Why Did the Beatles Really Break Up?

You just never get over some break-ups, and for fans across generations, the Beatles’ split in 1970 will always be one of the hardest-to-heal musical wounds. In the latest episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Rob Sheffield — author of Rolling Stone’s September 2020 cover story on the Beatles’ last days — joins Brittany Spanos and host Brian Hiatt to talk about the many interlocking factors that led Paul, John, George, and Ringo to call it quits (no, you can’t just blame it all on Yoko Ono). Sheffield also previews Peter Jackson’s in-the-works Beatles documentary, which the Lord of the Rings director is assembling from the extensive footage shot for 1970’s Let It Be film. Plus, Ringo Starr chimes in with his impressions of what he’s seen so far of Jackson’s project: dramatically enhanced and restored footage of the Beatles rooftop performance.

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