Alice Cooper said John Lennon liked Paul McCartney more than he let on. Here’s how Lennon would aggressively defend his former bandmate.
After The Beatles broke up, John Lennon publicly derided Paul McCartney, but Alice Cooper said the musician behaved differently behind closed doors. While he could speak ill of his former bandmate, nobody else could. Cooper shared how Lennon would react and revealed that McCartney had a similar approach.
Alice Cooper said John Lennon defended Paul McCartney
Alice Cooper said John Lennon defended Paul McCartney
After Cooper rose to fame himself, he got to know The Beatles. Their breakup was messy and painful for the former bandmates. Lennon and McCartney insulted each other’s music and behavior. Still, Cooper said they never allowed others to speak badly about the band. Lennon would go so far as to try to fight people who insulted McCartney.
“Here’s the thing about them,” he said, per iHeartRadio. “When they were after each other’s throats, when it came to the breakup and all that stuff, if anybody in the Vampires back in those days – that was our drinking club – if anybody said anything bad about Paul, John would take a swing at you, because that was his best friend.”
McCartney took a similar, if less violent, approach.
“If anybody said anything about John to Paul, Paul would walk out of the room,” Cooper said. “He’d just walk out. Because you are not allowed to talk about their best friends. They were best friends no matter what was going on in the whole thing.”
John Lennon was complimentary to Alice Cooper but still thought Paul McCartney was better
Alice Cooper said John Lennon defended Paul McCartney
After Cooper rose to fame himself, he got to know The Beatles. Their breakup was messy and painful for the former bandmates. Lennon and McCartney insulted each other’s music and behavior. Still, Cooper said they never allowed others to speak badly about the band. Lennon would go so far as to try to fight people who insulted McCartney.
“Here’s the thing about them,” he said, per iHeartRadio. “When they were after each other’s throats, when it came to the breakup and all that stuff, if anybody in the Vampires back in those days – that was our drinking club – if anybody said anything bad about Paul, John would take a swing at you, because that was his best friend.”
A black and white picture of Paul McCartney and John Lennon wearing suits and sitting at a dinner table together.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon | William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images
McCartney took a similar, if less violent, approach.
“If anybody said anything about John to Paul, Paul would walk out of the room,” Cooper said. “He’d just walk out. Because you are not allowed to talk about their best friends. They were best friends no matter what was going on in the whole thing.”
John Lennon was complimentary to Alice Cooper but still thought Paul McCartney was better
Cooper idolized The Beatles, so his eventual friendship with Lennon meant a great deal to him. He recalled how it felt when Lennon complimented his music.
“In the prime of Alice Cooper we were getting all this publicity, and I think John understood and really did like the idea that we were so controversial, that we were banned, and that we couldn’t care less what Mary Whitehouse said,” Cooper wrote for Louder Sound. “And he liked the songs.”
Still, Lennon couldn’t help but compare it to McCartney’s work. Cooper didn’t care.
“He came to listen to the record at the office in New York, and he kept bringing people in, like, ‘You’ve gotta hear this record!’” Cooper recalled. “One time he’s walking out and I’m walking in. ‘Hey John, how are you doing?’ ‘Hey Alice! Great record.’ Then he says: ‘Paul would have done it better.’ And I went: ‘Well, of course he would – he’s Paul McCartney!’ The fact that he loved the record was a big deal.”
He listed an early Beatles album as 1 of his favorite records of all time
Cooper compiled a list of his top 10 favorite albums of all time for Rolling Stone and included 1964’s Meet the Beatles! He explained that while he loved The Beatles’ discography, Meet the Beatles! was the first album to shock him.
