I intend to eventually watch Get Back, even though I have found the album from the day it was released to be grim and unbearable to listen to (I still have my original UK LP). They sound so tired, so "done." "It’s" obviously over, they’ve all outgrown The Beatles. Well, maybe not Ringo ;-) .
But their imminent demise was of no concern to my mates and I, as there were far more interesting new bands and solo artists vying for our attention. For hard rockers there were Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath (no musicians I knew liked either, only stoners), for LSD lovers Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead,, for Roots Rockers (who already missed Buffalo Springfield and The Lovin’ Spoonful) there were the emerging Americana bands and solo artists (okay, singer/songwriters): The Band, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, C, S, & N, Fleetwood Mac (original line-up), Moby Grape, The Flamin’ Groovies, The Flying Burrito Brothers (and shortly thereafter Gram Parsons solo, as well as Emmylou Harris), Dan Hicks, Commander Cody, plenty of others. Even Jazz was "infecting" Rock ’n’ Roll, leading to a lot of looooong "songs" featuring musicians one-by-one soloing. Yawn ;-) . Progressive Rock (the blending of Jazz and Classical) was developing a very large audience, and the "The 60’s Are Over" party was just getting started.
Even before Get Back appeared---in fact before Abbey Road had, The Beatles were starting to sound as passe to me as had the "teen idols" when Meet The Beatles changed the world overnight in 1964. Unlike perhaps many of you, I am ambivalent about Abbey Road. By the time it appeared, I had already moved on. For me The Beatles peaked in 1965-66: the Rubber Soul, "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain", "Strawberry Fields Forever" b/w Penny Lane", Revolver era.
I saw and heard The Bealtes live in the summer of ’65 in S. San Francisco (having passed on doing so in ’64, at that point in time still not loving them), and was not overly impressed. By that time I had already began attending local shows in San Jose, seeing all the legendary Garage Bands ya’ll may have heard of (Rock ’n’ Roll historian Greg Shaw proclaimed San Jose "Garage Band Ground Zero"): The Chocolate Watchband, The Syndicate Of Sound, Stained Glass, People, many others. The next year it was up to The Fillmore and The Carousel and Avalon Ballrooms to see not just the new stars (Cream, Hendrix, etc.), but also the old Blues guys whose careers were being revived by their young white imitators (Clapton, Page, Peter Green, etc.). Thanks to them and Bill Graham I got to see and hear the likes of Albert King. OMG!
The popular music of the mid-late 60’s now appeared to have been more Pop than Rock, and the future of Rock ’n’ Roll music was going to be defined more by musicians than songwriters. The Beatles were better songwriters than musicians, at least in terms of the Rock ’n’ Roll standards becoming dominant in the late-60’s (virtuosity). When The Beatles "picked themselves up" to do those last two albums, George Harrison hadn’t played guitar in two or three years (that damned sitar ruined him as a musician imo), Ringo’s timing had gone to hell, and they hadn’t played live in three years. They weren’t a Band, they were a Pop Group. And the days of Pop Groups was over, just as had been the days of the Teen Idols when The Beatles first appeared.