Quote Sandwich - "We're More Popular Than Jesus Now" - John Lennon

In English 61, I'm writing my research paper about  the famous Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band.  It came out during the Summer of Love.  At that time, you could say everyone loved it.  You could hear it everywhere you went.  But, you could also say many people hated the Beatles.  John Lennon joked in an interview that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus.  That didn't go over to well.  Below is a quote sandwich from my research paper. 

In 1966, the Beatles were at the top of their game and at the end of their rope. Beatlemania was in full force.  Everywhere the band went, the fans became louder and crazier.  No one had ever heard music like the Beatles before.  No one had ever seen a band like the Beatles before.  To accommodate their fans, The Beatles were forced to play before huge crowds in baseball and football stadiums.  At one point, the band’s leader John Lennon joked in an interview, “We’re more popular than Jesus”  (Borack 80).  Of course, John’s words created a huge controversy.  Not so much back in England, but in the United States religious groups began to organize massive protests against The Beatles. This is when all Hell broke loose. Radio stations across the South began public burnings of Beatles records. 

Anonymous death threats came flooding in.  The Ku Klux Klan turned up at Beatles Concerts to cause trouble.  John felt that his words were misinterpreted, but he apologized anyway.  He feared someone in his bad getting hurt.  Very soon after, the
Beatles   stopped touring.  They were making better music than ever, but the screaming was so loud, they could not even hear themselves sing.