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.
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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.