How the Biggest Band in the World Fell Apart: The Beatles

Few breakups in music history have been blamed on one person as often as The Beatles splitting up has been blamed on Yoko Ono.

It makes for a simple story: John Lennon meets Yoko, she enters the band's inner circle, tensions rise, and the biggest band in the world falls apart. Except the real story is far more complicated. By the time The Beatles officially dissolved, the cracks had been forming for years. Money, management, creative control, exhaustion and four musicians growing in different directions all played a part.

So what actually killed The Beatles? The Beginning of the End

One of the biggest changes came in 1967, when Beatles manager Brian Epstein died unexpectedly. Epstein had handled much of the business surrounding the band and helped keep four increasingly independent personalities moving in the same direction. Without him, The Beatles were forced to make more of those decisions themselves.

At the same time, their ambitions were changing. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr weren't four young musicians chasing the same dream anymore. They were becoming individual artists with their own ideas about what their music should sound like.

The White Album Showed the Cracks

During the recording of 1968's The Beatles, better known as the White Album, the band increasingly worked separately.

George Harrison had developed into a serious songwriter but was still competing with the dominant Lennon-McCartney partnership for space on Beatles albums. Ringo Starr became so frustrated during the sessions that he temporarily quit the band. John was increasingly spending time with Yoko Ono in the studio, breaking with the group's previous working habits. And Paul was often trying to keep the band productive, something the others could sometimes experience as controlling.

They were still capable of making incredible music together. They just weren't functioning like the same band anymore.

Then Came the Business Fight

After Epstein's death, the question of who should manage The Beatles became a major source of conflict. Paul wanted entertainment lawyers Lee and John Eastman, the father and brother of his future wife Linda Eastman, involved in managing their affairs.

John, George and Ringo backed Allen Klein. That disagreement wasn't about a guitar part or whose song made the album. It involved control of one of the biggest musical businesses on Earth. The division became extremely difficult to overcome.

Yoko's presence absolutely changed the dynamic around John and the rest of the group, and some Beatles were uncomfortable with her constant presence during recording sessions. Yoko became the easiest person to blame for a breakup that had much deeper roots.

Here's where the story gets interesting.

John Lennon effectively left The Beatles first. At a band meeting in September 1969, Lennon told the others that he wanted a “divorce” from the group. The news wasn't immediately announced publicly because of ongoing business matters and the upcoming release of Abbey Road.

Then, in April 1970, Paul released a promotional Q&A alongside his debut solo album McCartney. His answers made it clear that he didn't foresee working with Lennon again, and the press interpreted it as Paul announcing the end of The Beatles. That led millions of fans to believe Paul had broken up the band. In reality, the breakup had already happened behind closed doors.

There Wasn't One Villain

That's probably the biggest misconception surrounding the end of The Beatles. There wasn't one person who destroyed them. The Beatles didn't really break up because of one dramatic moment. They grew apart. Four musicians who had spent years changing popular music together eventually reached a point where being Beatles no longer meant the same thing to each of them. And maybe that's less dramatic than blaming Yoko Ono.

But it's a much better story.