The Beatles distract and inspire America in the aftermath of the JFK assassination.

So, rock & roll music and The Beatles saved us in 1964 after a terrible experience. Kennedy’s assassination had many diverse effects on America that are still with us today. The anti-disestablishmentarianism grew out of the speculation that our government was lying to America. This struggle still goes on well after the 60’s and grew more oppressive in the 21st century. This struggle is still being fought.

In 1964 the new British Invasion brought in a lot of new progressive ideas. Rock & Roll, Folk music and Folk Rock, the embrace of old Blues, fronted by the UK British Blues revival, and later the generations of love, exploring the muse Americana and the older beatnik ideals started a shift in awareness. Peace and love, racial and gender equality, fashion, long hair and sexual freedom ushered in the dawn of the rock era beginning in 1964, progressing further in 1965 and then becoming mainstream in the late 60’s.

The 60’s generation began to question authority in ways that were never attempted before in the 50’s. never before was the youth so rebellious to the establishment and it was to change America forever, we still feel the repercussions of that decade today. The youth in the 60’s embraced all that was previously taboo in pre 60’s society. Back in the 50’s all these ideas were on the fringe of society but as the 60’s progressed all of that changed. It all came flooding out in waves aided partly by the ideals of the youthful artists from Great Britain.

Where you were when you first heard ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand‘. Music and love did save America after the Kennedy assassination, as well as the UK in the mid 60’s in many ways economically, commercially, philosophically and it also threw a wrench in politics and the old ways of prejudice and inequality.

“I Want To Hold Your Hand”

“I Want To Hold Your Hand” is the first Beatles single to go number one in America, it is basically the first song most Americans heard by the Beatles on the radio or TV. The song went number one, February first and stayed number one for seven weeks before being dislodged by their second number one hit “She Loves You” and staying on the Billboard charts for 15 weeks.. The song is one of the Beatles biggest selling hits along with “Hey Jude” and has achieved Billboard magazine’s “44th greatest song of all time” and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Much has been written about this song “I Want To Hold Your Hand” has broken many records and been awarded many honors. People have asked “where you were when the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan show” that fateful Sunday evening, February 9, 1964, in front of an estimated 73 million people, in 23 million American homes via TV, from 8 to 9 pm, eastern standard time. It was said that crime completely stopped for an hour during the Beatles debut on Ed Sullivan show.

Many contemporary artists like Bob Dylan recall the first time they heard the Beatles fondly. Mostly for that raw rock & roll sound that reminisced of the late 50’s rock & roll, the good all days (and also mishearing the vocal phrase of “I Can’t Hide” on the song with “I Get High”. I wasn’t alive when the song hit and therefore will never ever know the energized feeling that the Beatles prompted out of America.

That old-time rock & roll sound of the 50s that was still fresh in the minds of post-Kennedy’s assassination. The song was a fast-paced form of electric guitar rock & roll that was fresh and energizing to a new young generation. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the first #1 single in the US that Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn and Dave Crosby of the Byrds, and other artists gave positive reviews upon hearing the Beatles for the first time.

Later, in 1966, when the music and lyrical content had matured, Grace Slick from the Jefferson Airplane noted that it became quite comical for a 23-year-old man (at the time in 1964) was writing about holding hands. A little childish for a grown man to be singing about. It is reflective of what was the early 60’s pop/rock supposed innocence in conservative America.

‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ seems like the first Beatles #1 hit to America but it was the fifth single release and third #1 hit in Britain after ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘From Me To You’ and ‘She Loves You’.

The single ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ backed with ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was released in the US by Capitol Records and entered on the US charts on January 18, 1964, at #45 and then jumped to #1, making the single the first number one single in America. Most Americans thought it was the first single released in the states when actually it was the 5th single released in America at the time.

In any event, this song exploded onto the airwaves of America at a time when a good solid rock & roll song was needed. The song influenced all of the rock & roll and later rock stars of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s (the rest of 20th Century music). Many people consider this song to be a line of demarcation, the song is 10 most important (and to some the most important) song in Rock & Roll history next to ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley and the Comets.

The song does represent the ideals and ethos of the original rock & roll era (1954-1959) 6 year period of rebellion and style. One of the reasons America fell in love with the Beatles was that the Beatles themselves were in love with America. The relationship was very symbiotic and rock and roll as a genre of music were saved to live and develop another day.

Brian Epstein’s Persistence

For more than a year, The Beatles struggled to get into the American market. Capitol Records refused to release the first four singles of the Beatles that were great successes in Great Britain. ‘Love Me Do’ backed with ‘P.S. I Love You’ released October 5 in 1962 and December 12, 1962, peaked at #17 in the UK.

Next, the Beatles released ‘Please Please Me’ backed with ‘Ask Me Why’ was released in the UK on January 11 in 1963 this time the song went to #1 almost immediately on January 22, it was then released in the US on February 25 on a small label called VeeJay Records and it went nowhere on the American Billboard charts, it was to be re-released January 30 in the wake of the American #1 ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.

Then  ‘From Me To You’ backed with ‘Thank You Girl’ hit the UK at #6 upon release on April 11, 1963, peaking at #1 on May 4th for 7 weeks, along aside their first album ‘Please Please Me’ released March 22 and also peaking #1 on May 4th. This new single was released in the states on May 25th and reached #119 on the American Billboard charts selling a dismal 4,000 copies.

‘ She Loves You’ backed with ‘I’ll Get You’ on August 23 in the UK becoming the biggest selling single in Great Britain again a #1 hit in the UK, the single didn’t even chart in America until January 25, 1964, when the single was re-released after the success of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.

Brian Epstein, the Beatles genius manager, tried very hard to get EMI’s American subsidiary Capitol Records to release the four singles in the states but was consistently turned down. Finally, Capitol Records executive Brown Meggs relented (he may have been the smartest guy in Capitol) and agreed to release ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ on January 18 of 1964, almost 2 years after the Beatles began their recording career.

I have to stress what a piece of work that Capitol Records was, here they were stupidly putting down the group and its success, over and over again in a very condescending manner only to make an about-face when the MONEY started to come in.

Capitol Records are a true example of the evils of the greedy capitalist system in the US. What hypocrites they were, true to form as they cashed in on the Beatles success. They went on to shortchange the American market with padding the American albums, duplicating songs and ripping off the American public with their grubby, greedy way of squeezing out every last buck from the US while cutting up and deforming the Beatles art in making albums.

Not all record companies in America were as arrogant, ignorant and then ruthless as Capitol records, the small record company VeeJay was nice enough to release all the singles released in the UK. VeeJay was to become a victim of the money hungry and big, rich Capitol records after the later sued for the rights to the Beatles catalog only after ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was released and went to #1 on February 1st, 1964.

Carroll Baker first broadcast the song ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ after December 5th, 1963 in Chicago and St. Louis, the reaction was strong and the release date was advanced to December 26th, 1963 in the US.

Jack Paar showed clips of “Beatlemania in Britain” and prompted all the major media such as Life, The New York Times, CBS, The Associated Press and the Washington Post all sent journalists out to cover the Beatles coming to America. This is mainly why the American youth (particularly the teenage girls) knew about the Beatles when they arrived that fateful day at JFK airport February 7th, 1964 to a crowd of about 3,000 screaming youths.

The Beatles Competition

There have been many artists that were considered competition to the Beatles, starting first with The Beach Boys early on in 1964. Later on the in early 1965 the Supremes were said to be the true competition to the Beatles in terms of number 1 hits. Then for a while, it was Bob Dylan when it came to songwriting, who was actually very friendly with the fab four in the beginning years of 1964 to 1966.

Then the Rolling Stones in late 1965 and early 1966 and thereafter they were to keep popping up as being competitors to the Beatles as far as British Invasion bands were concerned. Then later in 1966 to 1968 the competition was with the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel in terms of songwriting with Bob Dylan in a self-imposed exile.

Billboard Chart World Records set by the Beatles

1- Monopoly of the Top Five positions on the Billboard charts 4/4/1964

#1 – “Can’t Buy Me Love”

#2 -“Twist and Shout” (Medley/Russell)

#3 – “She Loves You” 

#4 – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”

#5 – “Please Please Me”

2- Occupation of 14 songs on the Billboard 100 charts at once the week of  4/11/1964 

(It is probable that this record will never be beaten by any artist)

1. #1 – “Can’t Buy Me Love”
2. #2 – “Twist and Shout” (Medley/Russell)
3. #4 – “She Loves You”
4. #7 – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
5. #9 – “Please Please Me”
6. #14- “Do You Want To Know A Secret”
7. #38- “I Saw Her Standing There”
8. #48-” You Can’t Do That”
9. #50- “All My Loving”
10. #52- “From Me To You”
11. #61- “Thank You Girl”
12. #74- “There’s A Place”
13. #78- “Roll Over Beethoven” (Berry)
14. #81- “Love Me Do”

3- Biggest leap of position from #27 to #1 the week of 4/4/1964 for “Can’t Buy Me Love”

(This record was beaten by Kelly Clarkson “A Moment Like This” leaping from #52 to #1 on 10/5/2002 – 38 years later)

4- Longest consecutive weeks occupation at #1

(The Beatles held the #1 spot with these three singles for a total of 14 weeks).

1. #1 – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”- (Released 12/26/63; Peaked 2/1/64; for 7 weeks)
2. #1 – “She loves You” – (Re-released 1/25/64; Peaked 3/21/64; for 2 weeks)
3. #1 – “Can’t Buy Me Love” – (Released 3/16/64; Peaked 4/4/64; for 5 weeks)

(This record beat Elvis Presley’s record of 2 consecutive #1 hits set 1956 “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” & “Love Me Tender”)

5- Largest advance sales: for “Can’t Buy Me Love” of up to 2,100,000 orders

6- Most singles sold worldwide:

“I Want To Hold Your Hand’ sold 15 million copies a record held until Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind” in 1997.

7- Most songs on the Billboard charts for the year 1964

1. #1 – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
2. #1 – “She Loves You”
3. #1 – “Can’t Buy Me Love”
4. #1 – “A Hard Days Night”
5. #1 – “Love Me Do”
6. #1 – “I Feel Fine”
7. #2 – “Twist and Shout” (the same version peaked at #23 in 1986)
8. #2 – “Do You Want To Know A Secret”
9. #3 – “Please Please Me”
10. #4 – “She’s a woman”
11. #10 – “P.S. I Love You”
12. #12 – “And I Love Her”
13. #14 – “I Saw Her Standing There”
14. #17 – “Matchbox”
15. #19 – “Ain’t She Sweet”
16. #25 – “I’ll Cry Instead”
17. #25 – “Slow Down”
18. #26 – “My Bonnie (The Beatles with Tony Sheridan)”
19. #35 – “Thank You Girl”
20. #41 – “From Me To You”
21. #45 – “All My Loving”
22. #48 – “You Can’t Do That”
23. #53 – “If I Fell”
24. #53 – “I Should Have Known Better”
25. #68 – “Roll Over Beethoven (Berry)”
26. #74 – “There’s A Place”
27. #88 – “Why” (The Beatles with Tony Sheridan)
28. #92 – “Four By the Beatles (EP)” All My Loving/This Boy/Roll Over Beethoven/Please Mr. Postman
29. #95 – “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”
30. #97 – “Sie Liebt Dich (She Loves You)”

6 #1 Hits, 11 Top 10 Hits, 19 Top 40 Hits, 33 songs on the Billboard charts in 1964

The Beatles British Albums (EMI) vs. the American Albums (Capitol Records) in 1964

As far as albums go, the Beatles albums as released in America were very different from the albums released in England. The British albums usually listed 14 songs. Furthermore, singles such as ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ were not included on the British albums. In America, the song listing was usually around 10 or 12 songs although some could have been lower at 8 or 9 songs for pop/rock albums and 5 or 6 for Jazz albums with lengthy songs. Also in America, singles and Extended Plays (EPs) could be repeated on any album, not to mention the compilations and re-packaging albums which would also be sold.

The recording industry’s American market maximized sales by including hot singles on the albums to attract more buyers with their inclusion. The first two Capitol Beatles albums really switched up the songs between the singles ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, and ‘She Loves You’ and their b-sides to make two very powerful rock & roll albums for the American market.

The ‘Meet the Beatles’ album released on January 20th, 1964, maximizes the rock & roll songs on the British issue ‘With the Beatles’ and the first American #1 hit ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ with b-sides ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and the British b-side ‘This Boy’ combined with Beatles penned songs (except ‘Till There Was You’ by Meredith Wilson from the musical “Music Man”) made a very impressive debut album. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked ‘Meet The Beatles’ 59 out of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

‘The 2nd Beatles Album‘ is also praised for its song list programming as to emphasizing fast-paced rock & roll cover tunes by American artists. Fans in America were fed high energy good time rock & roll at a time when the distraction was needed.

Then later in the summer of 1964, Capitol’s release of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ shortchanged the American market by filling in the album with the non- Beatles film score heard in the film and not the Beatles song selection on the 2nd side of the British version. Capitol would go on to release those songs with EP songs and even two German versions of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You’ on the album ‘Something New’.

A lot of my disappointment with Capitol was due to the fact that the company claimed it was expertly enhancing the albums for the American audience. When it fact that it really was all about greed, trying to squeeze out every last buck from the American public and reinforcing my theory that record companies have no respect for the artists they produce and promote, it’s all about the money and not the art.