The Beatles Are Coming! That’s how it all started, “with a 2 1/8” x 1 5/8” ad that appeared twice in the December 28, 1963 issue of Billboard. ‘Beatlemania’ was coming to change the course of American history. “The impact of the Beatles – not only on rock and roll but on all of Western culture – is simply incalculable”. Many people, especially the younger generation, do not see the impact the Beatles had in America. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr influenced everything from style and fashion to later music.

Why were the Beatles so popular in America? What made them so different from all the other British bands that had tried and failed in America? When the ad that ‘The Beatles Are Coming!’ came out very few people knew who they were. There was something about them on television, which sparked some interest. Then there was an inquiry to a Washington radio station, so the DJ arranged to have “a copy of the Beatles latest British single, I Want to Hold Your Hand, delivered by British Overseas Airways Corporation”. This was an unexpected – and unprecedented – hit on the radio. In fact, it was such a huge hit that it reached #1 on the charts and stayed there for seven weeks. What made this song such a hit? Perhaps it’s the melody. It might be the words. It could even be the harmonies. It has a very catchy tune that repeats itself time and again.
“They make almost everything the chorus”. One way or another, they put every trick they knew into that song. “You’ll think you’ve heard all the hooks, and then some hook that really sells you on the song surfaces in the middle, only lasts a few seconds and disappears, never to return again”.

I Want to Hold Your Hand paved the way to worldwide stardom. What kept it going was their clean-cut, innocent look and their charming manner. “During their early years of success, The Beatles charmed virtually everyone, while also representing the voice of youth”. Some would say their charm was in their humor, others would say it was their English accents. Still others would claim it to be their manner of dress – suits that gave the image of youth and innocence – but “what recommends the Beatles more than anything else is their bright and highly irreverent attitude toward themselves and their international magnitude”. In an interview with Time magazine it was asked, “How do [you] rate [yourselves] musically?” John Lennon replies, “Average. We’re kidding you, we’re kidding ourselves, we’re kidding everything. We don’t take anything seriously”. The fact that their fame hadn’t gotten to their heads yet made them even more popular, even among the older generation. There was a party at the British Embassy and it was reported that “a sleekly got-up British woman in her mid-‘30s burbled, to no one: ‘Here they come, the darlings. Oh I just love them!’”.

Because even the adults loved the Beatles, their popularity grew outrageously.
They were so popular that people wanted to look like them, to act like them. “Whatever they did was viewed as some sort of endorsement, while in between they set trends that were a sensation”. Their original mohair suits were worn by countless pop artists of the day. Of course no one can forget the Beatles moptop. This started a huge fashion frenzy. In fact, the Beatles started to trail in the hair race. It was quite popular, especially among teen boys, to have “a splendid heap of thatch that [made] the Beatle mop look like a crew cut”. Since society was already getting used to the long hair on boys, young people decided to go all the way and follow in every footstep the Beatles made. When the Beatles “expressed their liking for recordings by the black Tamla Motown artists, this gave a tremendous boost to the fledgling Detroit label. The same could be said for the Byrds when, in 1965, The Beatles proclaimed them to be their favorite American group”. Their influence on the past is quite obvious, but what about now? Even today some of the trends of the Beatles can be seen. The main character in the world’s best selling series, Harry Potter, looks strangely similar to one of the Beatles. He has dark, shaggy hair, a round, pale face and is wearing glasses interestingly similar to John Lennon’s trademark spectacles.

If people couldn’t look like the Beatles or didn’t want to act like them, they were at least trying to buy as much Beatle merchandise as they could to show that they supported the Beatles. Every type of clothing imaginable was available with pictures of the Beatles on them, along with food, sheet music, and various other things. There were even Beatle wigs for those who didn’t have long hair yet. Their long hair fad was so big that two weeks after the Beatles entered America “the official Beatle wigmakers [were] already 500,000 orders behind”.

Though they changed the style, it was not the only thing on which they had an influence. Their single released on 13 September 1965, Yesterday, hit #1 a few weeks later and stayed there for four weeks. Yesterday is different from their other songs in many ways. It was the first of their acoustic ballads. It was the first time in Beatles history that only one member of the group was featured in a song. In the original recording Paul McCartney alone sang and strummed an acoustic guitar. It was so different, but still so obviously Beatles style that in a short time it became one of the most widely recognized Beatles songs. So many people loved this song that “dozens of big names, including Frank Sinatra…recorded their own versions”. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Yesterday has more than three thousand recorded versions, the most of any song ever written. This song, among many others, had such an impact on many of the musical artists of the day that they started to incorporate Beatles traits and tricks in their songs. Hints of the Beatles works can still be heard in artists such as Stevie Wonder, Queen, Elton John, and the Police.

Since the Beatles and their music were so obviously supported by other big names of the day, they got more publicity and were more widely accepted than they would have been otherwise. Although sociologists have tried to pin a certain cause on Beatlemania none have been entirely true. There can’t really be only one reason they were accepted because people have their own ideas of why they like the Beatles. After an interview with Ringo Starr, Life magazine’s Gail Cameron asked the crowd outside to tell her why they
loved the Beatles so much: “They’re so sexy, also foreign,” says a 16-year old girl.
Several boys interrupted her saying, “No, no. It’s the sound, it’s a tough sound.” Another boy claims, “The American rock ‘n’ roll is getting to be a drag. I don’t know what the Beatles’ beat is, but it’s different.” “The thing is also,” explained a 15-year-old girl, “they
sing decent songs, they’re not dirty or anything like a lot of the rock ‘n’ roll groups here.”
Time magazine agrees, claiming that “the boys are the very spirit of good clean fun”. This is precisely the reason adults say “the Beatles’ appeal is positive, not negative… They have even evolved a peculiar sort of sexless appeal: cute and safe. The most they ask is I Want to Hold Your Hand”.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote songs so simple and innocent, but used every trick in the book for songwriting. All of their hit songs at the time had “irresistible melodies, harmonies, hand claps and hooks”. Throughout history there have been bands that have rocked America, but none have had so much impact as the four young men who called themselves The Beatles. Growing up in Liverpool, a small town in Sussex, England, none of them ever in their wildest dreams thought they would be the sensation they were in the 1960s and still are today.

Further Reading

Alexander, Roy, ed. “The Unbarbershopped Quartet.” Time 21 Feb 1964: 46.

Buskin, Richard. The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Beatles. New York: Alpha Books, 1998.

Cameron, Gail. “We've Got 'Em, Luv, and It's all Gear.” Life 21 Feb 1964: 34B.

Cowles, Gardner, ed. “What the Beatles Have Done to Hair.” Look 29 Dec 1964: 58.

Elliott, Osborn, ed. "George, Paul, Ringo, and John." Newsweek 24 Feb 1964: 54-56.

Luce, Henry, ed. "The New Madness." Time 15 Nov 1963: 64.

Romanowski, Patricia, ed. "The Beatles." The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock And Roll. ed. 1995.

Spizer, Bruce. The Beatles Are Coming. New Orleans: 498 Productions, 2003.