Chapter 2: God Only Knows (May - November 1966)

16 May 1966

The cover for the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, released May 1966.

Ever since Beatlemania first began in the United States, there had been rumors about a "rivalry" with the American rock band, the Beach Boys, which consisted of the Wilson brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine, as well as newbie Bruce Johnston, having joined the band in 1965. The Beach Boys' eleventh long play, Pet Sounds, was released on the 16th of May, 1966. Brian Wilson, who had written much of the music with assistance from Love and Tony Asher, wanted to make it a statement similar to what the Beatles had done with Rubber Soul five months previous, even admitting to have enjoyed the album.

DENNIS WILSON: "We were impressed the way [Rubber Soul] all went together, the way it was all one thing, Brian especially. It was a challenge to him to attempt something similar, that made him, and by extension, us, want to make Pet Sounds." (1980)

Despite the promotion as being "the most progressive pop album ever", critical response was lukewarm, and Pet Sounds topped at #10 in the United States, and stalled at #2 in the United Kingdom, where it was far more successful. An outtake off of the album, "Good Vibrations", would later be released as a single in October.

The Beach Boys in 1966.

14 June - 8 July 1966
When Paul McCartney and John Lennon first listened to Pet Sounds, the former went off to write the track "Here, There and Everywhere" as a response, even citing "God Only Knows" as his favorite off the album. Credited as always to Lennon/McCartney, the track was recorded towards the end of the sessions for Abracadabra, an album that was now being hyped up as "something magical". There was even the possibility of the track being released as a single off of the album, but two other tracks, "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine", were instead chosen as a double A-side.

The sessions were concluded a week later, shortly after the release of Yesterday and Today in America. No sooner was the mixing for Abracadabra done, the Beatles were now playing a couple of shows in Germany for the first time since 1962. Shortly after that, they were on their way to Japan to play at Nippon Budokan, opened 1964.

GEORGE HARRISON: "Everywhere we were going, there was a demonstration about one thing or another. In America, the race riots were going on when Beatlemania had come to town. In Japan, there were student riots; plus, people were demonstrating because the [Nippon] Budokan - where we were playing - was supposed to be a special spiritual hall reserved for martial arts. So, in the Budokan, only violence and spirituality were approved of, not pop music." (The Beatles Anthology, 2000)

The Beatles performing at the Nippon Budokan, July 1966.

The band's arrival in Japan was something of a shock, to say the least. Everything was organized, and they were constantly surrounded by security to obey every one of their commands. When they played their five shows on 30 June, 1 and 2 July, the crowd was very respectful and applauded when they finished performing a song. But the band's performance on the 30 June show was not as good as it could have been because they had gotten used to not hearing themselves play their music due to the crowd noise. For the remaining shows, they performed far better.

If one thought the Beatles performing at Budokan was controversial, it would pale in comparison to what happened in the Philippines. The band had been separated from Brian Epstein, Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans at the airport and their luggage was left behind on the runway, hastily dragged to a press conference to the headquarters of the Philippines Navy at the Port of Manila.

On 4 July, the band was invited to a party hosted by Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos in their honor at Malacañang Palace. Epstein had declined the invitation on the band's behalf, but Marcos had not taken kindly to being refused an invitation, and the event was all over on television. At both shows taking place on the 4th and 5th, the Beatles could hear some audience members jeering them for snubbing their First Lady, and getting to the airport for their flight to Delhi, India proved a nightmare for all involved.

JOHN LENNON: "'You treat like ordinary passenger! Ordinary passenger!' they were saying. We were saying: 'Ordinary passenger? He doesn't get kicked, does he?'" (recalling the appalling treatment the Beatles received at Manila Airport, 1966)

RINGO STARR: "We had fantasies that we were going to be put in jail, because it was a dictatorship there in those days, not a democracy. You lose your rights in a dictatorship, no matter who you are. So we weren't going to get off the plane. [Epstein, Evans, and Tony Barrow] were allowed back on, and that was my first and last time in Manila." (The Beatles Anthology, 2000)

The Beatles went sightseeing in India on 7 July, Ringo's 26th birthday. The trip was very relaxing in contrast to all the chaos that had went on in Japan and the Philippines, with George Harrison even buying a sitar, but the next day, they were back in England, unaware of yet another controversy on their tails...

14 July 1966

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath

Released: 14 July 1966

Recorded: 6-9 March 1966

Producer: Andrew Oldham

Track listing[1]

Side A

Paint It Black
Stupid Girl
Lady Jane
Under My Thumb
What To Do
Long Long While

Side B

Flight 505
High and Dry
It's Not Easy
I Am Waiting
Out of Time

The Rolling Stones' fifth British album (seventh according to American discography) was backed by the lead single "Paint It Black" along with its B-side "If You Let Me". This was the second consecutive album following Could You Walk on the Water? in which all tracks were composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

CHARLIE WATTS: "Walk on the Water and Aftermath sort of feel like Volume 1 and 2. They could've easily been a double album in their own right, and it would still be great." (1986)

Aftermath was stalled at #15 in the United States and only managed to reach #2 in the United Kingdom. Being released off the heels of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde meant that Aftermath got lost in the shuffle in America, not helping that religious folks were protesting the title of Could You Walk on Water? for references to Jesus Christ. But for the worlds of religion and rock music, that was just the tip of the iceberg...

1 - 29 August 1966

The Beatles - Abracadabra

Released: 5 August 1966

Recorded: 6 April - 21 June 1966

Producer: George Martin

Track listing[2]

Side A

Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
She Said, She Said
For No One
I Want to Tell You
And Your Bird Can Sing
Got to Get You Into My Life

Side B

Yellow Submarine
Doctor Robert
Good Day Sunshine
Love You To
I'm Only Sleeping
Here, There and Everywhere
Tomorrow Never Knows

The Beatles' seventh album, Abracadabra, is considered a masterpiece today, but upon release in America - excluding the tracks "And Your Bird Can Sing", "Doctor Robert", and "I'm Only Sleeping", due to already being featured on Yesterday and Today - there was a big outcry from religious and social conservatives, including the Ku Klux Klan, over John Lennon's comments about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus" from March. The quote appeared in an article in The New York Times Magazine on July 3 around the time of the protests against the title of Could You Walk on the Water?. That was what blew things up.

When Abracadabra was released the following month alongside the "Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine" single, religious people accused the band of being witches and burned many records, even claiming that the music contained references to the occult and Satan worship. The movement had only just begun when a teenager committed suicide on August 6 whilst listening to the album and his body was later found by his friend. The controversy was so great that Epstein had considered cancelling the Beatles' American tour, and even accused both The New York Times and Datebook (having republished the article in late July) for taking Lennon's words out of context.

BRIAN EPSTEIN: "There were no 'hidden messages' they implanted on their latest album [Abracadabra]. They had summoned no spirits of Robert Johnson, Buddy Holly, or Glenn Miller, much less any otherworldly creatures such as ghosts or demons. I do apologize on their behalf to those with vivid imaginations, but all the Beatles do is play music." (responding to the controversy about Abracadabra having hidden messages, 1966)

Bruce Morrow interviewing the Beatles, 1966.

JOHN LENNON: "If I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it." (1966)

The Beatles' American tour began on August 11, under the condition that they had extra security; even Paul McCartney, usually the most enthusiastic about touring, was frightened about getting hurt. Although Lennon would apologize for offending religious people, this did little to stop protests and disturbances during the tour. Despite the extra security, at the Memphis show on the 19th, a couple of men were killed during riots, and many protesters arrested. A firecracker had even been set off onstage.

The last show was in San Francisco on the 29th. George Harrison had thought about leaving the band for good, but he stayed with the others on the condition that the Beatles would carry on as a studio band. Many rock journalists would forever remember 1966 as The Year Rock Fought Religion, but despite the infamous legacy that Abracadabra had left behind - in the form of a dent on the Beatles' popularity - it was still considered to be influential to the scope of pop music in terms of the range of musical styles featured, with many critics even ranking Abracadabra as their greatest album ever made. Some preferred Abracadabra to Pet Sounds, which made Brian Wilson determined to try and top them once again with an ambitious project he dubbed Smile, aimed for a January 1967 release under Capitol Records.

September - November 1966
The stress over all the controversy that summer had taken its toll on the Beatles, and some journalists believed that they were breaking up because of the terrors they had faced. Epstein had denied those claims, saying that they just need a break to refresh their minds.

John would head off to Spain with director Richard Lester to film the latter's satirical military flick, How I Won The War, starring alongside Michael Crawford and Roy Kinnear. Ringo stayed at home with his family, but would later come to visit John in Spain that October. George and his wife Pattie would travel to India for a month, and Paul would work with Beatles producer George Martin for the soundtrack to the drama/comedy film The Family Way.

John Lennon as Private Gripweed in How I Won The War, 1967.

The Beatles would regroup 24 November to begin recording for their next album, with a concept in mind concerning their childhoods. It's nothing to get hung about.

Footnotes

1. All tracks taken from the American version of Aftermath, excluding "Out of Time", taken from the UK version, and "What To Do" and "Long Long While", both taken from More Hot Rock (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies).
2. All tracks taken from Revolver.

Author's Comments

So now we're getting to where the story really begins to kick off; in 1966, there wasn't a whole lot that changed apart from the religious controversy in America being worse, mostly due to the Rolling Stones choosing to have Walk on the Water released despite the title. That's the story's main point of divergence, and even when many bands don't see it coming, they do get affected one way or another.

I've got the next eight chapters planned out, taking this story all the way up to the end of 1968. If you have some suggestions for how things might be changed, just tell me. I've got some ideas in mind for the Yardbirds and the Zombies...