Capitol’s concerns were understandable. The singles Please Please Me, From Me To You and She Loves You had all been released in the US in 1963 and seen limited success, so they were reluctant to put out I Want To Hold Your Hand.
The band’s manager Brian Epstein and Capitol’s parent company EMI managed to change the label’s minds and on Boxing Day 1963, about a month after Kennedy’s assassination, the single hit America’s stores.
Its impact was huge and by the first week of February, it was at the top of the US charts, a position it would hold for seven weeks.
The success meant more than 3,000 fans and a large press pack were at the airport when the band touched down.
For Spencer Leigh, it was what came next, not what had happened before, that led to their global success.
“My view is the people screaming for The Beatles at the airport were young and didn’t know much about politics,” he said.
“For me, the turning point was the Ed Sullivan Show.”
