Beatles List Names ‘Yesterday’ as Band’s Worst Song

The Beatles are responsible for some of the greatest songs of all time. One of their most beloved songs is "Yesterday," which is often considered one of the best songs in their catalog. However, not everyone is a fan of the tender ballad.

Classic Rock recently published a list titled "The 10 Worst Beatles Songs." Among the songs featured on the list were "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Revolution 9." Number one, with quite the bullet, on the list was "Yesterday." Below is part of the reasoning for the unexpected ranking:

" ... After enduring the 'Help!' original for over half a century – not to mention the 2000-plus cover versions – all I hear is a sickly, mawkish, ubiquitous, unflushable turd. And what really sticks in my craw is that back in 2012, the BBC calculated that Yesterday had generated some £19.5 million in royalty payments."

There's truly a lot to unpack here. To begin with, unlike other articles on Classic Rock's website, no author byline or dateline is listed. This is immediately suspicious. Call it a hunch/speculation, but I wouldn't be shocked if there was originally an author byline, but the author of this Beatles list received some intense messages.

Personally, I've had plenty of people track me down and send me direct messages on various social media platforms because they took issue with a list I wrote. (Spoiler: These messages weren't very nice. However, thank you for reading.) As a result, it wouldn't be surprising if there was a request to remove the author's byline and the dateline due to potentially threatening messages.

At the same time, it has also been my experience that you need to brace yourself for the absolute worst when releasing any kind of list or ranking. It could be the most innocent of lists, but people on the internet are...well...let's just say interesting. So, when you release a list ranking the ten worst Beatles songs, name "Yesterday" as number one and include an incendiary reason why, can you really be taken aback if readers go off? (Just look at the comment section from the list being shared on Classic Rock's Facebook page.)

Maybe I'm being concerned for no reason. Perhaps this list was created just to generate buzz and get attention. (If that was the sole goal, mission accomplished!) Either way, here's a takeaway for everyone: If you disagree with an article, don't track down the author and DM them something threatening. It's just creepy and uncalled for, even if they think "Yesterday" is the worst song by The Beatles.

Narrowing down The Beatles catalog to just 50 songs and then ranking those 50 songs is both enjoyable and torture. After all, we're trying to rank The Beatles.

Much like snowflakes, it's unlikely any two rankings will shake out the same, but isn't that the beauty of lists like this? So, without further ado, here are The Beatles' top 50 songs ranked. Let the debating begin!

In February 2024, The Fab Four continue pumping out film content, with the latest project being a unique biopic movie series.

Per TheBeatles.com, the biopic movie series will be broken up into four separate feature films. Each film will tell the story of the legendary band from the perspective of each member. Tentatively, these films will receive a global theatrical release in 2027.

The series is the first time Apple Corps Ltd., The Beatles and their families/estates have agreed to such a project. This project has also acquired music rights permissions. The concept of this series was thought of by director Sam Mendes. He will be helming the films in a joint venture with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Neal Street Productions.

In a statement, Mendes said, "I'm honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies."

One of the latest major film projects about the Fab Four was The Beatles: Get Back. The project was a lengthy three-part, six-hour documentary of the making of the Let It Be album. It was led by Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson for Disney+.

The Beatles: Get Back was met with critical and commercial acclaim. The doc was nominated for and won five Emmy Awards. Among the honors it won were Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

The other Beatles-related film was If These Walls Could Sing, which was also a Disney+ title. The film chronicles the history of Abbey Road Studios and is directed by Mary McCartney, the daughter of Paul and Linda McCartney. Mary says in the trailer below, "Abbey Road Studios has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember." As evident by the trailer, Mary clearly has a tremendous amount of love for the legendary recording studio.

The documentary features new interviews with Elton John, Nile Rodgers, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Noel Gallagher, George Lucus, Roger Waters, David Gilmour and many more.