Friday marked the 50th anniversary of The Beatles first trip to the United States, just a few weeks after releasing Meet The Beatles. John, Paul, George, and Ringo arrived to pandamonium as screaming crowds welcomed them exiting the plane. Even their first news conference got off to a rough start as you can see below.
From that day on, The Bealtes took the states by storm. To date, they have sold 177 million albums in America, over 40 million more than the next best selling artist Elvis Preseley. Radio stations clamored to be THE Beatles station, including WABC in New York calling themselves "W-A-Beatles-C!" Murray The K at WINS dubbed himself on-air as "The Fifth Beatle", a name he claimed to receive from either George or Ringo.
Their impact continues today and top musicians celebrated the 50th anniversary all last week. Dave Letterman, who broadcasts in the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Beatles made their American television debut February 9th, 1964, welcomed Broken Bells, Sting, Lenny Kravitz, The Flaming Lips with John's son Sean Lennon, and India Arie throughout the week to cover Beatle classics. Take a look!
Broken Bells "And I Love Her"
Sting "Drive My Car"
Lenny Kravitz "Get Back"
Flaming Lips ft. Sean Lennon "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
Lauryn Hill "Something"
Need a weekly Beatles fix? Check out Saturday With The Beatles, hosted by Les Perry every Saturday at 10am.
