The Eternal Beatles (How did the group develop over the span of their Essay

The Eternal Beatles (How did the group develop over the span of their career) - Essay Example The Beatles were the embodiment of the 1960’s. They began their career as one type of band and ended as quite another altogether. This is the theme of their development, how they transformed from seemingly carefree suit and tie wearing lads who created innocuous, relatively simple songs to counter-culture icons widely perceived as leaders of a societal revolution. For America, the Beatles could not have emerged at a better time. The Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, served to effectively end the period of deep and seemingly endless mourning the country experienced following John F. Kennedy’s assassination the previous November. Since then, the country and the world has never been quite the same. The Beatles’ influence directly affected music, art, fashion, philosophy and culture from that time throughout the remainder of 1960’s and the band remains iconic still today. The February Ed Sullivan Show attracted 73 million viewers, 60 per cent of all American viewers, the largest ever television audience. That same month, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ became the Beatles’ first record to make it to number one on the U.S. singles chart and by the next month the ‘Fab Four’ held the top five spots and six of the top ten positions in Canada. Their first national tour in the U.S. during August and September that same year, they â€Å"performed before more people than any other artists in the history of American pop music including Elvis Presley.† In 1964, Americans would spend more than $50 million on sales of Beatle-related merchandise as estimated by The Wall Street Journal.