1980
201419951964DECEMBER 11, 2020Rewind
When the Beatles first toured the U.S. in 1964, Newsweek
predicted, “The odds are that they will fade away.” But as
Peter Brown, the group’s business manager, wrote for Newsweek in 2014, “The Beat-
les were a once-in-a-lifetime, freakish combination of talent and timing.” When
John Lennon, “once the cheeky wit and sardonic soul of the Beatles” was tragically
killed 40 years ago on December 8, 1980, Newsweek reflected that the band was
the catalyst for “an epoch-making spasm in Western history, the moment when,
at least for a time, the center of creative consciousness shifted to young people.”THE BEATLES
4 NEWSWEEK.COM
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