The Beatles & Jesus + 50 Years
Columnist sent out wire story that sparked worldwide interest.
Fifty years ago, Beatles member John Lennon made a statement that would change how millions viewed the musical sensation. It would also bring an Alabama writer into the international spotlight, if just for a brief time.
In 1966, the troops were still in Vietnam, the United States was locked in the Cold War with the U.S.S.R, and The Beatles had just released the album “Revolver.”
Shortly after the record was out, the group was interviewed by an English magazine. John Lennon was quoted as saying he and his band-mates were “more popular than Jesus.” That comment started a chain of events none of The Beatles could have predicted.
“Wildfire, that’s what it was like,” says Al Benn. “It was like somebody lit a match on the story and it just became international. And it was an exclusive story. And somehow, I was in the middle of it.”
Benn was working as the Alabama Bureau Chief for the United Press International at the time. He was driving through Birmingham when he heard two popular radio hosts chatting about Lennon’s comment.
“I was driving along in Birmingham one morning and I heard Layton and Charles, very popular DJ team up in Birmingham asking the listeners to send in all their Beatles albums they could possibly find, because they were going to burn the albums. Because John Lennon had said they were more popular than Jesus, which upset a lot of people in the South especially,” he remembers.
Benn decided to write a story about the radio hosts’ idea. The story traveled and soon was being read in overseas newspapers. While there wasn’t a mass burning like Layton and Charles hoped, there were several burnings in communities across the state. The story also contributed to the ending of The Beatles touring.
The story and Lennon’s comments also had a an extreme effect on some people. People like Mark David Chapman. Chapman’s anger at Lennon’s comment added fuel to the fire that was his mental illness, and on January 8, 1980, he shot and killed Lennon in New York. Chapman is still serving time in prison.
