Bigger than Elvis
After sweeping across Britain the Beatles headed across
the Atlantic to try and take America by storm. They first landed in America
on February 7th, 1964 at Kennedy airport. They were greeted by thousands
of fans on the runway and the police had to hold them all back. Between
February 2nd, 1963 to August 29th, 1966 the Beatles played over 225 live
shows throughout the world and they claimed they were more popular then
God. From August 1966 the Beatles said goodbye to performing and dedicated
themselves to working miracles in the studio.
But it wasn't all instant success for the Beatles.
They found it hard getting hold of a record company in the early 1960's
before they broke through at the EMI Studios on Abbey Road in St John's
Wood, London. It was from here that the Beatles released their first single
'Love Me Do' on October 4th 1962 and it only slowly crept up the charts.
But things got better for them with the release of their second single
in mid January 1963 with 'Please Please Me'. It became the biggest hit
in the country and it was the beginning of Beatlemanina.
(The Famous Abbey Rd. photograph)
The success of 'Please Please Me' led to the relaese
of their first album named after their number one hit. The release of the
album in April 1963 was instantly followed by several other hits that included
'She Loves You', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'A Hard
Days Night', 'I Feel Fine', 'Tickets To Ride', 'Help', 'Paperback Writer'
and 'Yellow Submarine'. These tracks were released from their first successful
albums 'With The Beatle', 'Beatles For Sale', 'Help', 'Rubber Sole' and
'Revolver'.
The late sixties saw the Beatles stop performing
so they could do more studio work and people have
argued this has lead to their greatest ever work.
Link back to Beatlemanina
page.