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The Beatles
Charted: #1 in March 1964
One advantage the Beatles had by breaking more than a year later in America than in their native England was that they seemed to grow at an exponential rate almost instantly. Two years of musical growth were crammed into two months, and for Americans, it was more than we could comprehend. The first sign of the group’s transition from youthful and energetic charm to ingeniously structured and mature pop came in March with “Can’t Buy Me Love.”
Like most all of the early Beatles songs, “Can’t Buy Me Love” possessed an elusive, ungraspable quality that made it stand out above everything else on the pop charts. Sure, the Beatles looked lovable and sounded different, but these were superficial qualities. I think one of the most important factors – no, the most important factor of their musical appeal – lay in their uncanny ability to imbue well-crafted and imaginative pop melodies with a sense of honesty and emotion. Underneath their shaking, screaming, hairy heads, I sense a combination of English pathos and American blues that gives their rave-ups a depth that transcends the beat or the melody. Even a song as bland and whitewashed as “Love Me Do” has a verse that validates the sweetness of the chorus with minor-key intonations in which McCartney moans the title in a manner that suggests a knowledge of blue notes. John Lennon’s singing style, from the very beginning, sounds as though he’s expunging the spirit of some unfathomable ghost; his vocal on Twist and Shout” sounds so uninhibited that it is disarming. Of course, it’s easy to philosophize now. At the time, they were just the coolest (if you were a male) or the dreamiest (if you were a female) band around, and even a child could sense musical growth from ”Love Me Do” to “Can’t Buy Me Love.”
A spirit of outright professionalism embodies “Can’t Buy Me Love,” which made even nonbelievers raise an eyebrow (or two). This was no band of one-trick ponies, that was for sure. The song not only rocks, it swings. The heavy backbeat of the Beatles’ previous singles is not at all diminished, but a swinging triplet feel brings a bounce to the song that previously would have seemed unlikely. It was only their second “official” (i.e., Capitol) release in America, but it was completely devoid of any self-conscious deliberation that occasionally hampers sophomore efforts. This was because it was really their sixth release in England, and a handful of others preceded it in America, as well.
Advance orders for “Can’t Buy Me Love” topped two million. On April 4, 1964, the Beatles’ dominance of the charts was absolute. A glance at the top five songs of this date bears it out:
#1) “Can’t Buy Me Love” – The Beatles (#1 for five weeks)
#2) “Twist and Shout” – The Beatles
#3) “She Loves You – The Beatles (previously #1 for two weeks)
#4) “I Want to Hold Your Hand” – The Beatles (previously #1 for seven weeks)
#5) “Please Please Me” – The Beatles
Also, seven other singles were on the Top 100, and the group’s albums, Meet the Beatles and Introducing the Beatles, occupied the top two spots on the album chart. What chart hogs they were! The impossible mission of the Beatles was accomplished.
 
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