Beatles short and un-winding road to serious critique

I was 16 and my brother 13 when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. We were the perfect ages to be infected by Beatlemania. We were also the perfect ages to grow in age and maturity as the Beatles continued to refine their music into something beyond the pop classics of their early years.

In 1968 with the release of the double album The Beatles it was acknowledged that the Beatles had gone beyond the pop music stage, and they were taking the rest of the music business along with them. Time, which would normally be reviewing Broadway, jazz or classical music, picked The Beatles to review as a musical event, rather than just another album. The fact that over 45 years later the Beatles have just as much musical credibility says something about their enduring legacy.

Copyright © 1968 Time-Life