The Post was there when the Beatles first came into the public view. At the time we dismissed them as fad, but we quickly learned that their cheeky attitudes, unruly hairstyles, and catchy songs were a much bigger deal both at home in England and across the globe. Follow the Beatles on their rise to stardom with photos and articles from our archives. Don’t miss our special coverage on the 50th anniversary of the Beatles invasion in our Jan/Feb issue!
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Music’s Gold Bugs: The Beatles
By Alfred G. Aronowitz – March 21,1964
They can’t read music, their beat is corny and their voices are faint, but England’s shaggy-maned exports manage to flip wigs on two continents.
The Return of The Beatles
By Alfred G. Aronowitz – August 8, 1964
When the Beatles stepped from the plane, 1,500 people shrieked a welcome from the roof of the Liverpool Airport. The mobs kept breaking through the police lines to claw at their car, while the police motorcycles raced down both gutters, making spectators jump hotfootedly back onto the curbs. Along the way the motorcycle police heard radio reports that there was rioting at town hall. The Beatles–Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison–were home.
The Monarchs of the Beatle Empire
By James Morris – August 27, 1966
“Not many seers, I suspect, would have forecast in 1964, when the group first fell upon the United States, that in two years’ time they would still be at the very top of their slippery profession, still be inciting teenagers into peculiar paroxysms, still be raising wry smiles among the cops, the clergy, and the multitudinous rivals.”
There Once Was a Guru from Rishikesh, Part 1
By Lewis H. Lapham – May 4, 1968
Our reporter learns about Transcendental Meditation, makes a voyage to India and meets the Maharishi, the Beatles, a Beach Boy, and other notables in search of something.
There Once Was a Guru from Rishikesh, Part 2
By Lewis H. Lapham – May 18, 1968
Having voyaged to India and satisfied the Maharishi of his good vibrations, our reporter throws toast to a monkey, breathes incense with the students of meditation, listens with Mia Farrow to the scream of a wild peacock, and bestows a garland of flowers upon a Beatle.
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