From uppers to downers, from cannabis to LSD, The Beatles did it all. The extent of how much it influenced their music is a more interesting question. While drug use was a part of the Fab Four's lives, when it came to working in the studio, they rarely ever let drug use dictate their work.
The Beatles were introduced to drugs in Hamburg. To get through the long nights performing in the drunken clubs of the Reeperbahn, they were given Preludin, or 'prellies' – German slimming pills which removed their appetites and gave them the energy to take their stage shows to new, often chaotic, levels.
26 August 1967: The Beatles renounce the use of drugs | The Beatles Bible.
At the time, too, Lennon and Yoko Ono (who is seen throughout the documentary as a fairly benign presence) were heavily into heroin, a dependency that contributed to the band's dissolution.
' 'Yes, we were. ' Sgt. Pepper was a drug album.” The Beatles had been introduced to marijuana by Bob Dylan in 1964 and had used the drug steadily since.
The Beatles were famously photographed with boxing legend Cassius Clay in February 1964, in Miami, Florida. But it's a wax model of boxer Sonny Liston, the man that Clay defeated later that month in order to become the heavyweight champion, who appears on the Sgt. Pepper cover.
The badge Paul was wearing actually reads “O.P.P.”, which stands for the Ontario Provincial Police. The angle of the photograph makes the final “P” look like a “D”. Another distinguishing feature of Sgt. Pepper was that it was the first album to have the song lyrics printed in full on the album cover.
As mentioned, John Lennon was a world-famous musician and member of the Beatles. He was also a heroin addict. In the late 1960s, when heroin use began to increase in popularity, Lennon started using the drug recreationally. Lennon's heroin use led to him becoming addicted to the drug.
"Tangerine trees and marmalade skies" are to be found in the lyrics of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," one of the Beatles' greatest hits. Some have claimed that the first letters of Lucy, Sky and Diamonds supposedly refer to LSD, the famous hallucinogen that the Fab Four undoubtedly had some experience with.
Paul McCartney says The Beatles suffered from mental health issues: “There were a lot of things we had to work through” Paul McCartney has said that The Beatles most likely suffered from mental health issues, but they were reluctant to discuss it at the height of their fame.
John was the only Beatle who never quit smoking. Shortly before his death, in a 1980 Playboy interview, John indicated that he wasn't too worried about cigarettes harming his health. He called himself a “macrobiotic,” referring to the macrobiotic fad diet that was based on a yin/yang approach to eating.
Paul McCartney claims he's cut down on his drinking to just one “big glass” of wine a week.
Paul McCartney is released from a Tokyo jail and deported from Japan.
Indeed, there is musical evidence to suggest they enjoyed vino. According to Quora.com, the buzzing sound at the end of “Long Long Long” is a bottle of red wine vibrating on top of a Leslie speaker cabinet. While they are better known for fancying psychedelic substances, the Beatles also partook of scotch.
LSD was important to the Beatles, whose song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is thought to be a nod to the drug, with psychedelics referred to in Day Tripper among others. LSD is also thought to have played an important role in the creation of the album Revolver.
A secretive meeting between the Fab Four and the King. On August 27, 1965, a turning point in pop culture occurred at 525 Perugia Way in Bel Air, California, one that few knew about while it was taking place: the meeting between the four Beatles and Elvis Presley, in Elvis's home.
Many trace the breakup of the Beatles to the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, on August 27, 1967. A record store owner with no experience managing bands, Epstein had nonetheless played a crucial role in their rise to worldwide fame.
Although all four Beatles were associated with either Protestantism or Roman Catholicism in their childhood, they had all abandoned their religious upbringings by 1964.
Everest cigarettes were launched in the 1960s and are popular in the Zimbabwean cigarette market. During the recording of Abbey Road, a 1969 album by The Beatles, audio engineer Geoff Emerick used to smoke Everests. The band liked the visual imagery of the packet and chose Everest as a working title for the album.
John Lennon opened up a little more about the song and how it allowed him to reflect on his past abuse behaviour: “I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women.
In 1968 McCartney started a secret affair with American star Francie Schwartz. Asher found out when she returned from an acting job early and found the Beatle in bed with Schwartz.
Emotional abuse of his son
Julian Lennon - his son with Cynthia - has made no secret of John's emotional abuse, once claiming that his dad's former bandmate Sir Paul McCartney was more of a father figure to him.
The Beatles had brought the values of the counterculture into the mainstream. By breaking traditional rules about what a “rock album” should be, Sgt. Pepper gave other musicians new ideas and new attitudes to the approach of music. The production of the record also set new standards in expertise and innovation.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, produced by EMI Australia for the 1983 Sydney Audio Show. Fewer than five hundred copies were pressed.
The Beatles (Various)
A signed copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band went for $290,000 (£191,000) in 2013.