Frederick's Reviews > Apple to the Core : The Unmaking of the Beatles

I read this in 1972, when I was 12 years old. I believe this book came out in 1971 or even 1970. I have not read it since, but I have to testify to the influence this book had on my thinking about the Beatles. I am of the opinion that if I hadn't read this when I did, I'd have been at a major disadvantage when puzzling over the Beatles' dynamic.
To put this in historical context, this book came out in the immediate wake of the Beatles' breakup. It's hard to remember what a shocking thing it was for rock fans, even, or especially fans who were not obsessed with the Beatles, to believe that not only had they broken up but that there was tremendous bitterness in the breakup.
APPLE TO THE CORE (a pun on Apple Corps., the record label the Beatles created) makes a very strong case that what broke the group up was the thing which usually breaks up showbiz teams: money. Toward the end of their days as a group, the Beatles decided to create their own record label. The plan was to sign new artists and promote Beatles projects and projects by individual Beatles. Inexperienced in business, the Beatles oversaw a very poorly run company. Of course there were artistic differences and the pressure of fame as well as the fact that they'd spent their days as young men inextricably tied to each other. The Beatles probably would have broken up, anyway. But the fact that they tried to manage their own company, according to this book, is what splintered the group.
I no longer think the creation of Apple played a very significant role in the Beatles' breakup. But Apple as a factor in the destruction of the group has been underplayed in books which came out after APPLE TO THE CORPS.
A more lasting impression this book gave me is the idea of the Beatles as a tug-of-war between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Again, focusing on John and Paul's interdependence does not quite explain other things about the Beatles' appeal. George Harrison always provided an ironic edge ("Don't Bother Me," "Love You Too" and George's masterpiece "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" are perfect examples of a dark sensibility which, nevertheless, veers away from Lennonish mockery or the deliberate ugliness of "Helter Skelter," Paul's answer to his own penchant for sentimentality.)
But this book definitely points out that, with Paul and John at odds with each other, the Beatles had to collapse. It makes the argument that, with the death of the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein in 1967, the Beatles had lost their protector.
I really think Shakespeare could have invented the Beatles. That they united in real life for any amount of time, let alone eight years,* is a miracle. APPLE TO THE CORPS points out the sadness of their broken friendship, something which caused sorrow around the world.
* Ah, you've read as far as the asterisk. Let me say I know that the Beatles, in one form or another, lasted something like thirteen years, but I date their beginning to the year they signed with E.M.I., 1962.