More popular than Jesus the comment, saying "if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it". He explained that he was simply remarking on how other people viewed and popularised the band. The events contributed to the Beatles' lack of interest in public live performances, and the US tour was the last they undertook, after which they became a studio-only band. In 1969, the Beatles released "The Ballad of John and Yoko", a non-album single in which Lennon sings the line "The way things are going, They're gonna crucify me." Lennon's solo career included further references
Religious views of the Beatles the "Evening Standard" that the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus". The comment went unnoticed until in August the same year, the American magazine "Datebook" published it, inciting protests against the Beatles. The band were threatened, their records were publicly burned, and radio stations refused to play their songs. After the Beatles' 1966 US tour, Harrison broadened his interest of Indian culture to Hinduism. He and his wife Pattie Boyd went on a pilgrimage to Mumbai to meet gurus. In 1968, all four Beatles went to Rishikesh in northern India to study meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Although