What was it about the Beatles that resonated so strongly in the US?

And also linking to the tradition of the folk minstrels (blues included), both singing in close harmony and playing their own accompaniment instruments.

 

Isn't that what I said? I already said the music scene in America was making some of the best singles they ever would in this period. I think you misunderstood, I'm not saying US music was in the doldrums, just pointing out to those who say it was that they were wrong. You and I agree! But not about Brian Wilson, he was nowhere near The Beatles commercially, Motown was the big success story 1964-68. Pet Sounds was a dismal failure in the US. The Supremes were the only act to come anywhere near The Beatles in terms of singles success. Check the facts.

 

Kennedy had just been killed and America was on a downer. Then, as Harrison so aptly put it, America was looking for a reason to go crazy and they used The Beatles as an excuse.

 

FYI- The OP 's thread is about the overall impact of The Beatles on the US. It wasn't asking your opinion of their music. You've taken the thread into another direction. I understand you find them boring and unexciting because they used 4/4 time. (Have you listened to Frank Zappa? Time signatures a-plenty! I love that AND I love Beatles rock and roll form!) Start a Beatles Are Boring thread then.

 

These are the short answers, along with Tim Wilson's excellent post.

As a 12 yo in '64 I disliked 98% of what was on radio & TV, musically speaking. Everything seemed manufactured and homogenized. There were exceptions, but they were niche artists not widely heard. On the first Sullivan broadcast there was an audience approaching the numbers that watched the recent funeral. There was an anticipation about it because the regular news media even carried stories about them, highly unusual at the time. Why all the hub bub? Believe me, I and everyone else were ready to dismiss them as the same old same old. But what happened instead was that 70 odd million Americans discovered what Brian Epstein, George Martin, and the whole of Great Britain already knew. They were the real deal. They could play, they could sing, they could write songs that were musically interesting, as well as tell a story that made you feel good. And they kept doing it song after song, album after album, year after year. They never insulted your intelligence, were always charming and funny, and seemed not to take themselves too seriously. Americans were ready for that.

 

Because they wanted to hold your hand!!!! ...wink-wink.

 

I don't really get the point that you are trying to make? The Dylan influence on the Beatles does not mean that the Beatles did not directly inspire the Byrds and the other bands mentioned. The two issues are not mutually exclusive.

Also, the songs that made the Beatles famous in the US, which were the songs that directly inspired the Byrds and others to pick up electric guitars and create rock groups, were actually the early Beatles singles, like I Want To Hold Your Hand.
These earliest singles actually already contained folk chord changes, something that impressed Dylan. Here is what Bob himself said about this:

"They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid. You could only do that with other musicians. Even if you're playing your own chords you had to have other people playing with you. That was obvious. And it started me thinking about other people."
—Bob Dylan reflecting on how The Beatles influenced his decision to record with an electric backing band.

 

Quite simply they delivered the goods in terms of quality song-writing. Lots of other factors were involved not the least of which was pure luck but let's face it, no other group or artist came close to Lennon and McCartney's level of brilliance regarding song composition. I don't think they were put on a pedestal, I think they climbed up there pretty much on their own.

 

Motown is not a band, it is a record label.

Yes, several Motown ARTISTS were popular in the 1960's. And the Supremes were the Queens of the #1 singles charts in that era, no doubt about that.

But your appraisal of the Beach Boys is not reflected in the facts. Pet Sounds reached number 10 on the US album charts, not bad for 1966 when the airwaves and record store album racks were filled with all sorts of great music. The Beach Boys released 10 albums between 1962 and the Pet Sounds LP in 1966, of which 7 charted in the top 10. They released 14 singles in the U.S. from 1963 to 1966 and 12 of those charted in the top 10. Most bands would love to have your idea of a dismal failure.

You apparently interpret success far differently than some others.

 

well i am not American but I suspect it was because they were not only the right thing at the right time and ticked every box but they were also unfeasibly good....bands writing their own songs of the quality of the Beatles was unheard of then, probably only Buddy Holly warrants comparison and he was snuffed out too young ...the shock that the Beatles could be so good AND write pop songs of the highest quality ( innovating too even then ) would have seismic, even Richard Rodgers was impressed

Paul Gambaccini says that after a big negative often comes a big positive, he was referring to JFK's assassination, within 3 months the Beatles arrive...

However it would not have worked so well if they weren't so unbelievably good.....people forget too that their breakthrough in the U.S was I want to Hold you Hand, forget the more simple lyrics and look at the song and how brilliant and how different it was from almost anything that had came before....She Loves You From me to You etc were great pop songs but I Want to Hold your Hand and songs like Not a second time glimpsed the future and the Beatles were making it...

 

Are you George Harrison communicating with us from the beyond?

 

Hooks and looks. Songs and smarts. Kids were ready to jingle and the Beatles had the jangle.
They were the complete package like never before.

 

you forget ( or maybe choose to ) that most of the music you refer to was mostly not composed by the artists themselves, Brian Wilson was an exception of course but it was the arrival of the Beatles that moved Brian up a gear and ensured that the Beach Boys could move beyond Jan and Dean, also British music was in the doldrums too prior to the Beatles sure there was some great pop music in the states prior to 64 but it was mostly brill building supplied manufactured pop, the Beatles in producing their own songs as good as and sometimes better than the brill building songs got it back to where Buddy Holly had left things, and if you don't believe me listen to Jerry Lee Lewis, " it was Bobby V bobby this bobby that... thank god for the Beatles they showed them a trick or two, cut them all down like wheat with a Sickle "

 

Right place at the right time.

 

I liked 'American' artists & music in 1964-65, but that was very song dependent. For example, while I loved a couple songs by Peter Paul & Mary I didn't necessarily like every song I heard. The Beatles changed that for me. Seems I couldn't hear a song of theirs that didn't get under my skin and have me humming it while away from a radio. Didn't matter if it was a 'hit' or not. Not only that, they were exciting to hear about and see. I remember wishing my dads hair & clothing were like theirs.

 

They were the real deal and had the goods.

I'm a first gen fan and they were/are like a portal to a different place.

 

Ridiculous. It was the boots. Cuban heels. Very cool.

 

Iris sez it was the trousers:

 

the incredible timing of it all
coming right after the assassination of john kennedy. "with the beatles" was released in the uk on nov 22, 1963. everything just fell into place. a healing process, so to speak.
and the obvious fact.....they were the greatest! no other time in the rock era has the very best been the most popular.

 

This in a nutshell for Toronto/Canada. There was a very large British culture here in Toronto in the 60's.
Everyone just loved them here when they first came out.
So much fun!

 

All those summers during the 60's and those hits. I remember Paperback Writer/Rain...
Incredible sound I'd never heard before. There were many more everyone knows here I'm just saying it was so exciting to hear this music. I loved it so much!

 

I remember hearing "Can't Buy Me Love" when it premiered on Toronto AM radio. I was in my Dad's car with him. I flipped out and he just smiled...
The stuff was so happy and contageous!
Perfect for a little boy who loved music and heard them when he was 4 or 5.

 

The Beatles rule because their songs are better. I've loved The Beatles since I was a wee lad back in '68 & when I sit and listen to them now I simply cannot believe how bloody great their songs are. That's never going to change. Irregardless of year or style, it's the songs that count & to me The Fab Four have the greatest batch of tunes ever written by one band. My 2 cents...

 

We could use something like that now.