actively trying to provoke and incense random strangers for your own twisted pleasure. The Beatles messed with people's heads all the time, but they weren't trying to make them mad.

The Beatles, John Lennon in particular, could be cruel and deliberately provoking, not just to "random strangers" but also close friends and associates like Brian Epstein. Heck, in the the Hamburg years alone John flashed nuns, walked on stage naked with a toilet seat around his neck, and called their German fans "Nazis." Their jokes weren't all innocent, well-meaning mischief-making.