On February 15, 1964, 52 years ago today, “Meet the Beatles!” hit number one on Billboard album charts in the US. Anticipation had been building for the four lads from Liverpool, particularly since The Beatles were to make their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show the next day, so the album shot to number one in only three weeks after its release.

Way over in Tokyo, The Beatles were also popular, and were not to arrive on the scene until 1966. That didn’t stop four lads from Tokyo from adopting John, Paul, George and Ringo’s moptop hair style and starting a tribute band that performed in Tokyo clubs from 1963 to 1965.

They called themselves The Tokyo Beatles. They even recorded an album called “Please Please Me”, which had covers in English and Japanese of “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, “Please Please Me”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and “Twist and Shout”.

 

This link takes you to a blog post that shares pictures of the band taken by photographer, Michael Rougier, during the summer of 1964, when Tokyo was building for excitement for the coming Olympic Summer Games in October, and clearly also going gaga over the Fab Four.

And now, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, by The Tokyo Beatles!