The White Album is one of those legendary records that you’ve heard about your whole life. But The Beatles were way before my time. They’d been broken up for almost a decade before I was listening to music with any seriousness. So, I’ve never listened to this album in its entirety before now. However, I feel like I’ve heard it many times because almost all the songs are familiar between copious radio play and the many, many cover versions out there.
I’ve always had a mixed attitude toward The Fab Four. One the one hand, I recognize their importance to the development of rock music. Their influence is widespread and encompasses many subgenres of rock. It is very challenging to overstate their influence and importance. On the other hand, I sometimes find the adulation so over-to-top that it kind of turns me off. But that’s more of a problem I have with the commentariat than with The Beatles themselves.
This is by any measure a great album and an essential listen for anyone interested in understanding the history of the art form.
My Rating:
Jann Wenner wrote in Rolling Stone upon the album’s release: “The Beatles, who are the perfect product and result of everything that rock and roll means and encompasses.
Never has this been so plainly evident as on their new two-album set.”1
Commenators did not universally praise The Beatles in contemporary reviews. Nick Cohn, writing for the New York Times, roasted the album as, “boring almost beyond belief” and “none of (the mock-style songs) work(s), it all loses out to the originals, it all sounds stale” Ouch.2
In a 2023 retrospective review for Far Out magazine, Tom Taylor wrote: “In order to reflect this whirlwind (the chaos between Sgt Pepper and The Beatles), as the paragons of changing culture, The Beatles opt for a blank sleeve and 30 tracks of madness therein. The album is a haywire snapshot of a world gone awry as the band knuckle down into their own cultural cove to create something that only they could. It is far from perfect; in fact, it is arguably their most imperfect LP, but somewhere amid this mess is a masterpiece that encapsulates both a rapidly hurtling world and a band dragging the arts up to speed along with it.”3
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Jim Harrington wrote:
“The Beatles produced The Beatles, an epic masterpiece that equals Sgt. Pepper…, though its artistic success stems more from the talents and personalities of the band members than from collaboration.”4
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #15
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: Revolution #12, this version was not the version that appeared on the album but rather a version recorded specifically to be released as a single.6
• RIAA certification: 24x Platinum | February 21, 20197
Released on September 23, 1991. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: Hey Jude by The Beatles (was not on The White Album, btw.)8
• Number one album: Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix9
• Number one movie: Funny Girl by William Wyler10
• Most watched TV programs: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Gomer Pyle USMC, Bonanza11
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Salzburg Connection by Helen MacInnes12
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: The Money Game by “Adam Smith” (George Goodman)13
Other albums released that month
• Sing Me Back Home by Merle Haggard
• The Notorious Byrd Brothers by The Byrds
• From Sea to Shining Sea by Johnny Cash
• Nefertiti by Miles Davis
• Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
• Boogie with Canned Heat by Canned Heat
• The Graduate by Simon & Garfunkel (incidental music by Dave Grusin)
• Gris-Gris by Dr. John
• Heavy by Iron Butterfly
• Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin
• Spirit by Spirit
• Steppenwolf by Steppenwolf
• White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground
• Did She Mention My Name? by Gordon Lightfoot
• Horizontal by The Bee Gees
• Everybody Knows by The Dave Clark Five
• Om by John Coltrane
• Something Else Again by Richie Havens
• Come to My Garden by Minnie Riperton
• Kraftwerk by Kraftwerk
• Singer of Sad Songs by Waylon Jennings
• Steppenwolf 7 by Steppenwolf
• ...To Be Continued by Isaac Hayes
• Workin' Together by Ike & Tina Turner14
Sport
• Nov 17 "Heidi Game", NBC cuts to show "Heidi" and misses Raider's rally to beat Jets, 43-32
• Nov 19 New York Yankees pitcher Stan Bahnsen wins AL Rookie of the Year
• Nov 26 34th Heisman Trophy Award: O.J. Simpson, Southern Cal (RB)
• Nov 30 33rd Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 24-16 in Birmingham
• Nov 30 CFL Grey Cup, CNE Stadium, Toronto: Ottawa Rough Riders defeat Calgary Stampeder, 24-21; MVP Vic Washington15
Notable Births
• Nov 15 Ol' Dirty Bastard [Russell Jones], American rapper (Wu Tang Clan), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2004)
• Nov 18 Gary Sheffield, outfielder (Florida Marlins), born in Tampa, Florida
• Nov 18 Owen Wilson, American actor (Meet the Parents, Zoolander, Wedding Crashers), born in Dallas, Texas
• Nov 18 Romany Malco, American actor (Weeds, No Ordinary Family, The 40-Year Old Virgin), rapper and music producer (College Boyz - "Victim of the Ghetto"), born in Brooklyn, New York16
Historical Events
• Nov 19 Military coup in Mali, president Modibo Keita flees
• Nov 22 1st interracial TV kiss (Star Trek - Captain Kirk and Uhura)
• Nov 22 Terence O'Neill, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, announced a package of reform measures granting concessions to the Catholic minority, in response to protest movement
• Nov 28 John Lennon is fined £150 for unauthorized drug possession17
Notable Deaths
• Nov 25 Paul Siple, American explorer of the Antarctic. (b. 1908)
• Nov 25 Upton Sinclair, American author (The Jungle), dies at 90
• Nov 26 Arnold Zweig, German Jewish anti-fascist and author (Erziehung vor Verdun; Der große Krieg der weißen Männer), dies at 81
• Nov 28 English children's writer, fifth most popular author in the world (Famous Five, Secret Seven, The Adventure), dies at 7118
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
For this playlist I’m offering cover versions of songs off this album, mainly because there are so many of them and it demonstrates the ongoing and widespread influence across many genres of this band and album.
Prime: 124. The White Album by The Beatles
Video playlist: You're Welcome 124; The Beatles White Album
Jim Harrington; 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, ed by Robert Dimery; p. 156.
Ibid.