by Ana Carolina Lopes

February 3, 1959, is considered the day that music died. Five years and six days later would be considered the day that music came to life again and changed everything. On this day, in 1964, four skinny English rock and roll and pop boys in their early 20s, made their first appearance, along with their suits and their instruments, on the iconic Ed Sullivan Show, a TV show that had already been running for 16 years at that point. Another three Sundays of perfomances would follow that month alone.

Only three months prior to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr’s live performance on CBS in New York City, the North American nation had suffered a hard blow. President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas, making him the fourth president in the USA to be assassinated. The United States was in shock, numb, mourning, and in need of something to bring them back to life, since they couldn’t do that for JFK. So when the news spread that the Beatles would be breathing the same air as them, staying in the country for at least a month, excitement started to replace sadness. Anticipation replaced consternation. And so, the British invasion would begin. And it would be fantastic and people would be chuffed.

The Fab Four – a nickname assembled by Tony Barrow, the group’s first publicist – arrived at JFK Airport two days earlier, on February 7, on board of the Pan Am Flight 101. Thousands of fans mobbed the facilities to be there to catch a glimpse of those mop-top haircuts touching American land for the very first time. They had scored their first number 1 hit song on the western hemisphere part of the world less than a week before their arrival, with “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.

When John, Paul, George and Ringo took the stage at Studio 50 and a 62 year old Edward Sullivan – who, at that time, had already worked with the likes of Paul Anka, Carol Burnett, Edith Piaf, Sonny and Cher, and of course, Elvis Presley – spoke the words “Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles”, it is conflicting if the world lost its mind or if it gained everything. Two things were for certain though: the Beatles were conquering the world and Beatlemania was here to stay. And God knows it has stayed indeed.

It was a record breaker, really. Nearly 73 million people watched the broadcast. That means around 40% of the country’s population at the time stopped everything to witness it. Even criminals. The level of decibels inside the theater and its 728 seats was also ridiculously high. The New York Times reported that the network received fifty thousand ticket requests. Beats me how they were able to hear themselves and each other. Maybe they couldn’t but just had to go on. And yes, it did top Elvis’ screaming levels during his own appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. It would only get higher and higher (in many ways and you know how). To put into context, a research conducted by James Dyble from Global Sound Group indicates that the screaming girls (don’t hide it, I know your grandma was one of them) during the Beatles’ emblematic Shea Stadium concert in 1965 reached 131.35 decibels. That’s 11 decibels louder than a crash of thunder. That was also the reason the Beatles stopped touring – the inability to hear the music over the audience. An unfortunate but reasonable one, I would say, considering the limitations of technical equipment of the time.

I could, and do, consider February 9, 1964, the day that music changed, in terms of the great number of musicians and artists that credit the specific Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show as the reason they decided to follow a musical path and stick to it. Having the four lads from Liverpool there was so remarkable, that many forget that it was on that same episode that an 18 year old (though he looked 12) Davy Jones played the Artful Dodger singing “I’d Do Anything” along with Georgia Brown and the rest of the cast of the Broadway musical Oliver!. Two years later, he would start to make it big with the Monkees.

Growing up in a musical family, Steve Porcaro always knew that music was where he was headed to anyway. His father, Joe, was a musician, a well-known jazz drummer and percussionist. His older brothers Jeff and Mike were also kids who were naturally already into music, playing drums and other instruments. But there was something very unique, drawing and protective about the Beatles act to the little six year old at the time.

“It was like our music. These guys didn’t look like anybody our parents listened to, they didn’t sound like anybody else that was on the radio then and it just really felt like we were discovering them”, Steve Porcaro told Scottie Madonia of The Viber Chamber.

Fellow Toto member Steve Lukather called it a defining moment. In an interview for Dom Famularo of The Sessions Panel, the guitarist looks back:

“The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show changed my life. I said ‘I wanna do that’. I was a single digit kid. It was the on switch to my life and it still touches me very deeply”.

The Steves would go on to record with Paul McCartney in the early 80s for Michael Jackson’s album “Thriller”. Lukather would eventually join Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band and George Harrison would take part in Jeff Porcaro’s Tribute Concert in 1992.

Other artists who would also write music and entertain audiences all over the world because of it include Tom Petty, Billy Joel, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Richie Sambora, Bruce Springsteen, Chrissie Hynde, Joe Perry and John Sebastian.

On February 10, 1964, the now most famous groupie in the world and writer Pamela Des Barres, does not fail to mention in her diary what she had experienced (and the slangs she learned), as she recalls in her legendary book “I’m With The Band”:

“Hello Diary, Paul, you are gear. Really Fab. Say chum, why are you so marvelous, luv? The most bloomin’ idiot on earth is me, cause I’m wild over you chap”.

She had found a Georgefriend, a Johnfriend and a Ringofriend. She was their Paulfriend, England became Mecca to Miss Pamela and life would never be the same. In fact, none of our lives would ever be the same after these four working class lads from Liverpool.

Sixty years later, two of them are gone and two are still performing three hour concerts. To say the Beatles have influenced musicians would be an understatement. They influenced PEOPLE. People’s lives. If you were lucky enough to be alive when the February 9 show aired, this is definitely a “where were you and what were you doing” occasion. You probably remember where you were when you watched it, who you were with when you watched it, and where the hell were you or what on earth were you doing that you did not watch it. How your day was, what you ate, who you talked to. Folks with ages below 50 beg: don’t take being born at that time for granted. Some of us weren’t. Like me. For us, life is almost like an endless Anacin aspirin commercial (if you saw the show then, you’ll know what I mean). “All My Loving”, “Till There Was You”, “She Loves You”, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” exist only in our records, in our minds, our hearts and through the stories we heard. But if we could, we’d be longing for a black and white television set or a seat on Broadway between 53rd and 54th Streets.