The Break Up Of The Beatles Explained

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

April 10, 1970. The music press receives copies of Paul McCartney's debut solo LP, McCartney. With it is a Q&A with responses from McCartney itself, full of information regarding his first steps into a solo career and his recent relationship with his bandmates. The Q&A states that his solo work has had no input from Allen Klein or his company, ABKCO. Most shockingly, another of McCartney's answers drops the bombshell that the Beatles, as a group, are no more.

There is a lot to be said about this fateful moment, and the definitive story is still impossible to pin down today. What we can say for sure is that it was John Lennon who had announced he was quitting the group first, a year before McCartney's announcement. Lennon, however, had kept his decision quiet for the sake of business and the release of Let It Be, according to The Conversation.

The recriminations after Paul's perceived betrayal of the group were brutal. John, George, and Ringo saw his press release as a cunning act of self-promotion: By tying the announcement of the breakup of the Beatles to the marketing of his solo LP, Paul had selfishly abandoned the notion of the Beatles operating together as a single business unit. What's more, he no longer thought of them as friends.

Years later, McCartney would publicly admit he regretted the way he left the band.

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