This day in history: On this day in "1966, residents of Alabama burn Beatles' records and other paraphernalia after a quote from John Lennon proclaiming his band to be "more popular than Jesus" is published in the American teen magazine Datebook. Lennon's remark was originally made in March 1966 during an interview with the London newspaper The Evening Standard, in which he argued that the public were more infatuated with the band than with Jesus, and that Christian faith was declining to the extent that it might be outlasted by rock music. Although the initial release of the interview drew no controversy, it drew angry reactions from Christian communities when it was republished in the U.S. that July. The comments incited protests and threats, and some radio stations stopped playing Beatles songs. Lennon later apologized and explained that he was not comparing himself to Christ." Source
John Lennon would later go on to write and perform one of his biggest hits, "Imagine" which was "inspired by the communist movement. Lennon later confirmed that the similarities between his ideals set out in the song and Communism were indeed deliberate: ‘Imagine’, which says: ‘Imagine that there was no more religion, no more country, no more politics,’ is virtually the Communist Manifesto, even though I’m not particularly a Communist and I do not belong to any movement.'” Source
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