The Beatles’ 1964 performance was an event where everyone who witnessed it can say where they were when the invasion was televised, and the impact it had on their lives. Almost sixty years after their American debut, the Beatles remain one of the most beloved and popular bands in history– by selling 183 million albums over the course of their run, they top the competition by miles. The impact they would have on popular and rock music is immense, influencing future artists such as The Beach Boys, Gene Simmons from KISS and causing a young Bob Dylan to give an expletive ridden testimony to a friend the first time he heard I Want To Hold Your Hand (Jones, 2017). 

Besides the people, they changed the perception of a typical band’s composition. The use of dual guitar harmonies became the norm, instead of leader follow guitarists. This sound would become a staple of 70s and 80s rock music, featured in bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden and Machinehead. The Beatles also were considered the first boy band; a label applied to groups whose music is most consumed by young girls due to their appealing appearance, whimsical personas and indulging lyrics. In fact, The Beatles were the first group to provide a structure that would become infamous; “band mates, according to this model, should be equal, authentic, funny, irreverent, energetic, attractive and beguiling, and should be represented with visual techniques that reinforce their claims of breaking with stodgy convention” (Stahl 2002, 317). Future bands such as NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and most recently OneDirection all used this derived formula to capture the hearts of millions of teenage girls and young adult women. 

Beyond music, The Beatles influenced culture more than any musician had before. Their style became an overnight sensation. Teenage boys went out of their way to “mop top” their hair, and dress up in suits. Imitation is flattering, yet to them it was necessary. Their music and personalities had a profound impact on younger girls more than any other demographic, in the midst of the ongoing sexual revolution, these often repressed individuals had a voice that appealed only to them. In fact, It has been pointed out that the young women who participated in the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s were from the same generation who had seen in The Beatles a first opportunity to revolt against the structural and cultural constraints embedded in a highly sexualized society. In 1964 “cracks were beginning to appear in the walls restraining female energy and sexuality” (Douglas 1992, 121). Similar to today, those who were most appealed to by the music of the boybands in the 90s and 2000s are now the young women attempting to create a more equal society between men and women. History does not always repeat, but it usually rhymes. 

While their impact on society has faded as time has gone on, their largest impact on pop music will forever remain. The history of popular music can be read as a series of revolutionary blows against the established practices of the time. The Beatles were no exception, instead, they were the new practice. In the coming decades, those who wanted to reach the highest level of music stardom had to do what The Beatles did, do something different. The Beatles broke every rule in the pop music book, and though they didn’t sound like anything anyone had heard before, radio stations were willing to take a risk on them. More than half a century later, it’s pretty clear that risk paid off.