Critics Called The Beatles a Musical ‘Catastrophe’ After ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’
After finding explosive success in England, The Beatles hoped to establish themselves in the United States with a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The band wasn’t sure they’d catch on in America. While they were hopeful, they had to break into a big market, and the American media didn’t know what to make of them. Of course, Beatlemania caught fire after the Ed Sullivan performance. Some critics, though, thought the band did a terrible job.
The Beatles’ performance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ received some negative reviews
The Beatles made their U.S. television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Already, the band knew they had fans in the United States; when they arrived in New York, thousands of people greeted them at the airport. Still, they hadn’t won over American critics. They wrote off the band as a passing fad, undeserving of the attention they received.
For the Ed Sullivan performance, fans packed the theater, and millions of people watched their performance on TV. Still, it wasn’t enough to win over some critics.
“Visually they are a nightmare: tight, dandified Edwardian beatnik suits and great pudding-bowls of hair,” Newsweek reported, per Rolling Stone. “Musically they are a near disaster, guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony and melody. Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of ‘yeah, yeah, yeah!’) are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments.”
The Herald Tribune reported that the band had bombed their performance. Despite the negative reviews, though, the band’s popularity only skyrocketed after the performance.
The Beatles were right to be worried about their chances in America
Before The Beatles flew to the United States, they weren’t sure they would catch on. George Harrison and Ringo Starr even bet against their chances in the country.
“They don’t know us,” Harrison told his bandmates after visiting his sister in Illinois. “It’s going to be hard.”
They were right to doubt their chances. The American press rolled their eyes at the idea of The Beatles. Capitol Records didn’t even want to issue their singles in the U.S. They received less money than most bands who performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Nobody thought a band that was popular in England would be successful in America. Because of this, The Beatles couldn’t believe the crowd at the airport was there to see them.
How many people watched The Beatles on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’?
The excitement around The Beatles’ performance on The Ed Sullivan Show should have signaled that they were going to be successful. The theater, which could hold 728 people, received around 50,000 ticket requests. When the band took the stage, 73 million viewers tuned in. This was the largest TV audience ever at this point.
Among the viewers were future musicians like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Chrissie Hynde. While some critics may have reviewed the performance negatively, many of these viewers knew they were witnessing something historic.
