and us moving this world forward. I'm quiet, but my heart is hurting.' Wonder went on to make a cultural comparison between Warner and West African traditions. He said: 'I don't know if you know what a 'grio' is, a 'griot.' It's like the African who told the stories in the various villages would have the griot. Whenever a griot would die, it would be like a whole library of information burning.' According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary,: 'An African tribal storyteller and musician is called a griot. The griot's role was to preserve the genealogies and oral traditions of the tribe.' Wonder made a memorable appearance with Warner in an episode of the The Cosby Show in 1986, in which he played himself and found himself in a car accident with Denise (Lisa Bonet). Warner and the rest of the cast then joined Wonder for a performance of I Just Called to Say I Love You. Warner died near Cocles, a beach in Limon, Costa Rica, after getting caught by a rip current. According to police, he was rescued by onlookers who took him to shore, where he received treatment, but he was declared dead by the Costa Rican Red Cross.
Sydney Morning Herald
21 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
What to stream this week: The Mitford sisters and five more picks
This week's picks include a period romp about the British aristocracy in the 1930s, a documentary about Billy Joel, and a soap-tinged melodrama starring Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman. Outrageous ★★★½ (BritBox) Told with a giddy energy that matches the bottles of champagne repeatedly being popped, Outrageous is a period romp about the British upper class that traverses the fine line between farce and tragedy. The show's historic subject is the Mitford sisters – six daughters of the aristocracy who became a microcosm of Europe's ructions in the 1930s. Influencers in a tabloid headline era, they were the closest of siblings who eventually became adversaries. You couldn't make this story up if you tried. Really, really tried. It's 1931 and Nancy (Bessie Carter) serves as wry narrator – she's a budding novelist whose own family will provide irresistible material. Diana (Joanna Vanderham) is 'the beauty', soon to leave her Guinness heir husband for Britain's leading fascist, Sir Oswald Mosley (Joshua Sasse). Unity (Shannon Watson) will go beyond that – she befriends Adolf Hitler. Jessica (Zoe Brough) becomes an ardent communist. Pamela (Isobel Jesper Jones) loves her Angus cattle herd. Deborah (Orla Hill) simply wants a husband and a nice country house. Loading Put two or more of the sisters in a scene and the dialogue has screwball pace and droll retorts. In adapting Mary S. Lovell's 2001 biography, The Mitford Girls, creator Sarah Williams has captured solidarity as a kind of accelerant. Growing up together – their father, Baron Redesdale (James Purefoy), believed girls shouldn't go to school – the young women pushed at boundaries and ached for agency and purpose. Everything is a lark, until it very much isn't (hint: when Unity fangirls Hitler). There's frivolity, some truly sketchy male suitors, and ominous headlines; imagine Wes Anderson adapting Hilary Mantel. The six episodes roll through five years. The budget struggles with the sweep of history – a Nuremberg rally is done with merely dozens of extras – but the personal dynamics are fascinating. It's ultimately a story of how you respond when someone you love crosses a line you never imagined existed. There's a scene between Unity and Jessica, the sadness tinged with memories of joint silliness, that's quietly heartbreaking. Tellingly, the conundrums the Mitford sisters impose on each other couldn't be more timely. The appeal of fascism is debated at family meals, while opposing criticisms are righteously written off as propaganda and misinformation – free speech as an absolute defence is repeatedly invoked, political street violence threatens to become the norm. It's both entertaining and horrifying, as living in the moment often proves to be, with the Bright Young Things insouciance serving as a Trojan horse. The first season concludes in 1936, and I hope there's another – their story has earnt a reckoning. Billy Joel: And So It Goes ★★★(HBO Max) Consisting of two episodes each the length of a sizeable feature film, this documentary about Billy Joel, one of the biggest-selling artists in the history of popular music, will hold an obvious appeal to fans. His music is prominent throughout and Joel discusses his life with pugnacious candour. But it's also of interest to novices, because Joel has long been contradictory: a populist suspicious of his own hits, a superstar who struggled to fit in. 'The most original thing I've done in my life is screw up,' Joel tells directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, and while they don't tug too hard on the many tangled threads of Joel's life and art this comprehensive documentary is a reminder that anyone with such a gargantuan career – over 150 million albums sold, a residency at Madison Square Garden that lasted 10 years – has an intriguing psychological set-up. The 76-year-old, who recently shelved all touring plans because of a normal pressure hydrocephalus diagnosis, was primarily a storyteller with his lyrics, and talking about them takes him back into the highs and lows – but mostly lows – of his own life. The likes of Pink and Bruce Springsteen offer input, but Joel's real foil here is his former wife and manager Elizabeth Weber. They've been divorced since 1982, but her read on him remains essential. Very unlikely, very Billy Joel. The Hunting Wives ★★½ (Stan) Hightown creator Rebecca Cutter returns with this soap-tinged melodrama about switching from one side of America's cultural divide to the other. When a fresh start transplants Sophie O'Neill (Brittany Snow, The Night Agent) and her family from the East Cost to Texas, she becomes fast friends with the cadre of desperate housewives commanded by the wife of her husband's new boss, Margo Banks (Malin Akerman, Billions). The desire for female friendship is an intriguing lens, but the story is taken up with mildly outrageous behaviour and the growing shadow of a murder enquiry. Riff Raff ★★½ (Amazon Prime Video) This American crime-comedy, informed by far better movies from the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino, is less than the sum of its parts: Bill Murray, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Pete Davidson, Gabrielle Union, and Lewis Pullman all have roles in the ensemble cast. Directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognising Your Saints), the move struggles to lay out the many circumstances required to explain how an unexpected family gathering at the Maine cabin belonging to Harris' Vincent is soon crashed by Murray and Davidson's vengeful gangsters. Nothing really cuts through. Somebody Feed Phil (season 8) ★★★ (Netflix) One of Netflix's longest-running shows, this culinary travel show continues to take Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal from one tasty global locale to the next. More a chatty enthusiast than sombre gourmand, Rosenthal is visibly delighted by good food – his face finds the most delightfully idiosyncratic shapes when he bites into something he enjoys. Phil's format is quick-fire stops, and this latest season fills a major gap in his planner by finally featuring an Australian episode that covers Sydney and Adelaide. The outside perspective makes for a refreshing change. Sold! ★★★½ (Binge) Loading Mark Humphries has been many things on our TV screens, from sketch satirist to game show host, but he may well have found his defining purpose with this tragicomic documentary about Australia's housing crisis. As a self-deprecating truth-seeker working with long-time collaborator Evan Williams and The Chaser 's Craig Reucassel, Humphries manages to cut through the unsettling numbers, partisan policies, and grim ramifications of a housing market that, over the course of this century, has flipped from inclusive to exclusive. The explanations are concise and bittersweet – it's your choice to laugh or cry.
