Unprecedented excitement and hysteria led thousands of fans to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City on February 7, 1964, with placards and banners to welcome The Beatles and jumpstart their American invasion.
The British rock band consisted of Sir Paul McCartney, 82, John Lennon, who died aged 40 from gunshot wounds, George Harrison, who died aged 58 following a battle with cancer, and 84-year-old Sir Richard Starkey – also known professionally as Ringo Starr – who all originated from Liverpool, England.
“On that plane coming to the United States, they had no idea if anyone would be waiting for them, or the degree to which Capitol Records, writers and reporters did not want them to succeed. They wanted them to fail and worked against them,” says Beatles ‘64 director David Tedeschi, known for Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese, Pretend It’s A City, and Vinyl.
“At Carnegie Hall – their second American concert – the establishment was appalled when they heard the rock and roll music these kids were playing in the hallowed halls and banned their promoter [Sid Bernstein].”
Beatles ‘64 is a new documentary on Disney+ produced by Academy Award-winning American filmmaker Martin Scorsese, 82, who directed Shutter Island and The Wolf Of Wall Street, and producer Margaret Bodde who has worked with Scorsese on Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, and The 50 Year Argument.
It captures the electrifying moment of The Beatles’ first visit to America. It features never-seen-before footage of the band and their legion of young fans who helped fuel their ascendence.
The Grammy, Academy Award – for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be – and Ivor Novello Award-winning rock band, who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in their first year of eligibility – 1988 – achieved record-breaking levels of critical and commercial success.
From Rubber Soul and Revolver to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, it’s no surprise that the music The Beatles made also has estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide, and holds the record for the most number-one albums in the UK Albums chart and most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
For one longtime fan who is featured in the documentary alongside a few others, when he first heard The Beatles on the radio, it was like “the lights came on”. But what was it like for Tedeschi and Bodde?
“Well, I must have heard The Beatles songs somehow in the atmosphere, but I remember specifically getting a hold of my brother’s [copy of the] White Album [The Beatles] and just being captivated by everything about it. The mystery of that white cover, the look of these guys with their actual long hair at that point – not the long hair of 1964 – and the double record set, which at that time implied a statement of serious intent,” says Bodde.
“And also of just the prolific flowering of creativity. So every song to me was like its own sonic world. And from that point on, I just remember being very focused on The Beatles and wanting to learn more about them and hear everything that they had ever recorded. They were always a touchstone throughout my life.”
“My parents had a stereo system. They listened to classical music every night for a few hours, and it was a very adult thing. That’s what they did. That’s what adults did in my world, after dinner, you’d listen to classical music, not the kids, but the adults. And my sister was very musical, and she would in the afternoon, before my parents got home, play the Red and Blue Albums over and over and over again,” says Tedeschi.
“And when she wasn’t in the house, behind her back, I would take her albums out and I would play them, which, of course, was very dangerous, because vinyl is a tactile medium and can scratch, it wears down, like if you play a record too many times it doesn’t play anymore. But I loved the music so much I just kept on doing it and she was generous enough. She never even called me out. She must have known.”
Beatlemania was the term used to capture the teenage excitement that followed the Liverpool band while on tour between 1963 and 1966. It would usually be screaming young girls who had a strong spiritual connection to their music and found their softer masculine style irresistible – mop-top hairstyles, matching bespoke suits and chunky Cuban heel boots.
Fans collected strange memorabilia, including towel pieces, wigs and seat numbers. It’s what helped set the tone for the weird and wonderful music fandom and stan culture we see today.
For Tedeschi “it’s really hard to say” if fans would have responded to The Beatles in the same way in 2024. “It was a moment when the world was very different. The record industry thought that rock and roll guitar music was done, but I think The Beatles redirected them and represented a generational shift,” he says.
“I think the fact that they were really charming, handsome, talented, fun, and completely foreign to Americans, but were also very familiar made a difference. I think humour is a big part of it too. They were funny, real and authentic, so it didn’t seem like there was as much of a distance between them and their audience,” says Bodde.
“I think that the young people could imagine hanging out with The Beatles, being their pal, their girlfriend. They had an approachability and didn’t seem high and mighty. They were working class, so people felt like they could relate to them, and the music was just so phenomenal.”
Beatles ‘64 is now streaming on Disney+
