Hendrik Hertzberg ‘65 remembered their performance on the Ed Sullivan as the beginning of an interest in rock and roll. “Everyone in the country under 30 was watching. I was a hard-core jazz fan at the time. Monk, Miles, Rollins. [I had] contempt for ‘hits,’” Hertzberg said. “But I was curious about these seemingly intelligent young Brits.”

To Dingman, the fact that they were from outside the U.S. appealed to many, as did the Beatles’ politically intriguing lyrics, youthful energy, and charisma.

“I think people just found something to attach themselves to in the music,” Dingman said.

Lerner reflected upon his attachment to the lyrics, as well. “I remember a young woman from Radcliffe with whom I fell in love. If 70 years of life has taught me anything, it is that love remains the most powerful force in life...That is what the Beatles were saying—that love is the greatest force,” Lerner wrote.

CHANGING TIMES

For many, the Beatles were a signifier of something new, and of changes in the cultural atmosphere.

“Like everything in pop culture, [the Beatles] were disdained by [kids] who were trying to get away from pop culture and be in some sort of elite…There was definitely a hangover of the ’50s,” Maisel said. “The Beatles on the contrary were something very new, and daring, and different, and therefore we didn’t catch on.”

Maisel remembered thinking how different they were from other pop and rock music, and she recalled the optimism and openness to the world that they signified.

“The Beatles had different rhythms and they had different tunes, everything was different. A symbol of what was to come,” Maisel said.

Lerner also noted that the Beatles were part of a time of changing music tastes. “The ’60s and ’70s were a creative juncture of historic significance," Lerner said. "To be young in that period was a remarkable gift...This was a turning point.”

By early spring 1966, the Beatles were everywhere, remembered Hertzberg.

“‘Rubber Soul’ had been released a few weeks earlier,” Hertzberg wrote. “As I walked around the Square and the Yard, there was never a moment when I didn’t hear a song from that album, ‘Norwegian Wood’ or ‘Run For Your Life,’ wafting through an open window.”

—Staff Writer Joanna R. Schacter can be reached at joanna.schacter@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @JoannaSchacter.