The Beatles and the British Invasion

1. chapter 4 The Beatles and the British Invasion

2. British pop between 1964 and 1966 • American business taken by surprise in early 1964 by the Beatles • An American fad for British music ensued • Two important strains of the story • Chronicle of British pop • Influence of British pop on American pop

3. British pop from WWII to 1963 • Prior to 1964 British music was considered inferior in America • In contrast, American Culture was interesting to Britons • Result of American involvement in WWII • British labels licensed music from American independents • Facilitated the spread of American black pop

4. British pop from WWII to 1963 • History of British interest in American music includes folk and jazz • “Trad” jazz • Skiffle • Cliff Richard, early rock

5. Lonnie Donegan

6. The Beatles, 1960-1962 • Early years • Formed out of the skiffle-based Quarrymen • Among the first generation of musicians who listened to rock as youth • Began performing live actively in 1960

7. The Beatles, 1960-1962 • Hamburg • Played six and seven hour evenings • Refined performing skills and repertoire

8. Beatles at the Cavern Club, 1961

9. The Beatles, 1960-1962 • Liverpool • Played at the Cavern nearly 300 times through 1962 • Met future manager Brian Epstein in 1961 • Secured Parlophone recording contract in 1962 • First single (“Love Me Do”) goes to 17 on British charts

10. Beatles at the Cavern Club, 1963

11. The Beatles, 1960-1962 • Influences • Beatles learned from cover songs performed in early period • Songs performed at Star Club and BBC, 1962-1965 • American pop dominates • Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Lieber and Stoller, Spector, Motown

12. The Beatles 1963-1966 • Success in England in 1963 • Two high-profile television performances • Four consecutive hits • Led wave of British-based hits in England

13. Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show

14. The Beatles 1963-1966 • Success in America in 1964 • Performed on Ed Sullivan in February • 30 Top Ten pop hits between 1964 and 1966 • All studio albums went to number 1 in both UK and U.S. • Feature films • Hard Day’s Night (1964) • Help! (1965) • Controversy over “bigger than Jesus” remark in 1966 • Final public concert in San Francisco, August 1966

15. The Beatles 1963-1966 • Musical development, 1964-1966 • Imitated and extended American models in early music • Used songwriting techniques from Brill Building, 1963-1964 • Found variety in solving compositional “problems” • “I Want To Hold Your Hand” • Moved from craft to artistic approach, 1964-1966 • Experimented with studio effects, stylistic juxtapositions, and timbre, and structure • “Tomorrow Never Knows”

16. The Beatles 1963-1966 • Importance of lyrics • Teenage love in early years • Unconventional in later music • Self-confidence • Sexual frustration • Alienation • Stylistic range • Widens in 1965 with “Help!” • Novel instrumentation • Stylistic eclecticism

17. The British Invasion • Beatles led the surge of British music in the United States in 1964 • Groups were British, played guitars, and had long hair • Broad stylistic range • Had many hits on the U.S. charts between 1964 and 1966 • Two strains modeled after Beatles and Stones

18. The British Invasion (Beatles-type) • Charming, cute, friendly • First wave, 1964 • Gerry and the Pacemakers • Dave Clark Five • Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas • Searchers

19. Gerry and the Pacemakers

20. The British Invasion (Beatles-type) • Second wave, 1965 • Herman’s Hermits • Freddy and the Dreamers • Hollies

21. The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) • Bad boys, in contrast to the Beatles-type image • Followed the lead of the Rolling Stones • Drew on tradition of Chicago electric blues from 1950s • Spawned a wave of enthusiasm for collecting and performing American blues

22. Rolling Stones, Zurich, 1967

23. The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) • Rolling Stones, 1962-1966 • Formed by guitarist Brian Jones as a blues band • Managed by Andrew Loog Oldham and Eric Easton, 1963 • Started move toward pop in 1963 • Early recordings • Covered songs by American artists • “I Wanna Be Your Man” by Lennon and McCartney • Jagger and Richards achieve success as songwriters in 1964 • Did not achieve widespread success in America until 1965 • Preferred contrasting verse-chorus rather than AABA

24. The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) • Yardbirds • Guitarists included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page • Used studio musicians on early records • Recorded in Chicago at Chess

25. Yardbirds

26. The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) • Animals • Reputation from wild stage act • “House of the Rising Sun” (1964) • Bassist Chas Chandler became manager for Jimi Hendrix in 1966 • Spencer Davis Group

27. Animals (Eric Burdon)

28. The British Blues Revival • Other British groups did not fit into Beatles/Stones categories • Kinks • Formed in 1963 • Aggressive pop approach • “You Really Got Me” (1964) • Mirrored the Beatles move into artistic songwriting, 1965

29. The Kinks

30. The British Blues Revival • Who • Not influential until the late 1960s • Never made the U.S. Top 40 during the mid-1960s • Representative of the Mod subculture in London

31. The Who, 1967

32. Transformation of American Popular Music • Rise of the Beatles transformed popular music • Opened doors for British acts within the UK • Opened new opportunities for British acts outside the UK • British Invasion established a cross fertilization between U.S. and UK