Lennon should have flat-out denied that his comment related to the Beatles’ success. He should have said it was a misunderstanding; he was referring to a new song he’s working on, called “More Popular Than Jesus”. Then he, Paul, George and Ringo should have immediately gone to the studio to work on a song about Love and World Peace. I can envision it now: what a timeless, thematically controversial, cross-cultural beauty!

 

To begin Lennon’s rehabilitation from the “bigger than Jesus” comment, I would advise him to take part in a pre-recorded and controlled sit-down interview with Aled Jones for “Songs of Praise”, allowing him to address the issue on his own terms in a less hostile environment than a ‘hard’ news programme. The interview could be filmed at a location in Liverpool which promoted how important family and community were to Lennon’s beliefs.

 

Lennon would be speaking to the target audience who may be most offended by his comments, and could use the opportunity to repair any damage by talking in greater detail about his own history with religion, such as family involvement and the importance of the local church. He could briefly express his regret that his comments had caused offence before going on to concentrate on a more positive message.

 

It’s interesting that, in the collective memory, Lennon’s crime was claiming his band were more famous than Jesus. What he actually said was (at the time, certainly) far more inflammatory: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first - rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.”

 

This was a time when societal attitudes to venerable institutions such as the church, the judiciary or government were considerably more reverential than ours today – so Lennon was naïve to expect this not to create a firestorm.

 

But rather than backing down and issuing an apology, a more daring strategy would have been to stand by his comments and position himself as a counter-cultural commentator. One who is unafraid to shake up the status quo by telling it like it is. It would have meant recalibrating (and possibly even reducing) his fan base, but the remainder would have clutched him to their bosom more tightly. Sometimes a brand benefits from a show of strength and independence rather than playing to the crowd.