The Beatles Influence On Popular Culture

February 7, 1963 is a day that will forever remain prominent in American History. The Beatles, a band formed of four young men Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, arrived in America, unsure of themselves and what the future would hold for them. As they landed, the screams of teenage girls echoed and the sound of news reporters and journalists for newspapers recorded the reactions of the public as they stepped off of the plane. The Beatles had no idea this crowd was for them- they had thought someone else was at the airport that day and the crowd was for someone else. They had no idea the impact their music had made in American charts. As the population would later find out, The Beatles’ influence in America spread far beyond just the music. The Beatles presence in America provoked a social change through their music, media coverage, and influence on popular culture. The Beatles are by far the most well known for their music. Before coming to America, the four men had no idea what to expect- their albums had been doing well in Britain, but not as well as they had hoped. They thought that coming to America would prove to be a successful career move for their band. They had no idea the type of music people in

Hunter Davies, author of The Beatles, notes a story of a young teenage girl at the time Beatlemania was at it’s height. Davies notes, “Sandi Stewart is an ordinary American Beatle fan, not silly, not half witted, just nice and sensible… She was 15 and in ninth grade at high school. ‘I was going to the supermarket in the car with my mother one day… Over the radio came ‘I want to hold Your hand’. It was the first time I’d ever heard of the Beatles. I went, Wow! What a strange sound. I just couldn’t get over it. No tune had ever affected me so much’ “ (235). Sandi Stewart, among many other American teenagers at the time, had been mesmerized by the Beatles and could not tear herself