The Beatles first premiered on the Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964. Not long after their migration to America, their music began to flourish in the United States. People all across the nation talked about them, and their popularity continued to increase exponentially. Now, 55 years after The Beatles first landed in the Kennedy Airport on Feb. 7, 1964 to kick-start their careers, and they are still relevant and popular to this day. The sheer influence and imagination of these four men made them, collectively, one of the greatest bands of all time.

When The Beatles came to America, they not only revolutionized music, they changed the way the world saw things. They paved the way for many aspiring artists who may not have had the courage to step outside the norm at that time. Many of their songs contain heartfelt and meaningful lyrics, while others are silly and cute. Their songs simply speak for themselves and contain so many emotions, such as: Here Comes the Sun, Yesterday, Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby, and many more classics that just can’t be topped by today’s music. In the US alone they had 20 number one singles during their career, and many more in England. Even if you don’t like their music, you can’t deny the plain fact that their music was and will continue to be extremely popular.

The Beatles’ music is timeless. You can play their songs almost anywhere and people will either sing along or exclaim, “Hey, I know that song.” Their tunes are so catchy that people can listen to them exclusively and never get bored of the melodic beat that all of their songs maintain. In fact, their music is so enduring and lasting that people have created countless movies (nonfiction and fictional) not only based on their songs, but on their lives. There is a new movie to release soon called Yesterday, where everyone forgets The Beatles existed, and a person must rebuild their music empire single-handedly.

They also revolutionized the format in which music was shared. The Beatles were one of the first ever groups to star in a music video, so they didn’t have to go on different talk shows to promote their songs. Songs like Hey Jude and Revolution were filmed in a day because the band was so busy doing other things to promote their careers. They didn’t have 5 months to film a 3 minute video, as most stars do now. It was very uncommon back then for videos to accompany music when songs were released, but The Beatles didn’t care. A decade or so after they did this, MTV became a huge hit and everyone wanted to make music videos as well.  Now, it’s considered uncommon if an artist releases a popular song without the conjunction of a video to go along with it. The Beatles were trendsetters and pioneers of the new digital music era.

The best thing about The Beatles, though, was that they never let the fame change them. After long nights of writing, people would want to slather them in makeup to cover up the bags under their eyes. John Lennon refused. He wanted to look genuine and be as authentic as possible, because he wanted to be himself. Because they toured so much and did around 200 shows per year, they didn’t have time to be divas. The Beatles were just a few hard working young men who were big dreamers. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fifty-five years years later, this band has inspired millions to follow their dreams and to be a part of something bigger than themselves. To the Beatles: thank you for all of the music you wrote, the hearts you moved, and the smiles you created. Congratulations and happy anniversary to the worldwide music phenomenon, The Beatles.