Beatlemania

The Beatles continued to rise to fame in England producing many American rock and roll songs on radio programs. Popularity with the Beatles was widespread. The British newspapermen coined the termPerformance for the frenzy with the Beatles, Beatlemania. Soon appearances on American television caused the same frenzy in the United States. This then sparked the British Invasion.Arrive In America

 

 

This invasion was a musical movement that occurred in the mid-1960s. Many other British rock-and-roll bands grew in popularity and spread to the United States. The Beatles arrived in New York City on February 7, 1964. They gave their first live US television performance few days later on The Ed Sullivan Show. About 74 million viewers, over 40 percent of the American population watched that performance. During the summer of 1964, the Beatles appeared in their own movie, A Hard Day's Night. The movie played on the effect of Beatlemania. Young people even copied the band's hair style.

Lennon and McCartney experimented with their song writing abilities. During 1965-1967 their music rapidly changed, and became more sophisticated and creative. They went from the slow tune of “Yesterday” to the folk tune Ed Sullivan Show“Norwegian Wood”. Then shifting to the hard rock song “Tomorrow Never Knows”.

In 1966 the Beatles announced they will no longer do public performing. Instead they were going to concentrate on using their recording studio. In June 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. The Beatles were very influential with most of their younger listeners.

Sgt. PepperThe Beatles reinvented rock and roll. American artists they admired were: Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Elvis Preslley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Smokey Robinson, and finally Bob Dylan. The Beatles songs were very impressive. They had wonderful vocal harmonies, subtle arrangements, clever production touches, and rhythm provided by Starr. All of these factors contributed to the evolution of music.