Beatlemania
In early 1964, The Beatles ‘invaded’ America with the release of their single “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. A subsequent performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, which was viewed by 73 million Americans and became a cultural landmark, sparked ‘Beatlemania’ in the US. One of the many Americans experiencing ‘Beatlemania’ was Brian Wilson, who had already achieved nationwide fame with his band The Beach Boys.
Upon hearing the single, Wilson immediately recognized the Beatles’ impact. “I was in my mother-in-law’s house in West Hollywood, California. And on they go: ‘Here they are, from England, The Beatles! ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand!’ I just couldn’t believe it,” Wilson recalled. “I flipped. It was like a shock went through my system,” he stated. “I immediately knew that everything had changed.”
For Brian Wilson, The Beatles eclipsed much of what The Beach Boys were working for. And while he wasn’t necessarily impressed by the music of “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, Wilson admitted he was jealous of the massive attention the ‘Fab Four’ were able to garner with the song. “[It] wasn’t even that great a record, but they [female Beatles fans] just screamed at it … It got us off our asses in the studio … we said ‘look, don’t worry about the Beatles, we’ll cut our own stuff,” Wilson stated.
At the height of ‘Beatlemania’ in the US, in the first week of April 1964, The Beatles occupied all the top 5 spots on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was a feat never seen before and wasn’t repeated until 2021.
Impact on Brian Wilson
As The Beatles took over the music culture of America, including The Beach Boys’ led ‘surf craze’, Brian Wilson decided to step away from the surf themes that ruled The Beach Boys’ early records. He penned his last surf song, “Don’t Back Down”, in April 1964 (although the band revisited the surf theme years later with “Do it Again”). A month later, in May 1964, The Beach Boys released “I Get Around” as a single. It became the band’s first chart-topping hit in America and is generally seen as the start of the unofficial rivalry between The Beatles and The Beach Boys.
Read more: The Rivalry Between The Beatles and The Beach Boys
During the ‘British Invasion’, where many British acts found success across the Atlantic, The Beach Boys were among the few American groups who could stand their ground. After realizing that The Beach Boys couldn’t match the hype of ‘Beatlemania’, Brian Wilson decided he would ‘outdo them in the recording studio’. He later stated that each new Beatles release inspired him to ‘try something new’ in his production and songwriting work.
After a nervous breakdown, partially caused by his jealousy of The Beatles and producer Phil Spector, Wilson decided to quit touring and allocate all his time toward producing and songwriting. Wilson’s work in the recording studio is considered groundbreaking, culminating with the release of The Beach Boys’ eleventh studio album Pet Sounds and the single “Good Vibrations”.
Legacy of I Want to Hold Your Hand
As Brian Wilson recognized on his first listen, The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” changed pop culture forever. In Beatles writer Ian MacDonald’s words: “Every American artist, black or white, asked about ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ has said much the same: it altered everything, ushering in a new era and changing their lives.”
Read more: The Story Behind “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles
