The Beatles Were More Exciting Than This
The smiles that changed America: George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the moment, February 9, 1964. This past Sunday evening marked the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Esullivan Show . The Fabs, virtually unknown in the United States just 6 weeks prior, but that evening 73 million people turned to CBS to watch them perform live. By early April, the Beatles owned each of the top 5 positions in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart . To commemorate the anniversary, CBS aired The Night That Changed America: The Beatles - A Grammy Salute , and it was everything the Beatles weren't: Tame. Boring. Inert. Dreary. (an encore will air tomorrow evening). And most of my Beatles-fans friends loved it. The anniversary program was really three shows: A historical presentation focusing entirely on the events leafing up to and including February 9th, 1964. A musical tribute focusing almost entirely on pieces written after February 9th, 1964....