‘Yesterday and today our theatre’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation and these veterans agreed with me that this city has never had the excitement stirred by these youngsters . . . ”
It’s the most famous intro in popular music history and it happened 50 years ago this Sunday night, February 9th, when TV ringmaster Ed Sullivan introduced The Beatles to America. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Sullivan knew the times were-a-changing when he referenced how cynical old hacks who had seen it all had to devise a new vocabulary to articulate how a pop band could engender a level of excitement in a city – New York – that believed itself immune to excitement.
That scream that rings out from the audience and drowns out Sullivan’s last words remains a thing of wonder. Such wanting, longing, desire and hysteria for a pop culture artefact had never been witnessed before – and the performance was seen and heard by a then record 73 million Americans (half the viewing nation). Normal and sane media commentators had it at the time that this was as significant a collective national moment as the death of JFK just 79 days earlier.
This was the moment pop music grew up, no longer a teenage fad of “beat combos” who “did their own thing”. That Sunday night was not only responsible for a starburst of later famous groups who formed as a direct consequence of The Beatles’ performance. It also signalled that all popular music from thereon in would have to strive to recreate that euphoria.
Whether it be tears at a boyband concert, the beery fist-pumping at rock shows, or even fans sleeping out overnight to score a Garth Brooks ticket – that impulse was first recognised 50 years ago.
It all happened by fluke. Ed Sullivan and his team had been delayed at Heathrow and just happened to witness the fan pandemonium when The Beatles flew in from Sweden. Sullivan had seen them scream at Sinatra and Presley, but had used cue cards for that. This was different.
“This is mass hysteria” he noted. “When they wiggle their heads and the hair goes, the girls go out of their minds. Does it bother you to realise that in a few years these girls will vote, raise children and drive cars?” That may have been typical of the perplexed reaction. But to the clued-in world it was quite clear that there was sex to be had and money to be made from this pop music malarkey.
As to the real significance of The Beatles on Sullivan’s show, just last week Foo Fighter Dave Grohl noted that The Beatles were his mother’s favourite band, they are his favourite band, and now they are his young daughter’s favourite band. That’s never happened before – nor will it again.
There's a whole slew of activity lined up to commemorate the day that changed the music world. All of it will be awful, including the Paul McCartney/Ringo Starr tribute concert going out at the exact same time as the old Ed Sullivan show did. Does anyone really want to hear Katy Perry's take on Across the Universe? Instead, take a look at the original 1964 footage. It's the primal scream.
MIXED BAG
Love: Chili Peppers at Superbowl.
Hate: Alex Kapranos v Pharrell – don't back down, Alex.
