50 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, ON FEBRUARY 9, 1964, THE BEATLES MADE THEIR U.S. TELEVISION DEBUT
ON THE ED SULLIVAN VARIETY SHOW IN NEW YORK.
MILLIONS OF VIEWERS WERE WATCHING -- NEARLY HALF OF ALL THE TV SETS IN AMERICA WERE TUNED
IN.FOLLOWING THAT PERFORMANCE, THE BEATLES TRAVELED A FEW HOURS SOUTH, TO GIVE THEIR
FIRST LIVE U.S. PERFORMANCE THREE DAYS LATER, AT THE WASHINGTON COLISEUM, JUST A FEW BLOCKS
FROM THIS BUILDING.
JOINING ME TO TALK ABOUT THIS IS ERIC FELTEN, HOST OF VOA'S BEYOND CATEGORY, THE MUSIC PROGRAM
THAT HE RUNS.
LISTEN ERIC, WHAT DID YOU AND CO-PRODUCER JERRY BROWN - WANT TO CONVEY IN THIS SPECIAL?
WELL YOU KNOW IT'S A REMARKABLE THING HERE WE ARE 50 YEARS AFTER WHEN THE BEATLES ARRIVED
IN THE UNITED STATES, 51 YEARS AFTER THEY REALLY HIT IT BIG STARTING IN ENGLAND, AND
YOU THINK THERE'S STILL AN INCREDIBLE DEMAND FOR BEATLES MUSIC.
THINK ABOUT IN 1964 IF YOU HAD GONE 50 YEARS BEFORE THAT, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE START
OF WORLD WAR ONE.
NOBODY IN 1964 WAS LISTENING TO MUSIC FROM THE START OF WORLD WAR ONE AND YET WE'RE STILL
LISTENING TO THE BEATLES MUSIC 50 YEARS AFTER BEATLEMANIA HIT THE U.S. AND SO WE TRIED TO
ASK THE QUESTION, WHY IS IT THAT THEY CAME TO SUCH PROMINENCE SO QUICKLY IN THE U.S.
WHEN THEY ARRIVED, AND HOW IS IT THAT THEIR LEGACY OF THEIR MUSIC AND THEIR CULTURAL IMPACT
HAS REMAINED SO STRONG?
ONE THING I THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE TOUCHED ON IN THE PROGRAM WAS THAT THE BEATLES CAME AT
A TIME BACK IN 1964 THAT WAS SOMETIME AFTER PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED,
AND THEN THE BEATLES ENTER AMERICA.
IT WAS JUST A FEW MONTHS AFTER PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED AND IT WAS IN NOVEMBER OF
1963 THAT PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED AND NOBODY HAD REALLY HEARD OF THE BEATLES
AT THAT POINT IN THE U.S. AND THEN AT THE END OF 1963 THE FIRST RECORD WAS RELEASED
IN THE U.S. OF THE BEATLES AND BY EARLY 1964 JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER THEY WERE EVERYWHERE.
AND IN LARGE PART I THINK IT IS BECAUSE THEY OFFERED SUCH A SORT OF CHEERFUL REMEDY IF
YOU WILL TO THE SAD MOOD THAT THE COUNTRY WAS IN.
WELL YOU KNOW WHEN YOU LISTEN TO THE BEATLES MUSIC THERE IS AT LEAST IN MY MIND IT JUST
DOESN'T SEEM LIKE THERE'S ANY OTHER SOUND LIKE THE BEATLES.
YOU THINK OF OTHER GENRES BUT IT ALMOST SEEMS LIKE THEY JUST HAD THEIR OWN GENRE, IT WAS
JUST THE BEATLES THAT WAS IT.
NO OTHER SOUND SEEMED TO BE LIKE THEM.
DOES THAT SOUND RIGHT?
IT DOES ALTHOUGH WHAT'S INTERESTING, THEY'RE BRINGING IN ALL SORTS OF INFLUENCES.
EVERYTHING FROM ROCKABILLY AND R+B. ORIGINALLY THEY SORT OF START OFF AS AN R+B COVER BAND,
IN THE LATE 50S, EARLY 60S, BUT THEY BRING IN EVERYTHING AROUND THEM.
THE WAY THEY BROUGHT IT ALL TOGETHER CREATED A NEW SOUND THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER BEEN
ABLE TO MATCH.
AND WHAT'S PARTICULARLY AMAZING, IS THAT THEY EVOLVED SO MUCH AS MUSICIANS AND YET THEY
REMAINED IDENTIFIABLY THE BEATLES.
YOU HEAR THE MUSIC AND YOU RECOGNIZE IT INSTANTLY AS THE BEATLES.
SO THEY WERE ABLE TO GROW AS MUSICIANS WITHOUT LOSING THEIR ESSENTIAL SELVES.
YOU KNOW IT'S FUNNY, THEY STILL, AT LEAST PAUL MCCARTNEY IS STILL PERFORMING.
AND RINGO STARR.
SO WHAT STANDS OUT FOR YOU, BEING A MUSICIAN, ABOUT THE BEATLES?
DID THEY INFLUENCE YOU GROWING UP AS YOU WORKED YOUR WAY INTO THE WORLD OF MUSIC AS WELL?
WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL WE HAD WHAT WE CALL A GARAGE BAND.
SOME HALF OR TWO-THIRDS OF THE MUSIC WE WERE PLAYING THAT FAR AFTER THE BEATLES HAD MADE
THEIR IMPACT WAS STILL BEATLES MUSIC.
AND WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE BEATLES, WHEN HISTORIANS STILL KIND OF WRITE ABOUT THEM, IS THERE SORT
OF A FINAL TOLL?
WHAT WILL HISTORIANS END UP SAYING ABOUT THE BEATLES YEARS DOWN THE ROAD?
WELL YOU KNOW THERE'S A WHOLE ACADEMIC INDUSTRY OF PEOPLE DOING RESEARCH AND WRITING HISTORIES
OF THE BEATLES.
AND THE BEATLES HISTORIES JUST KEEP GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER.
THERE'S A RECENT HISTORY OF THE BEATLES THAT DOESN'T EVEN GET TO WHEN THEY COME TO THE
U.S. AND IT'S A THOUSAND PAGES LONG.
AND THERE'S MANY MORE VOLUMES TO COME SO I THINK THAT THE BOTH HISTORIES OF THE BEATLES
THEMSELVES AND THEN ALSO MUSINGS ON THEIR IMPACT ON CULTURE, THEIR IMPACT ON MUSIC,
IS SOMETHING THAT'S GOING TO GO ON FOR YEARS AND YEARS TO COME BECAUSE THAT IMPACT LASTS
AND LINGERS.
ALL RIGHT.
TERRIFIC SHOW TO WATCH.
WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE SPECIAL AGAIN?
THE NAME OF THE SPECIAL AGAIN IS THE BEATLES: 50 YEARS LATER.
ALL RIGHT, VOA'S ERIC FELTEN, HOST OF BEYOND CATEGORY.
THANKS ERIC.