The Beatles: The Biography

The Beatles: The Biography

Author	Bob Spitz
Language	English
Subject	The Beatles
Genre	Biography, music
Publisher	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date	November 1, 2005
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	992 pp (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN	0-316-01331-5 (first edition, hardcover)
OCLC	77561694

The Beatles: The Biography is a 2005 biography of the 1960s rock band The Beatles written by Bob Spitz.^[1][2][3] It was first published by Little, Brown and Company on November 1, 2005.

Writing and research

The Beatles: The Biography was among the first major Beatles biographies published after the band's Anthology multimedia project, which culminated in the publication of an authorized book in 2000.^[4] With his biography, Spitz sought to present a fresh interpretation of the Beatles' story and re-evaluate aspects of the band's career.^[4]

Spitz spent six years working on the book. He said he carried out 650 interviews during that time and received cooperation from Paul McCartney and George Harrison (who died in 2001). He also interviewed people whose story had not been heard in the context of the Beatles' history, while drawing from private tapes made by John Lennon before his death in 1980.^[5] Spitz's personal insights and editorialization feature throughout the book.^[5]

Reception

The Beatles: The Biography received generally favorable reviews,^[1] particularly from The New York Times and The Washington Post.^[5] However, some journalists and fans of the band identified factual errors throughout the book.^[5][6][7] Spitz has generally been bitter towards his critics. When one of the editors of Daytrippin′, a Beatles fanzine, sent the author a list of incorrect facts in his book, Spitz replied: "You need an enema. Really! Do something useful with your life."^[6]

Spitz's book was the first major Beatles biography to be published after the emergence of internet forums, fan sites and online publications—an environment that ensured the scrutiny it received was widespread and influential.^[8] Beatles historian Erin Torkelson Weber comments that the book's standing suffered as a result of its basic factual errors, and its credibility as a historical work was further diminished by the author's tendency towards editorialization, which revealed a clear disapproval of Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono.^[5] According to Weber, Jonathan Gould's 2007 Beatles biography, Can't Buy Me Love, proved more impressive to "knowledgeable readers".^[9]

References

1. "The Beatles by Bob Spitz: Reviews". www.metacritic.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2008.
2. Wolff, Carlo (23 October 2005). "The long and winding road - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
3. Spitz, Bob (10 October 2006). The Beatles: The Biography: Bob Spitz: 9780316013314: Amazon.com: Books. ISBN 0316013315.
4. Weber, Erin Torkelson (2016). The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-4766-6266-4.
5. Weber 2016, p. 192.
6. [1] ^{[dead link‍]}
7. "Reviews of Beatle Books, CDS, DVDS". www.daytrippin.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
8. Weber 2016, pp. 191–92.
9. Weber 2016, p. 191.