Which of the Beatles was the alpha male?

[LoZoccolo]

You have to pick one and you can't say George Martin.

The names in this poll are in reverse alphabetical order so that there is absolutely no bias.

[Phillycat]

1. Much as I prefer John, Paul was definitely the natural leader.

He has more charisma, more drive, and more focus. John was a lover, not a fighter, 'tho of course the two of them fought it out a LOT.

[Tyler Durden]

2. Eddie Murphy.

Just being silly. LOVED that Saturday Night Live bit about him being the "5th Beatle."

[LoZoccolo]

5. Clarence, the saxophonist. n/t

[azmouse]

3. Have you read the Beatles biography?

It's fascinating!

[blogslut]

7. The one by Bob Spitz?

Yes. I did. And if the OP had read it, he would know the answer. :p

[azmouse]

13. That's the one.

The Beatles' handlers really cleaned up their image when they hit it big.
Lots of drugs, alcohol and women. It doesn't present them as a very nice group of guys.

[blogslut]

14. No, it doesn't

Just the same, I'm glad I read it. After reading it, I respect their music even more than I did before. They literally made something out of nothing, with gobs of assist from George Martin.

The alpha-dog thing is totally answered in the pages of that book. ;)

[jpgray]

4. Depends on the period, but overall probably Paul

In the early days it was undoubtedly John, but round abouts '67 John mostly lost his talent and drive, and Paul carried a lot of the weight and had the most consistent body of songs. If you listen to the White album demos, it's hilariously clear that only Paul is serious about the project as John and George can't even back him up on rudimentary pop pastiches like "Oh! Darling." Paul is clearly freaked out that pushing people too far will result in them quitting the band (which happened anyway), so mostly they just dick around and play 50s R&B and early rock jams that are horrible. :D

[Mad_Dem_X]

12. Yes n/t

[MissMillie]

6. George will always be my fav, but Paul was definitely the leader

All Things Must Pass

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. John and Paul were always scrapping for the spot

Paul had it more often than not.

[ohiosmith]

9. John wore the pants but Yoko told him when to take them off.

[Mad_Dem_X]

10. Definitely Paul, esp. in the later years

John sort of withdrew, so Paul had to pick up the slack. (BTW, I'm a huge John fan.)

[leftofthedial]

11. George Martin

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Lennon was an introvert.

Introverts generally aren't "alpha males". So the answer would be McCartney.

[astral]

16. You know where I get my opinion is

where each Beatle went with their music after the split. Paul is clearly a bubble-gum sing-songy type artist, which certainly made him some bucks! George was all into God and Karma and Spirit and I just felt like I was medititating with incense burning whenever I heard his music (actually he's the only one I bought solo music of . . . couldn't listen to John after he died.) John's music was the kind that haunted you down to your core --- that thing that often happened with Beatles' songs. He was the lifeblood of their music in reality, I think, with maybe more influence from George than meets the eye.

Ringo had some surprisingly cool stuff with his solo songs, although I didn't hear many songs by him.

So maybe, maybe Paul was the orchestrator fella, and maybe most of the gals thought he was the cutest, or something (I fell for George!) but it really wasn't about one of them carrying the weight of the talent, it was a total harmonization of four different kinds of energies which were all very powerful.

[last_texas_dem]

17. I can't decide

and I've read four or five Beatles biographies, so it's not so much that I don't feel like I know enough about what their personalities were/are like to attempt to assess them. The thing is, I'd go with Paul in terms of his perfectionistic and pushy "musical leader" side. This quality on his part caused a decades-long rift with George and tensions with John and even Ringo. (IIRC, Ringo quitting the band for a couple weeks during the "White Album" was due to Paul critiquing his playing a little too much.) Paul taking more creative control in the later years probably saved the band from petering out a couple years before (George was already getting fed up during the White Album, and John had found Yoko and lost much of his interest in new material, preferring to jam to old rock 'n roll covers- as a poster above pointed out.) but his musical pushiness was one of the main forces that made "Get Back/Let It Be" such a tense project that signalled the group's demise.)

At the same time, John was a couple years older than Paul and three older than George, and I think this had some impact on the relationships between members during the formative years. He was considered the band's unofficial leader in the early years, when they were asked this question. (Ringo didn't join until right before their breakthrough, so I'm cheating and not considering that he was actually the eldest.) John seemed to be the one, especially early on, that the other members looked up to and there were times he seemed to hold this over the others; using his biting sarcasm and occasionally nasty demeanor to control the others.

So, I'm cheating and not picking. I'm not even sure who would be more conventionally alpha-male and it's even more difficult to try to decide within the context of the band. I'm interested in who some of the posters who had read Spitz's Beatles biography considered to be the obvious choice. While I do have a bit of a bias towards Paul myself, I think all of the Beatles could be jerks when they wanted to (even Ringo, though pretty rarely!) but I like 'em all anyway.

[enigmatic]

18. Lennon

Until he met Yoko, it was Lennon. After that meeting, Lennon lost interest in the band, so McCartney became the Alpha.

[Alexander]

19. It depends. Brian Epstein Beatles or post-Epstein Beatles? (pre or post 1967?)

Until 1967, it was definitely John.

From 1967 onward, it was definitely Paul.

Everyone has their favorite Beatles era, so I can't point to one as the definitive "alpha male".

BTW, if you picked up a book or two on the Beatles, you'd learn that there were two distinct phases, and they were almost two different groups with and without Brian Epstein.

[Broken_Hero]

20. I'd say John.....nt