Here Come Those Beatles

Four Screaming Mopheads  (From the January 31, 1964 LIFE magazine).

First England fell, victim of a million girlish screams. Then, last week, Paris surrendered. Now the U.S. must brace itself. The Beatles are coming and already teen-age Americans are as keyed up as the days, only a dim decade ago, when Elvis first came twisting on. The Beatles? They are the four shrewdly goofy-looking lads. Fifteen months ago they were singing their songs in a smoky Liverpool jazz cellar. A talent scout took them and their haircuts to London. Today their records have sold five million copics in England and they are a national institution, seemingly as solid as Big Ben and a lot louder. Their musical style embellished standard rock 'n' roll with a jackhammer beat and high screams that would do a steam calliope proud...Read the rest of this article.