Throughout his emphatic rise to global stardom with The Beatles, lead guitarist George Harrison became known as the ‘Quiet One’. As the youngest band member, he was perhaps a little more reserved in conversation. However, one must remember that the aspiring songwriter had to dig his oar in alongside the grandeur of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Meanwhile, Ringo Starr was known as a gregarious class clown of sorts.
Despite his nickname, Harrison was anything but quiet. Character references from former bandmates, famous friends and family all seemed to portray a man of wit and wisdom who was never afraid to speak up if he felt it worthwhile. Harrison’s deeply spiritual side may have betrayed a quiet front, but this is only because such people are rarely fond of superficial conversation.
Tom Petty, who joined Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison in Traveling Wilburys in the late 1980s, saw a completely different side of the Beatle. “He never shut up,” Petty told Rolling Stone in 2011. “He was the best hang you could imagine.” Supposedly, if you steered a conversation towards spirituality or music, Harrison would whir into action and fire on all cylinders.
Other character referees uncover a self-assured and even argumentative side of Harrison. Following Harrison’s death in 2001, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones said that he was “quiet and funny, but he could also be rather combative.” Supposedly, one had to fight one’s corner in a band like The Beatles.
Jagger’s description certainly seems to align with the man we see in several interviews during the last two decades of Harrison’s life. Although he couldn’t be described as conceited, Harrison was never afraid to give his honest opinion of contemporary rock and pop stars.
In fact, the quickest way to alienate Harrison would be to inflate one’s ego. Discussing modern pop rock music in a 1997 conversation with The Independent, Harrison targetted the Irish rock band U2 and its divisive, mononymous frontman, Bono. “You know what irritates me about modern music? It’s all based on ego,” Harrison pointed out. “Look at a group like U2. Bono and his band are so egocentric. The more you jump around, the bigger your hat is, the more people listen to your music. The only important thing is to sell and make money. It’s nothing to do with talent.”
As far as Harrison was concerned, popular rock music started to go downhill in the 1980s with the introduction of bands like U2. Reacting to the interviewer’s question regarding the musical credibility of other contemporary pop groups like Texas and Oasis, Harrison added, “Rubbish! They aren’t very interesting. It’s OK if you’re 14 years old. I prefer to listen to Dylan.”
In the last decade of his life, Harrison famously entered into a brief exchange of verbal swipes with Liam Gallagher, whom he deemed untalented and veritably egocentric. Comparing 1990s pop stars with those of the 1960s and ’70s, Harrison opined that The Beatles “had a value which will last forever,” whereas he had severe doubts over the longevity of bands like U2 and the Spice Girls. “Today there are groups who sell lots of records and then disappear … Will we remember U2 in 30 years? Or the Spice Girls? I doubt it,” he concluded. “The good thing about them is that you can look at them with the sound turned down.”
In the news bulletin below, you can hear one of George Harrison’s damning appraisals of Liam Gallagher.
