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The Night That Changed America

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GRAMMY Awards producer Ken Ehrlich recounts the Beatles' long and winding GRAMMY road
Ken Ehrlich
GRAMMYs
May 15, 2017 - 2:41 pm
GRAMMY.com

(On Feb. 9 CBS will air "The Night That Changed America: A GRAMMY Salute To The Beatles," a TV special that will commemorate the Fab Four's U.S. debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show" 50 years ago. This piece originally was featured in the 56th GRAMMY Awards program book. Since publication, both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr added to the Beatles' GRAMMY legacy with performances on the 56th GRAMMY Awards; for Starr, his first ever.)

The night after the GRAMMYs we will gather across the street from our home at Staples Center to record a very special GRAMMY/CBS television event, one that has been 50 years in the making. Many of you involved in this year's GRAMMY telecast will join us onstage as we commemorate what is generally accepted as one of the most impactful intersections of television and music: the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Along with such epochal events as Elvis Presley's first television appearance, Michael Jackson's moonwalk on "Motown 25" and (we'd love to think) some of our more memorable "GRAMMY moments," the Beatles' first U.S. television appearance is one of those never-to-be-forgotten events.

The GRAMMYs' history with the Fab Four has had its own rich legacy of milestones. It's a history that began with the pre-recorded acceptance by the Beatles (along with Peter Sellers) of one of the first-ever Best New Artist GRAMMY Awards back in 1965, and not counting this year's show, has been marked by a number of significant appearances and tributes, most recently the amazing performance in 2012 of the finale of the Abbey Road album, which featured Paul McCartney joined onstage by Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh and Bruce Springsteen.

That particular journey began when Paul and his manager Scott Rodger called me two days before the 54th GRAMMY telecast to ask if I would be OK if Paul changed his performance from "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five" to the Abbey Road medley. Then to top it all off, when I overheard Paul mention at his Saturday rehearsal that "it would be great if Bruce joined us," I called Springsteen's manager Jon Landau and within an hour we had upgraded an already great six minutes of show to a performance for the ages.

What has happened in the years between that Best New Artist GRAMMY and the 54th GRAMMY telecast is a fascinating story that follows the progression of popular music over that same period.

Five years before I began my 34-year run producing the GRAMMY Awards, as a fan of the show and certainly of music, I was haunted by one pair of presenters. It was so iconic and so impactful that to this day I can tell you what each of them was wearing the night that John Lennon (in a beret and accompanied by his friend Paul Simon) agreed to present the Record Of The Year GRAMMY back in 1975 (an award which, by the way, went to Olivia Newton-John for "I Honestly Love You"). For many years, I thought that was the first in-person appearance by a Beatle at the GRAMMYs, but later I learned that both Ringo and Paul had preceded John to the show — Paul accepting the GRAMMY for Let It Be in 1971 and Ringo presenting Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male in 1973 with Harry Nilsson. It should be noted that though George Harrison's The Concert For Bangla Desh won the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year at the 15th GRAMMY Awards in 1973, George wasn't there to accept and remains (unfortunately) the only Beatle never to have graced the GRAMMY stage.

Considering the all too brief life span of the Beatles as a recording group (less than 10 years), the fact is that individually or collectively they have been involved in numerous GRAMMY Award presentations, amassed more than 100 nominations and 26 wins, and have a collective 15 entries as a band in the highly esteemed GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. Their GRAMMY achievements are singular.

And of course, that's not to say that the GRAMMY telecast itself has been devoid of the timeless songs written by the Beatles over nearly five decades. Among the Beatles compositions performed over the years, several stand out, the first being an incredible performance of "Come Together" by Aerosmith. I can remember that night like it was yesterday.

It was 1991 and we were honoring John Lennon with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Steven Tyler and Co. had agreed to perform that amazing song in tribute to John. That performance is talked about to this day, not only because it was a great performance, but also because at one point in the song Steven launched what appeared to be the biggest loogie ever projected on network TV, surpassing any Major League Baseball tobacco chewer by at least 20 feet. Oh yes, and then there was a very beautiful performance of "Imagine" by Tracy Chapman.

Actually, my first experience with John's legacy occurred in 1982, my third GRAMMY show and the year that John and Yoko's Double Fantasy was honored with the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year. It was an incredibly emotional moment as Yoko, with young son Sean in tow, headed toward the stage just 14 months after John had been struck down in the street in front of their home at the Dakota in New York City. With tears in her eyes, and in the eyes of many in the audience, Yoko began by saying, "I think John is here with us today," which only heightened the moment, and then thanked everyone on behalf of the two of them, invoking the oft-repeated prayer for peace in the world. As she walked offstage, and though I had just met her one day prior, I put my arm around her as she hugged me — it was a hug that I haven't forgotten to this day.

In 1990 it was Paul's turn to be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and with Meryl Streep — someone obviously in awe of her subject — doing the introduction, we began to build a piano-driven piece that would feature performances by Stevie Wonder ("We Can Work It Out") and Ray Charles ("Eleanor Rigby"). Paul never did play that night, but has since graced us with several remarkable GRAMMY moments, including a mashup of "Yesterday" with Jay Z and Linkin Park in 2006, and the never-to-be-forgotten GRAMMY finale in 2012.

And speaking of Beatles songs performed by acts other than the Beatles themselves, in 2005, in response to the then-recent tragic tsunami in Thailand and Southeast Asia, we decided to do one of the first fundraising events in conjunction with iTunes by gathering an all-star group of GRAMMY performers to sing "Across The Universe," certainly a fitting song thematically and one that ultimately raised a significant amount of relief funds. Taking part were Billie Joe Armstrong, Bono, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Alison Krauss, Steven Tyler, Brian Wilson, and Stevie Wonder. The download (with all funds going to charity) became one of the highest-charting downloads for a charity recording to that date, not to mention that it garnered some very warm GRAMMY love by fans and critics alike. And the whole time we were doing it I kept thinking back to "Come Together: A Night For John Lennon's Words And Music," a TV special that Yoko Ono and I had done just three weeks after Sept. 11 as a tribute to John and his love of New York City, where that song had been performed so beautifully by Sean Lennon and Rufus Wainwright. I often think back to that show, the first to have been held at Radio City Music Hall, in fact the first show open to the public, just weeks after the tragic events of Sept. 11, and of the determination shown by Yoko to put that show on as a sign of John's love for the city. She kept saying, "John would have loved tonight, to have seen people coming together in peace after such sadness."

While Paul is the only Beatle who has performed on the GRAMMYs, Ringo leads the pack with the most appearances on the show without performing, beginning in 1973 when he accepted the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year for The Concert For Bangla Desh, and presented the GRAMMY for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male alongside Harry Nilsson, and then again in 1977 when he joined Paul Williams to present the GRAMMY for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. As recently as 2010 he joined fellow legend Smokey Robinson to present the nominees for Record Of The Year at our GRAMMY nominations special.

All of which brings us to celebrating the anniversary of the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" as a very special GRAMMY event. Four months ago on the Emmy Awards (which my company produced for CBS), we presented a segment that connected the assassination of John F. Kennedy some 50 years ago to the Beatles' first appearance on the Sullivan show literally 79 days later. The point being that America, and the world for that matter, went from the moment of our greatest collective sadness to a time when we could begin to emerge from our period of mourning into a time of great creativity, cultural richness and musical brilliance, all influenced by the Beatles. That event was the stimulus for "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America," the title of our special tribute that will air on CBS on Feb. 9, 50 years to the date since the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan appearance.

Being of a certain age, I can't deny both an emotional and an intellectual attachment to the Beatles and what they've meant to popular culture over the past 50 years. I remember going into my neighborhood hi-fi (yep) store to buy my first-ever component system so that I could go next door and buy Meet The Beatles, carefully remove the precious vinyl from the paper sleeve and gently put it on the turntable. In a moment of weakness, I actually confessed to Paul many years later that I applied for the job as their manager during an open solicitation that followed the death of Brian Epstein in the late '60s. I've wooed and won my wife, lullabied and danced with my kids, and sadly buried family members and friends to Beatles songs over the past 50 years. And like all of you, even though I didn't, I felt I knew them through their music. To have had the opportunity of doing one television special with Ringo (with a cameo appearance by George), our post Sept. 11 tribute to John with Yoko, and numerous appearances in recent years with Paul, I have been able to live out moments that I only could have dreamed of years ago, but in all honesty, never thought would actually take place.

Having Paul and Ringo and Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison with us at this year's GRAMMYs, and then having the chance to commemorate the Beatles' appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," means a great deal to us, and we are grateful for their cooperation in both events. Their musical legacy is our musical legacy, and no doubt will continue to be as long as people can still push play and hear "yeah yeah yeah."

Thank you John, Paul, George, and Ringo for a lifetime of music and memories.

(Ken Ehrlich has produced the GRAMMY Awards since 1980. His company, AEG Ehrlich Ventures, is responsible for hundreds of hours of memorable television productions and his love for music is what has kept him connected to multiple generations of musical artists in all genres. He wants to thank his friends at The Recording Academy, CBS, the thousands of artists with whom he's worked over the years, and in particular his loyal staff who have worked with him all these years to create what have come to be called "GRAMMY Moments." Ehrlich is the executive producer for "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute.")

The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover
Feature

Celebrating the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's' 50th anniversary

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From the songs and production to the artwork and mixing, an all-star panel of GRAMMY winners and nominees reflect on a monumental album that marked a sea change in music and inspired generations of musicians
Paul Zollo
GRAMMYs
Jul 13, 2017 - 3:21 pm
GRAMMY.com

If ever there was one album every music lover should have in their collection, it would be the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Released in the United States on June 2, 1967, the album marked a sacred moment for music. Spanning 13 tracks at nearly 40 minutes, it represents the Beatles at their most creatively ambitious. The songwriting, musicianship, performances, arrangements, album artwork, production, and the mixing all combined to make a bold statement, one which many argue legitimized the album as a true art form.

The LP ultimately took home the Album Of The Year GRAMMY, the first in an endless string of album accolades that has included induction into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame and the prestige of the top spot on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

A half-century after its release, Sgt. Pepper's … is getting the deluxe edition treatment, affording fans an opportunity to rediscover the seminal album all over again. The golden anniversary also doubles as a time to reflect on this influential work that continues to impact songwriters, musicians, artists, and studio technicians across multiple generations.

Following, a panel of GRAMMY-winning and -nominated musicians and studio professionals examine the profound and lasting impact of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, united by their reverence and ongoing awe for the achievement of this timeless work.

Steve Lukather (GRAMMY-winning guitarist: Toto, Ringo Starr All-Starr Band): I was 11 the first time I heard it. It was like in The Wizard Of Oz, where it goes from black-and-white to color. My mouth was open the whole time. We'd never heard otherworldly sounds like this. People have to remember: It's 2017 now and everyone's jaded. It was unlike anything we'd ever heard on this planet, like aliens had landed in the backyard.

Nancy Wilson (GRAMMY-nominated guitarist/vocalist: Heart, Roadcase Royale): I was 13 when Sgt. Pepper came out, a tender young teenager.  [My sister] Ann and I were totally swept into this cultural phenomenon that was going on with the Beatles since their first album. We didn't want to be the Beatles' girlfriends. We wanted to be them.

Butch Vig (GRAMMY-winning producer: Nirvana, Foo Fighters): I was 12 when it came out. My art teacher played it in our class. It had quite an impact on me. I knew of the Beatles but I'd never heard anything like it before.

Al Di Meola (GRAMMY-winning guitarist): I was 13 the first time I heard Sgt. Pepper. I was completely blown away. It was on constant rotation on my little record player in my room.

Ed Cherney (GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer/mixer, Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing Co-Chair): I was 17 when it came out. Me and my friends took a hit of acid, and went to our friend's bedroom because he had a hi-fi. We listened to it from beginning to end. Nobody said a word from the first needle drop. I remember my soul escaping from my body because I was so thrilled listening to this. When it was over, none of us spoke. We just turned the record over and listened to it again from side one. 

"It was unlike anything we'd ever heard on this planet, like aliens had landed in the backyard."

Bob Ezrin (GRAMMY-nominated producer: Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd): I was 18 when I first heard it. I was already married with an infant son. Suddenly, the universe was shrinking around me; my teenage years were over, and no longer was life a wide open expanse of possibility. But in June of 1967 I could put on this album and escape into a fantastical, technicolor land of wondrous characters, curious places and complex emotions, with music that bore all the tastes and smells of the whole wide world.  

Rick Nielsen (guitarist, Cheap Trick): I was 18 the year it came out. It was exciting. I remember thinking, "Holy cow!" [They] had gone from "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to this stuff. This wasn't their first album; the previous ones were all extraordinary. But this was a step forward, this was different.

Joe Walsh (GRAMMY-winning guitarist, Eagles): I was 20 when Sgt. Pepper came out. I lived with two other guys, each of us in different bands that played downtown Kent, Ohio. Those were the wild and crazy days, so we set up two Marshall amplifiers in the living room, and hooked the turntable up to the amps. We laid down on the living room table between the two amps and listened to it all night. It blew our minds, and then became the only thing that mattered, listening to that, for many weeks.

Al Schmitt (GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer: Paul McCartney, Diana Krall): The first time I heard it I was in the studio with [fellow producer] Tommy LiPuma. I'd already been in the business for a long time, and I sure knew about the Beatles. But Sgt. Pepper, it was jaw-dropping. We thought, how did they do that? We were blown away. It was unbelievable. 

Vig: I bought it that week at the local record store and started listening to it with headphones, over and over again. It didn't sound like a band playing together in a room. Instead, each song took us into a completely new world.

The Beatles hold the 'Sgt. Pepper's' album cover

Wilson: Artistically, it was a sea turn. They had been working up to it and Sgt. Pepper was the ultimate big left turn for music at the time. And everybody went left. It was mind-blowing.

Lukather: I wondered where all these sounds came from. Where is the magical place where this can happen?

Cherney: I think it was the most powerful musical experience I've ever had, the first time I heard it. The rest of my life and career became trying to make things as exciting and as compelling as that.

Ezrin: This was the audio equivalent of Walt Disney's Fantasia: a momentous piece of work that pushed the boundaries of composition and technology and that opened people's ears, minds and hearts to a whole new level of fascination and connection with just sound.  

Wilson: The night before Sgt. Pepper came out, the entire record was played on the radio. It was a super event, being glued to the radio and hearing the whole album. It was a life-altering event for Ann and I. We had to be the first in line to pick up the album. So that very next day we had it in our hands. We put it on the family stereo in our family living room and just immersed.

Schmitt: It sounded amazing. So many effects that they used were great. I had my assistants try to figure out how they did certain things. It changed the way I looked at recording because of what they did, the chances they took. It was revolutionary.

Ezrin: While they demonstrated that almost anything could be done now in the studio, they also demonstrated that only certain things ought to be done to preserve and enhance the essence of each great song.

Cherney: It opened our eyes to music on so many levels, introducing us to vaudeville, show tunes, westerns, and Indian music. There's not a bad note, a bad lyric or anything out of place.

Lukather: Everything about the album, including the artwork, was amazing. These were the days when we would spend endless hours staring at albums, and now we got this, with all wild and colorful pictures, and the lyrics for every song printed out. It was a total statement. It was like taking a journey. It's a piece meant to be listened to from top to bottom.

"This was the audio equivalent of Walt Disney's Fantasia: a momentous piece of work that pushed the boundaries of composition and technology."

Nielsen: Sgt. Pepper changed everything in terms of recording. You couldn't just make an album with a guitar, a bass and a drum anymore. You needed more.

Wilson: Sgt. Pepper was, in its entirety, a cohesive piece of art from top to bottom. It took you through a journey. When you got through listening to it, you felt like you got to live in their world, and meet every character in it, and be part of their town. You got to live in Beatletown! For the duration of it. And each thing leads into the next, so the way they segued the songs and blended the colors into the next song, was ingenious.

Di Meola: The way they incorporated sounds and orchestration was so far ahead of anything that had ever been done before, and done so well. The mixing was brilliant, and especially helpful for me. The production ideas forever impacted me. I'd always think about how the Beatles would mix and pan certain sounds.

Walsh: They didn't really know what they were doing. And because of that, they had no boundaries. George Martin would tell them, "No, you can't do that." But they would insist, and experiment. They broke tradition and all the norms, and changed the way people made albums from then on.

Lukather: We had Brian Wilson and [the Beach Boys'] Pet Sounds on this side. Everyone was trying to one up one another, and that was a positive thing, because nobody's record sounded the same.

Wilson: Pet Sounds inspired and informed Sgt. Pepper. It was all about experimentation and pushing the limits. Everything was culturally at such a peak, and there was so much to push against, that the young generation was trying to push against the old stodgy cultural mores and limits. It was a lot more stodgy in those days. The Beatles were really brave, and at the helm of something completely uncharted. And they got there.

Lukather: Even if you took away the production, it is amazing. The performances of each individual player, and the songs and the vocals, were all magical. There's a reason these guys were the Beatles. They were really good. They weren't flashy and shredding. What they have is songs and creativity that have yet to be matched. This is still the standard that we all look to.

Vig: We take for granted that they were fantastic musicians, and the performances on Sgt. Pepper are stellar. Besides John, Paul and George bringing in great songs, they were also contributing arrangement ideas. Between them, their producer and engineer, they were in a perfect creative storm.

Lukather: Ringo was an amazing drummer. He invented these crazy-a** drum parts and drum fills that, prior to that, never had been done. He invented the whole way modern drummers play.  He is so creative, and the way he plays, it swings, it grooves. He invented the way people perceive the drums, especially in early rock and roll.

Walsh: Because this was four-track, the Beatles played together as a band. It was about getting a performance and building on that. Very rarely now do a bunch of people get in the room together at the same time and play together. Nowadays it's just one guy on a computer making it perfect. But perfect music doesn't sound good. There's no mojo.

Lukather: George's playing was everything to me. More than the songs or the singing, it was about the sound of his guitar. He played for the song. He came up with great parts, and wrote beautiful music. He had a very distinctive sound. His economy of notes, and the way he played, the finesse of it, is something you can't learn. You can learn the notes. But there's a certain touch and feel and heart that goes into it.

"Sgt. Pepper changed everything in terms of recording. You couldn't just make an album with a guitar, a bass and a drum anymore."

Walsh: It is when Lennon and McCartney broke on through with their songwriting. They had no boundaries. They'd come off the road, and didn't want to be the Beatles anymore. They wanted to reinvent themselves. They couldn't play live anymore, couldn't hear themselves with all the people screaming. So they invented a new band: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. And by doing this, they changed the way songs were written. I mean, "A Day In The Life" is more than a song. It's a collage of songs.

Schmitt: "A Day In The Life" was, for me, the number one cut on the album. It was incredible. What they did with the orchestra on that was amazing. A lot of that credit goes to George Martin for being able to do the orchestrations for that and for recording it, and the Beatles for allowing it. They were into anything at that point. If someone said they should try something, they would go for it.

Ezrin: "A Day In The Life" may be the greatest piece of writing and production in the history of modern recording. It is flawless in its storytelling, from the perfect lyric and melody to the truly moving performance to the unrestrained brilliance of the arrangement, to the sound of everything, especially the voice. I listen with my jaw open and eyes wide every time I hear it, and I'm still deeply moved by it after 50 years of listening.  

Wilson: I loved "Within You Without You" [by George] so much. It was like walking into the temple with George. He's sitting cross-legged playing his hurdy-gurdy. I remember thinking, "Now, I know George more deeply." Up to then I thought he was just giving lip service to spirituality and God. But here was this song that brought you straight into [his] deeper vibration. It was so beautiful how it created this mood of a chant and a meditation inside the song. And at the end of this very dark, heavy and personal song, there is laughter. As if to say, "Wow, that was fun. Now let's get a back to the program at hand!"

Nielsen: Musically, a lot of these songs are quite complex. "For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite," which John wrote, is really odd musically. It is complicated to play. But I love it.

Wilson: "When I'm Sixty-Four" is that music-hall style, which Paul did so well. But it's only one style he did so well. The range of that is really impressive.

Di Meola: "She's Leaving Home" is a beautiful song. That melody, even without the lyrics, stands on its own.

"It is when Lennon and McCartney broke on through with their songwriting."

Wilson: "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" mirrors exactly what it felt like in those days to be tripping, or to take some mind expansive thing. If you had that album cued up, and you were high, it made even better sense.

Di Meola: Having Ringo sing "With A Little Help From My Friends" was a show of camaraderie. Such a strong song, you think they would want to do it on their own. It sounds tailor-made for Ringo, but it wasn't. It was just an idea to have him try it, and it worked.

Wilson: "Fixing A Hole" is one of my favorite Paul moments ever. He has an uncanny capability to write something that seems light-weight at first, but then you realize there is more there than you knew. It is so melodic. A beautiful thing about what he does, as a songwriter, is that he's got a wink and a nod, and yet he speaks of something painful, having a hole where the rain gets into your own life. He's a master at deceptive simplicity. 

Walsh: The technology, the whole concept of stereo, and multitracking, was just starting to explode, and that collided with them using everything they had used so far. In the old days, you would record the whole band at once. We'd just gone from Sun Records, one track, to this. If the drummer was too loud, you moved the mike. Now anything was possible, and nothing was ever the same again.

Di Meola: It has impacted me my whole life, though I am a jazz player, because of the emphasis on melody and composition. I relate more to the Beatles than anything in jazz.

Cherney: I think it made me want to spend a life trying to be in the studio and make music like them. I can point to a lot of my peers, and know it did the same thing to them.

Di Meola: This music became more intricate and interesting than before. The lyrics became psychedelic, romantic and more dreamy. When I hear it, it is so nostalgically beautiful, but it's also music that I listen to still today. And I love it. I'm crazy about it.

Vig: Anyone who makes modern recordings, at some point, has borrowed their ideas.

Lukather: Look at what they did in just a handful of years: the growth of the creativity, the songwriting, the performances, the uniqueness, and the message. They transformed the whole world. They made us think different.

Vig: Sgt. Pepper raised the bar. The songs were great but the production took it to a completely new level. It revolutionized modern studio recording.

Lukather: If there were no Beatles, there wouldn't be anybody else.

Ezrin: It was a watershed moment in human culture. It was a time when technology was just about to burst its restraints and the world was suddenly united by popular culture.

Cherney: It touched us all so deeply, and in a way I don't think music or art has ever really touched us before.

Ezrin: It wasn't an album. It was a magic door into the imagination, and it was all done with music and sound.

Cherney: Last night I listened to it all the way through. I remember every note, every solo, every lyric, every word, every part, every Ringo fill. It's wild. It's the greatest rock and roll record of all time. It opened my eyes.

The Beatles photographed in 1967

Walsh: Every now and then, when I get tired of what I hear on the radio, I put on Sgt. Pepper. And I am reminded of just how great it can be.

"Sgt. Pepper raised the bar. The songs were great but the production took it to a completely new level. It revolutionized modern studio recording.​"

Wilson: The whole album is embedded in my DNA.

Lukather: It's one of the greatest albums ever made. They're going to be writing about the cultural effect of the Beatles on the planet earth, and about Sgt. Pepper, for centuries.

Walsh: It changed everything. In terms of what was possible. It made everybody look at what we had been doing, and made it seem prehistoric.

Cherney: Compared to Sgt. Pepper, modern music sounds like it was made through a kazoo. 

More Sgt. Pepper's: Jack Antonoff explains how the album impacted him

(Writer Paul Zollo is the senior editor of American Songwriter and the author of several books, including Songwriters On Songwriting, Conversations With Tom Petty and Hollywood Remembered. He's also a songwriter and Trough Records artist whose songs have been recorded by many artists, including Art Garfunkel, Severin Browne and Darryl Purpose.)

The Beatles, circa 1960s
List

50 Beatles milestones: Chart hits, GRAMMYs and 'Time'

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From No. 1 hits to GRAMMY wins and magazine covers, read our timeline of 50 of the Beatles' most impressive achievements
Paul Grein
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

(On Feb. 9 The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS will present "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute." The two-and-a-half hour special will celebrate the legacy of the Beatles and their groundbreaking first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" exactly 50 years to the day, date and time of the original event.)

America has been in love with the Beatles for 50 years. The sheer numbers are staggering: 20 No. 1 singles, 19 No. 1 albums and 15 recordings in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame (all record-setting tallies). And that doesn't even count the members' post-Beatles activities.

Here are 50 of John, Paul, George, and Ringo's most impressive achievements — together and on their own.

Feb. 1, 1964: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, displacing Bobby Vinton's "There! I've Said It Again." The smash later receives a GRAMMY nomination for Record Of The Year. It is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1998.

Feb. 15, 1964: Meet The Beatles! hits No. 1 on The Billboard 200. The album is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2001.

April 4, 1964: The Beatles hold down the top five positions on the Hot 100 (an unequalled achievement) with "Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist And Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," and "Please Please Me."

April 13, 1965: The Beatles win their first two GRAMMYs: Best New Artist Of 1964 and Best Performance By A Vocal Group for "A Hard Day's Night." That John Lennon/Paul McCartney composition is also nominated for Song Of The Year. The A Hard Day's Night soundtrack is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2000.

Sept. 11, 1965: The Help! soundtrack zooms to No. 1. It later receives a GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year. The title song is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2008.

Oct. 9, 1965: "Yesterday" reaches No. 1. The instant classic receives GRAMMY nominations for Record and Song Of The Year. It is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1997.

Aug. 8, 1966: Revolver is released, just eight months after Rubber Soul. Both albums fall into the eligibility year for the 9th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Revolver receives an Album Of The Year nomination. Both albums are later inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.

March 2, 1967: Lennon and McCartney win a GRAMMY for Song Of The Year for "Michelle." McCartney wins a second award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Solo Vocal Performance — Male Or Female for "Eleanor Rigby." That poignant ballad is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2002.

March 18, 1967: "Penny Lane" reaches No. 1. Both "Penny Lane" and its B-side, "Strawberry Fields Forever," are later inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. This is one of only two singles with both sides separately inducted into the Hall. The other is Elvis Presley's 1956 smash "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog."

July 1, 1967: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band hits No. 1. It stays on top for 15 weeks, longer than any other Beatles album. Eight months later, it becomes the first rock album to win a GRAMMY for Album Of The Year. It also wins a second award as Best Contemporary Album. It is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1993.

Sept. 22, 1967: The Beatles make the cover of Time, a rarity for a pop or rock artist at the, er, time.

Jan. 6, 1968: The soundtrack to the Beatles' BBC special Magical Mystery Tour reaches No. 1. It later receives a GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year.

Sept. 7, 1968: Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's sleek remake of "The Fool On The Hill" becomes the first Beatles song to reach No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart (as the Adult Contemporary chart was then called). It remains on top for six weeks. Incredibly, the Beatles themselves hadn't yet cracked that chart.

Sept. 28, 1968: "Hey Jude" hits No. 1. The epic stays on top for nine weeks, tying Percy Faith And His Orchestra's "The Theme From A Summer Place" for the longest run at No. 1 by any single in the '60s. "Hey Jude" receives GRAMMY nominations for Record and Song Of The Year. It is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2001.

Dec. 28, 1968: The Beatles, better known as the White Album, reaches No. 1. The album is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2000.

July 26, 1969: Plastic Ono Band's "Give Peace A Chance" enters the Hot 100. It's the first outside project by any of the Beatles to appear on this chart. Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, produced the single, which makes the Top 15.

Nov. 1, 1969: Abbey Road hits No. 1. The album later receives a GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year. This is the fifth consecutive year that the group are nominated in that category — an unmatched streak. The album is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1995.

Nov. 1, 1969: "Something" becomes the first Beatles single to crack the Easy Listening chart. (It's about time.) George Harrison wrote the ballad, which is covered by such legends as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. The song reaches No. 1 on the Hot 100 four weeks later when it is double-listed with Lennon/McCartney's "Come Together."

March 21, 1970: "Let It Be" enters the Hot 100 at No. 6, the highest entry (to that point) for any single since the chart was introduced in August 1958. The pop hymn reaches No. 1 three weeks later. It receives GRAMMY nominations for Record and Song Of The Year. It is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2004.

May 23, 1970: McCartney's McCartney becomes the first album by a former Beatle to reach No. 1. No singles are released from the album, but a live version of the album's most prized song, "Maybe I'm Amazed," becomes a top 10 hit in 1977.

June 20, 1970: The Beatles make their final appearance at No. 1 on the Hot 100 with "The Long And Winding Road." This brings their total number of weeks at No. 1 on this chart to 59. That remains the record for a group or duo.

Dec. 26, 1970: Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" becomes the first single by a former Beatle to reach No. 1. It receives a GRAMMY nomination for Record Of The Year. One week later, Harrison's triple-disc album All Things Must Pass reaches No. 1. It receives a nomination for Album Of The Year. The album is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame this year.

March 16, 1971: The Beatles win a GRAMMY for Best Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special for Let It Be. McCartney, accompanied by his wife, Linda, accepts the award on what is the first live GRAMMY telecast. On April 15, the Beatles win an Oscar for Original Song Score for Let It Be.

Oct. 30, 1971: Imagine by John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band reaches No. 1 on the album chart. The title track is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1999.

March 14, 1972: The Beatles are awarded a Trustees Award by The Recording Academy. That same night, McCartney wins a GRAMMY for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for his work on his and Linda's No. 1 hit "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey."

March 3, 1973: The all-star The Concert For Bangla Desh, which was spearheaded by Harrison, receives a GRAMMY for Album Of The Year. Among the stars on the triple-disc album: Ringo Starr, who accepts the award.

June 23, 1973: Harrison's Living In The Material World replaces Paul McCartney & Wings' Red Rose Speedway at No. 1 on the album chart. One week later, Harrison's "Give Me Love — (Give Me Peace On Earth)" replaces Paul McCartney & Wings' "My Love" at No. 1 on the Hot 100. On both charts, it's the only time that one former Beatle bumped another out of the No. 1 spot.

Jan. 26, 1974: Starr lands his second No. 1 hit in a row with his remake of Johnny Burnette's 1960 hit "You're Sixteen." "Photograph" had reached the top spot nine weeks earlier. Surprisingly, this marks the only time that a former Beatle reached No. 1 with back-to-back single releases.

February 1974: Paul and Linda McCartney receive an Oscar nomination in the Song category for "Live And Let Die." It's the first song from an official James Bond movie (those produced by Eon Productions) to receive an Oscar nod.

April 13, 1974: Paul McCartney & Wings' Band On The Run hits No. 1. It later receives a GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year. The album's staying power is made clear in 2012 when a deluxe reissue wins Best Historical Album and again in 2013 when the original is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.

Nov. 16, 1974: Lennon (with the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band) lands his first No. 1 single with "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night." Elton John sings a backing vocal. Seven weeks later, Elton John's cover of the Beatles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" reaches No. 1. Lennon plays guitar on John's smash.

Sept. 23, 1978: Earth, Wind & Fire's inventive remake of "Got To Get You Into My Life" becomes the first Beatles song to reach No. 1 on Hot Soul Singles (as the R&B chart was then called). The single is the biggest hit from the ill-fated film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Dec. 27, 1980: John Lennon/Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy hits No. 1 on the album chart, just three weeks after Lennon's murder. It stays on top for eight weeks, making it the longest-running No. 1 album by a former Beatle.

June 13, 1981: Harrison's "All Those Years Ago," a heartfelt tribute to Lennon, cracks the Top 10. Paul and Linda McCartney and Starr appear on the track.

Feb. 24, 1982: Double Fantasy wins a GRAMMY for Album Of The Year. Yoko Ono, accompanied by her son, Sean, accepts the award. The album's No. 1 hit "(Just Like) Starting Over" is nominated for Record Of The Year.

May 15, 1982: Ebony And Ivory" by McCartney with Stevie Wonder hits No. 1. The brotherhood anthem stays on top for seven weeks, making it the longest-running No. 1 single by a former Beatle. The smash goes on to receive GRAMMY nominations for Record and Song Of The Year.

June 12, 1982: McCartney's album Tug Of War logs its third and final week at No. 1. It's the most recent No. 1 album by a former Beatle. It later receives a GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year. (Two subsequent McCartney albums — 1997's Flaming Pie and 2005's Chaos And Creation In The Backyard — are also nominated in that category.)

Jan. 16, 1988: Harrison's "Got My Mind Set On You" reaches No. 1 on the Hot 100. It's the most recent No. 1 single by a former Beatle.

April 16, 1988: Tiffany's "I Saw Him Standing There" cracks the Top 10. It's the first remake of a Beatles song by an artist who was born after the Beatles' breakup to reach the Top 10.

April 23, 1988: The Beatles are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison are subsequently inducted on their own (in 1994, 1999 and 2004, respectively).

Feb. 21, 1990: McCartney accepts a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy. Meryl Streep MCs the tribute, which includes performances by Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. That same night, Harrison is awarded a GRAMMY for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the all-star collaboration Traveling Wilburys Volume One.

Feb. 20, 1991: Lennon receives a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy. Richard Gere MCs the tribute, which includes performances by Aerosmith and Tracy Chapman. Yoko Ono accepts the honor.

Dec. 9, 1995: Anthology 1 becomes the Beatles' first No. 1 album since 1973. (Two subsequent Anthology volumes also reach No. 1.) Three weeks later, "Free As A Bird" becomes the band's first Top 10 single since 1976. All four former Beatles are credited as co-writers.

Feb. 26, 1997: The Beatles win three GRAMMYs. "Free As A Bird" takes Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Music Video, Short Form. The Beatles Anthology wins Best Music Video, Long Form.

Feb. 3, 2001: The Beatles make their final appearance at No. 1 on the album chart (to date, anyway) with the hit-studded collection 1. This brings their total number of weeks at No. 1 on this chart to 132. That's nearly twice as many as any other artist.

Feb. 8, 2004: Harrison wins a GRAMMY for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Marwa Blues," a track from his album Brainwashed. Harrison, who died of cancer in November 2001, is the second former Beatle to win a posthumous GRAMMY.

June 2, 2010: McCartney receives the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. He is, to date, the only songwriter who was born outside of the United States to receive the award. Six months later, McCartney is back in Washington, D.C., to be feted at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Feb. 13, 2011: The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) wins a GRAMMY for Best Historical Album.

Feb. 10, 2013: McCartney wins a GRAMMY for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Kisses On The Bottom, two years after he won Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for a live rendition of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter." McCartney is the only artist in GRAMMY history to win in both the Traditional Pop and Rock fields.

Jan. 25, 2014: The Beatles receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Recording Academy. A day later, at the 56th GRAMMY Awards, McCartney wins two GRAMMYs: Best Music Film for Live Kisses and Best Rock Song for "Cut Me Some Slack," which he co-wrote with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear for Sound City — Real To Reel.

(Paul Grein, a veteran music historian and journalist, writes for Yahoo Music.)

Video

Tom Petty: The Beatles On Ed Sullivan "Changed Everything"

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GRAMMY winner on how the Beatles' earthshaking debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show" sent him on a mission for a guitar and how he'll celebrate at 8 p.m. on Feb. 9
Tom Petty
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

(On Feb. 9 The Recording Academy, AEG Ehrlich Ventures and CBS will present "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute." The two-and-a-half-hour special will celebrate the legacy of the Beatles and their groundbreaking first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" exactly 50 years to the day, date and time of the original event.)

(As told to Paul Zollo)

I was 13, and already somewhat of a music fan. This was the great moment in my life, really, that changed everything. I had been a fan up to that point. But this was the thing that made me want to play music. You saw that it could be done. There could be a self-contained unit that wrote, recorded and sang songs. And it looked like they were having an awful lot of fun doing it.

I watched it with my little brother. My mom and dad were there, but they weren't interested in it. They laughed at it and left the room. But my brother and me, both of us, we just flipped out. We thought it was the greatest thing ever.

It's very hard for people to understand how monolithic it was, looking at it today. But it was absolutely earthshaking. These weren't days when you had rock and roll on television very frequently at all. And [the Beatles] were so ready for it. They're so professional, and they have their act so down. Their presentation is beyond compare. It's amazing, when you watch it now, how aware they are of where the cameras are, and what to do. And their songs were just fantastic, and so original. They were the right people at the right time at the right spot with the right songs.

Culturally, it changed everything in America, and probably the world. The influence on every part of our lives was huge, from social issues to fashion issues to music issues. From that point on, the Beatles were the North Star for me and my generation. And we're very blessed to have had them.

Before them, there were a lot of singers, like Elvis. But it was really great to see a band. I had seen bands around town before, but I never saw one that really did everything, that was a vocal group and an instrumental and songwriting group. The idea of writing songs had never occurred to me before them. I knew that they wrote their songs. I had the little single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There," before I saw them, with that great photo of them on the front in the grey collarless jackets. "Lennon/McCartney" was prominent under each title, so I knew that they wrote the songs. And I said, "Hey, this can be done. You just need four guys who can play their instruments. And if we do this, we can have a great time."

Really, within weeks of that show, you began to hear the sounds of garage bands on the weekends leaking through the neighborhood — of kids out in the garage playing. And it became my mission to find an electric guitar, and to meet friends who could play with me. And that happened rather organically. So many people were doing it.

I didn't really know what harmony was, but I loved the sound their voices made. I would learn these things from trial and error situations with my friends playing. We eventually figured out how to make that sound, and what a harmony was.

Back then, everyone didn't have a guitar.  Not like now, where anyplace you go, there's a guitar. It was a different world then. Fender sold themselves to CBS that year because the demand [for] guitars just overwhelmed them. 

If you talk to any musician my age, I think we'd all tell you — especially the American ones — that night had a profound effect on the rest of [our] lives. It did have a great profound effect on my life, and I thank them for that. I still think the Beatles [made] the best music ever, and I'm sure I'll go to my grave thinking the same thing.

There will never be another moment like it, I don't think, in music. I don't think you could have another moment like that, because of the innocence of the audience. That innocence doesn't exist anymore. It was just a really great time to be alive, to be a teenager, and to experience that.

It should be celebrated, and I'm glad there's so much attention being given to it. I think that everyone in America with an electric guitar should all hit an open E chord at 8 o'clock on February 9. I'm gonna do it.

(A three-time GRAMMY winner, Tom Petty is the founder of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. In 1988 Petty teamed with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison to form Traveling Wilburys. The all-star quintet won a GRAMMY for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for Traveling Wilburys Volume One. Tom Petty And The Heartbreaker's most recent studio album, Mojo, was released in 2010.)

(Paul Zollo is the senior editor of American Songwriter and the author of several books, including Songwriters On Songwriting, Conversations With Tom Petty and Hollywood Remembered. He's also a songwriter and Trough Records artist whose songs have been recorded by many artists, including Art Garfunkel, Severin Browne and Darryl Purpose.)

Video

Dave Stewart On Eurythmics Reunion And "Great Fun" At Beatles Special

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GRAMMY winner on reuniting with Annie Lennox for the GRAMMY salute to the Beatles and working out their rendition of "The Fool On The Hill"
Dave Stewart
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

(A young Dave Stewart was at home in Sunderland, England, when the Beatles first appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on Feb. 9, 1964. At the time, the group had already broken big in England and impacted his life.)

(As told to Paul Zollo)

We'd already had the Beatles by then. Everyone was mad about the Beatles in Britain. They were all over everything in 1964. The Beatles affected me more a bit later. I was 16 in 1968, and as they went into their songwriting development in the psychedelic stage, I was with them on the journey, if you know what I mean.

I started writing songs when I was about 15. I didn't have a band, I just had an acoustic guitar, and got these blues albums from Memphis, and my brother had a Bob Dylan album, and I was trying to learn that stuff. It was "Drive My Car" that really got to me. Rubber Soul was when I realized, boom, music. Songwriting — I really understood then that people could write songs. There was something about the sound of the album that made me realize, "Oh, this could be an interesting thing. English music."

I did it on my own for a while. At 17 I formed a sort of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young kind of band called Longdancer. Even then, I started to learn some Beatles songs. [Sings] "Here I stand, head in hand/Turn my face to the wall …," which is John doing Dylan. I probably related to that. "Hey! You've got to hide your love away" sounds very Dylan-ish.

[Being part of] this Beatles [special] was great. When [producer] Ken Ehrlich rang me, he said, "Hey, how would you and Annie like to play as the Eurythmics on this Beatles thing?"

I said, "Oh, I don't know, you'd better ask Annie."

He said, "I already have, she wants to do it. She wants to do the song 'The Fool On The Hill.'"

I said, "Oh, I love that song, too."

Little did I know when I went to listen to it again it was one of the only Beatles songs with no guitar on it. So I had to figure out a way of not interfering with the song, and give it a Beatle-y feeling with a guitar. So I suggested to Annie that we get my friend [violinist] Ann Marie Calhoun in, and [that we] do a string arrangement that's slightly different.

Annie wanted to do it in [the key of] G. So I thought, "Right, I'll put the capo on the fifth fret and play a D shape, and get it really jangly in a high, harpsichord-y kind of way. Which would give that Beatle-y feeling. So I did that, and that seemed to work out. And I used my band that I use in L.A., with Randy Cooke on drums and Michael Bradford on bass. And it all came together.

I'm a big believer in entrances and exits. I was thinking the song should maybe start with Annie alone on the first verse, on the piano. And I wanted people to go, "Hey, I thought this was gonna be Eurythmics — what happened?" And then right at the end of the first chorus, I'll be in darkness, and at that point I'll walk to the edge of that step, and if you switch the light on right then, I'll hit the 12-string. I wanted to give the feeling a bit of "Here Comes The Sun." We went through that a couple of times, and it worked.

I wanted to bring my country swagger into it, wearing a suit made for me by Manuel in Nashville, and playing an acoustic 12-string that was handmade for me by Danny Ferrington, with a scroll neck.

It was surprisingly easy [to reunite with Annie Lennox]. We met, we chatted for a while before our players turned up in the rehearsal room. And then Annie and I just started jamming with the acoustic 12-string and her piano. Then we brought Ann Marie in, and sang her string arrangement ideas, and she wrote them down. And as the band members arrived one by one, we played it with them and it sounded right straight away.

So what Annie and I did for the next two hours, we just jammed on all sorts of different Beatles songs with the band joining in. It was confusing for the producers, who were coming in to watch us do "The Fool On The Hill" and we're doing "The Long And Winding Road" or "Hey Jude" and me singing "Here Comes The Sun" with Annie doing the harmonies. And anything but the song "The Fool On The Hill." But then we did it for them.

There were a lot of people there [at the show], so backstage it was a lot of fun meeting old mates, like Ringo and Jeff Lynne. And Dhani [Harrison] I haven't seen for a while. Good fun. I had a great talk with Gary Clark Jr. He's one of my favorite guitarists.

It was great fun. We could have done more in the show! Annie said, "For all the time I'm here, we could have done 10!"

(Dave Stewart and  Annie Lennox reunited as Eurythmics for one night only to perform "The Fool On The Hill" on "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute." Eurythmics won a GRAMMY in 1986 for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for "Missionary Man." Stewart has collaborated with artists such as Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger, Alison Krauss, Stevie Nicks, Orianthi, Tom Petty, and Ringo Starr. In 2013 Stewart released his latest solo album, Lucky Numbers.)

(Paul Zollo is the senior editor of American Songwriter and the author of several books, including Songwriters On Songwriting, Conversations With Tom Petty and Hollywood Remembered. He's also a songwriter and Trough Records artist whose songs have been recorded by many artists, including Art Garfunkel, Severin Browne and Darryl Purpose.)