When I was a teenager, this was the first example I encountered of fandom being thrilled by a phenomenon, only for the band itself to say they had no idea of it and it was a marketing department’s idea. In spite of whatever cachet of rebelliousness and individual creativity rock still had then, many bands were already functioning as whole corporations, with teams of assistants producing much of the band’s image.
> When I was a teenager, this was the first example I encountered of fandom being thrilled by a phenomenon, only for the band itself to say they had no idea of it and it was a marketing department’s idea.
Incredibly appropriate that it happened to Pink Floyd, too.
About 1970, there was much speculation that Paul McCartney was dead. Offered as evidence were the album cover of Abbey Road, in which Paul walks barefoot, the others shod, and a song that played backwards might include the words "Paul is dead." There may have been other bits of evidence, but those are the only I remember. The speculation ended after some days when McCartney, who had been relaxing on one of his properties, returned to the public eye.
It did not occur to me then that this might have been somebody's publicity stunt, but I was a lot younger and hadn't heard the word "marketing".
There was also a separate claim in 1967 that Paul had died and was replaced by William Shears (the “Billy Shears” referenced in Sgt. Pepper lyrics). Some experts were saying the bass guitar’s style had fundamentally changed between the prior records and later records as more evidence. The line “the Walrus was Paul” in “Glass Onion” was apparently a reference to this.
And there is a clip from I think King Lear in I am the Walrus saying, "Bury my body." that people claimed was Paul saying it instead of the movie clip.
