The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show

American composer and champion of music Bernard Herrmann recalled in 1970 that around 1962, he had returned to the U.S. from a conducting job in Liverpool with early Parlophone records of the Beatles that he received from the band.

Herrmann claimed to have unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the executives of Universal Records and Columbia Broadcasting System that the Beatles had something novel to offer.

[4] Babb was initially uninterested in booking the group for the show, as British musical acts at that time experienced little commercial success in the U.S.[4] Then, on October 31, Ed Sullivan was at London's Heathrow Airport and saw a crowd of 1,500 fans await the Beatles' return from a tour of Sweden.

[7][8] Due to rapidly growing listener demand, the band's first single on Capitol Records, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was rush-released in late December, three weeks ahead of schedule.

[9] (Capitol had hoped that the single's original release date, on January 16, 1964, would allow the Beatles' Sullivan Show appearances in early February to bolster sales.

[12][13] Reverend Billy Graham, who tuned in to the first show despite his customary avoidance of TV on Sunday, dismissed Beatlemania as a "passing phase".

"[13] Commentators have also attributed the Beatles' Sullivan Show appearances and early Beatlemania for helping to heal the national trauma from the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

[6] Numerous musical artists have cited the Beatles' Ed Sullivan Show appearances as their inspiration for becoming musicians, including Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Gene Simmons, Joe Perry, Nancy Wilson,[2] Kenny Loggins, Mark Mothersbaugh[27] and Bruce Springsteen.

[28] Wilson recalled in 2007, "The lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck [my sister] Ann and me the first time we saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.

There'd been so much anticipation and hype about the Beatles that it was a huge event, like the lunar landing: that was the moment Ann and I heard the call to become rock musicians.

In February 2014, for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr returned to the theater for a joint interview with David Letterman.

Anthony Mason moderated the panel, which consisted of Pattie Boyd, Neil Innes, Mick Jones, Tad Kubler, John Oates, Peter Asher, Nile Rodgers and Julie Taymor.

[33] In the 1996 comedy-drama That Thing You Do!, when fictional 1960s band the Wonders appear on The Hollywood Television Showcase, one member is captioned "Careful, girls, he's engaged!

mimicked the Beatles' Ed Sullivan Show appearance—though the setting is reversed, with OutKast playing the fictional American band the Love Below in front of a British audience.

[36] On November 11, 2023, American indie rock band Boygenius performed their songs "Not Strong Enough" and "Satanist" on Saturday Night Live with a set built to look like the Ed Sullivan Show's.