It was this week in 1964 that the British invasion of America was conclusive. The Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” jumped from No.27 on the Hot 100 to the No.1 spot. In the 4 locations behind it? More Beatles’ data. The Beatles had achieved an unprecedented takeover of the Billboard chart.
The story of the Beatles and their early American document labels is a posh one. It all began when Vee-Jay launched “Please Please Me” on February 7, 1963. The solely motive they launched it, nevertheless, was as a result of EMI’s US label, Capitol, had handed on the chance. Vee-Jay, on the time, was a small family-run label, primarily based in Gary, Indiana that specialised in African-American music.
Vee-Jay had plenty of monetary points, so when the Beatles subsequent single, “She Loves You,” was prepared for launch within the United States, it was leased by EMI to a small Philadelphia label referred to as Swan Records. (Capitol had once more refused the chance to launch it.)
Swan put out “She Loves You” on September 18, but it surely discovered little or no curiosity with document consumers, primarily as a result of so few radio stations performed it. It was solely in January when NBC’s The Jack Paar Program screened footage of The Beatles performing “She Loves You” that anybody actually turned conscious, by which period the Beatles actually had been on a roll.
Capitol lastly woke as much as the chances of The Beatles and launched “I Want To Hold Your Hand” the day after Christmas 1963. Three weeks later it entered the Billboard chart and on February 1, 1964, it made No.1 the place it stayed for seven weeks, solely to get replaced by Swan Records’ “She Loves You,” which held onto the highest spot for 2 weeks and, it’s stated, saved the corporate going loads longer than a lot of its unbiased rivals.
Then, after the joy of The Beatles look on The Ed Sullivan Show, Vee-Jay Records, via their subsidiary Tollie Records, put out “Twist and Shout,” and it reached No. 2 on April 4, 1964. (“Twist and Shout” solely did not make No.1 on the Billboard chart as a result of the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” stopped it!)
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