Memories Of February 7, 1964: The Beatles Begin British Musical Invasion Of The United States

JAKARTA - February 7th is recorded in world history as the beginning of The British Invasion, the day British music invaded the United States through the legendary rock band The Beatles. Consisting of four members: John Lennon (guitar/vocals), Paul McCartney (bass/vocals), George Harrison (guitar/vocals), and Ringo Starr (drums), The Beatles became the first British band to successfully establish themselves in Uncle Sam's country.

The Beatles' struggle to invade the United States was not easy. Complicated negotiations between the management of The Beatles led by Brian Epstein with record companies in America took more than a year. Until finally Epstein managed to get a marketing contract worth 40 thousand US dollars with record company Capitol Records, which is a subsidiary of EMI Records.

The first song to be successful was I Want to Hold Your Hand, which sold one million copies. This success made the Capitol dare to release the album Meet The Beatles! The album, which contains 12 songs, topped the charts in the United States for 11 weeks. The songs I Want to Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, It Won't Be Long, and others on the album continued to resonate on American radio. The Beatles' road to success in the United States was wide open.

On February 7, 1964, the historic beginning of The British Invasion arrived. The four young retainers of The Beatles: Lennon (23 years), McCartney (21 years), Harrison (20 years), and Starr (23 years) were enthusiastic and excited for the big day that would multiply their success in the world music scene.

The Beatles' departure for the United States was delivered by 4000 Beatlesmania at Heathrow Airport, London. The Boeing 707 Pan American flight number 101 flew the passionate young people across the Atlantic Ocean to New York.

Great Welcome

Arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr had predicted the situation. No less than 3000 Beatlesmania in America welcomed their arrival at the airport.

“Really very exciting. On the plane, on the flight to New York, I felt like there was a huge octopus with eight tentacles pulling us to New York. America is the best place to be, and that's been our dream since we were at Liverpool," Starr said in The Beatles documentary Anthology.

McCartney also expressed the same enthusiasm regarding the opportunity given to the band formed in Liverpool in 1960.

“We heard on the plane that there were millions of people waiting at New York Airport. The pilot and the reporter who accompanied us called into the cabin only to say: tell the kids that there are lots of people waiting for them. Then we thought: Wow! God, we really did it," said McCartney, the left-handed bassist.

The Beatles' first live appearance in the United States was on the highest-grossing television entertainment show of the time, the Ed Sullivan Show. Held two days after their arrival, The Beatles' performance was watched by 73 million viewers who were captured in 23 million homes across the United States. According to a Nielsen Media Research survey, the number of viewers of The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show was the largest of all television shows in the United States at that time.

The Beatles then began their concert at the Washington Coliseum on February 11, 1964, and it was the only live show they held. One of the spectators who testified to the excitement of The Beatles' first concert in the United States was the former Vice President, Al Gore.

“Their voices were not heard because the atmosphere was so lively and the audience sang together. Everyone knew the lyrics to The Beatles' song, and they were already singing before the concert started. I loved The Beatles, but there must have been a lot more people at the concert who loved them so much more than I did because they were all singing non-stop,” said Gore, who was 15 at the time, as quoted by the Washington Post.

Good and Bad Influence

The Beatles' presence in the United States was cited as a comfort to the nation's people, who were still grieving the assassination of President John F. Kennedy three months before their arrival. The Beatles are considered able to restore the joy of the American people after the death of Kennedy, who was shot in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

Responding to the popularity of The Beatles in America, Life Magazine in its early 1964 issue wrote: “In 1776 England lost America. Last week, The Beatles took it back."

The success of The Beatles in the United States finally influenced the style of music in that country which was previously dominated by country, jazz, and blues types. However, this does not mean that the presence of The Beatles in the United States does not have a negative influence. One of the most noticeable was the sharp decline in album sales and the popularity of black musicians and girl bands in America.

In 2015 Queen Mary's University in London conducted a study on the influence of The Beatles' music in the United States. According to the research results, American musicians' musical styles have changed to become more varied, from lilting blues to energetic rock since The Beatles came on February 7, 1964. And the changes are still felt today.