I sometimes wonder if John, George and Ringo might have let Paul go his own way and had stayed together, possibly adding such “fifth Beatles” as Klaus Voorman or Billy Preston – maybe having Pete Ham defect from Badfinger.
Would they have been able to continue as The Beatles? Or would Paul insist they not use that name, even if the three of them recorded together? Ringo might be okay with touring under “The Plastic Ono Band” name, but I’m not sure George would.
As I understand it, when Brian Epstein died and John got absorbed into Yoko and heroin and whatever else he was into at the time, this created a leadership vacuum which Paul tried to fill, with mixed results, and this had a lot to do with the conflict and acrimony the band experienced toward the end. And I don’t think just letting Paul go would have fixed that. Based on what happened in the 70s, I think Paul was the only one who really wanted to be in a band.
“Dancing in the Streets” would now have had Bowie, Jagger, and McCartney dancing badly in baggy pastel 80s attire.
They also would have had the foresight to jump on the World Wrestling Federation cross-over bandwagon and added some epic songs and videos to “The Goonies” soundtrack. In the video for “One Eyed Willie meets The Walrus”, Ringo and Roddy Piper engage in an epic balloon animal fight in the back of the BigFoot monster truck.
Slight Hijack: Dark Side would have never happened if Barrett hadn’t disintegrated.
Do tell?