‘The British Invasion Killed Us’: PBS Producer TJ Lubinsky on the Fate of America’s Teen Idols

The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, 1964. Bernard Gotfryd, Library of Congress

American artists dominated the music industry for decades until the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and other British bands arrived on our shores in 1964. Fans embraced the new sound, but once-popular artists at home suddenly found there was no room on radio playlists for their records. Concert gigs dried up, and many found themselves…