The Beatles

Drake Beats The Beatles’ 55-Year Record On Most Top Five Hits

by
Drake rap battle event

Drake is celebrating breaking The Beatles‘ long-standing Billboard Hot 100 record. 

The mega star and hitmaker’s new “Staying Alive” collaboration with DJ Khaled and Lil Baby debuted at #5 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100.  That gave Drake his 30th top five single on the chart, which surpasses The Beatles’ record of 29.  

READ MORE: [WATCH] DJ Khaled Reunites With Drake and Lil Baby “Staying Alive”

The popular 1960’s boy band held their record for 55-years. Drake now  truly raps what he lives “I got more slaps than the Beatles,” from “Going Bad.”

Check out the new visual and 2022 smash below.

Continue the conversation on social media.

The post Drake Beats The Beatles’ 55-Year Record On Most Top Five Hits appeared first on The Source.

Does Drake Actually Have ‘More Slaps Than The Beatles?’

by
drake billboard awards 2021
Getty Image / Rich Fury

In his 2018 collaboration with Meek Mill, “Going Bad,” Drake proclaims “I got more slaps than The Beatles.” While making this sort of comparison to one of the most beloved rock bands of all time is a bold statement, it wasn’t entirely inaccurate. Months before that song’s release, Drake had broken the record for the most singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, occupying 7 spaces during the week of the release of his sixth studio album, Scorpion, breaking The Beatles’ previously held record of five spaces.

Nearly four years after Drake’s statement, he continues to break records. But it still poses a question.

Does Drake actually have “more slaps than The Beatles?”

Well, it depends on how you define what a “slap” is, however, his ability to craft hits is undeniable. In his career, spanning more than a decade, Drake has broken several chart records, according to Billboard. With his latest collaboration, “Staying Alive” with DJ Khaled and Lil Baby, Drake has earned the most top-five hits on the Hot 100 chart, with 30, breaking the record previously held by The Beatles.

Additionally, Drake also holds the record for the most top 20 hits on the Hot 100 with 100, and Top 40 hits, with 158.

Drake, however, only has 11 No. 1 hits to his credit, which practically pales in comparison to The Beatles’ 20. Also, Drake has held the top of the Hot 100 and the Billboard 200 spots for eight cumulative weeks at various points in his career, which is four weeks short of The Beatles and Whitney Houston’s 12-week records.

But given how the chart rules and the way we consume music have evolved over time, we may see Drake catch up to all of The Beatles’ accomplishments. Or perhaps, we’ll see The Beatles make a comeback, considering how many songs have received a second life by way of TikTok and viral memes.

Greatest Hitmaker? Drake Just Passed The Beatles For A Very Significant Record

by
drake gambling
Getty Image

Back when Drake broke a more curious record by The Beatles of hit songs, the Toronto rapper tattooed the Fab Four on his arm. Well, he might have to hop on the phone and call his tattoo artist because he’s just done it again and might have just staked claim as the world’s greatest hitmaker in the process.

With the song “Staying Alive” by DJ Khaled and featuring both Drake and Lil Baby, Drake just claimed his 30th top five song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He was previously tied with The Beatles — who held the record for 64 years — at 29, and now he’s alone at the top. With this record, he can finally accurately claim that, “I got more slaps than The Beatles.”

Other artists who are in the running for most Top 5 singles of all time include Madonna with 28, Mariah Carey with 27, Janet Jackson at 26, Rihanna with 23, Elvis with 21 and then Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, and Stevie Wonder with 2o top five songs on the Hot 100. For what it’s worth, The Beatles still hold claim to the most number one singles of all time with 20. Mariah Carey has 19 Elvis has 18 and Drake is further down on the list with a modest 11 No. 1s.

The Best Music Documentaries Streaming On Disney+ And Hulu

by
Disney music docs olivia rodrigo billie eilish beatles
Ralph Ordaz/Disney+

What makes a good music documentary?

Is it unfiltered talking head interviews from an artist’s inner circle, narrating their rise to fame and filling in the gaps with unheard tales of tragedy and triumph? Is it hundreds of hours’ worth of archival footage that transports fans back to the tour buses and motels and the chaotic marathon of on-the-road, small-town gigs? Is it the artist themselves taking control of the camera to give us a more intimate, insightful look into their creative process — the highs, the lows, the sacrifices, and the perks of fame?

Is it a combination of all of these?

Whatever that magical “it” factor is, all of the docs on this list — from tranquil recording sessions to cinematic road trip movies to dramatic reenactments to reels of film that have been hidden away for decades — have it in some form or other.

These are the best music documentaries streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

The-Beatles-Get-Back
Disney+

The Beatles: Get Back (2021)

Run Time: 468 min

There’s a kind of mythos surrounding The Beatles, their meteoric rise, and their complicated break-up. Much of that is fueled by the untimely death of their founding member, John Lennon, but more still stems from the group’s prolific lyrical output — something that’s on full display in Peter Jackson’s biographical epic, Get Back. The three-part six-hour-long documentary is a musical odyssey, one that peels back the veneer of nostalgia and gives us a raw, moving, and at times unbearably intimate look at the four lads whose influence is still being felt, decades after their initial peak of stardom. Subdued and unstructured but made with purpose, the series gives us a glimpse of these figures with episodes of genius on full display — like when Paul riffs on his bass and produces one of the band’s biggest hits in just a few minutes. The best moments come when we get an unedited look at the strife, tension, and profound connection these musical icons shared, though.

Happier Than Ever Billie Eilish
Disney+

Billie Eilish: Happier Than Ever, A Love Letter to Los Angeles (2021)

Run Time: 65 min

Billie Eilish has had a prodigious career. That’s not hyperbole, it’s simply a fact. She’s ticked off everything from Grammy wins and Oscars trophies to headlining the world’s major music festivals and being interesting enough that not one, but two documentaries have attempted to distill her star power to something us mere mortals can understand. In this doc, which stands as Billie’s love letter to her hometown, director Robert Rodriguez throws animation into the mix, creating a kind of hybrid doc/album concept film that’s both beautifully straightforward and deceptively insightful.

SUMMER-SOUL.jpeg
HULU

Summer of Soul (2021)

Run Time: 118 min

Go all the way back to the consequential summer of 1969 as Roots crew drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson brings the incomparable Harlem Cultural Festival to life with his Oscar-winning Summer Of Soul. Filled with a collection of performances from iconic musicians like Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight, this doc doubly rewards viewers by diving into the intersection between current events and music, showcasing the power of music and an event that has been shockingly under-remembered until now.

Olivia Rodrigo Music Doc
Disney+

Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U (2022)

Run Time: 76 min

The only female artist who’s had a bigger breakout than Billie Eilish is this Disney star whose catchy-as-hell breakup track, Driver’s License catapulted her to the top of the charts during a pandemic that had us all feeling a little blue. This doc shares some of the same qualities that made that song, and its accompanying music video, such a hit. There’s a barren feeling to all of the deserts and flatlands Rodrigo drives through while on her way from the recording studio where she created her debut album Sour, back home to California. There’s also a vintage, grainy filter imposed on all of the vistas she stops at along the way, performing some of the album’s biggest hits to intimate crowds and fan gatherings. It’s a vibe – and a worthy entry into the music doc space from an artist who’s just getting started.

Taylor Swift Folklore Pond Sessions
Disney+

Folklore: The Pond Sessions (2020)

Run Time: 105 min

Of the two stellar albums Taylor Swift dropped in 2020, Folklore was the one with the least fanfare surrounding it — a record Swift quietly unveiled that guided fans even deeper into the fantasy-like wood she’d escaped to during quarantine. And with this doc — an intimate, no-frills recording session in a rustic cabin by a lake, somewhere north of New York City – Swift doubles down on this new era of her career she’s knowingly entered into. This is a doc about Taylor Swift, the songwriter – not the pop star or tabloid target. Stripped down and raw, the doc merges some home videos of Swift recording the album years earlier with frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff and newcomer (to the Swift scene) Aaron Dessner with live performances from Swift, held in between chats that dive deep into her musical knowledge and her artistic process. It’s illuminating in the best way and Swift has never been better.

We Are Freestyle Supreme Lin Manuel Miranda
Hulu

We Are Freestyle Supreme (2020)

Run Time: 90 min

Before Lin Manuel-Miranda was creating Oscar-nominated bops for Disney flicks and winning Peabody awards for history-making Broadway musicals, he was just a guy on a street corner in the Heights, freestyling with his friends. This doc, which leans heavily on archival footage of Miranda and fellow Freestyle Supreme members like Thomas Kail, Christopher Jackson, and others, charts the rise of the group whose on-stage trick is to take audience suggestions and turn them into feature-length raps and bops and skits for our entertainment. There’s some incredible talent on display here as we see the group perform at fringe fests and basement cellars, but somehow, knowing the success each of these guys will one day find makes viewing their humble beginning even more exciting.

Aretha Franklin Amazing Grace
Neon

Amazing Grace: Aretha Franklin (2018)

Run Time: 89 min

In 1972, Aretha Franklin gave a two-night performance of some of her biggest hits in a crowded Baptist church. Decades later, we finally get that footage. Filmed by Sydney Pollock, this is Aretha Franklin before people universally recognized her as an icon. Her voice is unparalleled, her energy infectious, her talent obvious, but this doc shows the synergy between her religious upbringing and the music she would bring to the world. It might just move you to tears.

blackpink.jpg
Getty Image

Blackpink: The Movie (2021)

Run Time: 100 min

Of the two Blackpink docs circulating the streaming world, this Hulu entry highlights the girl group’s undeniable stage presence, weaving concert footage from their most recent internet-breaking performance, “The Show” with older clips from when they were just beginning their reign as the queens of KPop. There’s a bit of commentary from the women as they reflect on their bond and how they’ve gotten this far, but the strongest moments are when fans get to watch them in their element, killing intricately choreographed numbers and serving up some of the best live shows we’ve seen yet.

Madonna And The Breakfast Club
Hulu

Madonna: The Breakfast Club (2019)

Run Time: 105 min | IMDb: 6.5/10

The most fascinating music docs tell the stories of stars before they became them. Plenty of entries on this list fit the bill, but none do it like this hybrid film that mixes archival footage and glimpses of Madonna’s old stomping grounds in Detroit with dramatic reenactments of the artist’s earliest days in New York. The journey is gripping, from mourning her mother and hoping to escape the dreariness of her hometown, to hitting the scene in Queens during a musical rebirth when fashion and art, and street culture were colliding to form a creative environment unique enough to turn a talented former dancer into a pop music behemoth.

Frank Zappa
Magnolia Pictures

Zappa (2020)

Run Time: 169 min

Music fans have likely heard the name Frank Zappa, but few truly understand just how unique and idiosyncratic his career truly was. This doc aims to rectify that, combing through hundreds of hours of archival footage supplied by Zappa’s estate to paint a picture of the sometimes-acclaimed, sometimes-controversial musician that we simply haven’t seen before. From his early beginnings worshipping the musical oddities to spoofing hit Beatles records to fighting American censorship, Zappa was an individual in every sense of the word, which makes charting his musical journey all the more interesting.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Why The Supremes Deserve To Be Held In The Same Regard As The Beatles

by
The Supremes
Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

With the recent release of the six-hour Beatles documentary, Get Back, music fans have been re-examining the Fab Four’s body of work, achievements, and impact. And rightly so — the group absolutely set standards for what achievement and excellence in popular music could look like. But, what if you found out that there was another group who achieved twelve No. 1 singles, who knocked The Beatles out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 100 not once but three times; who appeared on the Ed Sullivan show eleven times to the Liverpudlians’ three visits; who released 20 albums between the years 1962 and 1970, and who toured and performed long after The Beatles retired from live concerts in 1966?

That group was none other than The Supremes, the Motown trio consisting of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard. And yet, these women haven’t received half the accolades and hero worship that is attached to The Beatles. That’s because the primacy of the Fab Four as the platonic ideal of serious musicians worthy of study and consideration is deeply entrenched and unquestioned. But The Supremes made history, broke records, and set standards at a level that deserves the same level of regard.

The first argument against this position will undoubtedly be that The Supremes didn’t write their songs, nor did they play any instruments. Yes, The Supremes benefited from the same hit-making machine that all the Motown artists used — songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland and the stellar house band, The Funk Brothers. They also greatly benefited from the creative vision of Motown founder and CEO Barry Gordy. But all of that behind-the-scenes skill and talent would have gone unheard without the voices of the three women who sang, performed, and interpreted the songs. You could try to argue that Barry Gordy could have gotten anyone else in the Motown family to sing the songs, except that the minute The Supremes became successful is when Holland-Dozier-Holland figured out how to write for Diana Ross’ voice.

The Beatles didn’t exist in a vacuum. They taught themselves to write songs by listening to and performing covers of American rhythm and blues artists. But they too were guided by seasoned professionals who had the skills to plug into The Beatles’ innate talents. Brian Epstein, the group’s manager, and George Martin, the A+R man who signed them to their record contract and produced their albums, provided equally decisive and impactful guidance and direction. Epstein influenced their visual image and presentation, and offered direction that helped the band evolve their live act to a more professional level. Martin was instrumental in piloting the band through the unwelcoming and unfamiliar recording studio process and knowledge required to successfully capture their sound on record, and remained a valued ally for life.

Both groups were incredibly successful from a commercial standpoint. Their chart histories on the all-important Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart is a literal hit parade. The Supremes reached the No. 1 position no less than twelve times within a five year period, which included five No. 1 singles in a row in 1964 and 1965: “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” and “Come See About Me” in 1964, then “Stop! In The Name of Love” and “Back In My Arms Again” in 1965. By comparison, The Beatles achieved 20 No. 1s, beginning with “Please Please Me” in 1963. But their activity directly impacted each other: “Come See About Me” knocked The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” out of the No. 1 spot, “Stop! In The Name of Love” replaced “Eight Days A Week,” and in 1968, “Love Child” toppled none other than “Hey Jude,” which had stayed in the top slot for almost five months.

Both The Beatles and The Supremes toured and performed live, and once both groups hit the charts, they were constantly in demand. The Supremes got started in one of the traveling revue types of shows popularized in the 1950s, Dick Clark’s ‘Cavalcade Of Stars,’ where they started at the bottom, not even appearing on the marquee. By the tour’s end, they were the headliners due to the success of “Where Did Our Love Go.” They also toured with Berry Gordy’s own operation, the Motortown Revue, played their own headlining shows, and as part of Gordy’s strategy to move The Supremes into the mainstream, played residencies in Las Vegas and the Copacabana in New York City. The Beatles, on the other hand, followed what is now the traditional rock and roll path of playing headlining shows in theaters, arenas, and, finally, stadiums. They wound up retiring from live performance in 1966 because Beatlemania made it dangerous and artistically unrewarding. The perils the band faced while performing live, from non-stop screaming making it impossible to be heard to real physical peril from surging fans, is incredibly well-documented and obviously very real. But we hear far less about the danger Black artists like The Supremes faced touring the American South due to racism and segregation, which made simple acts like stopping for a bathroom or finding somewhere to eat literally life-threatening.

In terms of cultural influence, the stories of The Beatles’ first appearance on Ed Sullivan causing every young boy in America to run out and buy a guitar is now canon. The impact they had on the art, culture, music, and society of the 1960s is undeniable; it’s been written about, documented, discussed in a million interviews with rock and roll bands from that time forward. But The Supremes’ effect on popular culture is somehow less revered despite having effected a level of impact that is similar, if not greater in some ways. They were the first Motown act to appear on Ed Sullivan, which beamed them into exactly the same households that watched The Beatles. Oprah Winfrey has told the story about what it felt like to see The Supremes on the show, and how “every little Black girl of my generation wanted to grow up and be…Miss Ross.” And the esteemed civil rights leader Reverend Ralph Abernathy, told Diana, “Just continue to be great. Every time the white man sees you on television or in concert and becomes a fan, you are being of assistance.”

Expanding the traditional canon of popular music to include artists who should have always been considered influential doesn’t devalue the achievements of the artists who are already there. Recognizing wider definitions of influence and importance, and re-examining our criteria of interpretation provides listeners and music fans with a new vantage point that potentially enhances and enriches their enjoyment and understanding, and also provides inspiration for future musicians by giving them a wider palette to draw from. The Beatles themselves adored Motown and the American rhythm and blues that they drew from to create something that was uniquely their own. They’d likely be the first ones to agree with a more expansive definition of influence that included The Supremes.

A Beatles Vs. Beach Boys Debate Is Taking Over Twitter, So Questlove And Justin Vernon Have Weighed In

by
Paul McCartney Brian Wilson Beatles Beach Boys Coachella 2009
Getty Image

While The Beatles are widely considered to be the best and/or most important band of the ’60s, there are plenty of folks out there who would instead pledge their allegiance to The Beach Boys. Well, it was argued on Twitter that the former is a better group than the latter, which has prompted both bands to trend due to the discussion surrounding that claim.

Last night, journalist Emily Brooks tweeted, “My husband is out with a hot take: The Beach Boys are better than The Beatles. Immediately upon hearing this I was shook. He told me, ‘Put it out in the Twitterverse, I bet I get love.’”

That got a reply from beloved The Roots drummer Questlove, who wrote, “Welp: if it weren’t for Pet Sounds we woulda never had Sgt Peppers [shrugging emoji].” Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon responded to that tweet with an emoji of a hand pointing to the left, indicating support for Questlove’s view.

Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson has addressed that Pet Sounds/Sgt. Pepper’s point before. In a recent interview, for example, he was asked what his favorite album is, and he said, “I’d have to say Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Obviously, I love The Beatles and we have always had a mutual love and respect for each other. They say that it was birthed from hearing Pet Sounds… I don’t know… but I just love that album.”

Meanwhile, while it would be fair for Paul McCartney to choose The Beatles in this debate, he has nothing but love for the Beach Boys. In fact, in a 2007 interview, McCartney said of a Pet Sounds highlight, “‘God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him and I’m afraid to say that during the sound check, I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in, and to stand there singing it with Brian.”

On a related note, in an interview with Uproxx earlier this month, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘s Glenn Howerton said, “I don’t like the f*cking Beatles, man. […] I got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about The Beatles because I feel like they made a lot of really cool music, and they were obviously incredibly innovative and all that. But I think there were a lot of bands that were around that same time that just don’t get enough play. And I’m just f*cking sick of hearing about The Beatles. Like, Jesus Christ, just shut the f*ck up.”

Check out some more Beatles vs. Beach Boys tweets below.

Mark Hamill Shared Some Memes Mashing Up ‘Get Back’ With ‘Star Wars,’ Because He Too Is Apparently Bingeing The New Beatles Series

by
mark-hamill-top.jpeg
Disney/Lucasfilm

There were a lot of viewing options over the Thanksgiving holiday, but few were as epic as Get Back, the three-part, nearly eight-hour doc series about chronicling the recording of The Beatles’ album Let It Be. It’s a game-changer in a lot of ways. For one, it dispels the myth that Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s soon-to-be-wife, was a disruptive presence who led to the band’s break-up. One person who seems to have chosen the Beatles over, say, the new South Park movie is none other than Mark Hamill.

The actor and “good at social media” celeb dropped a handful of memes that photoshopped various Star Wars figures into famous photos of the Fab Four. There’s the young him as Luke Skywalker hanging with them circa what looks like 1966. There’s him, Carrie Fisher’s Leia, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, and Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca among the throngs in the cover of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. There’s John, Paul, George, and Ringo decked out in Storm Trooper regalia.

What’s the connection? Both Star Wars and Get Back (though no other Beatles content) are owned by Disney. Or maybe Hamill just really, really likes The Beatles. Who doesn’t? In the meantime, hats off to the many who spent a large chunk of their holiday weekend rocking out with The Beatles as they appeared to really enjoy each other’s company — apart from that stretch where George Harrison quits the band, of course.

(Via EW)

‘The Beatles: Get Back’ Is A Miracle For Hardcore Beatles Fan

by
Get Back
Disney

Around five hours into Peter Jackson‘s eight-hour epic The Beatles: Get Back, we see Michael Lindsay-Hogg – the director of the 1970 film Get Back who was responsible for all of this footage existing in the first place – with a distressed look on his face and he kind of sighs and says, “I don’t know what story I’m telling anymore.” His biggest problem, which he fully admits, is, if everyone is being honest, he’s got, on film, the most intimate portrait of the most famous band in the world. And of course when he says this out loud all The Beatles seem into the idea of just “putting it all out there,” but Lindsay-Hogg has that look on his face that he knows this will never happen. There’s no way anyone is going to see what really happened for at least 50 years. (It would take almost 53.)

The Let It Be sessions are infamously legendary. And every Beatles fan has dreamed about being given access to the vault with approximately 60 hours of footage from this time period. The fact that it’s never been released just fueled the idea that it must be The Beatles at their worst, constantly at each other’s throats. And the Let It Be film that came out in 1970 didn’t help. At only 80 minutes, it is basically just the songs preformed, inter-spliced with a few “fly on the wall” moments with not much context. (This movie is pretty hard to find. A couple years ago I had to buy a bootleg off of eBay.)

The most notorious scene involves Paul and George while rehearsing “Two of Us” (a very pleasant song that, somehow, always seems to be surrounded by drama in both the original Let It Be and Get Back). Paul McCartney is trying to tell George Harrison what he wants and adds an aside that he knows this annoys George. George fires back, “You don’t annoy me anymore,” with the “anymore” part being extra pointed. Now, when you take into account that the film was released right about the time The Beatles broke up, everyone just assumed every interaction was like this. There’s a scene in Get Back, late in the sessions, when Paul and John Lennon are singing “Two of Us” as ventriloquists, both trying to outdo each other as to keep their smiling teeth together and not move their lips as they sing. They are having a blast. It shows a portrait of two people who, yes, can get on each other’s nerves. But these are obviously two people who still genuinely like each other.

What is hard to get over is everything we’ve always heard about this era of The Beatles is now just … here. Like, want to know what it was like? Well, now you can travel back in time to January 1969 and spend eight hours with them. This is how I engaged with the material. Other than, every so often, a few written out captioning explaining what is happening, there’s no modern voiceover or talking heads. For people who maybe don’t care that much about The Beatles and are looking for a more straightforward documentary, this might get tedious. You know, maybe by the 15th time the band rehearses “Get Back,” I could see the more casual fan thinking, why am I watching this? But, for me, I was transported back just to observe. I literally felt like I was there as a frustrated Paul started strumming his bass trying to come up with anything new and, slowly, you can hear the formation of “Get Back” start to emerge. It’s like watching one of those miracle of lifetime lapse videos of a flower blooming. It’s incredible to watch McCartney literally just make up one of the most famous songs of all time in real-time.

Another fascinating aspect is the presence of Yoko Ono during all of this. Much has been assumed about her relationship with the rest of the band and the repercussions, but, again here, we get to see it. And, yes, she’s always there. And if I’m Paul McCartney, yeah, I can see how someone bringing their significant other to work every day might be a little disruptive. And you can tell sometimes he’s annoyed. But there’s no real blowup or anger. For the most part, she’s just there, sitting next to John, not saying much. Sometimes when the band is jamming she will scream into the microphone. On a day John is late, Paul is asked point-blank about her presence and he says John and Yoko want to basically merge as one, and to do that they have to be around each other at all times and who is he to say they can’t do that. He goes as far to say, “she’s okay, honestly.” And admits if he pushes things, John would choose Yoko over The Beatles and, as the defacto leader of the band, he’ll take John and Yoko over no John at all.

And this all leads to another interesting development. Most Beatles fans know that when the band formed it was John Lennon’s band. And as the years went on, Paul’s influence became greater and by the time Let It Be happens, Paul’s the one running the show. And running it without a manager since Brian Epstein died, so he’s also doing that. It’s weird, Paul gets some criticisms for this era but Get Back puts all this in better context. Yeah, he can be a jerk sometimes, but he’s the only one in the band trying to keep the band together. Ringo Starr had already quit and come back during their previous album. George quits and comes back during this one. And John looks, honestly, pretty content, but also it’s obvious he has no interest in a leadership role.

After George quits, Paul and John go to a cafeteria to have a private meeting, but didn’t realize there’s a hidden microphone in the room. And we get to hear the whole conversation. And it’s fascinating. It’s Paul basically saying he has to be the leader because John doesn’t want to be the leader and admitting that his leadership style has pissed off George, as John gives Paul advice on how to be a better leader. What’s interesting is both men are frustrated, but voices are never raised. If there were ever a time the two would be at “each other’s throats,” this would probably be the time. But, instead, it’s constructive. And, again, a peek behind The Beatles curtain and it’s unbelievably fascinating.

Get Back is not about a band breaking up. It’s about a band trying to save itself, but ultimately fails. The whole idea of a rooftop concert is to do something new and exciting. After that performance, which would be their last together, the idea is that is just the beginning. They start talking about more ideas for popup concerts. But what Get Back deftly shows is that the seeds are already planted for a breakup. Even after George returns, he’s frustrated because he doesn’t get enough of his songs on the album and says he has a lot of songs built up. And had contemplated selling them off but, instead, now wants to make a solo album separate from The Beatles. John has become enchanted with Allen Klein, the manager of The Rolling Stones. And Klein wants to manage The Beatles and John is pushing the others hard about this, but the rest of them seem, at the best, nonplussed about this idea.

(I know some people won’t like what Jackson has done with the film, making it look modern. And to be honest I usually don’t like that either. When I buy a 4K disc of a movie, I want it to look grainy. One of the worst 4K discs is Terminator 2, which has so much digital noise reduction applied it looks like it was filmed on an iPhone. It’s terrible. But what Jackson does with Get Back doesn’t bother me. He’s doing something else here. He’s not restoring an existing movie, he’s making a new thing. And I do think the aesthetic he comes up with here does help immerse a viewer. Put it this way: if Jackson did this to, say, The Frighteners, I would not like this. But, here, I get what he’s doing and, for me, it works.)

Again, for casual fans, Get Back might be a bit much. Honestly, even for big fans of Beatles music, if you don’t care about the inner workings of the band and their personalities, it might, too, be a bit much. (There were times even I was like, okay, this seems a bit much. But when I think of this as more of a historical document than a piece of entertainment, I get why certain scenes were included. I get why Jackson decided that even some tedious scenes needed to be seen by the public instead of locked in a vault somewhere.) But if you want to go back in time to January 1969 and just hang out with The Beatles and see what that’s like, there is nothing that comes closer to this experience than Get Back.

‘The Beatles: Get Back’ begins streaming on Thanksgiving Day via Disney+. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Rihanna Is The Only 2000s Artist In The ‘Billboard’ Greatest Of All Time Hot 100 Artists Chart Top 10

by
rihanna-lakers-getty-full.jpg
Getty Image

Although it’s been a few years since since Rihanna dropped a new single, don’t forget that she’s one of the biggest artists ever in terms of chart performance. Billboard has actually confirmed that: On their new Greatest Of All-Time Hot 100 Artists chart, Rihanna finds herself in the top 10.

The list is as follows:

  1. The Beatles
  2. Madonna
  3. Elton John
  4. Elvis Presley
  5. Mariah Carey
  6. Stevie Wonder
  7. Janet Jackson
  8. Michael Jackson
  9. Whitney Houston
  10. Rihanna

Of those, Rihanna is the only artist whose first single — 2005’s “Pon De Replay” — was released in the 2000s. Billboard notes that Drake was really close to also making the top 10, as he ranks No. 11 (compared to No. 22 on the 2018 chart). Also making the top 100 list are Taylor Swift (No. 21), Maroon 5 (24), Bruno Mars (29), and Justin Bieber (38). Additionally, a handful of artists who made their Hot 100 debut in the 2010s are also appearing on the chart for the first time: The Weeknd (No. 43), Post Malone (77), Ariana Grande (78), and Ed Sheeran (87).

As for how this chart was put together, Billboard notes, “Billboard‘s Greatest Of All-Time Hot 100 Songs and Artists rankings are based on weekly performance on the Hot 100 (from its inception on Aug. 4, 1958, through Nov. 6, 2021). Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates during various periods. Artists are ranked based on a formula blending performance, as outlined above, of all their Hot 100 chart entries.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.