McCartney Times

Before Revolver, the template for pop stardom was as follows: stars got bigger, stars got safer. If you’ve seen Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, you’ll know how the provocative teen idol was tamed for middle America. The Beatles’ Revolver – released this month in a blockbuster new reissue and remixed by Giles Martin, son of original Beatles producer Sir George Martin – was the album that ripped up that template forever, for those who dared. It laid down a challenge that has been taken up by artists from Kate Bush to Kanye West.

By 1966, Beatleamania was in full swing. To outsmart the screaming fans at that summer’s NME Poll Winners show, the group dressed as chefs and entered the venue via the tradesman’s entrance, holding plates of food. But the four Beatles were growing restless. London was where it was at, and touring was becoming a drag. More than his bandmates, Paul McCartney was for the first time absorbing the new culture all around him – theatre, art, cinema, classical music and the avant-garde. When The Beatles entered Abbey Road studios in April that year, their ambitions were bigger, and stranger, than before.

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Source: How the Beatles’ Revolver ripped up the rulebook for popstars | British GQ