George Harrison: 2/25/43 – 11/29/01

10 years ago today, former Beatle George Harrison died of lung cancer in a rented mansion in Hollywood, CA. It was a sad day for the music world because, even though he was considered “the quiet” or “spiritual” Beatle, nevertheless it now meant there are now only 2 surviving Beatles: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. However, it also meant the death of the most underrated songwriters of the Beatles.

George revolutionized rock and roll by adding spiritual elements such as the sitar into Beatles recordings.This was in part, due to his own involvement with the Hare Krishna movement – Harrison was a devout follower of Hinduism. One of the first rock recordings that ever used the sitar was Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), which was played by Harrison himself. This ended up revolutionizing rock music.