10 Live Shows That Changed Music History
3. The Beatles on Ed Sullivan
Before the '60s really got started, the entire appeal of the rock show wasn't anything that special. I mean, as much as the dancing aspect of it was fun, there was no real moment where things clicked into sounding like the future of music as a whole. That is, until we got a look at a couple of fresh faces from Liverpool on Ed Sullivan.
Being fresh off of their success in England with the album Please Please Me, the Beatles arrived like a bolt of lightning in the modern rock scene, showing that the rock and roll fad was here to stay for a long time. Although most of the in-studio audience was reserved for what looked to be thousands of screaming girls, the tide was turning with this show, as a slew of other British artists became the leading figures in rock and roll from the Rolling Stones to the Yardbirds.
Even still, this is one of the most watched programs on television to this day, with over 73 million viewers watching when Paul McCartney kicked off All My Loving for the first time. Adjusted for inflation today, the sheer population of people is still nowhere close to what happened that night. Though rock and roll had been a nice little fad for the kids to enjoy at the time, this is the moment where the dam burst.