Australia is still in the midst of recalling the Beatles' tour down under 50 years ago. In a story from the Australian Associated Press:
Rock historian Glenn A. Baker says the visit caused a shift in Australian society.
"After the Beatles were here, the very nature of society swung around to direct itself to everything the teenagers were doing: what their music was, what their fashion was, I don't think that kind of existed much before the Beatles arrived," he said.
The Fab Four stayed for thirteen days spreading mass hysteria across the country, stopping first in Adelaide where more than 300,000 people turned out to greet them.
The band played 20 shows in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Baker, who wrote the book about the Australian tour, Beatles Down Under, watched it all play out at home on his on TV in his "red jammies". "It was singularly the most exciting thing that ever happened in Australia," he said.
"And it was the biggest outpouring of devotion anywhere in the world at any time over the Beatles' span."
The change in society was palpable. It wasn't just teenagers who were affected.
The entire music scene also shifted with more four and five piece, black leather-clad, rhythm and blues bands being snapped up by record companies.
"You went from having revue type bands in town halls that had three girls in petticoats and a couple of sax players and three lead singers ... to suddenly they were signing the Easybeats and Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs," Baker said.
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