Beatlemania

Playing It Won't Be Long on the British pop TV show Ready, Steady Go in 1964. The song opens their second album 'With The Beatles'.

Over the next three years The Beatles had incredible success. Their records topped the charts in the UK in 1963, the USA in 1964 and most countries in the world from then on. They also made two very successful films, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965).

At one point they had the top five singles at the top of the USA Billboard chart. Everywhere they went there were crowds of screaming girls. And there appeal was not just to teenagers. Brian Epstein carefully guarded their image as 'family entertainers' .

Good boys?


The Beatles were never entirely comfortable with their 'good boy' image. They also found it very difficult to live normal lives. Lennon later complained he 'was living a lie'. This included concealing his wife, Cynthia, from the public eye.

In the public imagination, The Beatles were like their characters in Help. In the film they live in a single terraced house with four front doors.



1967

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