50 Years ago

My Mother, Aunts, and cousins gathered at gramps to watch the Ed Sulivan Show!

Wish they were all still around to watch again.

Was that when the mop heads invaded the U.S?

And the rest is history.

Just watched the Special Tribute. Awesome!

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Just watched the Special Tribute. Awesome!

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X2

Make’s me proud to be English.

I watched parts of the show last night and it made me realize just how much I like real rock and roll and the Beatles just don’t rock hard enough for me. Even my wife commented on their drums being a bit weak and she is no head banger. Yes, the Beatles have tons of great songs but given a choice while listening to Pandora I will usually skip them and go to something better.

Maybe I was just ticked off by seeing that smug LL Cool J as the host…..that was probably it. On a positive note I did like seeing Jeff Lynne.

I would like to be able to go back in time and see them in concert. I was thinking to myself what their lives have been like over the last 50 years all the stuff they have seen and done. Pretty interesting if you ask me!

My dad and I were talking about the 50 year anniversary of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Having see the show, he said you couldn’t overstate how big of a deal that was back then. It was all anyone talked about for the week before the show, it was just a huge deal.

He said the difference was that back then you saw pictures of singers/bands in newspapers and magazines, you head the songs on the radio, but it was pretty rare for any singer/band to appear on TV. It just wasn’t done that much, unlike today’s media-oversaturated world, so it was a huge deal.

Starting about 2 hours before the show, dad said everything outside went dead quiet. No cars moving on the streets, nobody outside walking, nothing moving, nobody wanted to risk NOT being in front of the TV for that show. And of course, it was all anyone talked about the next day.

I suppose every generation has always said this, but it seems like a totally different world back then.

Grouse

Least we forget the absolute uproar over the length of their hair! That was talked about more than anything here in the midwest.

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Least we forget the absolute uproar over the length of their hair! That was talked about more than anything here in the midwest.

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My mom said that the uproar over the Beatles with their unconventional grooming was relatively minor compared to the uproar over Elvis when he was going to be on the show.

My Grandma believed, in all seriousness, that Elvis was Satan. She wasn’t alone. According to her, his music contained hidden obscenities, his pelvic movements while singing were indecent, and if more proof were needed, there was his choice of clothing and hair style, which were at best immodest.

Of course, all my mom’s siblings BEGGED to watch when Elvis was on the show and finally Grandma relented. Only, of course, to prove that she was right and that he was the spawn of the devil himself.

But just in case, she literally stood there beside the television with her finger on the “off” button, ready to snap off the TV at the first sign of obscenity.

I believe I’ve heard that they deliberately only showed Elvis from the waist up on that first Sullivan appearance. If it’s true, it’d be a real reflection on the times.

Grouse

I don’t ever recall Beatles stories from Mom, but she loved Elvis. Still does to this day. I’m personally a product of hair metal and neither do much for me. However, I’m often surprised to hear a song and find out the Beatles sang it.