I remember seeing the Beatles for the first time on the Ed Sullivan show. I believe I was 9--guess I could check the date and confirm that. It was exhilarating.
I remember shaking my head like the Fab Four!! Oh wow!! How cool!!
I thought their hair was so outrageous. Now it isn't even long!
Anyone else remember??
ghostydoll
Proud Rumrunner!
Ghosty Rider
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I remember. I was in high school at the time. Little did I know this was a iconic moment in music history, until the next day. The conversation between classes was, "Did you see Ed Sullivan last night? Did you see the Beatles?" I was taken by surprise, as I hadn't seen anything remarkable about them at the time.
Hi, Ted!! What year would that have been?? If you remember. I think about 62?
I didn't think the music was what was shocking. I thought it was the long hair of the musicians and the way the girls in the audience were acting. That seemed remarkable. I don't really remember the music.
ghostydoll
Proud Rumrunner!
Ghosty Rider
Puppy club Member!
The Beatles first appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February, 1964.
shareI saw that show, and my brother and I taped it on our webcore reel to reel tape recorder. Too bad we still don't have those tapes. I remember the night very well.
shareI was five. Had been listening to the hits on the radio. Couldn't wait for the show to air and wasn't disappointed. Life-changing. Remember being awed by their musicianship. I wondered (in five-year-old thoughts) how did they - or how could anyone - write/compose/construct/arrange these amazing totally original songs/melodies/haromies/rhthyms? What magic is hidden in those cool-looking electrified stringed boxes which they manipulate so mysteriously and expertly to create such pleasing sounds? It was almost too wonderful to be believed! Weeks later the Stones appeared on the same show and at the risk of insulting Stones fans compared to The Beatles I thought they sucked.
People never lock their doors in this town.
They will tonight.
The imdb database confirms my memory that the Stones made their debut on Hollywood Palace, not Sullivan. However, I agree that they did suck, they hadn't worked out their act well by mid 1964.
shareI was 7 at the time. My parents thought with their haircuts they looked like girls.
Apparently my grade school principal did too, 2 of my classmates were sent home for having their hair cut the same way.
I did not care for the music much at the time, I was just seven and did not develop a taste for rock 'n roll till junior high sock hops.
I remember two significant things that ocurred at the time. In November of `63, just days before my 8`th birthday, President Kennedy was shot, so I was 8 years old a few months later when the second significant thing happened in February, when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan.
I remember getting caught up in the excitement with my older sister and the hysteria of the kids in the audiance on TV. Like so many of us, we`d never seen anything like them. They were fun and cute too! After that, life was never the same.
Like the song from Gigi, "I remember it well" I was exactly seven years and seven months old on that date. Coolness personified!!
share
I was 7 years old. I'd already read some hype concerning the group and Top 40 radio was inundating the airwaves with their singles. I can't say I was that impressed with their appearances, especially the first one where they seemed quite nervous and shaky. Of course, I now know what a big deal it was. My father watched with me; he mostly read the Sunday paper, but being a big jazz fan, he was incensed. "Sullivan would NEVER put Cannonball Adderly or Art Blakey on, but he gives time to these juvenile delinquents!"
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
"I remember two significant things that ocurred at the time. In November of `63, just days before my 8`th birthday, President Kennedy was shot, so I was 8 years old a few months later when the second significant thing happened in February, when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan.
I remember getting caught up in the excitement with my older sister and the hysteria of the kids in the audiance on TV. Like so many of us, we`d never seen anything like them. They were fun and cute too! After that, life was never the same."
You said the exact thing I planned to say.... President Kennedy's death? The Ed Sullivan Show? My older sister?
They really were fun and cute and life truly was never ever the same again.
I confess that I was only seven at the time.....
"Fasten your seat belts!
It's going to be a bumpy night!"
That's because you did say it.
Yeah, I'm a stalker. I missed talking Twilight Zone with you during the marathon this year.
No shame in stalking. I do that occasionally and it sometimes leads to some interesting boards.
I didn't really participate too much this year. I mostly stayed in bed and watched the marathon but I did check out the board for a bit. I miss Howling Man. We haven't seen him in a few years. I have to wonder if he passed away or something.
"Fasten your seat belts!
It's going to be a bumpy night!"
Looks like we were spending our time doing the exact same thing that Sunday evening, February 9th, 1964 (along with how many millions ?).
"I thought their hair was so outrageous. Now it isn't even long!"
I've heard that same comment about their hair time and time again over the years and have thought about it plenty of times myself. Three things come to mind:
'Crew cuts' haircut for boys were 'in' back then - for me, my bros and friends, at least every spring/summer we got the 'buzz cuts'. Remember the 'Beatle wigs' ? The comedians/comedy TV shows of the day used the wigs for laughs - these wigs of course were an exaggerated replication of the Beatle haircut. But back then, there was no 'internet'so we really didn't see their image as much as one would see it if it all (Beatle-mania) was going down today. Between the adults complaining how outrageous their hair was, the exaggerated wigs we saw on everything from the Beverly Hillbillies to Milton Berle comedy show, I think the image of them in our minds eye (not to mention our very young minds dealing with this phenomena/sensation) all combined into an amalgam of not really accurate imagery of what they truly looked like - more a half gossip exaggeration and half 'an eye witness actually makes a poor witness' kinda thing. Make any sense ? LOL !!
Yes, their images were all over everything from lunch boxes to bubble gum cards to school book covers but unless you were a collector of all things 'Beatle' or your parents indulged your every whim, most kids saw these images in passing. One last thing:
They didn't use 'Vitalis' or pomade etc to get that 'Elvis' or the 'DA' look that also was 'in' at the time so yeah, theirs was a very different 'look'.
Rambling thoughts while waiting for a phone call from a friend ...