₦airaland Forum

Seven

https://x.com/OGSG_Official/status/1908211118310400326?t=oxyYqo59vmlbQWbq6FnZWg&s=19

Six

https://x.com/OGSG_Official/status/1908545365369839658?t=3-JkzUMqn1_dqiLt_3gZXw&s=19

Five


https://x.com/OGSG_Official/status/1909697431031496970?t=U2rZ97Ejxf4KV7znDc1G3A&s=19

Four

NAMA Conducts Flight Validation at Ogun’s Gateway Agro-Cargo Airport

Officials from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) carried out flight checks and procedure validation yesterday at the Gateway International Agro-Cargo Airport in Ogun State, marking a major step… pic.twitter.com/MpVx528Em6

— Ogun State Government - OGSG (@OGSG_Official) April 22, 2025

Three

https://x.com/OGSG_Official/status/1911396436073210162?t=eJiCdN5HwDDVhF61RPoVEA&s=19

Two

https://x.com/OGSG_Official/status/1912502851407863878?t=ntNIbE-UnkO_1nxHP707UA&s=19

One

https://x.com/OGSG_Official/status/1912856383344484464?t=LwF8WJZgA1tF7rTTPJiy9A&s=19

Photo 1) Michael Jackson with President George HW Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush at the White House.

MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael Jackson was the most famous music star from the late 1970s till the early 2000s.

Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his music achievements broke racial barriers in America and made him a dominant figure across the world. Through songs, stages, and fashion, he proliferated visual performance for artists in popular music; popularizing street dance moves including the moonwalk, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean. Jackson is often deemed the greatest entertainer of all time based on his acclaim and records.

Jackson achieved solo stardom with the release of his fifth album Off the Wall (1979). He followed it up with Thriller (1982), the best-selling album of all time, which catapulted him to a rare level of fame, whilst aiding in the popularization of MTV and revolutionizing the music video medium with the videos for its title track along with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean". Jackson furthered his position as a global superstar with Bad (1987), the world's best-selling album of both 1987 and 1988, as well as the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". Dangerous (1991) marked a new era for Jackson, lauded as his most artistic and socially conscious album. HIStory (1995) produced "You Are Not Alone", the first song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. His final album, Invincible, was released in 2001.

Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 500 million records worldwide. He had 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles (the fifth-highest in Hot 100 history) and is the first artist to have a top-ten single on the chart in five different decades. Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice), the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Dance Hall of Fame (the only recording artist to be inducted). One of the most-awarded artists in popular music, his accolades include 13 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Legend Award, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 26 American Music Awards, including Artist of the Century; 12 World Music Awards; six Brit Awards; the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award; and three presidential honors. In 1992, Jackson founded Heal the World Foundation, donating an estimated $500 million to charity throughout his lifetime. In 2024, half of his music catalogue sold to Sony for $600 million, the largest music acquisition for a single artist in history.




Business

naptu2:
The reason why Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson quarrelled

(This is a shorter version of the story).

The Beatles were teenagers when they became famous. They really didn't know anything. John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote most of their songs.

One day someone brought a piece of paper to the studio for them to sign and they signed it (as I said, they were teenagers and didn't know anything. They were just enjoying playing music).

Unknown to them, that piece of paper transferred all publishing (song writing) rights to the record company.

The person that sings a song gets paid anytime his voice is played, but the person that writes a song gets paid any time the words and music are used, even if it's another person singing it. The song writer will get paid (any time the words or music are used) for the rest of his life and for some years after his death.

So the record company now owned their music.


One day Paul McCartney got a message from "this black kid" asking if they could make some songs together (that was Michael Jackson). He agreed, so Michael went to Sir Paul's house in the UK (I think he lived in a castle at the time and there was a recording studio in it).

One day, in between recording sessions, Michael asked Sir Paul for business advice. Since Sir Paul was more experienced, what did he think that Michael could invest in that would bring good returns.

Sir Paul told Michael all about publishing. He said that it was a very good business, since Michael was a musician and already interested in music. He said that Michael could own catalogues of musicians and make a lot of money. Michael then said, "Maybe I'll own your catalogue one day". Sir Paul laughed (he thought it was a joke).

The record company that owned the Beatles' catalogue went bankrupt and the catalogue was going to be auctioned. Sir Paul heard about it, but he wanted to be fair, so he called Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow and told her that they should put a joint bid for it.

Yoko Ono agreed to the joint bid, but she thought that the amount that Paul McCartney proposed was too high, so they reduced the bid.

They lost the auction. Michael Jackson bid and won the rights to all the Beatles songs. They would have won if they had gone with Paul McCartney's original price.

So Michael Jackson now had the Beatles' songs. This is the thing that caused the difference between Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.

Paul McCartney said that he might be sitting at home watching TV and he would see a Nike advert and they would be using a Beatles' song and it would annoy Sir Paul. They were not writing about sneakers when they wrote the song!

The song was his baby and the meaning was important to him, but here it was being used for sneakers.

So he would call Michael Jackson to complain, but Michael would tell him to relax, that it was just business, that it's not so serious.

This would annoy Sir Paul even more and that was the cause of their quarrel.

Paul.McCartney ft Michael Jackson - Say, Say, Say (1983).

naptu2:
Memories

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson (cameo appearances by Latoya Jackson and Linda McCartney).

"Say Say Say".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLEhh_XpJ-0

Michael Jackson ft Paul McCartney - The Girl Is Mine (1982)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GB9BULxZ8c?si=lvqrLKZWGDRZ4qKQ


Global Fame

naptu2:
This. Is. Perfection!

If you didn't hear me before, I said, THIS IS PERFECTION!


This was my introduction to Michael Jackson (the solo artiste) and it left me wowed. The video was perfect (to my 1980 mind), the tuxedo was perfect, the dance steps were perfect, then just listen to the music!

I play music and I have noticed something that happens in my head. I separate songs into each musical instrument and I study what each instrument does line by line. I once made money off a friend of mine because I told him that a certain song contains a certain line (on the keyboard) and he didn't believe me so we had a bet. That line was quite obscure, but he heard it when I played the song to him and I won my money.


The arrangement of this song is excellent. Every instrument is excellent. The percussion is unbelievable.

This (and the video in the last post) is how videos were before Thriller.

Do you know that there is a Nigerian version of this song? I'll post a video of the Nigerian version one day.


Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough (1979)

naptu2:
This song is absolutely perfect. The video is perfect, the arrangement is perfect, the dancing is perfect and the singing is perfect. Everything is just perfect.

This was my introduction to Michael Jackson (as a solo artiste). The Nigerian version of this song will be in my next post.


Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough (1979).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURRmWtbTbo

That song was so popular in Nigeria that there is a Nigerian version.

naptu2:
Where was I?

Ah, yes, I said that I would post the Nigerian version of "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough".

Do you know that I forgot both the name of this song and the name of the singer? I searched for it for a long time, but I couldn't find it because I couldn't remember its name. Then, on one of my music threads, someone asked me if it was true that this song existed and she actually typed the name of the song and singer in her post. Before I could search for it, someone else appeared and posted the actual video and so here it is.



Bola Abimbola - Silifa Bamijo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhbpgwBQRUc

Entrance in Bucharest, Romania

This is one of the greatest entrances ever. This was from Michael Jackson's Dangerous tour in Bucharest, Romania in 1992. Just look at how the crowd went crazy as he just stood there.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxgo-Qu-ZZE?si=xwrj1AaPOa3t3R9O


Presidential security in South Korea


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZEm95iVsNo?si=6QGutT1cg-DG2IJH

Evergreen Music

naptu2:
I'm sure that you know that I must include the advert in this one.


Jackson 5 - I'll Be There (1970)

Original audio



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-apaIOOoAo?si=veZOmQQ7Ic68g5SX


Motown 25th anniversary live performance (1983)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPTSvPVf6Pg?si=BHdPQ0NRd-0CRPBR


Duet between Michael Jackson (the child) and Michael Jackson (the adult) for a 1993 Pepsi advert.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_2TC3Scptg?si=2PBuhns1in6Eaaxp

naptu2:
I really wish that I can find that video of Alfonso Ribeiro that NTA2 Channel 5 showed 40 years ago.

naptu2:
This iconic song was at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 7 weeks.

naptu2:
The Billie Jean Series

I was listening to Billie Jean one day in 1983 or '84, when the gardener's kid asked me, "So who really owns the child?" I was confused. "What child"? Then I discovered that he thought that the tennis star Billie Jean King had actually had a child for Michael Jackson and that that was what the song was about. I convinced him that no such thing had happened.

Then he came to me again when the second song was released and said, "I told you!" Lydia Murdoch had released a reply to Billie Jean and he thought that the song was actually by Billie Jean.

Later, c1985, NTA showed a clip of a boy (around 11 years old) dancing to Billie Jean on stage. This guy danced and mimed perfectly. Then months later I saw the kid in a Pepsi advert with Michael Jackson. That kid grew up to act in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and you might know him as Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro).


Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (1983).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi_XLOBDo_Y



Lydia Murdoch - I'm Billie Jean And Mad As Hell (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlt0f-1Yr94

Michael Jackson ft The Jacksons and Alfonso Ribeiro - 1984 Pepsi advert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7LMKZOFk1o


Interview with 12 year old Alfonso Ribeiro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZNE2qfKRQY

Photo 1) President Ronald Reagan presents Michael Jackson with the Presidential Public Safety Commendation at a ceremony at the White House on May 14, 1984 after Michael allowed “Beat It” to be used in a public service campaign against drunk driving.

Photo 2) Michael Jackson with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the White House.

Photo 3) Michael Jackson with Princess Diana (they were very good friends).

Photo 4) Michael Jackson with Princess Diana and Prince Charles (as he then was).

Photo 1) Fans in New York want the Beatles to stay with them forever.

Photo 2) Fans in New York.

Photo 3) The Beatles reading a magazine about Elvis Presley.

Photo 4) The only photo of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. The Beatles were walking to their limousine after meeting Elvis and Elvis was standing in the doorway.

THE BEATLES

The Beatles (probably the most popular band ever) were the most famous music act of the 1960s.

The band was made up of guitarists John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and drummer Ringo Starr. Most of their songs were written by Lennon and McCartney.

They achieved worldwide success and led the so-called "British invasion" of the United States (a period when British music was popular in the US).

The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They are the most successful act in the history of the US Billboard charts, with the most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20), and they hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15) and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest artists in history. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.

Beatlemania

The Beatles were the most popular band in the world and fans, especially teenage girls, mobbed them wherever they went. The fanaticism was known as Beatlemania.

In Early June, 1965, it was announced that The Beatles would be awarded the MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). It was the first time that such an award was bestowed upon pop stars. Such national honours were usually awarded to soldiers (especially veterans of war), politicians and businessmen. The award ceremony was held on October 26, 1965, at Buckingham Palace.

It was almost impossible for the police to control the crowd. Fans tried to run into the Palace as the Rolls Royce took the Beatles in. They tried to climb the Palace fence and they chased the limousine as it left the Palace.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyrY7yPJuR0?si=MFm0vKux8prWUPoS



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo0WNrhyho4?si=lzfctdy4bpyNZJYk


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4_74XhHmlM?si=ktujfS_u_TFsJImS

This video contains a mix of their appearance at Buckingham Palace and their trip to New York.

In New York a young girl declares her love for Paul McCartney. She said that she kissed the limousine that brought him. She begged him to come to the window.

Paul McCartney said that the New York police chief begged them not to wave at the crowd from their hotel window. They said that they won't be able to control the crowd if the Beatles came to the window.

Other girls also declared their undying love for the Beatles.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mw1D3HTGng?si=mM9EkTXIGgMhLy5w


British invasion of America

The Beatles led the British Invasion of America, the term that was used to describe the increasing popularity of British music in the US in the 1960s.

They visited the US in February 1964 and performed on the Ed Sullivan show. Screaming girls followed them everywhere they went and it was difficult for the police to control the crowd.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sclfhlScwkk?si=4CdK7kaNjVHoKH6b


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbApDLSq1-4?si=ZVR6FaKMpr532SgZ


12,000 people were at the airport to welcome them back to the UK.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8qVDxLfqls?si=l1qSO4xT3PYkzcZc

While in the US, they also had private meetings with Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.


Global fame

The Beatles achieved global fame and had fans all over the world. In June and July 1964 the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

Their impact is still felt across Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and right round the world.


Nigeria

John Lennon was an atheist and an anti-war campaigner. He campaigned against the Nigerian Civil War and the Vietnam War. Nigerians converted his peace song into a football chant and it us probably the most popular Nigerian football chant.

naptu2:
Bonus track.

9.5 million views!

Nigerians converted this into a football chant. It's probably the most famous Super Eagles chant.

He actually recorded this in his hotel room during his honeymoon. The video was recorded in his hotel room.

He said that they were going to spend the whole of their honeymoon in bed. Journalists asked him why and he replied, "Give peace a chance" (remember that this was during the Vietnam War).

Nigerians: "All we are saying, give us more goals".

John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance (1969)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3_0GqPvr4U?si=6Xk5B3eGMUqeCQJp

Paul McCartney in Nigeria

naptu2:
So the riddle has been partly solved.

Sir Paul McCartney came to Nigeria and Fela accused him of coming to steal African music like James Brown did. Sir Paul invited Fela to EMI Studios in Apapa to hear what he was recording and he eventually convinced Fela that he wasn't stealing African music.

They subsequently became friends and Fela invited him to the Shrine. Sir Paul said he had an incredible experience at the Shrine. At first he and his people were a bit nervous because they were the only white people there and also because of the wild atmosphere at the Shrine (Indian hemp, etc.), but then he said that Fela played an amazing song and the song was so beautiful that he (Sir Paul) was weeping by the time Fela finished. That's when he and his people relaxed.

Sir Paul said that he has never been able to find the song. He said that the chorus was "Shakara woman" and people have played a song by Fela called Shakara, but it's not the same song.

I have often wondered what the song was. Fela had a habit of playing new songs at Shrine for a few years as he tweaked them and then never playing them at Shrine again after he had recorded them. Was this one of the many songs that he wrote and played at Shrine but never recorded?

Well, I have now seen the full version of the interview and Paul McCartney went and played the riff of the song on his piano (can you imagine that he could remember it after 40 years!) and that riff is from Fela's song called, "Why Black Man Dey Suffer".

naptu2:
Sir Paul McCartney talking about Fela and his favourite Fela song.


I can understand what Paul is saying because Fela had a habit of playing new songs (which had not been released) at the Shrine and he stopped playing the songs as soon as they were recorded and released.


What Sir Paul played sounds to me like a blend of Beast of No Nation and Water No Get Enemy.

I suspect that Sir Paul's experience was enhanced by indian hemp.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Jnl4jERqE

naptu2:
"Band On The Run" (a trip to Lagos). Paul McCartney & Wings (1973).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJoxKffGyY

Band on the Run is an album by Paul McCartney & Wings, released in 1973. It was Wings' third album. It became Wings' most successful album and remains the most celebrated of McCartney's post-Beatles albums. It was 1974's top-selling studio album in the United Kingdom and Australia, and revitalised McCartney's critical standing.

It was the last McCartney album issued on the Apple Records label.

Bored with recording in the United Kingdom, they wanted to go to an exotic locale. After asking EMI to send him a listing of all their international recording studios, Paul happened upon Lagos in Nigeria and was instantly taken with the idea of recording in Africa (EMI Studios on Wharf Road, Apapa).

The band established a routine of recording during the week and playing tourist on the weekends. Paul temporarily joined a country club where he would spend most mornings. The band would be driven to the studio in the early afternoon where recording would last into the late evening and sometimes early morning. To make up for the departed band members, Paul would play drums and lead guitar parts with Denny playing rhythm guitar and Linda adding keyboards.

More incidents would plague Wings' Lagos stay. While out walking one night against advice, Paul and Linda were robbed at knifepoint. The assailants made away with all of their valuables and even stole a bag containing a notebook full of handwritten lyrics and songs, and cassettes containing demos for songs to be recorded.

Another incident was the confrontation with local Afrobeat star and political activist Fela Kuti who publicly accused the band of being in Africa to exploit and steal African music after their visit to his club. Kuti even went to the studio to confront McCartney who played their songs for him proving that they contained no local influence whatsoever. Later on drummer and former Cream member Ginger Baker invited the band to record their entire album at his place, ARC Studio in Ikeja. Though not wanting the invitation, Paul agreed to go there for one day. The song "Picasso's Last Words" was recorded at ARC with Baker contributing a percussive tin of gravel.

naptu2:
Ginger Baker is an English drummer and founder of the rock band Cream. He spent a lot of time in Nigeria in the 1970s, recording and studying African music and he became a good friend of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. You can see some videos of his interactions with Fela on YouTube. They are taken from his documentary Ginger Baker in Africa.

He was instrumental in settling the rift between Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney was bored with recording in the UK and so he decided to record his album “Band On The Run” at EMI studios in Apapa, Lagos in 1973. (You can read about everything that happened during McCartney’s visit on this thread https://www.nairaland.com/1387857/foreign-local-musical-tributes-nigeria ) . McCartney went to watch Fela play at the Shrine, but Fela confronted him and accused him of coming to exploit and steal African music.

Fela had good reason to be concerned. James Brown toured Nigeria in 1970. Fela’s legendary drummer, Tony Allen claims that James Brown sent his arranger, David Mathews, to check him out and that David Mathews took notes about how he played. James Brown’s bassist, William “Bootsy” Collins said that they went to Fela’s club (the Shrine) in Lagos and they were amazed by what they saw.

“I mean, this is the James Brown band, but we were totally wiped out! That is one trip I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world”.

In another interview he said, “I thought THEY were the greatest, period. Even before I got into the James Brown band, the James Brown band was number one to me. But once I got there and saw Fela and them, then I had second thoughts about it. . .when I heard these cats, it was like another dimension. . .a deeper feel to me. . .it was like, ‘Man, this is IT. We gotta try to be like this!” [laughs] (read more here http://afrofunkforum..com.ng/2006/04/felajames-brown-connection.html?m=1)

So Fela thought that Paul McCartney had also come to steal African music without giving anything back or crediting the source of the music. Fela also went to EMI studios to confront McCartney. Everything was resolved when McCartney and his group played their music for Fela so that he could hear that there wasn’t any African influence in it. Ginger Baker was also able to bring them together and he also invited McCartney to record at his studio in Ikeja.

Evergreen music

naptu2:
Check out the screaming girls in the audience. That's one of the reasons that John didn't wear his glasses (if I remember correctly), so that he wouldn't see them.

This video is from a live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.


The Beatles - Twist and Shout (1963).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-VAxGJdJeQ

naptu2:
I've wanted to post many bonus tracks in the past few days, but Michael and Prince have so many great songs that there's no time for bonus tracks, so I decided that I'll post them at the end, but I can't resist this one.

Posting Come Together reminded me of this video and I had to post it.

(I wonder how John Lennon was able to do that with his voice)

(Look at Paul McCartney's face when he goes, "Whooo" )


The Beatles - Twist and Shout live on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

naptu2:
51 million YouTube views!

Can you hear the difference? The first video (the one with 51 million views) is from the movie and album, while the second video (audio) is from the single.

The Beatles - Let It Be (1970)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGj85pVzRJs?si=3zEvNufgC5NB0cOl



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1SbuZcTZdM?si=03w8AFsAbJBKlY8o

The Beatles broke up in 1970. My mum had a theory. She believed that their problems began when John Lennon said that they were more popular than Jesus Christ.

John Lennon was an atheist and peace campaigner. He sang a song about imagining that there's no heaven or hell, there's no religion, no black or white, no wars, just humanity living together as one. It is one of the most famous songs ever.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people
Livin' for today
Ah

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Livin' life in peace
You

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

320 million views!


John Lennon - Imagine (1971)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgkThdzX-8?si=KLGDdNwzOb-Nwzxs



Movies

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 musical comedy film starring the English rock band the Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – that was released during the height of Beatlemania. Directed by Richard Lester, it was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists. The musical soundtrack makes up the band's album of the same name. The film portrays 36 hours in the lives of the group as they prepare for a television performance.

The film was a commercial and critical success and was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay. Forty years after its release, Time magazine rated it as one of the 100 all-time greatest films. British critic Leslie Halliwell described it as a "comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book" and awarded it a full four stars. The film is credited as being one of the most influential of all musical films, inspiring the Monkees' television show and pop music videos, and various other low-budget musical film vehicles starring British pop groups, such as the Gerry and the Pacemakers film Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965).

In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it the 88th-greatest British film of the 20th century.


Let It Be (1970)

Let It Be is a 1970 British documentary film starring the Beatles and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The film documents the group's rehearsing and recording songs in January 1969 for what was to become their twelfth and final studio album Let It Be. The film ends with an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last public performance together.

The film was originally planned as a television documentary that would accompany a concert broadcast. When plans for the concert were dropped, the project became a feature film production. Although Let It Be does not dwell on the dissension within the Beatles at the time, it provides some glimpses into the dynamics that would lead to their break-up. After the film's release, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. Footage filmed for Let It Be was later restored and re-edited for Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back.

Let It Be had not been officially available on home video since the 1980s, although bootleg copies of the film still circulated. While attempts to release the film on DVD and Blu-ray have not come to fruition,[1] a restored 4K version of the film was made available to stream on Disney+ for the first time on 8 May 2024.



Photo 1) Police try to prevent Beatles fans from running into Buckingham Palace.

Photos 2 and 3) On 4 November, 1963 the Beatles played in front of The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret during the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre.

Photo 4) Police in New York try to stop Beatles fans from breaking through the barricade.

Photo 1) Elvis Presley and President Jimmy and First Lady Rosalyn Carter of the United States.

Photo 2) Elvis famously owned a pink Cadillac and this became a symbol of rock n roll and a symbol of the Elvis Era.

Photos 3 and 4) Elvis lived at Graceland and the mansion was converted into a museum in 1982. Millions of people have visited the museum.

ELVIS PRESLEY

Elvis Presley (dubbed the king of rock n roll) was the most famous music star of the 1950s.

He blended white country music with black rhythm and blues to produce a unique sound that excited young people in the 1950s.

Presley's sexually provocative performance style (he swung his hips), combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.


Black American music

One of the goals of Elvis Presley and his producers was to bring Black American music to a wider audience. This was the era of segregation and there was a lot of racism, but Elvis went to a lot of clubs that were meant for only blacks. He listened to a lot of rhythm and blues and mixed it with country music to get rock n roll. He was also heavily influenced by gospel music, both from his church and from Black American churches.

Elvis' first hit was a cover of Thatt's Alright, which was originally recorded bya Black American blues musician, Arthur Crudup. It became an instant hit on the radio in 1954. People called in to request the song and it was pkayed over and over. It became so popular that the DJ that first played it on the radio had to bring Presley in for an interview a few days later. He asked Presely what school he attended in order to establish that he was white (some callers had assumed that Presley was black and this was the era of racism and segregation, so that DJ wanted to make it clear that Presley was white. Schools were segregated into black schools and white schools at the time).


Elvis always acknowledged that his music was influenced by black rhythm and blues. He said, "If I had any ambition, it was to be as good as Arthur Crudup". However, Crudup did not make much money from his music, because his record company kept all the royalties and refused to pay him.

This blend of country music and R&B sometimes made things difficult for Elvis in the early days. Some country DJs would not play his music because it sounded too much like Black American music and some R&B DJs would not play it because it sounded too much like hillbilly music.


Music

Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the US. Within a year, RCA Victor sold ten million Presley singles. With a series of successful television appearances and chart-topping records, Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular rock and roll; though his performing style and promotion of the then-marginalized sound of African Americans led to him being widely considered a threat to the moral well-being of white American youth.

Presley is one of the best-selling music artists in history, having sold a estimated 500 million records worldwide. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rock and roll, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, adult contemporary, and gospel. He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been posthumously inducted into multiple music halls of fame. He holds several records, including the most RIAA-certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Movies

For much of the 1960s Elvis stopped touring and performing live and he did not release any regular albums. Instead he concentrated on making movies and releasing soundtrack albums.

He made his film debut with Love Me Tender in 1956. Some of his most famous films included Jailhouse Rock (1957), Blue Hawaii (1961), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). 

I had a videotape of his 1963 movie, Fun in Acapulco when I was a kid and I watched it over and over.

First concert broadcast around the world

In 1968, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed NBC television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and several highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii.

Evergreen music

Elvis released "Can't Help Falling in Love" in 1961. It was part of the album, Blue Hawaii (1961), the soundtrack to the movie Blue Hawaii. The song has been covered many times by many artistes over several decades. This song was ranked one of the greatest songs of all-time by Rolling Stone Magazine. 

naptu2:
Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling in Love (1961)

Audio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJTaP6anOU?si=xPPEzRGAy6oIawbJ

From the movie




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipJtTQkYZZk?si=Ysopdde8DROGSTT8

This is one of the most famous songs that has ever been released. It has been used and covered in very many TV shows and movies.

naptu2:
Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (1957).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZJTgYzf9FE

Danger to the youth

Elvis Presley was very popular among young people in the 1950s and 1960s. They often mobbed him and went crazy at his concerts. However, older and conservative people felt that his hip swinging dances and Black American influence were a danger to the morals of the youth.

A Catholic priest wrote this in a letter to the director of the FBI after Elvis performed in his city.

Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States. ... [His] actions and motions were such as to rouse the sexual passions of teenaged youth. ... After the show, more than 1,000 teenagers tried to gang into Presley's room at the auditorium. ... Indications of the harm Presley did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls ... whose abdomen and thigh had Presley's autograph.

Elvis' influence was so great that I watched several movies with similar themes (for example, Footloose) in the 1980s.

Many older and conservative stars could not understand Elvis' music. They thought that his only attraction was vulgar dancing. Yet many teenagers could not get enough of Elvis. They mobbed him everywhere he went.

Video: Elvis Presley saying that someone (probably the YMCA) had complained about him before one of his concerts, so the police came and filmed the show. He said that he couldn't dance, he couldn't move and the only thing he could move was his finger.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73_8Te4htF8?si=0L_uL-sGrg30ARVC

Talk and variety shows

There were (and still are) a lot of late night talk and variety shows in America and most of them were hosted by comedians. These shows were an important way through which a star could get a lot of publicity. Many acts have become incredibly popular through their appearance on such shows (for example the Beatles and the Jacksons on the Ed Sullivan Show).

However, most of the hosts did not like Elvis Presley.

Ed Sullivan, whose variety show was the nation's most popular, declared Presley "unfit for family viewing". To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "childish".

Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show on October 28th, 1956. (Listen to those screams).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNYWl13IWhY?si=fmDU7OrS6NnlM9jY

He appeared on the Milton Berle Show twice (Berle was one of my favourite comedians). The first time he performed on the deck of a US Navy warship and he received cheers and screams from sailors and their dates.

The second appearance was more controversial.

Milton Berle persuaded Presley to leave his guitar backstage. During the performance, Presley abruptly halted an up-tempo rendition of "Hound Dog" and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with exaggerated body movements. His gyrations created a storm of controversy. 

Elvis Presley on the Milton Berle Show (June 5th, 1956).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu3epXyqNW8?si=qLSKi71DZpGtM5Wj

Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote,

Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. ... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body ... primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway.

Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music

"has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis ... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos".

However, that appearance received very high ratings and it was very popular among young people. It received such high ratings that Elvis was booked for the Steve Allen Show.


Allen, who was no fan of rock and roll, introduced a "new Elvis" in a white bowtie and black tails. Presley sang "Hound Dog" for less than a minute to a basset hound wearing a top hat and bowtie. As described by television historian Jake Austen, "Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd ... [he] set things up so that Presley would show his contrition". Allen later wrote that he found Presley's "strange, gangly, country-boy charisma, his hard-to-define cuteness, and his charming eccentricity intriguing" and worked him into the "comedy fabric" of his program. 

Just before the final rehearsal for the show, Presley told a reporter, "I don't want to do anything to make people dislike me. I think TV is important so I'm going to go along, but I won't be able to give the kind of show I do in a personal appearance." 

Presley would refer back to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career. 

Elvis Presley on the Steve Allen Show (July 1st, 1956)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3r5AiBJr2M?si=rPmWvJ_wS_QZUiIV

Later that night, he appeared on Hy Gardner Calling, a popular local television show. Pressed on whether he had learned anything from the criticism of him, Presley responded, "No, I haven't ... I don't see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it's only music. ... how would rock 'n' roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?"

However, most of the people that opposed him in the 1950s and early 1960s later accepted his music in the late 1960s and 1970s as his fame grew.

Global fame

Elvis was the most famous performer around the world during his era. He was a global megastar. He was so famous that the Chewa people of Malawi and Zambia created a masquerade of him. Even the WWF/WWE had an Elvis themed wrestler (the Honky Tonk Man).

He was so famous and beloved that people have refused to accept that he is dead. There have been numerous reports of Elvis sightings since he died. Many people have made careers out of being Elvis impersonators. His mansion, Garceland, was converted into a museum in 1982 and at least 650,000 people visit every year. It has had more than 20 million visitors since it was opened.

In 2024 a mysterious company announced that it was taking over Graceland due to unpaid bills and that it was going to sell the mansiom. It was later discovered that the company was linked to a Nigerian scammer and that the whole issue was a scam. However, this was also revealed to be a scam as the scammer was actually an American woman from Missouri who was trying to hide her identity by pretending to be a Nigerian.

Video of fans going crazy for Elvis Presley in the 1950s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm9YDtHruQQ?si=6RIspVPsclw6I_MK

Photo 1) Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon at the White House.

Photo 2) Policemen help Elvis Presley to escape from his fans.

Photo 3) Elvis Presley and President Sukarno of Indonesia.

Photo 4) Elvis Presley and Queen Margrethe of Denmark (who was then known as Princess Margrethe) and her royal cousins Princess Astrid of Norway and Princess Margaretha of Sweden.

The US Government often flew Bing Crosby around the world to entertain its troops during wars.

Photo) American singer Bing Crosby entertains more than 4,000 U.S. Army 8th Air Force men, their guests, and 42 truckloads of wounded British and American troops, during his United Service Organizations (USO) stop at the U.S. Army 8th Air Force Bomber Base in England, Sept. 13, 1944.

BING CROSBY

Bing Crosby was the most famous star in the 1930s and 1940s.

He was a leader in record sales, network radio ratings, and movie box office grosses from 1926 to 1977. He was one of the first global cultural icons. He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs.


Most famous

 In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. In 1948, Music Digest estimated that Crosby's recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music in America.

Video: Fans voted Bing Crosby as the most popular movie star in America in 1949.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0tx4TZASbI?si=LyeeKNEdXvyZVk5Z

Evergreen music

Crosby has been associated with the Christmas season since he starred in Irving Berlin's musical film Holiday Inn and also sang "White Christmas" in the film of the same name.

naptu2:
Bing Crosby - White Christmas (1942)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ryZdpEHqM?si=5TUtU40G_ErijDIl

From the movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ36gbGlm8Y?si=mqfr7EWRW8JrjjKh

In 1963, he received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award.

Music

Crosby's was among the most popular and successful musical acts of the 20th century. Billboard magazine used different methodologies during his career, but his chart success remains impressive: 396 chart singles, including roughly 41 number 1 hits. Crosby had separate charting singles every year between 1931 and 1954; the annual re-release of "White Christmas" extended that streak to 1957. He had 24 separate popular singles in 1939 alone.

Statistician Joel Whitburn at Billboard determined that Crosby was America's most successful recording act of the 1930s and again in the 1940s.

The number of Bing Crosby record sales varies. Organizations that audit record sales do not have an official tally, but some claim sales are notable, namely: In 1960, Crosby was honored as "First Citizen of Record Industry" based on having sold 200 million discs. The Guinness Book reported some of the singer's worldwide sales on a few occasions: In 1973, Crosby had sold more than 400 million records worldwide, and by 1977 he had sold 500 million discs, being ranked as the most successful and best-selling musical artist in 1978.

Some sources contradict these alleged sales to the Guinness Book, as it is not an organization that counts or audits artists' sales in the United States or worldwide. According to different sources, Bing Crosby's sales number varies between: 300 million, 500 million, or even 1 billion, making him one of the best-selling singers in history. 

The single "White Christmas" sold over 50 million copies according to Guinness World Records.  


Movies

Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated for its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), opposite Ingrid Bergman, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. Crosby was the number one box office attraction for five consecutive years from 1944 to 1948. At his screen apex in 1946, Crosby starred in three of the year's five highest-grossing films: The Bells of St. Mary's, Blue Skies, and Road to Utopia.

For 15 years (1934, 1937, 1940, 1943–1954), Crosby was among the top 10 acts in box-office sales, and for five of those years (1944–1948) he topped the world. Crosby sang four Academy Award-winning songs—"Sweet Leilani" (1937), "White Christmas" (1942), "Swinging on a Star" (1944), "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951)—and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Going My Way (1944).

Crosby is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. He was also known for his collaborations with his friend Bob Hope, starring in the Road to ... films from 1940 to 1962.

Nigeria

Bing Crosby was one of the favourite acts of my parents, especially my mother.

The NTA often showed his movies, especially The Road To Bali, as a weekend or holiday movie well into the 1980s.

The Road To Bali (1952) starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8YKQy9v9Og?si=HiGbJFMZ7FWRgsbZ

There was a vibrant cinema culture in Nigeria from the 1950s till the early 1980s and Bing Crosby's movies were shown at cinemas like Casino Cinema, Yaba, King's Cinema, Lagos Island, Plaza Cinema, Onikan, Penn Cinema, Agege, all in Lagos, La Scala Cinema and Odeon Cinema in Ibadan and other cinema halls across Nigeria. His movies and songs were very popular.

Africa

Crosby's popularity around the world was such that Dorothy Masuka, the best-selling African recording artist, stated that, "Only Bing Crosby the famous American crooner sold more records than me in Africa." His great popularity throughout the continent led other African singers to emulate him, including Masuka, Dolly Rathebe, and Míriam Makeba, known locally as "The Bing Crosby of Africa".


Asia

Presenter Mike Douglas commented in a 1975 interview, "During my days in the Navy in World War II, I remember walking the streets of Calcutta, India, on the coast; it was a lonely night, so far from my home and from my new wife, Gen. I needed something to lift my spirits. As I passed a Hindu sitting on the corner of a street, I heard something surprisingly familiar. I came back to see the man playing one of those old Vitrolas, like those of RCA with the horn speaker. The man was listening to Bing Crosby sing, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive". I stopped and smiled in grateful acknowledgment. The Hindu nodded and smiled back. The whole world knew and loved Bing Crosby." His popularity in India led many Hindu singers to imitate and emulate him, notably Kishore Kumar, considered the "Bing Crosby of India".


Europe

Throughout Europe and Russia, Crosby was also known as "Der Bingle", a pseudonym coined in 1944 by Bob Musel, an American journalist based in London, after Crosby had recorded three 15-minute programs with Jack Russin for broadcast to Germany from ABSIE.


President John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy stayed at Bing Crosby's house a couple of times when he was in California.

People had assumed that the president would stay at Frank Sinatra's house, because they were friends. Mr Sinatra had the same assumption and he had built guest houses and other facilities in his compound.

However, Bobby Kennedy, who was both the president's brother and attorney general of the United States, insisted that the president could not stay at Sinatra's house due to Sinatra's links to the Mafia. Several mafia bosses had stayed at Sinatra's house and Bobby Kennedy said that there was no way that the president could stay in the same house (Sinatra was furious).

President Kennedy stayed at Bing Crosby's house instead and the second time he stayed there was just a few weeks before he was killed.

naptu2:
Two super legends.

One was the most famous person in the world, the other was one of the most powerful people in the United States (not just fame, but also serious Mafia connections).

This is one of those movies that I watched many times when I was a kid, but I no longer remember anything about it.

From the movie High Society (1956)


Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra - Well Did You Evah (1956)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kq1JQUhwVQ?si=N0kyHAkf_idmZjAQ

Business and money

Bing Crosby was interested in the technical and money side of the business and this made him extremely wealthy. He was probably the richest entertainer of his era.


Crosby influenced the development of the post–World War II recording industry. After seeing a demonstration of a German broadcast quality reel-to-reel tape recorder brought to the United States by John T. Mullin, Crosby invested $50,000 in the California electronics company Ampex to build copies. He then persuaded ABC to allow him to tape his shows and became the first performer to prerecord his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. Through audio recordings, Crosby produced his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) used in motion picture production, a practice that became the industry standard. 

In addition to his work with early audio tape recording, Crosby helped finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, and co-owned the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, during which time the team won two World Series (1960 and 1971).



Photo 2) Bing Crosby and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace.

Photo 3) Bing Crosby with letters that were sent to him by fans.

Photo 4) Bing Crosby at the Calgary Stampede Parade in Canada in 1959.

Who is the megastar of this era?


There are stars, there are superstars and there are megastars.

A megastar is someone in the entertainment world who has gained global fame and whose fame has transcended the entertainment world in such a way that it has enabled them to mix with politicians, royalty, religious leaders, etc.

Megastars are unable to simply walk down the road, because they will be mobbed by their fans. They are usually given presidential security when they travel and they often meet with presidents, kings and queens and the Pope.

Music megastars totally dominate the era in which they operate. They are guaranteed to win multiple awards at award shows, they are so famous that they are often coopted into the movie world and their fame usually outlives them.

Who in 2025 qualifies to be called a megastar in the music world?


Here are examples of 4 sets of megastars in recent times: