How American Rock 'n' Roll Launched the British Invasion

In the 1960s, Britain seemed at the center of the creative universe, with music and fashion combining to such dazzling effect that it made the drab, austere Britain of the early post-World War Two years seem light years away.

Rock 'n' Roll Weaves Its Spell

Some rationing from the war years had carried on into the 1950s in Britain, and British teenagers cast envious eyes across the Atlantic, as their American cousins seemed to be having fun under eternally sunny skies, driving beautiful girls around in Cadillacs. Then came American rock 'n' roll, which British youth embraced with an intensity, as it transported them to a different world - and in the mid-1950s a gyrating young Elvis Presley must have seen like a man from another planet, shaking up the middle-aged, middle-class stuffiness of British TV.

Young Britons, by the end of the 1950s, were not only 'digging' rock 'n' roll, but were dressing in a way different to their parents, and many young British males wore Edwardian jackets, and were thus dubbed 'Teddy Boys'. This was really the start of music and fashion combining in Britain, and British rock 'n' roll singers like Cliff Richard and Tommy Steele were also giving British youth home-grown rock 'n' roll music to listen to - and these early British rock 'n' roll singers were to inspire so many stars who followed. Also influential was British skiffle, which was a British derivation of earlier American skiffle. One reason that it was popular with young musicians, was because of the inexpensive nature of the normal instruments used, which were an acoustic guitar, tea chest (string) bass and a washboard! Lonnie Donegan was its leading exponent, and Rock Island Line made his name in 1956. Being a highly energized music, skiffle mixed nicely with rock 'n' roll, and both forms of music owed a lot to the blues. A young skiffle group from Liverpool had high expectations, but more on them later.

As 1960 dawned, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis were iconic figures to many British youngsters, but it still seemed a pipedream that any British artists would reach their level of fame and influence - even though Lonnie Donegan's Rock Island Line had made the top 10 in the US singles chart. A star in his teens, the good looking Cliff Richard was the number one rock 'n' roll singer in the UK in the late '50s and early '60s, and was dubbed, inevitably, the British Elvis. Good though he was, Richard didn't really find his own identity until later in his career, as his hip gyrations embodied the insecurity among British performers, who felt the need to copy all things American. Though laughable now, Cliff Richard's hip movements were also deemed indecent by many at the time. His backing band the Shadows were to have a string of instrumental number one singles in Britain in the early '60s, and Shadows guitarist Hank Marvin influenced a raft of British guitarists, including former Yardbirds Jeff Beck and (future Led Zeppelin legend) Jimmy Page.

1962 was a year when the British Invasion really started, with the futuristic Telstar by the Tornados topping the singles charts in both the US and the UK - thus becoming the first British band to achieve that feat. Also in 1962, British clarinetist Acker Bilk topped the US singles chart with Stranger on the Shore, and British/Irish folk trio the Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield) had some commercial success in the US.

The Beatles and the Stones

A former skiffle group from Liverpool group called the Beatles cut their first single, Love Me Do, in 1962, after their association as a backing band for British performer Tony Sheridan ended. Love Me Do crept into the top 20 of the UK singles chart. A promising beginning, but hardly earth-shattering. 1963 was to be very different. Please Please Me, the Beatles second single, gave them their first number one, then came chart-toppers From Me to You, She Loves You and I Want to Hold Your Hand. By the end of the year, the term Beatlemania had been coined, and anyone seeing the group would have been lucky to have heard any music above the screaming of idolizing girls. On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas. A young Mick Jagger was seen on TV, mourning the slain President, almost thinking out loud that with the young, vibrant President dead it would be back to the old, gray days. How wrong he would prove to be...

Early in 1964, the Beatles made their first trip to America. If anything the hysteria was at a higher level than in Britain, and a triumphant performance on the Ed Sullivan Show catapulted them into the rarified atmosphere no British musical act had ever previously experienced. They even hogged the top 5 of the Billboard hot 100 at one point in 1964, which was unprecedented. Yes, there may be some truth in the observations, made by many, that America needed cheering up after JFK's assassination, but the Beatles would surely have broken through anyway. Most of their early songs were nothing special compared to the spellbinding songs from 1965 onwards, but, even at this early stage, the group had something - catchy, singable songs, likeable personalities - yes, even the acerbic John Lennon, and a humor which, though many Americans didn't fully understand, was endearing. The Beatles were like a lovable puppy dog, the Rolling Stones, on the other hand, were not!

The British Press were onto the Stones quite early, worrying about virginal daughters falling prey to the, to some minds, demonic Mick Jagger and his cronies. The boys had hardly helped their image, being caught urinating in public, and Mick couldn't get any satisfaction - as he was happy to tell the world.

Though the Beatles and the Stones were the biggest acts to come out of the British Invasion, and indeed remain Britain's two most famous rock groups, they seemed to open the door in America for a host of groups and singers, who, initially, included the Animals, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, Manfred Mann, the Yardbirds, Peter and Gordon, and, strangely, Chad & Jeremy, who made no great impression on the Britain music scene. Dusty Springfield's departure from the Springfields led her to becoming a star in the US in her own right, and pop singers like Tom Jones and Petula Clark also benefited from the British Invasion. Even Britain's answer to Bob Dylan, Donovan, rattled sneering Bob's cage by having success in the States.

Anything Goes

Some American critics felt that British talent was stifling American acts, but history would suggest that the 1960s, like the 1930s, was a golden age for popular music. The bar was raised for music by not only the best of the British acts, but also by American stars Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations,the Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, the Doors and the Beach Boys, whose Pet Sounds put the pressure on the Beatles to come up with a classic of their own in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Monkees were manufactured into being an American version of the Beatles (though Davy Jones was British), but are remembered for being better than a pale imitation of the Fab Four. Country star Johnny Cash was respected across the board, Frank Sinatra made a glorious comeback, including having a hit with his hip daughter Nancy, the mysterious Roy Orbison could move hearts of granite, and a cartoon group called the Archies irritated with Sugar Sugar. There had never been such diverse music to choose from.

The 1960s music scene was pretty fluid in several ways. British and American artists influenced each other, and music itself had no boundaries. The Beatles experimented with Indian music, and the Byrds assimilated folk, country, jazz and rock. The Beatles and the Byrds were also swapping notes.

Sometimes the British Invasion was inverted, and a charismatic American guitarist stunned the cream of British rock in the mid-1960s. British guitar gods, such as Eric Clapton of Cream, and the Who's Pete Townshend, were left in awe by Jimi Hendrix's coruscating genius. Little Richard, rightly and famously, became nervous of Hendrix upstaging him in his own backing band. Unknown American singer P.J. Proby made it big in the UK, before going back to the States to have minor success. Proby had a powerful, moving voice, but an unfortunate pants-splitting incident at a gig in Luton, Beds made him an unlikely outcast.

The Invasion That Never Ended

The British Invasion never really ended. Arguably the best live rock group of all, the Who, and returning hero Jimi Hendrix exploded at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and '70s stars Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Rod Stewart, and a fresh-faced Peter Frampton had all began their careers in the 1960s, and, by the mid-1970s, were seen by a lot of young British kids as self-indulgent. The androgynous David Bowie, another '60s veteran, being one superstar exception. Out of New York City came the fast and furious Ramones, who delivered their songs at machine gun speed, with similar subtlety. British youth once again became inspired by American music, and the UK gave America some bands in return, who were not quite as lovable as the Beatles, in the shape of the Sex Pistols and the Clash. British groups like the Bee Gees, Queen, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Oasis, Radiohead and Coldplay have all had varying degrees of critical acclaim and success in the American market since, and Morrissey is a cult figure both sides of the pond. Whereas successful bands like Fleetwood Mac, the Police and Blondie had both American and British members.

As for Cliff Richard? By the end of the 1960s, Cliff was a Christian, and was unfairly criticized, and generally considered to be uncool, because of his faith. Richard was, however, to finally achieve a lifetime's ambition of having a hit in the US, with Devil Woman in 1976. It is fair to say that every British rock act who have ever made it big in the US, or UK, owes Cliff a debt of gratitude for really showing what was possible.

Sources

BBC - The home-made sound of skiffle

Beatles key dates - The Guardian Newspaper

Personal Knowledge