It was 60 years ago today!

The Beatles’ first album was released in America and the rest is history…

“Introducing... The Beatles” was released on January 10, 1964.

This is the cover of the album “Introducing... The Beatles” by the Beatles.

This Vee-Jay Records album came out ten days before Capitol's “Meet the Beatles!”. The latter album, however, entered the U.S. album chart one week before the former. Consequently, when Meet The Beatles! peaked at No. 1 for eleven consecutive weeks, Introducing...The Beatles stalled at No. 2, where it remained for nine consecutive weeks. It was the subject of much legal wrangling, but ultimately, Vee-Jay was permitted to sell the album until late 1964, by which time it had sold more than 1.3 million copies. The Beatles arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York for the very first time to thousands of screaming fans on Feb. 7, 1964.

Source: Wikipedia.org

With regards to the “age-old debate”, my late father was on “Team Beatles”, while my late mother was definitely on “Team Stones”. My dad told me his stories about hearing these famous songs for the first time and of seeing the “Fab Four” on T.V. as a high school senior, here in the Heartland. Conversely, during the “British Invasion”, my mom and her family lived in West Germany, as my grandfather was stationed there with the U.S. Army. She heard these famous songs, including those by her favorite band (The Rolling Stones), on West German and American-run radio.

My dad had several Beatles records, including “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, which was his favorite. Growing up, I often heard these iconic songs playing on my parents’ large stereo/record player console that was in our living room, right across from the pea green sofa...

A future “rockstar”… Photo of me circa 1976.

Courtesy of Anthony Woodard

My friend and Toxic A$$ets bandmate, Mike Stolberg, is a huge Beatles fan. In his mid-teens, he discovered the Beatles, specifically their album “Rubber Soul”. For some reason, their music piqued his curiosity. During his freshman year of college, his friend gave him bootleg copies of every Beatles album. He’s listened to the entire Beatles anthology from start to finish many times and to this day considers one his favorite songs of all time to be "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".

A little rough around the edges, but still rockin’!

This Beatles classic from July of 1964 was a last-minute addition to the set list for our first paid gig at RC's Back Door Bar and Grill in Martin City (Kansas City)…

This was the third song on Side two.

Ladies and gentlemen…the Beatles! This was the album’s first song.

This iconic song was at the end of Side one!

The iconic live performance of this famous tune! This was the album’s last song.