Man, we sure do sound like a pack of geezers. Kind of reminds me of the times (chawing my dentures) when I used to ask the Old Folks what it was like in the Olden Days, how they went into town to look at the electric lights, and watch the cars roll in.
Except I ain't ready to be a geezer. I feel like Mt. Lassen or Mt. Hood; there may be snow on the mountaintop, but there's fire down below.
Sorry Daniel, I don't mean to sound condescending. It's hard to explain..........The generation that said "You can't trust anyone over 30" is now showing pictures of their grandkids, and flashing their AARP cards to get those senior discounts.
I was in 5th grade when they appeared on Sullivan for the first time. I was oblivious to the whole thing but (luckily) my older sister made me watch. Up until then my main guitar "influence" (aside from singing cowboys) was not Elvis, but Ricky Nelson (on TV's Ozzie and Harriet) and I'd already started to teach myself guitar.
The Beatles sang songs about love (oooo yuckie) and since my sister was enthralled, I naturally had to take the opposite view and make fun of her. THAT attitude lasted all of 12 hours as the next day in school ALL the girls were agog and full of new-found Beatlemania. Despite ourselves, us boys had to reluctantly admit that The Beatles were kinda cool, and they obviously were different from anything anyone had seen before. Pretty soon, we were all caught up in Beatlemania and 2 years later my first rock'n'roll group (as it was) played twice in front of the 7th grade auditorium (first in a talent contest and then as part of a school play). As I remember, our main songs were Satisfaction and I Need You.
But getting back to the night of the Ed Sullivan Show - the thing I couldn't quite figure out was why the guy on the left only had 4 strings on his guitar.
What makes this a Beatle Powerchair I'll never know, but will someone PLEASE buy me one of these things
First impressions from a seven-year-old girl in San Francisco on seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan: Ringo is so lovable and funny. He's my favorite. Paul is soooooooooo cute OMG! George looks so distant and serious. John is funny but looks like he could be a bully.
I wanted to know everything about their instruments too and set about to make countless pencil drawings of them with all their gear over the next few years...
>>>>Ringo is so lovable and funny.... Paul is soooooooooo cute ...George looks so distant and serious....John is funny but looks like he could be a bully.
Wow..... that 7-year-old hit the nail on the head!
Loveable, cute, serious, witty. That's what everyone picked up on right away. You could peg them immediately and that's what made it easy to love them. They were completely transparent and genuine.
John made me wary at first (we both needed to grow a little before my appreciation for John set in). Ringo smiled the truest. Maybe he had the most fun. George was sensitive and thoughtful, with a supportive character. Paul would've been my favorite but he seemed untouchable. It's not his attitude; he was just too big to get my mind around.
Always liked that drawing, "When I'm Sixty-four", since 1968. It was a mind-blower then but turned out to be not too far out, barring a little nip-and-tuck; well with John there's no way of knowing ... and drawn without any computer at all
When I watched the Anthology series in the mid-90s I was quite struck by how George looked so similar to his disguise in Help. It was scary!
I think a lot about the concept of getting tired of the music. I listened to all the great stuff in the 60s and 70s but a fair amount of it does not pass the endurance test like the Beatles' material does. Yesterday I was thinking of this thread while driving in the car and on came Roll Over Beethoven. I thought, I can never get tired of this driving rock and roll. I have to agree with John when he said of the early 60s that nobody could touch them when they were playing straight rock. Go back and watch I Saw Her Standing There from the Wash DC concert. Ringo and George were absolutely smoking on that live performance.
Elvis and Jerry Lee, many others had attuned our senses to adrenaline-rock, but for me they were too country-fied. Elvis rocked but he was a lot of country too and that was boring. Beach Boys, for me growing up in California, were homespun and boring as my older brothers were boring, and the slow songs were hokey. But the Beatles were exotic, they were nearly pure adrenaline and the slow songs were good too. I remember hearing She Loves You, Eight Days A Week, Help! on the radio for the first time when they came out. Nothing else on the charts could touch them for sheer excitement in that initial hearing. And then of course you were hooked I only liked country songs after the Beatles covered them
Please keep in mind that these are the reflections of a seven-to-ten-year old girl in California in the sixties. Those other guys sounded a lot better when I grew up a little more
Not too many years back, I had a conversation with my daughter (who is in her Twenties) trying to explain to someone who was not there, the excitement and impact that the Beatles had on our generation. Unfortunate for the kids today, they can't relive that same excitement and awe that happened, when a new Beatles single was released or when an album came out. Year in and year out, we experienced a phenomena, as the Beatles continued to come up with new hits and take music to places it hadn't been before.
There have always been bands who were one-hit wonders, but the Beatles always seemed to be cranking out Number one hits, consistently. Maybe other bands have been similar high-profile success in the years since, but the Beatles opened a door for pop music that I don't think Elvis or Ricky Nelson or the Beach Boys had achieved before them, up to that point in time in the early 60s. My sister was a little older than me, so she was buying I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You and those other 45's when they were being released..... the whole family would watch them over the years, with their several appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. And the pictures on the 45 sleeves and in Tiger Beat magazines... we were fascinated by those collarless suits and what they called "long hair" in its day. The Beatles were always out in front, the cutting edge, establishing a direction and setting a new trend. Their music, their style, their movies, their controversies, etc.
When the singles Rain, Paperback Writer and Day Tripper were released in 1966, there was no mistaking that, once again, they were taking music in a new direction. Revolver was totally a break from the past... so many styles of music were on that album. I remember buying the single Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane with its fascinating cover with the old and new. Sgt. Pepper was a controversy, as there were hush-hush rumors about drugs and LSD. Then the world wide TV broadcast of All You Need is Love was another event in itself in the summer of '67. We never saw Magical Mystery Tour here in the USA -- the show was never released. Just this interesting MMT album that had a booklet with all these pictures about a strange bus ride. The Maharishi escapade got lots of publicity and once again, another trend for young people was being set with meditation. And then in the summer of '68 Hey Jude/Revolution was released and a six minute single proved it could get to number one and get all this air-play. They were on top of the world, at the pinnacle. And then the White Album.. not too may double disc albums were out at that point in time... so many songs, so many different music styles. The Beatles seemed to be reinventing themselves and pop music all over again and those of us who were teenagers at the time, saw it all unfolding before our eyes. But also in 1968, solo projects were starting to happen and the winter of discontent was coming and the end was in sight. But no one foresaw it at that time.
Anyway, others have stated similar views so I don't want to sound repetitive.
Regards - Rich F.
Kind of reminds me of the times (chawing my dentures) when I used to ask the Old Folks what it was like in the Olden Days, how they went into town to look at the electric lights, and watch the cars roll in.
and drawn without any computer at all 
