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To all you youngsters out there, who weren’t around in the early 1960s when The Beatles burst on the scene and zoomed to stardom…

… To those among you who think all the hoopla about The Beatles is mostly exaggeration, fueled by nostalgia and the selective memory of old people…

… To the cynics and skeptics, who figure The Beatles were overrated, and who groan when someone mentions the “Fab Four” or the “Lads from Liverpool” or the “British Invasion”…

… I’m here to inform you that you’re wrong. Very wrong.

Exactly 50 years ago today, a time when Beatlemania was at its zenith, The Beatles demonstrated what a cultural juggernaut they really were.

On April 4, 1964, the lads became the only band EVER to monopolize the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Here’s the list.

Number 1: “Can’t Buy Me Love”
Number 2: “Twist and Shout”
Number 3: She Loves You”
Number 4: I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Number 5: Please Please Me”

Not only that, they had seven additional tunes in the top 100.

Number 31: “I Saw Her Standing There”
Number 41: “From Me to You”
Number 46: “Do You Want to Know a Secret?”
Number 58: “All My Loving”
Number 65: “You Can’t Do That”
Number 68: Roll Over Beethoven”
Number 79: Thank You Girl”

Furthermore, by the week of April 11, another two Beatles singles had entered the chart, bringing their total to 14 songs in the top 100.

Number 74: “There’s a Place”
Number 81: “Love Me Do”

If you want to get technical about it, they had 14 tunes in the top 81, not the top 100.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote 12 of the 14 songs — all except “Twist and Shout” and “Roll Over Beethoven” — and every one of them is terrific.

Mind-boggling.

I’ve never been one to put an entertainment act of any kind on a pedestal. I admired The Beatles greatly for their work, but I never thought of them as anything but remarkably talented songwriters and performers.

When John Lennon was murdered, I was shocked and sad. But I did not react, as many people did, as if it were the Lincoln Assassination. The poor guy was just an entertainer who tragically got killed.

The Beatles were a phenomenon because they delivered a fresh new sound, and did it with a gleeful, nose-thumbing attitude that appealed to the kids and dismayed their parents.

And the key to it all — the reason the whole thing worked — was that their music was rock solid. Pun intended.

When you look at the body of work of any well-known musical performer or group, what you’ll find is hits and misses. A few of the former and plenty of the latter.

Not so with The Beatles. When you look at their output over the years, you have to be amazed at the consistent high quality, especially in their early years. The Beatles rarely wrote or recorded a bad song. I can’t say the same of any other group or performer.

The Beatles were just an entertainment act. But they were truly unique, and so far, nobody has come close to matching them.

To doubters and believers alike, happy April 4th.