<center>40 years ago, the Beatles came to hold our hand. </center>
In 1964, a nation still reeling from the loss of JFK was forever changed by the youthful energy of the Fab Four.
Throw a cultural milestone into the pond, and the ripples go on forever.
The arrival of the Beatles in New York City on Feb. 7, 1964 was a watershed event not only for popular music and for America's sense of taste, and fashion, and its very belief system.
The so-called generation gap was widened considerably when Beatlemania enveloped American youth.
The Beatles' music was by the kids, for the kids and of the kids.
The Beatles' music was electrified rock 'n' roll, with a big, big beat, creatively many miles above the Top 40 of the day (The Singing Nun's "Dominque" was a huge hit at that moment) and for American teens, it was like a tidal wave that swept away anything and everything in its path.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were irreverent, exuberant and bursting with energy.
They were different, but not threatening: Sure, they had those shaggy "pudding basin" haircuts, wore "Cuban" boots and spoke with thick Liverpudlian accents, but they also wore stylish suits and sang good-natured love songs with alluring harmonies and complex chord changes.
"People were attracted to the fact that the Beatles seemed to stand up and poke fun at authority, but do it in such a way that authority wasn't necessarily offended," says Bruce Spizer, author of several Beatles books including "The Beatles Are Coming: The Birth of Beatlemania in America."
Spizer's book chronicles the failure of Capitol Records to realize the Beatles' potential in 1963, while Great Britain was falling to its knees for the group, and the events leading up to the Beatles' triumphant debut on TV's "Ed Sullivan Show" on Feb. 9, 1964.
"This was at a time when people really did not have multiple entertainment choices," says Spizer. "For that reason, you had a very concentrated audience that would watch the 'Ed Sullivan Show,' where families would sit down together and watch this type of variety show. For the Beatles to appear on that show gave them exposure to people of all ages."
"I Want to Hold Your Hand," the Beatles' fifth single, was No. 1 on the American charts when the foursome's Pan Am jet touched down at Kennedy Airport on Feb. 7. Radio stations had been giving Beatles tunes saturation airplay for weeks.
Ironically, Capitol (the American arm of EMI, the Beatles' record company) had declined to release the band's previous singles, deeming them not good enough for the U.S. market.
When Capitol finally agreed to get behind the Beatles -- just after group manager Brian Epstein had signed a deal with the Sullivan show -- a $40,000 promotional budget was approved.
Capitol had its marketing men wear Beatle wigs when they left the office. New York was papered with "The Beatles Are Coming!" stickers, a tabloid-style newspaper with Beatle bios and news was distributed by the thousands, and record outlets were inundated with posters, buttons and large promotional displays.
"I think the Beatles would have been successful without the promotional campaign that Capitol did, but it would not have been as quick or as dominant," says Spizer.
More than 3,000 teenagers greeted the Beatles' plane at Kennedy Airport on Feb. 7, and the press conference that followed was covered by (an admittedly skeptical) NBC and CBS (things do change with hindsight, of course: Walter Cronkite himself wrote the introduction to Spizer's book, published in late 2003).
"It was a very exciting moment, a magical moment," says Lennon's widow Yoko Ono. "I think that particular move to the United States really helped to changed the world."
Lennon, she says, told her he'd been surprised at the group's airport greeting in '64. "I think he did not expect this kind of big response."
The Feb. 9 "Ed Sullivan Show" was the first time most Americans got their first look at the Fab Four live and in person
More than 50,000 requests for tickets were received for Sullivan's 728 available seats. The program was watched by an estimated 73 million people, then the largest TV audience in history.
Sullivan knew he had a "really big show" on his hands, and he was thrilled that he'd gambled on the Beatles by agreeing to Epstein's demand that the group headline three consecutive programs (they were back on Feb. 16, live from Miami's Deauville Hotel, and on Feb. 23 in an appearance taped the afternoon of Feb. 9 in New York).
Those who scoffed never got near the last laugh, as Beatlemania surged and swelled and didn't let up for the better part of two years, when the Beatles quit making personal appearances.
The Top Five on the April 4, 1964 Billboard record chart was all Beatles singles: "Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me."
The band broke up less than a decade later, amidst acrimony over business and musical matters. In 1980, John Lennon was murdered in New York City. George Harrison survived a stabbing in his home in England 1999, but died of cancer two years later.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr continue to record and tour the world, their shows thick with tunes from their Beatle glory days.
It was, indeed, a long and winding road. For the U.S.A., it began on Feb. 7, 1964.
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