DATEBOOK
The interview with the “we’re more popular than Jesus now” quotation raised few eyebrows until it created a firestorm when the interviews were reprinted in the American teen magazine Datebook in July 1966, with the John Lennon quotation placed on the magazine cover. On August 5, 1966, the story made the front page of the New York Times. Some radio DJ’s publicly announced that they would play no more Beatles songs, and there were bonfires of Beatles records in some areas; even the Ku Klux Klan joined in the protests. There were also protests in Mexico City, and Beatles songs were banned on national radio stations in South Africa and Spain.
(September 2014)
