Some would argue that the term “John Lennon supergroup” is reductive, given it already existed in the shape of The Beatles. But one spotlit night, with the cameras rolling and the help of some musical all-star friends, he put together an outfit that could have even given the Fab Four a run for their money.
The back end of the 1960s was incredibly chaotic, and in the wake of that chaos, experimental psychedelic music began to assume form.
What was so unruly that the world had to turn to swirling patterns with a lysercis leg-up? Well, the Vietnam War (and the plethora of controversy that surrounded it) continued to rage on; meanwhile, political leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, JFK and RFK were lost in the successful assassination attempts.
Now, what does this have to do with music? Well, record labels have always tried to sell to the largest possible demographic, and the changing political tides meant said demographic had split. While the beginning of the decade and music by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Dave Clark Five appealed to the partying masses, a lot of these bands were either splitting up or writing political music that only landed on one side of an ever-growing generational gap. Record labels needed a new sound, one that didn’t have a political edge and that would prosper in the wake of societal unrest. Enter psychedelia.
Labels revelled in experimental bands like Pink Floyd at the time, who were the right amount of weird to not lean on any side of the political spectrum. The genre grew more popular, but so too did the style. Even bands who weren’t psychedelic could be seen wearing clothes that resonated with the genre, and popular culture would largely be viewed through a colour-saturated lens.
It was this trend in style that led to the development of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. While The Rolling Stones were no strangers to political songs, as heard in tracks like ‘Gimme Shelter’ and ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, they were also more than willing to embrace the psychedelic style of the time when putting together their circus. This was a televised show that featured a number of attractions, including multiple bands and artists performing some of their classic hits.
“Michael Lindsay-Hogg is a very creative guy,” said Mick Jagger, reflecting on the circus. “We came up with this idea, and the whole idea, obviously, is to make it a mixture of different music acts and circus acts, taking it out of the normal and making it slightly surreal, mixing the two up. And also, we wanted as many different kinds of music as possible. So that’s why we thought about who would be the best kind of supporting acts.”
The wacky and haphazard nature of the show inspired those playing to really tap into those crazy themes. As a reflection of psychedelia at the time, performing artists would happily branch out and do something that they wouldn’t usually do. John Lennon is a great example of this, as when he rolled through a short medley of Beatles songs, he opted to put together a supergroup for one night only instead of using the actual Beatles.
The band was made up of five members: John Lennon, Keith Richards (bass), Mitch Mitchell (drums), Eric Clapton (guitar) and Yoko Ono (vocals). The group named The Dirty Man by Lennon took to the stage to perform for what would be a limited one-night-only show. They played two songs, The Beatles’ ‘Yer Blues’ and a hurriedly put together, slick bluesy number entitled ‘Whole Lotta Yoko’. Their performance was a lot of fun, and it begs the question: would there be room for this band outside of the circus?
Following The Beatles, George Harrison went to start his own supergroup, The Travelling Wilburys, while Paul McCartney also put a band together with Wings, so why not Lennon?
The truth is, the band would never have lasted, as Lennon was sick of collaborations. One of the main reasons why he was ready to call it quits with the Fabs was because he was sick of having to compromise on other people’s ideas. Putting him in a band with other talented musicians who would have all wanted to help write would have only given him flashbacks of his time with The Beatles. The lifespan of the band could only ever last a night, no matter how much people might have wanted it to continue.
Regardless, the footage of their performance remains a classic, and seeing such a strange psychedelic image play out is certainly a treat for the viewer. Such a supergroup sounds great in theory, but given Lennon’s history with bands up until that moment, The Dirty Man would have been playing on borrowed time.