The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964
The British Invasion as a turning point in history began on February 9, 1964 when the Beatles made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. With an audience of hysterical fans and 74 million Americans watching on television, the three live performances on (46) The Ed Sullivan show opened the already popular Beatles to millions of American viewers. The success of the Beatles paved the way for a variety of British bands to perform in America, and thus started the largest turning point in American music and culture.
"The television rating was a record-setting 45.3, meaning that 45.3% of households with televisions were watching. That figure reflected a total of 23,240,000 American homes. The show garnered a 60 share, meaning 60% of the television’s turned on were tuned in to Ed Sullivan and The Beatles." (47)
A week later, the February 24th issue of Newsweek magazine’s cover featured a picture of The Beatles with the title, “Bugs About Beatles.” Inside, the review of The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan Show began, “Visually, they are a nightmare: tight, dandified dwardian/Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair. Musically, they are a near-disaster: guitars and drums slamming out a
merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony, and melody. heir lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of “yeah, yeah, yeah!”) are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments.” The article ended with the following prediction, “…the odds are they will fade away, as most adults confidently predict.” (48)
They could not have been more wrong......