'Ultimate Pop Star' Cliff Richard launches astonishing attack on 'horrific, out of tune' Beatles

Sir Cliff Richard has launched an astonishing attack on The Beatles, claiming some of their music was "horrific" because it was "out of tune".

Sir Cliff, who has a reputation as pop's Mr Nice, maintained some was so off-tune it was "unbelievable" – and "unforgivable".

His criticism of the pop icons concentrated on the guitar solos, often played by George Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001.

The 67-year-old singer said he could not believe these were not re-recorded.

He insisted: "The Beatles were an incredible force. Of course they had their own sound, style and wrote their own songs.

"But, yes, even now, when I listen to them, some of the guitar is so out of tune, it's unbelievable.

"I couldn't believe that here they were in this high-tech age, with four-track recording machines, and they couldn't go back and do it with a tuned guitar.

"Being out of tune – I find it unforgivable.'

Sir Cliff said he could not remember which songs offended him the most.

"It's mostly their guitar solos, which can be fairly horrific," he added.

Later, in the interview with Q Magazine, he was quick to point out he had achieved things that The Beatles had not.

The man dubbed the Peter Pan of Pop said: "My only gripe is when critics writing the history of rock'n'roll leave me out altogether."

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Speaking of his emergence in British pop half a decade before The Beatles, he went on: "All I'm asking is that [the critics] recognise that I did something that no one else had done before, and five years before The Beatles. "I am the UPS – Ultimate Pop Star – and no one can take that away from me.

"A few years ago, Channel 4 did a programme called The Ultimate Pop Star – and it turns out I have sold more singles than not just Elvis, but everybody.

"That's my big claim to fame."

The Beatles biographer Hunter Davies said: "It doesn't sound like Cliff Richard. He's usually banal in his comments.

"I've never heard the guitar-playing being attacked before. I'm surprised.

"George is someone everyone thought was one of the best guitarists ever.

"Historically, Cliff's nose was put out of joint when The Beatles came along.

"He was a total pinch from Elvis Presley, with the same gyrating hips.

"The Beatles looked totally different. They sang in Liverpool accents, whereas Cliff affected a mid-Atlantic accent. They wrote their own songs, while he sang other people's."