FIRST TIME HEARING The Beatles - Twist & Shout - Performed Live On The Ed Sullivan Show REACTION 

In 1963 there were around 190 million people living in the US. 70 million of them tuned in to see this. It was the biggest audience in TV history at the time, and it took the 1969 moon landing to surpass it.

I’m now an old man but I remember this in 7th grade like it was yesterday. In fact, by April of that year, The Beatles held the top five spots on Billboard, as follows: 1. Can’t Buy Me Love 2. Twist And Shout 3. She Loves You 4. I Want To Hold Your Hand 5. Please Please Me British Invasion? You bet! And within a few months 90% of the boys had that haircut or you just weren’t cool. (And our dads hated our hair)

The drummer is Ringo Star. He sang led to. So did George Harrison. The Beatles were and still are the best band ever.

I watched this live on our little black and white T.V. I was 11 years old!

My mom was 19 years old when the Beatles appeared on TV for the first time. She said all the parents in the room watching kept saying, “These guys will be a flash in the pan!”

"Twist & Shout" was wriiten in 1961 by Phil Medley & Bert Berns. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes but it didn't become a hit until it was recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1962. The Beatles version in 1963 is probably the most famous.

Those girls are all grandmothers and great grandmothers now.

This was all new. Long hair, all electric guitars, a band that played their own instruments and wrote their own songs, for the most part. Most rock music is just a continuation of what The Beatles started 60 years ago. It looks tame now, but was quite innovative.

Release date 1964, 2 years after first stepping into a recording studio. They were babies. 20yr-old George, 21yr-old Paul, and John and Ringo only 23. All they talked about, the Beatles and the press both, was 'how long will this last' and what they's do 'after the bubble bursts'. The Beatles thought this would only last 2 or 3 years, not a lifetime.

I saw the Beatles live in '63 in the UK. Saw them, but didn't hear a single note, such was the continuous screaming!

A big part of why the Beatles or Elvis had fans screaming like this was because the whole idea of "pop star" was still a new thing, and this was before MTV or the internet so seeing a band perform was only something you'd do on a TV show like Ed Sullivan or in concert. Regarding the whole "they look older back then" phenomenon - that's a known phenomenon and vsauce did a video about it. The basic idea is that if you look at your grandparents, you associate their hair styles and fashion with being old, so when you see their generation young with the same hair and fashion styles, your brain thinks "old". Also, food and lifestyles are healthier now, less people smoke, more people exercise, medicine is better now, so people look younger for longer now. Now you have to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off - this is the version of Twist and Shout that the main character lip syncs in a parade. Cheers

The "second guy" was George Harrison and the "third guy" is Paul McCartney. The drummer is Ringo Starr. Paul and Ringo are still living.

Teeny Boppers had gone from the familiar clean cut singers like Buddy Holly and The Crickets (from which the idea for their name The Beatles came from) to the first time ever seeing long haired Mop Tops. It was a thrill to have them shake their hair in unison. And it was to die for🥰 seeing the drummer Ringo shake his hair with his big broad smile

I was 13 when we watched this on the Ed Sullivan show. We were living with my grandparents and everyone would sit around the tv on Sunday to watch Ed Sullivan. My Grandma would always call them "The Beagles" and we boys would always "no grandma it's The Beatles" . About 10 years ago my older brother told me, she was just messing with us because she liked to see us get so upset. Great memory of a prankster grandma!

I agree, watching Ringo on the drums was so great! He was having a fun time back there! And when John, George and Paul broke the chord apart and sang the 1st, 3rd, and 5th steps on the scale then they all came in on the 8th step, Yes, it would have been great if Ringo sang it. Also, remember that rock and roll was in it's infancy. When the Beatles came over from England, the response from America (especially the ladies!) was phenomenal!!! This music was so new to many of us! The Beatles hairstyle was considered way too long by the "older generation" and even their clothes, which by today's standards is very neat and grownup, were considered a little wild. When they came over to the USA, I was only in 2nd grade. But, I remember playing jump rope and singing "John, George, Paul and Ringo, don't get married stay...Single!". LOL!

Mom & Dad Got us 3 & 4 Year olds out of Bed so we could watch this. IT WAS HUGE! My Brother and I had the 45's and Mom & Dad Had the Album Meet the Beatles, It's now mine btw. Fashion was lame back then. WE dressed for everything. Grocery Shopping, Suit, Sears or Montgomery Wards, Higbees, Halle's, May Co, Kressgee, Suits. Church Suits, Grandma's House Suits. It was standard! Ladies had Dresses Men had Suits, Dungaree's were for Outside. Slacks, and Button down shirts was casual were worn for around the house. Late 60's things began changing a lot! Flower Power, Peace, Love, Hippies. That all happened because of this Night. The Beatles, changed the World, Culture, and Music as we know it. History is supposed to repeat itself. I can't wait for the upcoming Rock & Roll Revolution.

The drummer, Ringo, sang many songs. He was happy to sit back and just drum on songs like this. notice he is on a raised platform, given equal billing. That was unique for the Beatles. Bands of that time put their rhythm section in the back behind everything. All Beatles wrote and sang lead on some songs. That was one of their strengths.

This audience was actually quite subdued compared to other performances (watch the Beatles at Shea Stadium). Ed Sullivan insisted that his audience remain under control

Fun fact: When you hear Paul and George throw in that WOOOOOO part, it was in honor of one of their teenage heroes, Little Richard. He would do that same WOOOOOO sound on his hit singles. The Beatles even toured with Little Richard when he visited England some months before their ED SULLIVAN SHOW debut.❤

I saw them 1963 in Sweden and the same there, you could hardly hear what they were singing but we got a good look at them. I was 13 then and the teenage era had not quite begun.

It was this track that turned me on to the Beatles when I was a boy in junior school in the sixties. They've given me a whole lifetime of pleasure ever since.

I was born in 1956 so I was about 7 or 8 when they were on Ed Sullivan show. I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch but I snuck out of bed and watched a couple minutes looking around the corner into the tv room from my bedroom. I was amazed~! This was all new to everyone! We were mesmerized.

"Twist and Shout" was the song they used to begin their concerts in 1964 & 1965. In 1965, their last year they performed live in concert was Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music".

I was 9 y. old when this aired on television. I remember My older Sister Linda and friends being there. It was an epic day in the history of Family memories! Great performance! Happy Day to You! 😄😄😄😄😄.....

I was pretty young when the Beatles became popular but it was like that scene in the Wizard of Oz movie where the scenery switches from black and white to color. Music was pretty sedate, formulaic with few exceptions. The Beatles were raw, vibrant, talented, good-looking, and exciting. It’s hard to give justice to what a huge change it made in our lives. I agree about the fashions. I always say that young people then looked SO much older than young people today - the crummy old lady looking hairstyles and the weird-looking eyeglasses were awful! The Beatles’ influenced fashion, society, music. Within a few years girls were wearing bright colors and mini skirts and most of the guys were trying their luck with a Beatles’ haircut. The suits were their manager, Brian Epstein’s, idea because he figured they’d never make it mainstream if they dressed and acted like they did on stage up to that point. The screaming was nuts. I loved the Beatles but no screaming for me. Everything’s so different today. But greatness is greatness and I suspect they’d be met with screams today too. Of course, you probably know they gave up touring within a few years because they couldn’t hear themselves play and they had no privacy. BTW, all of them sang. Paul and John were the main songwriters and singers but George also sang and wrote. (His song “Here Comes the Sun” just became the FIRST Beatles song to pass a BILLION streams on Spotify. They didn’t grant streaming rights until late 2014/early 2015 and considering they disbanded in 1970, I think that’s pretty impressive). Thanks for the reaction. It’s fun for me to watch reaction videos and see skeptics turn into Beatles fans).

the version they performed in front of the queen....so much better....John's singing his lungs out.

I saw this when it aired and the future ones. Ed Sullivan was one of the few shows broadcast in color so I watched at a friends house who had a color tv. I then went to their concerts in '64, '65 & '66.

The One and Only BEATLES! 😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I was 6 years old and fell in love with the Beatles!

I saw this performance on the Ed Sullivan show at the age of 6. We all had a crush on the Beatles at that time, because everything was so new! Their sound, hair, accents and good looks! You are right about people looking older back then. People just started looking younger somewhere along the way. It was a great time to be alive and there was an innocence, that I believe unfortunately cannot ever be recaptured.

I was actually watching Ringostar and amazed how simple his drum setup is.

The Beatles group working style was, that when they were for example composing or deciding about the matters in performances etc etc they did not think about their personal egos in a way that "This is my idea, I've got to get it through, but they just picked up the best suggestion no matter who presented it. I've tried to bring that approach to the group dynamics I have worked with. No ego, but best suggestion presented. What comes to drummer Ringo, the others were usually kind enough to compose or pick up one song for Ringo to each album: "With The Little Help From Friends", "Act Naturally", "Yellow Submarine", "Baby Don't", "Boys", "What Goes On". "Octopussy's Garden" was Ringo's own composition.

For a great glimpse into the whole Beatlemania phenomenon, you have to watch the movie, A Hard Days Night. It is GREAT! Won awards, great music and just so much fun.

I teach my class of 10 year olds about the Beatles every autumn and they love it. We watch a clip from the Beatles at the Cavern Club when they looked more raw with their hair, leather jackets etc. Their manager, Brian Epstein, tidied up their look with suits and the Beatles mop-top hair. Ringo on drums was voted the most popular Beatle in America in the mid-60s and is still going strong now. Worth checking out the earliest Beatles footage and the songs where Ringo takes the lead with Octopus's Garden and With A Little Help From My Friends.

Remember being on the living room floor watching this on the black&white console tv.💕

Brought back a lot of memories❤

i remember when the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan show when i was age 6, i'm 64 now, the Beatles made the big change from doo wop music to pop, then the 60's music came along and the rest is history lol.

Ringo Starr, the drummer, was on tour all over North America last year at age 82.

My older sister, then 16, saw the Beatles in a 1966 concert in Detroit. A rumor came out that Ringo (drummer) loved jellybeans so girls would throw them up onstage towards him. My sister got one (that brushed his foot) and kept it under a glass dome until our little sister got to it and ate it. My mom drove all over town to find a bag of jellybeans to find a black one to replace it. My sister never knew the difference. The Beatles took the world by storm causing hysteria everywhere they went.

I loved them. I got to see them perform live at Shea Stadium. I was just 8, but I was already addicted to their music. Had seats way up in the bleachers, and every single girl in metro NY was there screaming their lungs out, but hey, I was there.

I was 13 yrs. old and in the lunchroom at school, when I first heard of the phenomenon called the Beatles, And Yes I acted just like those Girls!! :D

You have no idea the hysteria surrounding the Beatles was happening at that time in history! I’m 70 now but I was crazy about them and am still a huge fan. My husband, who died in 2020, and I loved the Beatles and we were able to see Paul McCartney’s 2005 concert in Houston. Paul was my favorite of the four. Wonderful memories I’ll treasure always. Enjoying your reactions Michael☺️

The Beatles were in the studio finishing songs for their first album, and at 10 p.m. were ready to wrap it up. But producer George Martin wanted one more killer track, and the boys trotted out "Twist and Shout," which they had performed live. It required John to shred his voice, and he gave it his all. This was recorded in one take, and John had nothing left. It is an absolutely perfect track.

LOL I can't believe you did this one 😊 when I was 5, my father was a DJ in big radio station in Indianapolis. They came to his studio for talk interview while they were on tour in America promoting this albumn. They gave him sweatshirts with pics of them and radio station, which was WKPC... I THINK? I can't remember now but my mom wore it for years. WOW

'The drummer in the back, ie Ringo, got more fan mail than the rest of the band put together.

I was 7 years old when this aired, I remember it well. I have two brothers two sisters, I was the youngest. My oldest sister was 13. She was all excited about the Beatles coming on the Ed Sullivan show. All 7 of us sat down to watch it. My father was laughing at their hair cuts and the way they sang, my mother wasn’t saying anything but seemed to enjoy their singing and energy, my older brothers could care less they would laugh when the girls on tv would scream. My two sisters were mostly telling my father to shut up, (in a very nice way) so they could enjoy the show. I thought the more interesting show was at my home watching my sisters slight fight defending the haircuts and loving the music and singing. One thing for sure the Beatles did mark my thinking. Great reaction Michael you have a way of making watching your reactions fun and interesting. Keep up the great work. Steven

Other great performances from this show include….. The Bee Gees - “Words” Elvis Presley- “When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again” The Doors - “Light My Fire” (official video). All three are top notch, especially that Bee Gees one. Well done Michael. ✌️

Story about the Beatles. When asked to describe the beatless a friend said. John was always doing something artsy. Going to an exhibit or something. Paul was always busy. working on the money aspect constantly. George was always seeking enlightenment. Going all over to learn more. Ringo was painting his house.

I’m late finding this. I love your reaction. The parents of those girls in the audience were completely flummoxed over this-they didn’t like it but how to stop it??? LOL. The long hair, that Rock n Roll scream… corrupting the youth! They didn’t even know what was coming!

Like it was yesterday (no pun intended .. well, maybe). I was 8 years old and my mom was so excited about the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show that she allowed us kids to eat dinner in the living room. And, we ate TV dinners (fried chicken, of course) on our table chairs watching the black & white TV (no color). My mom was all giggly about Paul. I loved John Lennon .. so cute!!! 🥰

While it's true that the girls screamed a little on the _Ed Sullivan Show_, these 3 Sunday nights total in 1964 were one of the few times where you actually _could_ hear the band. I was 13 when this happened. We guys didn't scream - we were too busy studying the group and trying to learn how they were playing. (There is a shot somewhere in one of these _Sullivan_ performances of a guy in the audience, all serious and scowling!)

One of my favorite Beatles song!

I've been twistin' and shoutin' since I first heard them as a 5 year old back in 1966.

You just experienced first hand Beatlemania!

this was an iconic performance.

You have to realize how music changed forever after Elvis and the Beatles. We take rock music for granted now.

Check out this other black-and-white footage of them doing their hit Long Tall Sally live. There is multiple footage available but there is one that is inside a medium-sized Arena but it's pretty intimate and Ringo had been absent for a little bit and so they are welcoming him back on the drums, and it's such an amazing live performance. However, the studio version is fantastic as well. Paul McCartney takes lead and just totally kills that Little Richard five.

The great thing is that Paul the bass player and Ringo the drummer are still playing!

Welcome to 1963/64. Beatles were trying to play only originals, but lennon's and Harrison/McCartney harmony in their cover, took off. Was on Introducing the Beatles album. Ed Sullivan Show Sunday night, with Beatles was big event time. Capital 45's of Beatles also big. Ringo Starr, drummer, real name Richard Starkey, was a very good drummer. He is a decent vocalist, but with voices of Harrison, McCartney, Lennon, he seldom sang in his Beatles days. The Beatles played in Hamburg, Germany like a year and developed a lot of polish.

Also, this was 1 day short of my 6th birthday... Lol the 60s were crazy. 70s too. I remember those better.

The February 23rd show was NOT a live performance, but taped during the rehearsal for the February 9th performance for broadcast of a so called "3rd" performance they pretended it was live when it was broadcast. No one knew this for years lol. A 2nd show from Miami Fl was live at the moment and the first show that night on Feb 9 was also love. All three shows, thank GOD! were taped and preserved for history

This was on the Ed Sullivan show. I grew up in Manhattan, and we would write in for tickets for the dress rehearsals, and got to see loads of great acts. Never got to see the Beatles though. As far as the screaming, that is one of the reasons the Beatles stop touring. Nobody could hear their music… Not even them!

What you really gotta respect is the individuals, you knew John Lennon's name, he shared lead vocals with who you called “the Third guy” aka Sir Paul McCartney (also in a little band called Wings. “Band on the Run”) Then “the second guy” George Harrison who went on as a solo artist with hits like “My Sweet Lord” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Drummer Ringo Starr is still going strong.I’m 61 and they were before my generation but oh my, respect needs to be assigned to all four. If you want a real treat, watch their progression from their “original boy band” days to their classics! My fav will always be The White Album but there are just so many to enjoy!

One of these girls could have been your Grandma.

Girls would actually faint at their concerts. They went totally nuts seeing the Beatles. Keep in mind that they were the first long hair boy bands and parents hated them. It was super thrilling to see them live.

There was absolutely NOTHING like the Beatles when they came to our shores.

Mike, don't feel too bad for the drummer Ringo Starr I did some research recently he's worth about 80 million. 😂. Actually this great song was a cover by the Isley Brothers. I love John on lead. Thankfully whoever owns the rights to old Ed Sullivan shows allows without blocking as many do. Probably hundreds of acts were on Eds show was on 1948 til 71. Very good show

Love this song!

This version was prominently played during a parade in the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Great song!

ya the audience screeching like that is in large part why they had to stop touring. In one stadium performance, John just gives up cause no one can hear them and starts playing the keyboard with his elbows.

The best song is I want to hold your hand x

Michael...please listen to Strawberry Fields Forever, the summit of creation, perfection, musical new sounds on its time. Really a timeless song!!

I always think of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

You should look up Beatles Drop-in 1963 Sweden Another good show!

This was note for note from the Isley brothers arrangement. Check that out. But the song had actually been recorded even earlier by the “top notes”

Watched some of your videos. I decided to subscribe. Thanks for the reaction. 👍

I think its amusing some comments here explaining who is who & which Beatle did what, & details of songs. I forget i saw the Sullivan appearances, where these commenters didnt.

Watch A Hard Days Night...the movie!

I doubt any modern group could sing naturally on par with The Beatles.

fyi: Ringo Starr on drums, Paul McCartney (left) and George Harrison (right) on backup, and John Lennon on lead.

When you think about it, the Beatles' stage act was quite staid. Everyone stays in their positions and the movements are quite minimal. And it stayed this way for all of their performing career. And of course they stopped performing before the era of massive amplification and stadium tours. Yet there must have been something revolutionary about their act that sent the audience so wild. Was it the hair (which now looks quite short) or the "boy band" aspect (previously solo singers had been more prominent) or just a slightly younger generation finding their own idols? Don't forget also that this was only 2 months after the assassination of JFK, so you could say America was ready for them.

For the _Ed Sullivan_ episode date Feb 23, 1964, the Beatles performing this "live", it's yes and no. They did indeed give this rendition live before an audience, but that was back on Feb 9, shortly BEFORE 8 pm, when THAT night's episode would go out actually _LIVE_ with other renditions of theirs. THIS performance did not get aired until, as it says, Feb 23, two weeks AFTER being "performed live" (and the Beatles had gone home). When they played this on Feb 9, that was little more than a month after America had even first HEARD OF the Beatles through one of their releases ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), during which pretty short time the country's youth, girls affected especially hard, went bonkers for these boys (after UK youth had similarly succumbed in the months prior to that!). In the 1940s there was Sinatra; in the 1950s there was Elvis, who accomplished the stunning achievement of having all top three songs on the _Billboard_ chart at one point. Surely nobody would ever match this feat - well, until the Beatles got all of the top FIVE in April 1964!

👏👏👏

The drummer Ringo did sing a solo, Act Naturally.

Not a dry seat in the house. haha

Looking good bro. Keep up the good work 👍

How about some Johnny Winter, Highway 61 Revisited from Johnny Winter Captured Live

John said he barely made it through the song, could hardly speak for days after😂

Ringo enjoyed being the drummer.

They looked like a bunch of innocent little bobble heads. They were anything but. Even then in their infant career. It was their shtick As far as the drummer, Ringo Starr, after the band broke up and went their separate ways, they made some of the most memorable music ever written. Check out Ringo Starr’s “Photograph”. Yes, he can sing. And please explore George Harrison. The dark haired guitarist in this song. Anything from “All Things Must Pass”. George Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after he’d passed. There was an incredible star-studded rendition of his song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. And Prince stole the show. Yeah. George was that guy harmonizing with Paul McCartney in this song. Little did anyone know…

Just watch a few documentaries on YT to bring yourself up to speed on the importance of this group. They wrote about 250 songs over their career and the quality was very high across most of their output. Quite a few are considered classics like "Something" that was recorded by others like Sinatra. Today's so called music by comparison has zero output in terms of memorable tunes and melodies. They were the classical musicians of popular music and innovated much in the way of arrangement, production and style. The sophistication just got better over the years. Quality always matters, shines through and has had over 60 years of longevity.

Lennons vocals were masterful here

Right wround my 13th birthday, 72 now.

Angelina Jordan rearranges into a Jazzy "Billie Jean" at 15. In the lyrics . . ."there’s a shadow hanging over me," I believe the “shadow” shown, at 1:42min, in the bookshelf, is her Grampa watching over her. She is addressing these Lyrics as homage to her Grandfather, who had died March 2018, as Paul did his Mother. The shopping basket symbolizes her as a young child. (Yesterday) 🌺 ru-vid.com6FZUNguBnY0?feature=share

That’s Ringo Starr on the drums, Paul McCartney on the left in the middle George Harrison and then John Lennon the best.

Ringo Star was not the original drummer. The original drummer was Pete Best. I always wonder how he felt when they made it so big.

Much better than your shorts, am I right? Your grandparents and great-grandparents knew how to have a good time.

These days it is for sure difficult to understand the Beatles Phenomena. To do so, one must place themselves back in to the 1960's before the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. For example one needs to look at the culture, mindset and attitudes and fashions of the day. When the Beatles showed up the people of America had never seen or heard anything like it. Nothing was ever the same. Many books and movies cover the phenomena

I was in 7th grade at the time and the country (and world) was still getting over the shock of President Kennedy’s assassination. The Beatles brought a sense of hope and life and change that coincided with our new, teenaged feelings of sex, love and growth. The reason that later on, The Beatles stopped performing live, was exactly as you noticed - the audience screams made it nearly impossible to appreciate the music or anything they were saying. Ballads and quieter songs were often drowned out by the audience. Screaming audiences were not new-it happened for Frank Sinatra when he was young, and then for Elvis Presley. But it became the norm and affected how loudly bands would play.

Very often Beatles couldn’t hear themselves over the screaming. Ringo only knew from the other guys wiggling.