50 Years of Beatlemania

It was 1963 and the Beatles were climbing the pop charts in the UK and creating a frenzy among their growing fan base. Despite this popularity in their home country, Beatlemania had not yet been imported across the Atlantic to audiences in the US. That changed with the release of their first single in America, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on December 26, 1963. The song quickly shot up the US pop charts to reach the number one spot by January of 1964, and the rest was history.

On the heels of that success, the Beatles made their first trip to the US, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on February 9,1964. The broadcast garnered the largest television audience in the US for any program at the time and it launched the craze known as Beatlemania.

By April 6, 1964, all five of the top spots on the Billboard chart were occupied by Beatles songs. The number one spot was held by "Can't By Me Love", followed by their raucous cover of "Twist and Shout", with "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me" rounding out the other spots.

Having already conquered the pop charts and television, the Beatles set their sights on film, releasing A Hard Day's Night on August 11, 1964. All of these events set in motion a revolution of popular music, ushering in the British invasion that would bring bands like the Rolling Stones, the Animals and eventually The Who to American audiences and sending the popularity of rock music to greater heights than had ever been imagined before the Beatles emergence.

While subsequent years would see a growth of their artistic vision, producing some of the most influential albums ever recorded, it was that brief span from late 1963 into the summer of 1964 that made it all possible, signaling the beginning of what was yet to come.

[ipsurvivor]

So we need a professor to tell us this?

[WeAreFrenchMasters]

And now, popular music is back to being a disposable song of the moment. In fact, most popular music should have been disposed of before being heard. wearefrenchmasters on youtube. Stop by and take off your underwear. Burt, U of R '66