Even in the world of pop music, a singer used to have to perform for years, making contact with small audiences from town to town, before he "hit the big time." He had to earn appreciation. It was hard work, but local fame necessarily preceded national fame. Joe's ignorance is really showing here. In case he didn't notice, the Beatles paid their dues in Liverpool and Berlin long before Beatlemania. His problem stems more from the notion that they didn't pay their dues in the US, hence it didn't count. By that token, I guess the UK should have dismissed Elvis and Chuck Berry.
Excellent point. The Beatles were a proven talent before comign to the US. I do feel that first US appearances were somewhat as a result of hype. But that melted away almost immediately when the songs were heard and liked. It's ludacrist to lay off the Beatles instant popularity simply to hype. Fans have to buy into the product. The hype as Sobran addresses it, was simply a P.R. campaign. The kids were introduced to the Beatles. They liked. The rest is history.
As I said before, if the P.R. had been orchestrated for a non-deserving group, there'd have been empty seats at performances and albums would not have sold.
It's a little difficult to attribute record sales and sold out appearances as purely the result of hype. And it's a losing proposition to do so, as Sorbran is about to find out.