Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry shared his ideas about The Beatles and its effects on people. He also explained why the band decided not to perform live concerts during his recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock.
As you may know, The Beatles performed their last live show on the roof of Savile Row in London on January 30, 1969, shortly after they released their ninth studio album ‘The Beatles,’ which is also known as ‘The White Album,’ in November 1968. In addition to this becoming The Beatles’ last live performance, the roof concert witnessed many strange incidents.
During the concert, the band members John Lennon and Ringo Starr had to wear their wives’ coats because they were freezing. Also, for the same reason, the engineers wrapped the microphones in women’s pantyhose. Since then, The Beatles members continue to record and release new songs but never performed live again, and their last live show became an unforgettable and funny memory for everyone.
In his interview, Joe Perry recalled when The Beatles stopped playing live even though they had reached the peak of their popularity. Perry drew attention to the influence of the band’s music on young people by highlighting that their music was so compelling that it scared their parents. Thus, they decided not to perform live again because they thought people wouldn’t listen to them.
Also, Perry defined the band as the embodiment of musical talent and a milestone band for rock music. He added that nothing could stop them from creating and playing songs in their unique and distinct way, even when people got scared of their hypnotizing effect on young people.
In Perry’s words, he said:
“The Beatles’ music was totally overlooked, and that’s, in the end, why they’ve stopped touring was because people wouldn’t listen to the music when they played live. They were unquestionably one of the best live bands ever, even today, and they were a combination of talent. It was unbelievable.
However, what they did was they brought that guitar, that sound, to the forefront, to everybody. Because if you weren’t a kid on the edge of your seat watching them on TV, you were an adult watching your kid watch them on TV, and that scared the shit out of a lot of people.
Boy, nothing stopped it. And that’s why they played that simple lift, those three chords, and then the basic pentatonic thing that they did, that was banned on the radio, it’s instrumental.”
You can listen to the interview below.
