Beatles Manager and Mentor Neil Aspinall Passes Away

Neil Aspinall, the Beatles' first road manager and head of the band's Apple Corps for four decades, passed away in New York at age 66. Considered by many to be "the real fifth Beatle," Aspinall was a childhood friend of George Harrison and Paul McCartney who left his job as an accountant to become the band's first roadie, driver, spotlight operator and confidante. Later, after Brian Epstein's passing in 1967, Aspinall became the head of Apple Corps, spearheading the marketing of the Beatles for forty years. Aspinall was most notably responsible for the wildly successful Anthology project and the recent Cirque du Soleil tribute show LOVE. In a statement today, McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison said, "Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to come. All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man."

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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