Not sure how plausible this is, but a major contributing factor for why the White Album and Get Back sessions were so contentious and divisive, even when compared with the January 1968 session, was John Lennon's heroin addiction. It was not the sole reason for why those sessions resulted in so much bickering, but the drug seems to have made a bad situation worse. So what if Lennon and Ono never use heroin?
John Lennon avoids heroin
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It may have made him keener to compete with Paul regarding the direction of the Beatles.
In OTL during the 'Let it Be' sessions, he was pretty tuned-out & virtually let Paul run the band by default - but a Lennon off heroin may have dug his heels in a bit more & shot down the Get Back/Let It Be concept at the start (filmed rehearsals followed by a live comeback).
In 1967, Sgt Pepper & Magical Mystery Tour were Paul's ideas.. 1968's retreat to Rishikesh was george's idea, and the White album was pretty much everyone doing as they pleased.
Maybe 1969 would've seen John say "Right, it's still MY band, we're gonna do what *I* want to do now.."
Much of Lennon's late Beatles work would have been affected. Reportedly he began using heroin in 1968. This might potentionally mean no Happiness is a Warm Gun, among other Beatle songs, before we ever reach the beginning of Lennon's solo career. On the other hand, McCartney has claimed that the drug's use initially made Lennon paranoid and even more prone to being argumentative and disagreeable than usual, and he's suggested that heroin was part of the reason why the White album sessions were so Bsd for the group. While in retrospect we can say a bres inevitable due to Lennon's ambivalence about being a Beatle as early as 1965, it was really during the White album sessions that the group began to fall apart. As late as the sessions that produced Lady Madonna, the band was still relatively cohesive, but by the time the band began recording the White Album, that was no longer the case. Heroin, along with the amount of material the group wrote in India among other factors might explain just what happened to the Beatles between January and May 1968. On the other hand Lennon here may have been even more eager yo leave the group earlier, he might even have walked away in 68 here. Recording his White Album material as a solo artist might have been seen as a genuine option by a more sober John Lennon.
Do you think a sober John would be more open to a reunion tour or album in the late 70s/early 80s?
To the extent that no heroin means a less contentious atmosphere in 1968-1969 a reunion or partial reunion might be more possible. But there are other factors involved. Once the band splits there is simply no way George Harrison would ever consent to a reunion. A tour is probably out of the question, since Lennon hardly ever performed live in the 1970's and also he cannot leave the United States due to his legal trouble. But a concert is not, especially since such a concert came close to happening in 1979. The two big problems with even a partial no Harrison reunion in the 1970's were probably legal issues and Wings. If there ever was a time when Lennon would have been willing to work with Paul McCartney again before 1980, it would have been during his lost weekend in 1974.
Stolengood
Banned
If Yoko had, for some reason, OD'd before the end of the Lost Weekend, what would've happened with John and May Pang?