The first Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan was February 9, 1964. The first Supremes hit song was “Where did our love go” in April 1964 and the first Four Tops Song was “ Baby I need your loving” in the summer of 1964. In other words these two iconic Motown hits were after The Beatles came here which started their world wide popularity. Due to the Beatles craze, there was a pop music craze which gave groups like the Supremes , the Tops, the Temps and others great exposure and great popularity. You can make a solid argument that the Beatles revolutionized both pop music and pop culture and only made Motown more popular. Their music also effected American pop music in general.As an example, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, who was a musical genius, said that the Pet Sounds album, considered the second greatest album ever behind Sgt Peppers, was directly the result of listening to that album. When you hear old pop songs today that are still being played you hear Yesterday, Something, My Girl, Baby love etc.. Why is that? It’s because greatness stands the test of time. The Beatles didn’t kill Motown, they were simultaneous musical explosions the likes of which you will never see again.
