Sixty years ago this week, the Beatles arrived in America and changed American music and culture.
And they captured Dennis Hodor’s imagination.
The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr) appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on February 9, 1964. 73 million viewers watched the Beatles perform five of his songs: “All My Loving,” “Til There Was.” You,” “She loves you,” “I saw her standing there,” “I want to hold your hand.”
When they arrived at New York’s Kennedy Airport on February 7, they were greeted by chaos that was already being called Beatlemania in Britain. There they appeared at their first press conference in the United States.
“Would you like to sing something?” the reporter asked.
“No,” they answered in unison, to which Lennon added, “No, we need the money first.”
Hodor, his mother, and two brothers were watching the Ed Sullivan Show that Sunday in Doniphan’s living room. Hod, 13, was blown away by his experience, he said.
“It changed my life,” said Hodor, a local musician.
Within a short time, he and his brother picked up guitars and drums, he said.
He first heard “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in December.Ranked 1st in the US
“They were just having fun and making great music,” said Hod, 73. “For the first time in my life, I was shocked by something.”
Terry Smith, now a professor of political science at Columbia University, was a student at Central Methodist University when the Beatles became popular in the United States. Someone in his dorm told him he had to listen to their first American album, “Meet the Beatles.”
“I thought I had never heard anything like this before,” Smith said.
He also appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
“We saw Ed Sullivan,” Smith said. “It was kind of fun. Their irreverent, cheeky group was taking the world by storm, and it was fun. And their music was really good.”
The music was easy to sing and playable, he said.
“I think this country was prepared for something like this,” Smith said.
On February 11, the Beatles performed their first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum in front of an audience of more than 8,000 people, most of whom cheered. The entire concert is available on YouTube and is only about 20 minutes long.
By summer, the Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day’s Night, was released in theaters and they toured the United States for the first time, including their first Missouri concert.
Kansas City was added to the tour after Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie Finley offered him a then-record $150,000. The audience was 20,000 people, but it was the only concert on the tour that wasn’t sold out.
They spent the day at Alton’s ranch after the show.
During their final tour in 1966, Busch Stadium in St. Louis was their stop. Dennis Hodor was there with his car and several friends and siblings. The concert took place during a thunderstorm, and Cheng was seated directly beneath the public address speakers that serve as the stadium’s sound system. He was able to discern fragments of some songs among the screams, he said.
The concert in St. Louis was the band’s second concert of the day, after playing in Cincinnati that afternoon.
The tour ended a few weeks later with a concert in San Francisco. From there they focused on recording.
That was the year the Beatles released “Revolver,” which Smith says is his favorite Beatles album. He was a graduate student at the time.
Revolver was released before the 1966 tour began, but no songs from it were played on the tour.
Peter Zambito, a music professor at the University of Missouri, said the Beatles, who were born in Liverpool, England, learned their skills by playing for long hours in clubs in Hamburg, Germany.
“They put their own spin on it and incorporated so many different styles,” Zambito said.
Before their arrival, music included dance music trends. Before Motown, the Beatles covered several songs by black girl groups of the time. Zambito said beach music was also popular.
“They were big fans of girl groups, and it showed in their early recordings,” Zambito said.
One example is “Chains” from the Beatles’ first British album, “Please Please Me.” It was originally recorded by the Cookies and written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Lennon and McCartney aspired to songwriting like Goffin and King.
“They were starting to fit into American culture, and by the time they got booked by Ed Sullivan and put out ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ audiences were ready for them.” said Zambito. “Literally the whole country took notice and it just seemed to explode from there.”
Zambito said he plays the Beatles’ opening clip from “The Ed Sullivan Show” in many of his classes.
“The way people react, the way the audience looks and the way the audience looks, not just teenagers, they’re all fascinated by watching them.”
The Beatles disbanded in 1970, but each member continued to have solo hits in the years that followed. Lennon was murdered in 1980 at the age of 40. Harrison died of cancer in 2001 at the age of 58.
Still, it doesn’t fade, sources said.
“The Beatles’ perseverance is amazing,” Smith said.
His children and grandchildren know about the Beatles and are fans, he said.
“The music never goes away,” Hodor said.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune’s education reporter. Contact [email protected]. He’s on his X @rmckinney9.