PEOPLE Celebrating Beatlemania

By The Editors of PEOPLE

People Magazine presents Celebrating Beatlemania.

• Language: English
• Publisher: People
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781547847648

Book preview

Years.

BEATLEMANIA!

SCENES FROM THE BAND’S EARLY YEARS THAT SPARKED A GLOBAL FRENZY, CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF A GENERATION AND FOREVER CHANGED ROCK AND ROLL

HELP! On Oct. 26, 1965, in London, as the Beatles received MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) medals from Queen Elizabeth, bobbies struggled to hold back love-struck fans outside Buckingham Palace. At the height of Beatlemania, from 1964 to 1966, this was what life was like for the Fab Four, eight days a week.

ED TV The Beatles’ Feb. 9, 1964, appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show changed their lives and, arguably, a generation. Seventy-three million Americans watched; soon the Beatles owned the top five spots on the Billboard singles charts, and Beatlemania went global. Eventually the band’s music and interests—from LSD to Indian religion—would both reflect and help shape the ’60s and beyond.

WE LOVE YOU, YEAH YEAH YEAH! Mass hysteria at this scale and volume was something new; at concerts fainting was common, and ambulances were often kept at the ready. At the landmark Shea Stadium show in New York City in 1965—the audience of 55,600 was the largest for a rock show to that date—the shrieking completely drowned out the music. In film from that night, George can be seen laughing because John, realizing no one could hear anything, began playing the organ with his elbows.

Photo © Harry Benson

WE’RE NO. 1! "It was late, and Brian Epstein came in with a cable to tell them ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ was No. 1 on the American charts and that they were going to America to be on The Ed Sullivan Show," photographer Harry Benson told Life, recalling the origin of this famous shot, taken at Paris’s George V hotel. "They were obviously excited by the news. I had heard them talk about a pillow fight they had had earlier, and I suggested one that night. Three said okay, but John said no—that would be childish and stupid. So that was that. Then John casually came up behind Paul, who was holding a drink in his hand, and whacked him across the head. That’s when the fun