THE BEATLES DROP IN

Back in October of 1963, The Beatles had yet to play Ed Sullivan and gain worldwide fame, if not complete hysteria, launching a wave Beatlemania that encircled the planet.  Even though they'd paid their dues playing the strip clubs and dives of Hamburg, here they're loveable moptops kicking up some joyous noise after they just happened to drop in for a set on a Swedish television show.  This was music for the kids, an early version of the lads before they developed into deeper, more introspective songwriters and performers.  This was a rave-up.  Still, you could see the good cheer and lively music that would wipe out the Brylcreemed teen idols of the late fifties and early sixties, the endless string of banal performers like Fabian and Bobby Rydell and a slew of Elvis wannabes filling the void when the King joined the army--and forget about the old lounge crooners left in the dust.  These four Liverpudlians cleared the deck.  Before long, in a series of rapid and seemingly endless transformations, these working class boys would rule the world with an unrivaled catalog of music, and not just hits, brilliant layered studio creations combining experimental, avant garde composition with personal, poetic lyrics.  At this point, however, it was just a lot of fun.