Every Baby Boomer Remembers These Rock Performances On Ed Sullivan

A consistently popular television program for most of its epic 1948 to 1971 run, "The Ed Sullivan Show" was appointment television for tens of millions of Americans every Sunday night. It was a true variety show, playing host to all kinds of performers, even stars from the world of rock 'n' roll when it was emerging and growing more provocative. The coming of age of the boomer generation coincided with the domination of "The Ed Sullivan Show" and the rise of rock, meaning several legendary rock performances from the program are permanently etched into their minds.

Some live works rise above the others because they were so historic, or because they captured some of the best, most popular, and influential rock stars at their creative or cultural peak. They may have also started scandals, created turning points in band histories, or brought in an unfathomable number of viewers. That's why so many boomers will never forget watching those performances live as they unfolded on TV so many decades ago. Here's how Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Doors created iconic generational touchstone moments on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Landing five No. 1 hits in one calendar year would certainly make for an environment in which Elvis Presley would command a massive TV audience with a guest spot on "The Ed Sullivan Show." And when he did show up to sing and dance on the program for the first time on September 9, 1956, about 60 million people saw it. But what made Elvis Presley's initial guest spot on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on September 9, 1956, so monumental is what it meant for rock 'n' roll on the whole. Presley's performance helped bring the relatively still new, youthful, and potentially incendiary musical form into the mainstream. Presley had already performed on national TV, but never on a show as popular or respected as "The Ed Sullivan Show." 

Oddly, that episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show" is also memorable for being one of the few to not feature its eponymous star. Sullivan was recuperating after a car accident, and so it was guest host Charles Laughton who threw from the New York City home base of the show to CBS Television City in Hollywood, where Presley tore into two songs: the playful, gentle rocker "Don't Be Cruel" and the ballad "Love Me Tender." Presley also performed in later episodes that year, trotting out a couple of raucous, blistering examples of early rock 'n' roll. After covering Little Richard's "Ready Teddy," he went unleashed on "Hound Dog," scream singing and provocatively and suggestively dancing. 

The Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964 marked their American television debut. Sullivan booked them for his show after seeing and hearing them in a feature on "CBS Morning News With Mike Wallace" in late 1963. By the time the Beatles flew to the U.S. for "The Ed Sullivan Show," Beatlemania was in full swing in the U.K. and just taking off in the U.S. They permanently became part of the musical firmament when they played live to a screaming and excited studio audience on February 9, 1964, the same year five of their songs achieved the unbelievable milestone of occupying Billboard's top five spots.

Sullivan didn't wait long before giving the people what they wanted. The Beatles were the first guests up as well as the show closer that night, playing a total of five songs: "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There," and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." They returned to "The Ed Sullivan Show" just a week later, performing mostly the same songs in a different order (and adding in "This Boy" and "From Me to You"). But that first show set a new record for TV viewership: 73 million people tuned in.

The Rolling Stones had only scored a couple of moderate hits in the U.S. when they benefitted from the British Invasion and found themselves slated to play "The Ed Sullivan Show" on October 25, 1964. Not yet to the level of fame or influence of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones' set was buried in the episode, following comedy team Stiller and Meara and violinist Itzhak Perlman. But then Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and the rest introduced themselves to millions of Americans with a loving cover of a song by an influential figure: "Around & Around" by early rock 'n' roll figure Chuck Berry. The audience yelled throughout, in appreciation of the music and Jagger's wiry dance moves. Sullivan had to yell back at them to settle down even after they'd finished the song.

And then the Rolling Stones got to enjoy an encore performance. They played one of their signature hits, the laid-back, bluesy, and just-released single "Time Is on My Side." The band earned millions of permanent fans by showing off their versatility and Jagger's command of the stage and TV cameras.

By 1967, the decade's best year for psychedelic rock, pop culture had changed so radically, with a generation gap forming between the young, pro-rock boomers and their conservative parents, that a band like the Doors appearing on the glitzy, proper, older-skewing "The Ed Sullivan Show" created a bewildering juxtaposition. On September 17, 1967, the groovy band, led by the menacing and unpredictable sex symbol and poet Jim Morrison, were set to take the stage on the long-running variety program and perform their new song "People Are Strange" and their No. 1 hit from that summer, "Light My Fire." But there was a caveat on the latter: Morrison was asked to self-censor and to not sing the word "higher," considered a drug reference, as in the lyric "girl we couldn't get much higher."

Fans of the Doors from around the country gathered in front of their TVs to watch one of the trippiest, edgiest, and most out-there bands around perform in the unlikely venue. And the band refused to edit. "We thought they were joking," the Doors' Robby Krieger said on the band's website. "Wanting us to change the lyrics to the number one song in America? We decided to just do the song as-is, and maybe they would forget all about it. What could they do? After all, it was live television." Following a dressing-down from the host, "The Ed Sullivan Show" banned the Doors after that one performance.