Figure:The Beatles | Ringo Starr

The Beatles arrived in the United States in 1964, a time when white, middle-class, American parents made themselves hoarse from yelling at their kids about the evils of both Elvis Presley and the African American performers he imitated. The lads from Liverpool offered parents something of an acceptable alternative to rock 'n' roll. The music The Beatles made revolutionized youth culture in the United States in the sixties; and though the group broke up in 1970, the Fab Four's influence and popularity has hardly waned at all in the many years since. These figures of John, Paul, George, and Ringo are just one example of the thousands of pieces of merchandise related to The Beatles that American fans purchased eagerly, nearly as eagerly as they bought all The Beatles' albums.