ON THIS DAY IN 1964, THE BEATLES MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE BRITISH INVASION BY PERFORMING ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

In front of a sold-out crowd of 728 screaming fans and an estimated 73 million more watching on the television at home, it was safe to say the Beatles made an impact. In fact, the numbers ended up breaking the record of number of viewers tuned in to a live program. It has been estimated that approximately 3/4 of the American adult population was watching the performance.

Ed Sullivan had been a fan of the band for some time and spectated their rising popularity in Britain from afar, before deciding “this was the same sort of mass hit hysteria that had characterized the Elvis Presley days.” (New York Times). Interestingly, Elvis appeared to sense the threat to his popularity and sent a congratulatory telegram to the band, read out at the start of the episode.

The band themselves played five songs, All My Loving, Till There Was You and She Loves You at the start of the show and then I Saw Her Standing There and I Want To Hold Your Hand at the beginning of the second half of the show. During Till There Was You a close-up of each Beatle is shown, with Lennon’s featuring an extra caption – “Sorry Girls, He’s Married.”

This performance has become iconic in the pages of rock history and is remembered as changing the landscape of popular music drastically, particularly in the US. It inspired countless musicians from numerous recognisable bands to pick up an instrument and have a try at rock and roll music. Ultimately, the show is now a huge part of the Beatles story and the history of popular music and rock and roll altogether.

ON THIS DAY IN 1964, BEATLEMANIA REACHED AN ALL TIME HIGH AS THE BAND ARRIVED IN THE US FOR THE FIRST TIME

Landing at JFK in New York, The Beatles were greeted by a group of around 4,000 screaming fans, mostly female. The band was then split into limos, 1 limo per person, and driven to the Plaza Hotel, where they were once again besieged by fans and reporters.

Some people say that the hysteria surrounding the Beatles was due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, claiming the band reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that faded after the assassination. However, music journalists and historians dispute this, some going as far as to call it “willfully dismissive” of prior and concurrent music developments.

The group made their live US debut just days later on the 9th of February, drawing close to 73 million viewers, about two-fifths of the American population. They continued their press run, drawing large audiences wherever they went, as well as selling 2 million records and about $2 and a half million before heading back to the UK on the 22nd February. Arriving at Heathrow airport at 7am, they were met by yet another crowd, this time of approximately 10,000.

ON THIS DAY IN 1964, IT BECAME APPARENT THAT BEATLEMANIA HAD TAKEN HOLD IN AMERICA, AS BEATLE’S BEGIN A SEVEN WEEK RUN AT #1 IN THE US CHARTS

The song to begin this run, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and was the first Beatle’s song to be recorded on four-track equipment. Advance orders in Britain reached over 1 million copies before the release date of 29 November, 1963, and would have assured the group a #1 debut had their previous track, “She Loves You” not blocked the way. After two weeks, the new single reached #1 where it stayed for five weeks, and remained in the charts for 21 weeks total.

The track entered the Billboard charts in America at #45 on the 18th January 1964, and by the 1st of February it had surged to #1, giving the band their first US hit. It remained in the charts for 15 weeks, and held number one for seven before being replaced by “She Loves You”. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” went on to become the Beatle’s best-selling single worldwide, and earned numerous accolades, including 44th biggest song of all time on the Billboard charts as of 2013.

On this day in 1963, a Beatles record was played for the first time on American radio

Throughout the year the group had made a mark across Britain but had not yet seen much success in the US. This changed when WWDC DJ James Carroll obtained a copy of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” from his air stewardess girlfriend who brought the single back from Britain.

Though some reports say Chicago’s WLS began playing “Please Please Me” in February, Caroll is most commonly mentioned as being the first disc jockey to play a track from the band on American radio when he started broadcasting “I Want to Hold Your Hand” throughout DC on December 17.

Due to listener demand, the song was soon played daily, every hour. Since the song had not officially launched in the US, Capitol Records considered taking legal action but instead decided to release the single earlier than planned.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, ONE OF THE BEATLES BIGGEST HITS REACHED #1 ON THE UK RECORD CHARTS

Released in late November, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, written by McCartney and Lennon, immidiately surged to #1, replacing their own song, “She Loves You”, which had held the top spot for two weeks. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” went on to take the position for a further five weeks, and stayed in the top 50 for a total of 21 weeks.

The song was also the bands first #1 hit in the US, hitting the Billboard charts in January and hitting number one by early February. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” went on to become the groups best selling song, as well as earning them a number of impressive accolades, such as being listed at #2 on the Mojo list of “100 Records That Changed the World” and #16 on Rolling Stones “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

“I Want To Hold Your Hand” also went on to start an impressive record-setting spree from the group. It was the first of seven songs to hit #1 within the one year period of 1964, the first band to achieve such a feat. These seven songs, also including “Love Me Do” and “I Feel Fine” helped to define the immensely successful careers of The Beatle’s that was soon to come.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, ONE OF THE BEATLE’S BIGGEST SINGLES WAS RELEASED

The band’s fifth British single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was released to shocking advance orders exceeding 700,000, and within three days the record had sold 1 million copies, the groups second million seller after “She Loves You”, which blocked the song from reaching the top spot for two weeks.

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was also the bands first American number one hit, arriving on the Billboard chart in mid January,1964 and had reached number one by February, where it stayed for seven weeks, before being dislodged by “She Loves You” in a bizarre reversal of the British chart.

Written by Lennon and McCartney, the song would become the bands best-selling single worldwide, selling over twelve million copies. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 44th biggest hit of all time and Rolling Stone listed it at number sixteen on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

TODAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES WERE GIVEN THEIR VERY FIRST GOLD DISC, SIGNIFYING A MILLION SALES OF THEIR SINGLE, “SHE LOVES YOU”

The song was a multi record-breaking single for the charts, including being one of the five Beatles’ songs that held the top five simultaneously in April 1964. The song went on to become the groups best-selling single and the best-selling single of the 1960’s in the UK.

The single is another Lennon-McCartney original, written while on tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers, and was inspired by a Bobby Rydell hit which also featured a call and response pattern. It was recorded a week later at EMI Studios with George Martin producing. The song was immediately sought after, amassing over 500,000 pre-orders by the day of it’s release, thus entering the charts quickly, where it remained for 31 weeks, including 18 in the top 3. It remained the UK’s best selling single for a further 14 years.

The song was not immediately successful in the US, having predated the “British Invasion” and Beatlemania that took over the country in 1964. After this, the song re-emerged and entered the US Charts, where it spent 5 weeks at number 2, behind, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. This made the Beatles another record, becoming one of two artists to ever hold the top 2 spots simultaneously. The song became one of the groups main legacies, with the “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” refrain being one of the trademarks of The Beatles.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, THE BEATLES MADE THEIR TELEVISION DEBUT

Performing on UK music program, “Ready, Steady, Go!”, the group mimed “Twist and Shout”, “I’ll Get You” and “She Loves You”. The program transitioned to real live performances the following year in 1964.

The group was also interviewed by Dusty Springfield, who assisted in hosting the program. Paul McCartney took part in judging a miming competition won by 13-year-old Melanie Coe, who made headlines years later when she ran away from home, prompting Paul to write the song “She’s Leaving Home”, without realising he’d met the girl before.

The show was recorded and later released, as well as two other Beatle’s performances on the show in the following years. 

On this day in 1963, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “I Wanna Be Your Man” for the Rolling Stones

In the early days of The Beatles, Lennon and McCartney often shared songs with their friends. The bands had arranged to meet through the Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, who had also been a publicist for The Beatles. Oldham ran into Lennon and McCartney as he stepped out of a cab and invited them to a studio where the Stones were rehearsing.

The song was written primarily by McCartney and then finished in the corner of the studio with Lennon’s help, while Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were talking. The Stones finished the song and released it a couple of months later in November. The song was only released as single and never made it to a Rolling Stones album.

The Beatles also recorded a version of the song in November, sung by Ringo Starr, which would appear on the bands second album, “Meet the Beatles!” John Lennon was later dismissive of the song, calling it a throwaway. “I Wanna Be Your Man” clearly left an impression on other artists though, as the track was later referenced by Bob Dylan, The Stooges and The Saints.

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, STEVIE WONDER, OR LITTLE STEVIE WONDER AS HE WAS KNOWN BACK THEN, HAD HIS FIRST HIT SINGLE DEBUT IN THE CHARTS WITH FINGERTIPS PT. 2

This song is important not only to Wonder, but also marked a pivotal moment in Ritchie Yorke’s career. Having received a copy of the song while working at a radio station in Tamworth, Queensland, Ritchie was suitably impressed by Wonder’s incredible instrumentation, especially given his age of 12 and his blindness. Unfortunately, the higher-ups at the station were less impressed and Ritchie was informed not to play anymore “black” music on their channel under any circumstance. At this point, Ritchie’s logical next move was to lock himself in the studio and play the song for as long as it took for them to get in and turn it off. He succeeded, playing the song eight times and was swiftly fired, leaving him free to pursue the other goals in music journalism that we all know he achieved. More on these events can be read here in his biography.

The song itself was originally intended as a fairly simple jazz ditty recorded for his first album, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie, intended to showcase Wonder’s skills on various instruments including the bongos and harmonica. The much more popular live version was recorded at the Regal Theatre in Chicago and Wonder’s encore spawned the even more successful Part 2. The song was released in late May and immediately surged through the charts, becoming the first live recording to reach #1. This was only the first of Wonder’s extensive catalogue of number one hits, which totalled over 65 incredible songs over the course of his career.