In 1964, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr boarded a plane and traveled to America. The Beatles were a massive hit in England but worried they wouldn’t be able to crack into the U.S. market. Critics doubted them, and Capitol Records didn’t think it was worth it to put out American versions of their singles. Lennon, Starr, and Harrison even bet that they wouldn’t make it in the country.
George Harrison doubted The Beatles would do well in America
American critics and record companies doubted The Beatles’ chances of success in the country. The band themselves knew they’d have a difficult time because Harrison had taken a trip to America in 1963. While there, he tried to promote The Beatles but quickly realized that nobody knew who they were.
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McCartney remained hopeful, but Lennon, Harrison, and Starr didn’t see much of a chance of success. They bet that the band would struggle in America, even if they maintained a level of cockiness.
“On the plane over, I was thinking, ‘Oh, we won’t make it’… but that’s that side of me,” Lennon said. “We knew we would wipe you out if we could just get a grip.”
John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison were quickly proven wrong
Any doubts they felt on the plane dissolved within minutes of landing in New York. Thousands of fans met them at JFK, screaming and trying to fight through barricades to see them. Even McCartney, who had been more optimistic, thought they were all there to see someone else.
“On a scale of one to 10,” he said, “that was about a hundred in terms of the shock of it.”
As they left the airport with a police escort, the sheer scope of their success grew clearer to them.
“We thought, ‘Wow! God, we have really made it,’” McCartney said. “I remember … the great moment of getting into the limo and putting on the radio, and hearing a running commentary on us: ‘They have just left the airport and are coming towards New York City ….’ It was like a dream. The greatest fantasy ever.”
John Lennon said their success ultimately came to hurt them
The initial thrill of success wore off quickly. The Beatles’ level of fame meant they were often confined to their hotel rooms while on tour. Fans attempted to rush the stage during performances, and they screamed so loudly that The Beatles couldn’t hear themselves play.
“The music was dead before we even went out on the theater tour of Britain,” Lennon said. “That’s why we never improved as musicians. We killed ourselves then to make it. And that was the end of it.”
In 1966, just two years after they first touched down in the United States, The Beatles would play their final concert in San Francisco. They no longer wanted to deal with the weight of their fame.
