The 60's rumor of "Paul is dead."....?

Question

How and why do you think this rumor ever got started?

Transferre text is too boring to read. PLEASE just use your own memory or at least your own words!!!!!!!

Answer 1

There are quite a few specualtions on how this rumor got started, the most popular one being the story of the guy who called the radio station, and gave the DeeJay the news. There are several college newspapers whose claim to fame are their ever knowledgable student writers on the subject, before, during and after the radio stunt.

Rumors are just stories with bits added on by everybody.
(Remember "War Of The Worlds"?)

I believe The Beatles or The Beatles producers, decided to milk this rumor and it's ever-growing publicity, to make a few more bucks in record sales. It was a simple business move, fueled by consumer obsession.

We do so love our dead celebrities, don't we?

Answer 2

Rumors of Paul McCartney's death began to circulate in 1969, a time when the strained relationships among the Beatles were becoming public knowledge. Written versions of this story first appeared in college newspapers in the fall of 1969, but the precise origin of the rumor is unknown. The story caught fire with the public when it was broadcast by a radio station in Detroit. Russell Gibb, a disc jockey for WKNR-FM, received a strange phone call from someone who identified himself only as Tom. The caller told Gibb that Paul McCartney had died in 1966 and was then replaced by a lookalike. The Beatles had subsequently left clues on their albums about this deception. The caller claimed that the cover photo of Abbey Road, the Beatles' most recent release at the time, represented a funeral procession with John as the minister, Ringo the undertaker, Paul the corpse, and George the gravedigger. Other Beatles album covers also contained clues, the caller claimed, and a few Beatles songs contained clues about Paul's death—including some that could only be deciphered when the records were played backwards! Gibb related the rumor of Paul's death on the air, which brought a strong reaction from listeners and the story spread rapidly after that.

Answer 3

I think is was to create more record sales.

Here how it works, the recording is made and reversed on a side track and the record. So you aren't playing the song backwards when you spin the record backwards, you are actually sent to another groove of the record. This spin backwards causes the record to scratch and become worthless. Since they couldn't pirate records they had to buy new ones.

After all, without the internet how was it possible to quickly get the word out that if you play a record backwards (who would do that in the first place?). The answer is the record companies spread the news over the radio, when gets caught up in the rest of the media.

Do make it more interesting, the record companies turned rock into the devil's music. Why? Not only to attract rebelious youth, but to get people to buy tons of records to just then burn or to throw them in the trash. Would a 60 year-old priest buy The Beetle's record for the music? Probably not, but they were buying them to destroy them.

Answer 4

I thought the rumors began around 1967. It was that year that "Strawberry Fields Forever" was released, and at the end of the song you can hear the words "I buried Paul". John later said that what he was actually saying was "cranberry sauce" (probably the first thing that came to mind when asked about it). I don't know who actually started the rumor, but the Beatles had a lot of fun with it, to the point where the cover of "Abbey Road" was designed around Paul being walked to his grave.

Answer 5

Don't really remember the "how and why" part, only that people were grabbing up all the records and album covers and radio stations were having specials about it. I remember it was interesting at the time, everyone comparing the latest "evidence" of Paul's death. In actuality, the only thing that died about Paul was his creativity i.e. "Silly Love Songs" and all the other sappy stuff he wrote, that in all likelihood, would have never made it onto a Beatle album, having been refused by John, George and Ringo.

Answer 6

maybe it was started by the Beatles themselves, to get extra publicity. They never said anything to clear it up, so obviously they wanted people to think they were hiding something and buy more records to listen to them for more clues. They probably even put a few backward messages in just to throw the conspiracy theorists a bone...

Answer 7

The Beatles were aware that people ran records backwards, so they "salted" the lyrics. Also with background comments, people thought what they heard was correct (most notably on "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Answer 8

Because the "flavor" of the Beatle's tunes changed about the same time.

Answer 9

first paul got into a nearly fatal car crash, listen to 'a day in the life'

Answer 10

rumors are rumors