How America Changed the Beatles  Their success in the U.S.
'changed not only their perception of themselves, it changed
everybody's perception of them,' one expert tells U.S. News.
(From left) John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George
Harrison of The Beatles arrive at Kennedy International Airport
on Feb. 7, 1964, in New York City.  The Beatles were nervous
about coming to America. A solo trip to Illinois in September
1963 had guitarist George Harrison worrying that an American
crossover was "going to be hard." Beatles bass player Paul
McCartney was skeptical even on the flight over, fretting,
"They've got their own groups. What are we going to give them
that they don't already have?" Guitarist John Lennon had his own
doubts, too. "On the plane over, I was thinking 'Oh, we won't
make it,' " he later told Rolling Stone magazine.  [READ: Drug
Use Belied the Beatles' Squeaky-Clean Image]  The band had
already exploded out of Liverpool and was attracting adoring
crowds not just in England, but across E