Time flies. Especially if you were there when a well-remembered event actually happened.
Fifty years ago today, on Feb. 9, 1964, The Beatles made their first American television appearance. Seventy-three million viewers — a record — tuned their TV sets to CBS and "The Ed Sullivan Show" to witness John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they performed "She Loves You," "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
Because the Sullivan show was broadcast in black and white at that time, that first American TV performance exists today only in those shades. Ironically, at the end of the Feb. 9 show, Sullivan announced the program would begin airing in color the next week, on Feb. 16, 1964.
It's undeniable that The Beatles' influence on rock music and popular culture was, and remains, immense. Here are five ways The Beatles changed the world as we knew it:
1. HAIR
The Beatle haircut, also known as the mop-top because of its resemblance to a mop, was a mid-length hairstyle. It is a straight cut – collar-length at the back and over the ears at the sides, with bangs.
Because of the immense popularity of the Beatles, the haircut was widely imitated worldwide between 1964 and 1966. Their hair-style led toy manufacturers to begin producing real-hair and plastic "Beatle Wigs." Lowell Toy Manufacturing Corp. of New York was licensed to make "the only AUTHENTIC Beatle Wig." There have been many attempts at counterfeiting, but in its original packaging this wig has become highly collectible.
2. FASHION
In the early Beatlemania years, The Beatles would occasionally wear black, and then later gray, Edwardian collarless suits. This style of suit was adopted from the Mod youth cult, then at its peak in England. These suits became very common for new bands to wear after 1964.
Later, during the psychedelic era of 1967–1968, The Beatles popularized bright colors, and wore paisley suits and shirts and trousers with floral patterns. The Beatles also popularized Indian-influenced fashions such as collarless shirts and sandals.
3. LIVE CONCERTS
The Beatles were the first entertainment act to stage a large stadium concert. The group opened their 1965 North American tour Aug. 15, 1965, in Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets. The concert, which sold out in just 17 minutes, drew a record audience of 55,600. It was the first concert to be held at a major outdoor stadium and set records for attendance and revenue, demonstrating that outdoor concerts on a large scale could be successful and profitable.
The Beatles returned to Shea for a successful encore in August 1966.
4. ALBUM FORMAT
Prior to The Beatles' influence, record albums were of secondary consideration to singles (45s) in mass marketing. Albums were generally devised to contain "filler" material along with one or two hits. As their career proceeded, The Beatles began to increasingly focus on the album as an artistic medium in its own right. In general, The Beatles did not include their singles on their albums.
5. YEARS SINCE
More that 40 years after their breakup — in 1970 — The Beatles remain a force to be reckoned with. "1," a compilation album of every British and American Number One Beatles hit, was released Nov. 13, 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time with 3.6 million sold in its first week and 13 million within a month. It was a number one hit in at least 28 countries, including the United Kingdom and the U.S. It also was the best-selling album of the decade in the United States.
Sources: The Ed Sullivan Site/edsullivan.com; Wikipedia
