• Paul McCartney Calls College Courses on The Beatles 'Ridiculous Yet Flattering,' Urges People to Listen, Not Study

    Colleges across the country offer a variety of courses that focus on specific genres of music or musicians who had an enormous impact on history. The Beatles are one of those acts that can be studied at different campuses across the world. Paul McCartney has mixed feelings about this. He revealed in a Q&A recently that John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and himself never actually studied the music they loved. They just listened and played what felt right to them."For me it's ridiculous, and yet very flattering," McCartney said when asked how he felt about Beatles courses. "Ridiculous because we [The Beatles] never studied anything, we just loved our popular music: Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, etc. And it wasn't a case of 'studying' it. I think for us, we'd have felt it would have ruined it to study it."The band members studied by listening to the music: That was all they needed."We wanted to make our own minds up just by listening to it. So our study was listening. But to be told — as I was years ago now — that The Beatles were in my kid's history books? That was like, 'What?! Unbelievable, man!' Can you imagine when we were at school, finding yourself in a history book?" he added.

  • Ringo Starr's New Album is Finished, Beatles Drummer Hints at Spring Tour [WATCH]

    Ringo Starr announced that his new LP, which is currently untitled, is complete. The former Beatle posted a video update to his website recently to let fans know what to expect in 2015. Starr will be a busy guy next year since he's going to be inducted as a solo artist into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Joan Jett, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Green Day.

  • Paul McCartney, Lenny Kravitz, Ringo Starr and More Respond to Joe Cocker's Death on Twitter

    Soulful rock icon Joe Cocker died yesterday, Dec. 22, at the age of 70. The singer had been battling lung cancer. Tributes began flooding in from Cocker's contemporaries: Paul McCartney, The Doobie Brothers and Ringo Starr all paid their respects on Twitter. Some of today's artists like Lupe Fiasco, Lady Antebellum and Lenny Kravitz also showed love for the legendary performer.McCartney recalled Cocker's brilliance on The Beatles's "With a Little Help from My Friends," which the singer recorded in the late 1960s and eventually became the theme song for "The Wonder Years":"It's really sad to hear about Joe's passing. He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and like many people I loved his singing. I was especially pleased when he decided to cover 'With a Little Help from My Friends' and I remember him and Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Saville Row and playing me what they'd recorded and it was just mind blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful to him for doing that."

  • John Lennon or Paul McCartney? Metallica, Arctic Monkeys, Fall Out Boy and More Choose in Mini Documentary [WATCH]

    On paper, it's a simple question -- John Lennon or Paul McCartney? For "Lennon or McCartney: A Beatles Documentary," Scared Goose Productions compiled answers from actors and musicians and it's actually much more complex. Aaron Bruno of AWOLNATION may have put it best when he said, "Well, that's like saying, 'Who do you like more, your mom or your dad?'" The video is jam-packed with celebrities and members of Metallica, Arctic Monkeys and Fall Out Boy, and they all weigh in on the question.

  • Paul McCartney Talks Ringo Starr's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Honor on 'The Tonight Show' While Jimmy Fallon Does Impressions [WATCH]

    Ringo Starr was recently announced as one of the members of 2015's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. He is the last Beatle to be inducted into the institution as a solo act. Paul McCartney, who was inducted as a solo act in 1999, had the pleasure of breaking the news to his bandmate, "Rolling Stone" reports. Macca also stopped by "The Tonight Show" to talk about his pal's recent honor. Jimmy Fallon took it as a chance to try all his Beatles impressions."I was talking to a friend and he said 'Brian Epstein is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.' I said 'That's great, because he's the Beatles manager,'" McCartney says in the video below. "He says, 'Yeah, but Ringo's not in yet.' I said, 'Whoa. Wait a minute. We can't have that ...' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you got to put Ringo in. He's very famous."Starr's 2015 classmates include Green Day, Lou Reed, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bill Withers.McCartney also told Fallon that his favorite solo tracks by his former drummer are "Back Off Boogaloo" and "It Don't Come Easy" — he seems like he is about to say "Photograph" before Fallon cuts him off. Fallon jumped at the opportunity to show off his impressions of the Fab Four, nailing Starr, McCartney and John Lennon before fumbling through George Harrison.

  • Stephen Colbert Sells R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe for a Quarter on the Second-to-Last 'Colbert Report' [WATCH]

    Tonight, Dec. 18, marks the end of the Stephen Colbert era on Comedy Central. For nine years, "The Colbert Report" gave its politically hilarious host a forum to vent his frustrations with America and poke fun at the people running it. Guests ranged from top political figures to authors to actors to musicians. When Colbert's favorite band, R.E.M., broke up in 2011, the host gave frontman Michael Stipe a spot on his "Shelves of Honor." But since the show is coming to an end and Colbert is moving to CBS, he decided to have a yard sale to get rid of his excess junk.As Colbert introduces the skit, Stipe complains about not being dusted in a while."Hey! That's you in the corner, it's me in the spotlight! Read your contract," the host says, referencing R.E.M.'s 1991 hit "Losing My Religion."

  • The Beatles Christmas Records: Ranking The Yearly Mess from John, Paul, George and Ringo 1963-1969

    Pearl Jam wasn't the first band to send out yearly Christmas exclusives to its fan club. The Beatles had jumped on that train nearly 30 years earlier. The difference of course is that Pearl Jam's fans could expect some new musical recordings, covers if nothing else, while the biggest band in history took the yearly task of crafting a Christmas album about as seriously as Stephen Colbert takes investigative reporting. The results tended to be a mess...occasionally a curious mess, but a mess nonetheless. Music Times has waded through the seven Beatles Christmas flexi-discs and made a modest attempt at ranking them.

  • Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Oasis's Liam Gallagher Among Guest Performers at The Who Tribute Concert [WATCH]

    Last night, Nov. 11, rock legends The Who held their annual Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert in London, featuring guest performances by Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder and former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, among many others. According to "Rolling Stone," the evening was hosted by The Who frontman Roger Daltrey, though guitarist and lead songwriter Pete Townshend reportedly stayed home, with Daltrey saying the legendary guitarist would “rather do anything than hear his songs played back to him.”Liam Gallagher gave his first public performance since the break-up of his band Beady Eye three weeks ago, singing The Who’s 1965 hit “My Generation,” which he had frequently performed in concert with Oasis. Check out his performance here:
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