*fun fact> When The Beatles Invaded the U.S.

In these days of nearly instant communication when you can jump on the internet, post a video on Facebook and share music with friends that you’ve never met it’s hard to imagine a time when things were different.  

But try to, just for a second…

In the early 60’s it was uncommon for a band from Europe to have success in the United States.  Most music went from the United States out to the rest of the world.  By 1963 the Beatles were a sensation in the U.K., their album, Please Please Me, was at #1 on the U.K. album chart, a position it would retain 30 weeks and you would think that bringing the Beatles to America would have been only an afterthought, but while EMI was enjoying the album sales in the UK, Capital Records in the U.S. was concerned that they would not have the same success and were hesitant to release the music in the U.S.

Brian Epstein, manager for the Beatles flew to the U.S. in November 1963 and met with the president of Capital Records and convinced him to release the single “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”  The song was released on December 26th and had immediate success, selling a quarter million copies in the first three days. 

On Feb7th, 1964 the Beatles finally landed in America.  Their concerns for failure were unrealized as they were greeted by thousands of screaming fans at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and two days later performed for an audience of 74 million viewers on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Shortly after returning to the U.K. from America, on April 4th 1964, The Beatles held the top five places on Billboard’s U.S. singles chart with “Can’t By Me Love” (#1), “Love Me Do” (#2), “Roll Over Beethoven” (#3), “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (#4) and “Please Please Me” (#5).

Hard to imagine…