Real Love (The Beatles Song) - Release

Release

Although the song was released as single in both the UK and US on 4 March 1996, the first time the song was publicly aired had come on 22 November 1995, when the American television network, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) aired the second episode of The Beatles Anthology.

The single jumped into the British charts on 16 March 1996 at number four, selling 50,000 copies in its first week. However, the single's progress in the charts was stunted by BBC Radio 1's exclusion of "Real Love" from its playlist. Reuters, which described Radio 1 as "the biggest pop music station in Britain," reported that the station declared, "It's not what our listeners want to hear ... We are a contemporary music station."

Beatles spokesman Geoff Baker responded by stating the band's response as "Indignation. Shock and surprise. We carried out research after the Anthology was launched and this revealed that 41% of the buyers were teenagers."

The station's actions contrasted strongly with what occurred at the launch of "Free as a Bird" the year earlier, when it became the first station to play the song on British airwaves. The exclusion of "Real Love" provoked a fierce reaction from fans, and elicited comment from two members of parliament (MPs). Conservative MP Harry Greenway called the action censorship, and urged the station to reverse what he called a ban.

An angry McCartney wrote an 800-word article for British newspaper The Daily Mirror about the ban, where he stated that "The Beatles don't need our new single, 'Real Love', to be a hit. It's not as if our careers depend on it. If Radio 1 feels that we should be banned now, it's not exactly going to ruin us overnight. You can't put an age limit on good music. It's very heartening to know that, while the kindergarten kings of Radio 1 may think the Beatles are too old to come out to play, a lot of younger British bands don't seem to share that view. I'm forever reading how bands like Oasis are openly crediting the Beatles as inspiration, and I'm pleased that I can hear the Beatles in a lot of the music around today. As Ringo said to me about all this, who needs Radio 1 when you've got all the independent stations?" The letter was published on 9 March, the day after Radio 1 announced the "ban".

The station's controller, Matthew Bannister, however denied that the failure to include the song was a ban, but merely meant that the song had not been included on the playlist of each week's 60 most regularly featured songs. The station also hit back by devoting a "Golden Hour" to the group's music as well as music by bands influenced by the Beatles. This "Golden Hour" concluded with a playing of "Real Love".

"Real Love" fell out of the British charts in seven weeks, never topping its initial position of number four. In the US, the single entered the charts on 30 March, and reached number 10; after four months, 500,000 copies had been moved in the US. The Beatles compilation album Anthology 2, which carried the song as well, eventually reached number one in both the British and American charts.

John Lennon's solo versions appear on several Lennon compilations, the film Imagine: John Lennon and one was also used in a 2007 ad campaign for J. C. Penney.