50 years ago, The Beatles invade, where were you?

timwinters

timwinters

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It was 50 years ago today when the Beatle appeared on Ed Sullivan. Where were you?

I was only 4 but I remember it.

Four or five of my older siblings were down in the TV room, gathered around the B&W console, all excited, waiting for the big moment.

I'm up in my bedroom playing, being that I'm only 4 I'm really not into the fervor. The radio is tuned to KXOK in St. Louis and a Beatles' song comes on.

So I saunter downstairs, stick my head into the TV room and with a cocky, smug and full of myself attitude (some traits are picked up early in life) announce "you guys are wasting your time, The Beatles aren't going to be on the Ed Sullivan show tonight!"

One of my brothers looks up and asks, "why do you say that?"

Me, "because I just heard them on KXOK. They're in St. Louis, not New York."

Them, "you little idiot, music on the radio isn't live, they're playing records."

That's the night I learned that music on the radio wasn't live. :idea: . :redface:
 
I must have been about 14 at the time, but don't specifically recall watching that Ed Sullivan show.

What I do recall is how the Beatle's evolution helped shape my life. Revolution and Rubber Soul started the journey, with Sgt. Pepper's and the White Album as signposts along the way.

Losing John Lennon marked a signpost of a different nature. Losing George Harrison was less traumatic, but still helped close a chapter in my life.

There's no going back.

Listen to "In My Life" and "Within You, Without You" for an idea of the evolution I referred to above. Who could have predicted songs like those from the same mop-heads that just wanted to hold her hand?
 
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I was negative 123 months.
 
I was 11 and a lukewarm fan of the Beatles. I watched the Sullivan show. My neighbor had a 20-something son that was retarded (are we allowed to say that these days). He was a huge Beatles fan and the neighbor would bribe me (cookies and the like) to come over and hang with him a bit.
 
Laying on the floor, in front of the TV watching the Ed Sullivan show and all the silly girls crying and screaming like the silly girls they all seemed at the time......!
 
I was at The Red Garter in Ocean Beach eating butter clams and drinking beer with my buds. My dog, Tokay, was up on the stage dancing with a Go-Go girl.

-John
 
flyingriki said:
Laying on the floor, in front of the TV watching the Ed Sullivan show and all the silly girls crying and screaming like the silly girls they all seemed at the time......!
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I liked their music but thought their haircuts sucked at the time. If you think I'm conservative these days, should have seen me then.
 
Twelve years old in Lone Star,Texas when I watched them on The Ed Sullivan Show.The following week was the first time of many I got told to comb my hair back or get a haircut at school.I was so glad to graduate high school so I could grow my hair long that I refused to accept my first job out of high school because a haircut was a condition of employment (at a steel mill?).I think the Beatles had something to do with that.
 
bartmc said:
I wasn't... But my plane was 3 at the time.
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My plane was -12 at the time. I was 8, in the waiting room of a pediatric dentist's office (a real creep BTW). I thought the Beatles were hilarious. I never really warmed to them until much later.
 
I must have been 6 but I don't remember anything about when they first came to this country. I think I only became aware of them later.
 
Ed Who?
I think I am a few years off on this one. But I do like the occasional Beatles song so I cant be that far off.
 
I was in junior high and my sister was in high school. She had a bunch of friends over for a skating party and we all watched the show on the B&W TV in our basement. Most of my sister's friends were from the school band and many of them were more involved with classical music but I'm pretty certain that all were impressed by the performance.
 
On February 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in New York on Pan Am Clipper Defiance, a Boeing 707, registration N704PA. The airplane was scrapped long ago and the FAA has randomly recycled the tail number. N704PA is now emblazoned on my 2007 Diamond DA40 based at KRBD. We didn't ask for that tail number, it just came with the airplane.
 
DrMack said:
On February 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in New York on Pan Am Clipper Defiance, a Boeing 707, registration N704PA. The airplane was scrapped long ago and the FAA has randomly recycled the tail number. N704PA is now emblazoned on my 2007 Diamond DA40 based at KRBD. We didn't ask for that tail number, it just came with the airplane.
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No ****!?!?!?!?

That's cool.
 
MyassisDragon said:
Ed Who?
I think I am a few years off on this one. But I do like the occasional Beatles song so I cant be that far off.
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In the olden days, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, Ed Sullivan put on a once a week television variety show, that usually included not only the famous, but also the unknown good at whatever it was they did. The Ed Sullivan show lasted for decades, and was watched by just about everyone.

With the advent of cable, and the hundreds of choices, television has been watered down so much that the producers can barely afford to put on anything of any quality, and is now a mad scramble trying to find sponsors for their shows.

Not so in those days. Most cities had from one to six channels to pick from, the offerings were all top quality for their time, and finding sponsors was never a problem for a show with even mediocre ratings.

Another oddity about the era was that most families sat at a table to eat dinner together, and those that lived alone ate off of "television trays" in front of their TVs. After dinner, watching television was America's primary activity for all age groups.

Prime time sponsors were all major American companies, never things like magic garden hoses with their exciting and breathless " But wait, there is more" offers.

-John
 
Contrarian here. I was a teenager when the Beatles came to town, but I never particularly cared for them or their music. The construction of some of their music was innovative to be sure, and some of the melodies are nice, but I never liked hearing them perform it. And I never saw them as people to be admired.

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the management.
 
Not born. Once they kicked the door down, far better rock musicians came along quickly.
 
Almost eleven years old and probably outside playing. In the dark and the snow, which was standard procedure for kids those days. We had no TV at that point. There was only one channel available anyway. Sullivan was on it.

Dan
 
About to graduate high school and go into the airforce.
 
I went to church on Sunday Night and never saw an Ed Sullivan show. Also missed the Walt Disney show, which was of more concern to me, especially when it was one of those "Walt Disney conquers outer space" with Werner von Braun.
 
I was 10 years old. My parents wouldn't let me watch that first appearance, but relented the following week for their 2nd. Been a fan ever since.
 
The problem with the Beatles is that most high school cover bands can play the Beatles better than the Beatles could play themselves. More musicality, more expressiveness, etc.

Jake here, pays homage to George Harrison as a songwriter/composer, and then kicks his ass with a Ukelele.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k
 
I was -39 days old, hanging out in mom's tummy waiting to make my debut in Anchorage! :D Stayed there until right after the earthquake.:rolleyes:
Never have been a big Beatles fan, don't dislike them, just not my style. ;)
 
I was 23 and working the Project Jenny project at NAAF Andrews watching them in the barracks TV room.
 
Turlock High School, CA. Loved them right off.
 
Wasn't born until about 20 years later. That said, Rubber Soul was the first album I ever bought, followed quickly by Revolver.
 
I was coming up on 12 at the time. Never did understand the screaming thing. Didn't then, don't now. I wasn't impressed that night when they were on Ed Sullivan. And their later behavior was a lousy influence on many members of my generation.
 
Two weeks shy of 10 years old, I was very tuned into the event.

Probably had more to do with my 10 year old neighbor's 14 year old sister, her boobs, and our growing obsession with them. When Ringo set her hormones off, ours were tweaked.

I remember prepping by changing from the R&B station to the pop station and trying to catch all the songs.

For the next 3 or 4 years, the Beatles and the Monkees were interchangeable in my mind because neither had JB out front.

Pop masters they were however. Just when I thought there was nothing left to hear...
First time at the Grammies, finally passed the audition so I want to rock a bit, rock right now!
 
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