For Baby Boomers there are two defining events, captured by the media and linked closely in time, that they can never forget- November 22, 1963, the Friday that saw the killing of John Kennedy; and February 9, 1964, the Sunday night the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

         With the U.S. reeling from the recent death of the young, charismatic President, there was an understandably explosive, cathartic reaction among the nation’s youth when as 1963 turned into ’64, radio stations began playing “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. By the time 70 million Americans tuned into the Sullivan show, the single was topping the Billboard chart, most had purchased Meet the Beatles, and “She Loves You” was on its way to #1. Beatlemania, which had swept the UK the previous year, had reached American shores.  

         Initially, it was a youth craze. Adults and critics, by and large, derided their lyrics as banal (“yeah, yeah, yeah,” they mocked), their music slammed as “god awful” (The Boston Globe) or “a near disaster” (Newsweek), their long hair seen as effeminate or a joke. A passing fad, it was said. The Beatles- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr- however, refused to stand still. Despite dominating the charts in ’64 and ’65 with such hits as “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “I Feel Fine”, “Ticket to Ride”, “Help”, and “Yesterday”, and exhausting themselves with a series of world tours, musically they were restless, often unable to hear themselves onstage; so they turned to experimentation in the studio, pushing the limits of recording technology, trying out new instruments and sounds, and creating sonic masterpieces like the albums Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, and Abbey Road.

         Today one simply cannot overstate the importance of the Beatles in the history of recorded music. Though it is impossible to get accurate figures, it is almost universally acknowledged that they are the best selling recording artists of all time. 20 of their singles reached #1 in the U.S. in the brief time they were together. Eventually the Beatles won over the music critics and many adults as well. Their impact on both popular music and on culture is simply incalculable. After the Beatles, studio experimentation exploded and the album became more and more the focal point of recorded music. Changes in hair and clothing styles, in recreational drug use and meditation, the rise in teenage idealism and the 60’s counter-culture, not to mention the legitimization of popular music as an art form, can all be traced, in some fashion, back to the Beatles.

         By 1970, though, they were over. John, Paul, George, and Ringo went their separate ways; yet, five decades on, they are still recognized by many as the most important act in recorded music history.

         -Steve Williams (7/10/23) – Greatest Recording Artists Blog Post #26