How America Convinced the Beatles They Wouldn't Just 'Fizzle Out'

Monday, June 5, 2023

Paul McCartney recalled the Beatles’ first trip to the United States and how it convinced the members they weren’t just another band that would simply “fizzle out” after a short period of success.

In an excerpt from a book that accompanies his new photo exhibition in London (via The Guardian), McCartney explained his feelings when he rediscovered lost photos he’d taken during the 1964 trip, during which the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show three times and secured their future.

“Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time,” he wrote. “It was a period of – what else can you call it? – pandemonium. We four guys from Liverpool couldn’t possibly realize then the implications of what we were doing. By the end of February 1964, after our visit to America … we finally had to admit that we would not, as we had originally feared, just fizzle out as many groups do. We were in the vanguard of something more momentous, a revolution in the culture.”

Source: wbsm.com