How the Beatles’ ‘Ed Sullivan’ Debut Inspired 25 Future Rockers

When the Beatles carried out on The Ed Sullivan Present on Feb. 9, 1964, they fully modified the trajectory of music and tradition as we all know it.

Greater than 73 million People watched the Beatles that evening, roughly 38% of the nation’s inhabitants on the time. Amongst the legions or adoring viewers had been future rock stars, lots of whom had been considerably impacted by the legendary efficiency.

The Fab 4’s first Sullivan gig did not simply sign the beginning of the British invasion, it marked a watershed second within the accession of the largest rock band in historical past. Beatles pandemonium had already begun in England at this level, however the true Beatlemania phenomenon did not start till they hit the Sullivan airwaves.

A long time later, in his tune “I Noticed It on T.V.,” John Fogerty would seize the second, singing: “We gathered spherical to listen to the sound comin’ on the little display / The grief had handed, the outdated males laughed, and all the women screamed / ’Trigger 4 guys from England took us all by the hand / It was time to chortle, time to sing, time to affix the band.” 

Beneath are 25 extra stars whose stay had been modified by watching the Beatles that fateful evening.

Tom Petty
“I feel the entire world was watching that evening. It actually felt that means. You simply knew it, sitting in your lounge, that all the things round you was altering. It was like going from black-and-white to paint. Actually. I bear in mind earlier that day, actually, a child on a motorcycle handed me and mentioned, ‘Hey, the Beatles are on TV tonight.’ I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me, and I believed to myself, ‘This implies one thing.’ [The Beatles] got here out and simply flattened me. To listen to them on the radio was wonderful sufficient, however to lastly see them play, it was electrifying.” (Guitar World)

Gene Simmons
“There isn’t a means I’d be doing what I do now if it wasn’t for the Beatles. I used to be watching The Ed Sullivan Present and I noticed them. These skinny little boys, sort of androgynous, with lengthy hair like ladies. It blew me away that these 4 boys [from] the center of nowhere may make that music. Then they spoke and I believed ‘What are they speaking like?’ We had by no means heard the Liverpool accent earlier than. I believed that each one British folks spoke just like the Queen.” (Liverpool Echo)

Bruce Springsteen
“This was totally different, shifted the lay of the land. 4 guys, taking part in and singing, writing their very own materials … Rock ‘n’ roll got here to my home the place there appeared to be no means out … and opened up an entire world of potentialities.” (CBS Information)

Billy Joel
“That one efficiency modified my life … As much as that second I might by no means thought-about taking part in rock as a profession. And once I noticed 4 guys who did not appear like they’d come out of the Hollywood star mill, who performed their very own songs and devices, and particularly since you may see this look in John Lennon’s face — and he seemed like he was at all times saying: ‘F— you!’ — I mentioned: ‘I do know these guys, I can relate to those guys, I’m these guys.’ That is what I’ll do — play in a rock band’.” (CBS Information)

Marky Ramone
“I used to be solely twelve years outdated once I first noticed them on The Ed Sullivan Present. I used to be taking part in with my toys, and once I got here into the lounge they had been there on the TV. They had been very animated, notably Ringo, and he was the man that impressed me to play the drums. He wasn’t technically nice, however he was extraordinarily tight, and he received me on the trail to turning into a drummer. They had been the primary band to write down their very own music, actually. I used to be very impressed by the Beatles.” (Louder)

Joe Perry
“Seeing them on TV was akin to a nationwide vacation. Discuss an occasion. I by no means noticed guys wanting so cool. I had already heard a few of their songs on the radio, however I wasn’t ready by how highly effective and completely mesmerizing they had been to observe. It modified me fully. I knew one thing was totally different on the earth that evening. Subsequent day at college, the Beatles had been all anyone may speak about. Us guys needed to play it sort of cool, as a result of the women had been so excited and had been drawing little hearts on their notebooks: ‘I like Paul,’ that sort of factor. However I feel there was an unstated factor with the fellows that all of us dug the Beatles, too. We simply couldn’t come proper out and say it.” (Music Radar)

Nancy Wilson
“The lightning bolt got here out of the heavens and struck Ann and me the primary time we noticed the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Present. … There’d been a lot anticipation and hype concerning the Beatles that it was an enormous occasion, just like the lunar touchdown: that was the second Ann and I heard the decision to develop into rock musicians. I used to be seven or eight on the time. … They had been actually pushing laborious towards the morality of the instances. Which may appear humorous to say now, because it was of their early days and so they had been nonetheless carrying fits. However the sexuality was bursting out of the seams. … However we didn’t need to marry them or something: We needed to be them. Immediately we began doing air guitar reveals in the lounge, faking English accents, and learning all of the fanzines. Ann at all times received to be Paul, and I used to be largely George or John … ” (Believer)

Geddy Lee
“Out of the blue there was my sister kneeling on the ground in entrance of the tv, crying and reaching for the TV display as if she may contact the Fab 4 and have one of all of them to herself. I bear in mind laughing to myself and considering, ‘What’s incorrect along with her?’ However seeing the influence that rock and roll had on her made a particular impression on me. Evidently, our dad and mom had been singularly unimpressed, however rock and roll music had entered our dwelling and, as y mother would say, ‘De relaxation is historical past.’” (My Effin’ Life)

Rick Nielsen
“They fully modified music, particularly in America. They modified me, too. Till that time I used to be a drummer. However I turned an enormous fan; I had the only of Please Please Me a yr earlier than anybody else within the States had even heard of the Beatles.” (Louder)

Lou Gramm
“I’ll always remember watching [the Beatles] stay on The Ed Sullivan Present throughout their first journey to America. You might really feel the thrill coming by means of our little black-and-white tv display. I bear in mind stealing a look at my mother and pa that evening, and I seen them smirking. My dad shook his head, his disdain apparent. His angle was that this was a bunch of noise with no lasting worth, only a fad that might quickly fade away. However because the present went on, I noticed my mom stepping into one of many love songs sung by Lennon and McCartney.” (Juke Field Hero)

Richie Sambora
“Considered one of my earliest recollections was sitting cross-legged on the ground in the lounge of the home I grew up in and searching up on the black-and-white TV set and watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Present. I used to be 5 years outdated and I bear in mind considering, ‘Wow! That’s what I need to do.’ I do know it sounds absurd – most 5-year-old boys say they need to be firemen or policemen or baseball gamers, and even the president. Not me. I needed to be one of many Beatles. … However seeing the sort of response the Beatles received from ladies … hey, what man would not say, ‘That’s what I need!’?” (Music Radar)

Steven Van Zandt
“This was the principle occasion of my life. It was actually the foremost occasion for a lot of others, whether or not or not they knew it on the time. For me, it was no much less dramatic than aliens touchdown on the planet. … There is not any equal of that at this time, TV reveals that actually everyone watched. All ages, all ethnic teams, all in black and white on a 14-inch display. … It was their sound, their appears to be like, their attitudes. It was so many issues. A time to have a look at issues in another way, query issues just a little bit. All types of issues had been new. (Related Press)

Chrissie Hynde
“I bear in mind precisely the place I used to be sitting. It was wonderful. It was just like the axis shifted. I bear in mind the primary time I noticed the 45 within the file bin within the low cost home the place my dad and mom shopped and held it in my hand. It was sort of like an alien invasion. When you had been just a little virgin and didn’t need to develop up like I didn’t, didn’t need to enter the grownup world like I didn’t, it gave you some sort of new avenue of sexuality. It might be extra cerebral. You didn’t have to really contact the individual’s zits. … [The day after, the boys] all combed their hair down and made bangs! Me too! I may by no means set my hair in rollers once more. I combed it out straight and lower my bangs. Oh yeah. It was an entire different factor.” (Austin Chronicle)

Steve Lukather
“When the Beatles had been on Ed Sullivan, life went from black and white to paint like in The Wizard of Oz – and the irony I am within the band Toto will not be misplaced on me.” (Louder)

Gary Rossington
“We noticed the Beatles on Ed Sullivan like everyone else in our era, and freaked out and needed to begin a rock ’n’ roll band. However then we received severe, and we actually had this dream to develop into one thing, to make a mark.” (Billboard)

Kenny Loggins
“I used to be a folks man, Bob Dylan was my major hero — up till I noticed the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. When Lennon and McCartney confirmed up, it was an entire totally different ambiance. My mom advised me concerning the Beatles on Ed Sullivan that evening. I by no means took recommendation from her on what music to see — she’s my mom! However she mentioned, “There’s this group I heard of, everybody’s speaking about them.” One thing pulled me to that to see who that was. It was life-changing for each musician I’ve ever spoken to from that period. The people music factor light out. I purchased an electrical guitar and tried to write down of their type.” (Stereogum)

Dee Snider
“I used to be eight years outdated when this [I Want To Hold Your Hand] was launched, and after listening to it on the radio, after which seeing that legendary Ed Sullivan present efficiency, that was it, I needed to be a Beatle. I rapidly realized that I couldn’t truly be a Beatle, however I might be a rock star, and that plan by no means modified.” (Louder)

Mark Mothersbaugh
“The Beatles on Ed Sullivan made me say, “That’s what I need to do.” When you take heed to the primary tune on the primary Devo file, I begin off “Uncontrollable Urge” with principally the identical intro as “I Need To Maintain Your Hand.” Within the tune there’s a deconstructed “yeah yeah yeah.” It didn’t go unnoticed by John Lennon. He got here to a Devo present at Max’s Kansas Metropolis. The stage is means within the again, you must wait for everyone to depart so you may pack up your gear and drive dwelling. I bear in mind the evening, the second or third present we did there, John Lennon was popping out drunk with Ian Hunter from Mott The Hoople, they’re holding one another up. He appears to be like over and I’m sitting within the passenger seat of the Econoline I’m going to be sleeping in that evening. He comes over and sticks his head proper in entrance of my face and he stinks like beer and he goes “Yeah yeah yeah yeah!” proper in my face. I used to be like… OK, I may die now and I’d go to heaven.” (Stereogum)

George Thorogood
“I’ll say this: the genius Brian Epstein had when he put the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Present. They labored actually laborious to get there. They labored hours and hours for 2 or three days earlier than they went on air to make it completely good. They thought, ‘That is our shot and we’re gonna go for it.’ The neatest factor you are able to do on tv is, for the primary tune, you set the best-looking man within the band out first so nobody will flip it off. When Paul McCartney went as much as the microphone on The Ed Sullivan Present and he sang ‘Shut your eyes and I’ll kiss you’ — at that time, the entire world modified. The subsequent tune they did was ‘Until There Was You’ from The Music Man. That gained over the adults. It was one thing extra typical. In that transient interval of about six minutes, the Beatles had gained over the world.” (Stereogum)

Kevin Cronin
“I used to be just a little too younger to get what Elvis was all about. He appealed to my babysitters, and to not me. Don’t get me incorrect, I admire simply why he’s considered iconic, nevertheless it by no means received me going. However one Sunday evening at dwelling, watching the household’s black and white TV set, when The Ed Sullivan Present was on, and I noticed the Beatles. That modified my angle. I knew then what I needed to do with my life. Seeing them made one thing click on in my soul.” (Louder)

Doug Clifford
“A giant affect was seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. They had been a quartet and we mentioned, wow, we are able to try this. If these guys from England can come out and play rock ‘n’ roll, we are able to do it … We purchased Beatle wigs. We went to the drama retailer, and I assume they had been Three Stooges wigs at the moment.” (CBS Information)

Elliot Easton
“I used to be 10 years outdated when the Beatles performed The Ed Sullivan Present and I used to be already taking part in just a little guitar. To have that man there, standing to the facet, wanting down at his guitar whereas he performed his licks like that, to my impressionable thoughts it set in stone the definition of a lead guitar. I knew, proper then, that that was what I needed to do with my life.” (Louder)

Micky Dolenz
“I bear in mind watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I used to be in my automotive. A pal of mine had managed to get a transportable black-and-white TV, which we would by no means heard of and by no means seen. And also you plugged it into your cigarette lighter for energy, you set little rabbit ears up on the highest of your automotive, and also you tuned in TV. And the image and sound was horrible. However we had been sitting at our native hamburger place, the drive-in, the place the automotive hops nonetheless rolled round on curler skates to serve you your burgers. And everyone was speaking concerning the Beatles being on Ed Sullivan… I bear in mind distinctly watching the Beatles on the present.” (WDHA)

Mike Portnoy
“Most individuals speak about drumming and the way they noticed the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and that modified their life and so they knew what they needed to be. I noticed the Beatles and I used to be like ‘okay, that man John is standing, that man Paul is standing, that man George is standing… Aha! That man Ringo is sitting! That’s what I wanna do! I wanna sit for a residing!” (Louder)

Diane Warren
“Like hundreds of thousands of different children, I bear in mind seeing them on The Ed Sullivan Present. It was like lightning. I made my mother purchase me Meet The Beatles the subsequent day, I feel it’s the primary album I ever had. I feel the entire world went out and purchased a Beatles album as quickly because the solar got here up that subsequent day.” (Stereogum)