They're so Groovy!

This year, 1967, marked the launch of the second British Invasion of America.

It's not that the Brit groups and singers ever stopped coming during the decade, but this second time around, there was a different sound. There was far less emphasis on "cute" and more on mature lyrics, songs that had a message or meaning to them. Many of the groups "crossing over" came from the British Blues scene that started a few years earlier. (There were inklings of the sound before, like "GoNow" by The Moody Blues-that's classic British Blues, Georgie Fame's "Yeh Yeh" and "GetAway"-Brit Blues with a touch a jazz, and "House Of The Rising Sun" by The Animals; in fact, a lot of this group's early material, and also The Rolling Stones' early work. I'd also like to include a fantastic cover version of "Since I Lost My Baby" by The Action and two great covers of "Oh No, Not My Baby" by Dusty Springfield, the other, by Georgie Fame (and The Blue Flames).

The Who captured the anger and rebelliousness of England's Mods (Remember the Mods and the Rockers?). With their songs mostly written by Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey's defiant screaming, Keith Moon's manic drumming, and John Entwistle's thumping bass, the group became THE symbol of the Mod movement. "My Generation" became their battle cry. The group's rebelling spirit was further enchanced by Townshend's guitar-smashing and Moon's drum destruction ("I Can't Explain" and "Anyhow, Anyway, Anywhere" were also popular early Who efforts. "My Generation" also got airplay in the States, but the Who didn't break into the top 40 until this year 1967 And not with "My Generation".)

All group members came from working-class backgrounds and several were manual laborers-Daltrey was a sheet metal worker for five years, while Townshend and Entwistle worked at various odd jobs. Moon was a plaster salesman.

Though their music was basically rock, the Who were heavily influenced by R + B. They actually started out as such, playing Chicago blues under another name, then as the High Numbers. They were reshaped into a Mod image by their first manager, Pete Meaden (He was later fired by the group; new managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, continued to reinforce the Mod makeover.` It worked.)

Another R + B-influenced band, Cream, broke through in America this year. The trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker, often appeared on stage in eye-boggling outfits, but played a very driving, electric blues-based music. Each member had previous experience in several of England's best-known blues groups. In June 1966, the three met, and Cream was formed.

Their first album, "Fresh Cream" contained covers of blues songs, but it was their second effort in late '67, "Disreali Gears" (the U.S. breakthrough), that contained several blues-band originals like "Sunshine Of Your Love". Cream was rising to the top (I couldn't resist!)

Other blues-influenced, blues-playing artists included ex-Yardbird Jeff Beck (Clapton was an ex-Yardbird also), Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, and The Spencer Davis Group (formed in 1963), who broke through to the U.S. top 40 this year. (Legend has it that lead singer Steve Winwood, who also played guitar and keyboards, was only 16 when "Gimme Some Lovin' " was recorded. Winwood also left the group to form Traffic this year.

(All the abovementioned had a large teen AND young adult following. Now there were several San Francisco artists that straddled the line, but I basically don't consider them teen idols.)

Now The Beatles were still popular, but by this time, the group was long past the "cute, cuddly moptop" stage; not only had their music matured (as had many of their fans), but even their image had a makeover: longer, shabbier hair, mustached, and mod-hippie clothing replaced the uniformed "cute" look.

And other established groups such as The Rolling Stones were also going in more mature musical directions. Even The Monkees were going for more "revelant" songs (not a good idea).

The San Francisco Sound was socially revelant AND hot during this time, so many major groups and singers jumped on the bandwagon to keep up (Not only did the Beatles keep up, they SURPASSED the San Fran sound, once again setting the standard.)

But there was still room for new pop stars, like The Buckinghams, Box Tops, Andy Kim, The Cowsills,The Union Gap (featuring Gary Puckett), The Bee Gees, The Grassroots, Oliver, The First Edition (featuring Kenny Rogers), Creedence Clearwater Revival (featuring John Fogerty), and Bobby Sherman.

And from the world of TV, there were: Dirk and Dack Rambo, twins (One was in the series, "Guns OfWill Sonnet" (1968). I think it was Dack. David McCallum, of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." was VERY popular. Michael Landon, Paul Peterson, and Don Grady were also popular . WilliamShantner and Leonard Nimoy of "Star Trek" were considered hot (They were quite handsome then!). Luke Halpin, (teen star of the "Flipper" movie and TV series) with his "All-American" looks, was regularly featured in 16 magazine. Adam West and Burt Ward ("Batman"), Jay North andSajid Khan ("Maya") were hot. And "Then Came Bronson" (1969) star Michael Parks became a major hottie during this time. He even had a top 40 hit, "Going Down That Long Lonesome Highway", the show's theme. Others were: Desi Arnaz Jr., Doug McClure, David Soul and Bobby Sherman ("Here Come The Brides"), Robert Conrad ("The Wild Wild West"), Christopher Jones("Jesse James"-TV series), Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow ("Peyton Place"), Micheal Cole, Clarence Williams III, and Peggy Lipton ("The Mod Squad").

Female idols included Ann-Margret, Patty Duke, and Shelley Fabares. But Twiggy was probably the ONE. And all of the abovementioned also sang. (Yes, even Twiggy! But she didn't place in the top 40 here.)

The verbal content of many songs by now had turned to rebellion, social protest, sex, and drugs (Or references to these topics). Many groups such as The Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead, tried to recreate the "drug-taking experience" on record-producing long, repetitive, at-times-downright-boring songs with surreal, overly pretentious lyrics. This became known as "acid" or "hard rock".

Along came "bubblegum", a fluffy, very upbeat, "cotton candy" type of pop music designed for the pre-teen set (Laugh all you want, but this was a welcome alternative to the counterculture music. There's ALWAYS a need for "hey, everybody, let's dance" and fun, fluffy music. You can't be serious ALL the time!) The Lemon Pipers, 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Ohio Express, and even a cartoon group, The Archies, were some of this genre's
biggest stars.